E-Sessions and Long Range lenses

i shot my first engagement session ... and i confess, it was hard ... i did some concept drawings before to give me an idea what to do... but i know i'm not going to be too happy with my products ...

my question as you can see in the title, how beneficial would it be to have ... say, a 70-200 lens on you for a shoot like this?

Engagement is great with short and long lenses, but longer causes extra framing and communication challenges. I like fast lenses and sometimes an ultrawide for engagements; I wouldn't have any desire to bring my 70-200. I only use that for church and outdoor ceremonies with long distances available to shoot from.

Ahh thanks for the tip

To each his own...I'm addicted to my 70-200. I like the Elvis approach....lil less conversation a lil more action. Let the couple do what's natural for them, with a dash of guidance.

I've done E-sessions where I've brought all my lenses with me but ended up leaving the 70-200 on my 5D the entire time. I find that couples relax a little more (if that's the look you're going for) when I'm farther away.

70-200 is more flattering than using a wide angle, I don't use my 70-200 nearly enough, I'm always blown away with the results. I also agree the couple get more relaxed when there's not a camera up in their faces.

yapin wrote in post #8259403
=yap'in;8259403]

my question as you can see in the title, how beneficial would it be to have ... say, a 70-200 lens on you for a shoot like this?

For me personally, it's an essential piece of kit as the 24-70 is, love the fact that I don't need to be in their faces and the IQ quality is very nice.

I have shot an engagement with my 70-200 in 99% of the shots, 1% came from 17-55...I love the results from 70-200, I asked the couple to hold hands, sit in the grass, talk, kiss, hig, etc and was basically going along them taking photos...They don't feel like I'm in their space and act natural...just my 0.02

Agreed. i added the 70-200 to my engagement shoot arsenal and it's been wonderful. I typically favor the 70-200 or the 85. Both are necessary for me.

Depends on your approach. I am set to buy a 70-200mm as my next lens. I kind of take my approach to engagements as shooting them in their natural state, I want to catch the way they interact and have a good time.

I also mix in posed shots and a lot of prime work for the shallow DoF, that's when you get to work with them and guage how they'd be photographed at their wedding.

I absolutely love my 70-200, best lens I own. But indoors... ouch it is difficult, at least on a 1.6x crop.