Jessica and Luke ~ Romance

had a chance to work with a couple recently.

they are to tie the knot some time soon in the future, but for now their smiles are for us to appreciate.. don't you remember when young love made you feel this way?

i used some natural light and for the other 3 shots i used a shoot thru umbrella with a 580EXII gelled with a 1/4 CTO triggered by radio poppers.

i have been asked about my couples photography and what are some of my key items for success...

so what i do with my clients:


most clients are not experienced in front of the camera, fact is 99 percent of the people i work with have never been professionally photographed in the past 2 years..

so what you the photographer must do is greet them and let them know you know this, and you have a method to help ease the session.. (the fact you tell them you have method, will make them feel better instantly)

after i discuss what type of output they want, (editorial vs standard, crop, black white, size of prints they want, etc) then i go into the composition of the set

composition of the set will be looking at a background or setting that is pleasing to me and if the client agrees, then we set up the shot.

here is where you better know your game..


you need to be able to:

engineer your lighting under 2 mins..
demonstrate your pose for the couple
then take the shots and review the shots with the couple and make adjustments with expressions and face direction, and your own personal adjustment, crop, angle, or abort.


lets talk about posing..

all of these shots are posed, but they look natural,
so here is how i achieve this..

i have an iPod Touch with lots of couples examples.. (mainly in the moment and natural human interactions) i show the couple the example database and they scroll thru the iPod and we select the pose and set up their own shot, it doesn't have to be exactly the same as the iPod, it is just for reference..
this database of poses is an important key to my success, i carry it with me during a wedding incase i go brain dead in the heat of the day..

poses must have a couple of things going for it:

1. Resting Pose - this is how you would sit down when nobody else is around, how you lean into some structure, hold your hand to support yourself on something, I call these resting poses - resting poses look natural
2. for couples, there must be a connection - being this is the reason why we are taking the photos right? - the couple must have physical, or eye to eye attraction, a general leaning towards each other
3. Smiles.. get the couple to crack up and laugh out loud.. everybody likes smiles or happy thoughts..


all of this is what i have learned in the past 2 years in doing photos. it is an important part of my couples photography..
if you applied some of these lessons i have learned you will make wonderful images.

phamster


1

#4 is getting spicy

your models always seem to be very interactive, and you capture there feelings flawlessly, nothing fake looking. how do you get your models comfortable and what/how do you tell them to do things?

ATXsouljah wrote in post #10110390
#4 is getting spicy

your models always seem to be very interactive, and you capture there feelings flawlessly, nothing fake looking. how do you get your models comfortable and what/how do you tell them to do things?

added the answer in the top of the post..

Really like #8. Great expressions

Great bump. Quite an insight into your working with some really useful info!

Nice pics Phamster.. is that an iPod app the one you use for the poses?

This is POTN at it's best, Phamster....instructio​nal and proof positive that the instructor knows what he's talking about. Thank you.

sorry, aint feeling it..they look very uncomfortable to me.

They look good to me

#7 Maybe

But i think they look great. I dunno if you were expecting them to come out like pro models but that should have been thrown out at the top of the post

Solid set Pham as usual.

And great advice.

Great photos as always, and thanks for the write up!

phamster, I really enjoy your work, you are great at explaining what you captured and how you got there. I have really learned a lot from you.

Nice shoot Pham! Thanks a lot for the info.

telles75 wrote in post #10655922
Nice pics Phamster.. is that an iPod app the one you use for the poses?

well the iPod is an iPod Touch.. and the app is the default photos program.. on the lower bottom right. icon looks like the daisy flower..

but it really critical to have poses if you go brain dead and for better explanation of how to do for a couple to see.. it has helped me alot this little iPod touch..

thanks everybody and so glad i can help out..

phamster

This is great thanks for all the info! now i need to load all the photos that inspired me to my ipod!