First time engagement shoot

Hey all! As the title says this is the first real shoot I have ever done so I know I will need some pointers for next time. I look at other folks work and am completely blown away at what can be accomplished. I have lots to learn but since this was my first real shoot we just winged it!

The couple are very close friends of mine who live in a few states over in Delaware so unfortunately I didnt have the option to shoo later in the day. We worked with what we had. I used a 430EX II for fill in all of the shots and the sun was quite harsh. Please critique and thank you for looking!

Note: I am posting these from my work computer. They appear to have less contrast and more brightness than on my calibrated IPS at home so its something to keep in mind. My home monitor is very consistent with the prints I get done with it.

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Very sweet couple. I like the 2nd one but the green pole on the right was drawing too much of my attention. I also like the last two where the couple was almost backlit by the sun. The sun light was indeed very harsh and I know the limit of the 430exII. Try shooting at golden hours (sun coming up or sun going down) will always have amazing results. Good work!

As Macro said... for engagements you can usually dictate the time of day, and the lighting is the best the hour or two before sunset. Good stuff, but make sure you watch your shadows and how they fall on your subjects.

Shadows are the one thing that bothered me the most. Only noticed it when I got home and saw them on the PC. I was also only able to shoot them at this time of the day as they were not available later on and they would be heading back down to Delaware that night.

Marco thanks for pointing out the green pole. Gonna take care of that one in no time!

Anything I should know about my composition etc? Sharpness? DOF?

The sharpness is good. Some of the shots could have used a little smaller DOF, but not much. Its always better to make sure you have the couple in focus than it is to blur the crap out of everything.