First engagement shoot, any tips?

[jgunder]

There's a first time for everything, and this Saturday is my first engagement shoot.

I kind of got tricked into this. I told my friend I shoot pretty girls for free, and then this lady contacted me, (a friend of his). She certainly fit the pretty description, but once the details got worked out, she said, "oh yeah and I'm bringing my fiance and it's an engagement shoot". So while I thought I was getting volunteered to shoot a standard model shoot, now it's turned into this.

I'm not one to give up a chance to learn something new, so I'm interested in trying it out and seeing what the results look like.

I'm used to shooting nude or semi clothed women in studio and outdoors, not couples. I'm not really trained in shooting "cute" or directing men.

Any tips?

Should I bring out my good lights and lightstands and sand bags and softboxes and beauty dishes? I've done that before for modeling outside, but most engagement work I see seems to just use sunlight. A lot of shallow DoF, pictures of hand holding and embracing, and the cliche woman 10 feet in front of the man with him blurry in the background.

But I really don't want to pull from that stable. I'd like to avoid the cliche shots that every engagement photographer does.

She's knows I've never done engagement work before, so her expectations are set accordingly.

Any advice, thoughts?

oh, also, the figures are a bit opposed. Both are thin and fit, but he's incredibly tall, and she's incredibly short. Not sure how that's going to help or hurt posing.

Cheers
Josh

[wildmaven]

Tell them "I shoot pretty girls for free, but men I charge $100/hour." It's crap that they expected you to do an engagement shoot for them for free.

That said, if you still want to go through with this as a learning exercise, look through the engagement shoots here in this section of the board. Lots of our Camels have some very unique ideas for engagement shoots that buck the cliches.

[E]

Nothing wrong with the cliche' engagement shots - they do sell and the clients expect it. However, nothing wrong with the creative or fashion shots for this either.

OK.. you got suckered into the shoot for free but did you discuss what they get for that price? Charge for the prints and/or digital images they get.

You are going to have to work hard on this but their heads need to be close to the same level - her eyes at his mouth level is the "rule". If you have their heads to far apart vertically then it looks like they aren't connected.

Also, if her hand is showing it should be the one with the ring on it. She's been showing to off to everyone she knows since she got it so you better be sure it's the center of attention in some shots and shows in most of them.

[jgunder]

Originally Posted by wildmaven

Tell them "I shoot pretty girls for free, but men I charge $100/hour." It's crap that they expected you to do an engagement shoot for them for free.

That said, if you still want to go through with this as a learning exercise, look through the engagement shoots here in this section of the board. Lots of our Camels have some very unique ideas for engagement shoots that buck the cliches.

LOL, it might be a bit late now to try and charge, but I think that's a great idea!

I'll get busy looking over the threads here.

[jgunder]

Originally Posted by E

Nothing wrong with the cliche' engagement shots - they do sell and the clients expect it. However, nothing wrong with the creative or fashion shots for this either.

OK.. you got suckered into the shoot for free but did you discuss what they get for that price? Charge for the prints and/or digital images they get.

You are going to have to work hard on this but their heads need to be close to the same level - her eyes at his mouth level is the "rule". If you have their heads to far apart vertically then it looks like they aren't connected.

Also, if her hand is showing it should be the one with the ring on it. She's been showing to off to everyone she knows since she got it so you better be sure it's the center of attention in some shots and shows in most of them.

Thanks for the tips.

Do I have them sign a model release? It's an engagement shoot. Hmmm, just thought of that. One release each?

I think her eyes come up to his nipples, (at best).

Cheers
Josh

[E]

Originally Posted by jgunder

I think her eyes come up to his nipples, (at best).

Sounds better than the reverse

In my opinion a model release isn't what you need. It's basically a portrait session and typically the studios don't have their clients sign any release.

[Rain Lily]

There's not going to be many shots you can do that someone hasn't done before, unless you are very creative. And since you are looking for advice here, I am thinking maybe that's not the case?

Just teasing you a little. Good luck with your session. It would be great if you could get a model release so you could show some of the results off here!

[wildmaven]

If you want to use any of the shots for your portfolio, definitely get a model release.

[jgunder]

Shoot complete. I didn't do anything amazingly creative, I just concentrated on taking high quality photos and keeping the mood fun.

The couple had fun and I had fun.

Will post a few after my D800 spends 10 hours transferring them all to my computer. Over 64 GB of shots.

[E]

10 hours.... you can't be serious I hope. ? ? ?