First engagement shoot

Hey everyone. Luckily I was able to accompany a local photographer to an engagement shoot, and I'm going to start assisting him at weddings. Real cool bunch of people, and I had a great time.... Would love to get some feedback from some of the pros who do this all the time.

1.

I'm certainly no pro, so please take my comments with a grain of salt and hopefully as constructive criticism:

#1 Could be a very nice shot, but could use some work. Looks like a simple desaturation. You should look up "black and white conversion" online in order to work with the individual color channels and layering them together when converting to B&W, which will give your image much more impact.

#2 Color is lacking some color punch - might have been overexposed slightly, which washes out some of the colors. Also, focus on the eyes is imperative. Either the focus was missed or your DOF is too thin at f/2.8 to nail sharpness on the eyes. Also, they're not looking at the camera, which is ok, but they should be looking with some directionality (ie, like into the frame, or even out of the frame.) Their eyes appear to be oriented towards looking at something on the ground.

#3 I think has the nicest color balance and exposure of all the pictures. I love the way that they are posed, with him standing behind (as evident by their lower bodies) but with their upper bodies almost side-by-side. I think it may have been a little bit better if DOF was a little bit thinner. Off-camera flash on your two subjects would've been awesome, but I know that's not always possible.

#4 Nicely done - I'm sure a lot of people will like this. Personally, if I'm going to have couples walking away with back toward me (ie, toward the image viewer), they should be holding hands.

#5 His shadow across her face detracts from the image. Her facial expression does not display happiness or any other emotion - it looks like she was caught in between saying/doing something. Again, eyes are not super-sharp.

#6 Really great warmth and togetherness in this image. I would again suggest that you work on your B&W conversion, and you could have a really stellar image here. This one looks like an incomplete desaturation.

#7 I'm iffy on this one - some one complain about the hay/straw/weeds (whatever, I'm a city boy ) in front of their faces, but I don't mind it. I think his eyes need to be sharper, though

#8. In this one, the branches are a little bit more distracting than they were in #7 because they are sharper than your subjects. A better idea would have been to move them away from the foliage, and focus on them, shooting through the foliage so that it's more out-of-focus. Also, I don't like that she's posing/smiling into the camera, and he's looking into the distance. It creates a disconnect between the two of them.

All in all, a pretty good first shoot, but there are recommendations I would make for future shots:
- Nail your focus on the eyes. They should be the sharpest part of any portrait
- Work on your white balance. I realize that some of these are "off" due to the time of day they were shot, making lighting really difficult
- Black and white conversions, if done properly, can really give your images some more impact
- In general, watch your compositional elements, particularly so that the couple is interacting (poses, glances, making sure they "match up," etc.)

I hope this commentary helps!

I like #'s 2 & 6. I do a fair share of portraits and I think the setting is almost as important as the gear you use. #2 works for me because the couple, their expressions, the way you used the background to focus on them is just wonderful. The last few shots the branches just get in the way. It distracts from the couple and makes their faces the background, not the subject. Also, give #2 some more contrast and saturate it some more. Sharpen it, if that helps. You can really make that image sing.

Keep at it. I have a few spots I do couples shots that are wonderful. This time of year is tough. It's the nature of the beast. See if you can find some old abandoned barns or rail stations. Works great around here in VA.

2 and 8 are definitely flat and need some contrast. I like 6 but it also could use some pop in the blacks.

DocMike wrote in post #11789028
I'm certainly no pro, so please take my comments with a grain of salt and hopefully as constructive criticism:

#1 Could be a very nice shot, but could use some work. Looks like a simple desaturation. You should look up "black and white conversion" online in order to work with the individual color channels and layering them together when converting to B&W, which will give your image much more impact.

#2 Color is lacking some color punch - might have been overexposed slightly, which washes out some of the colors. Also, focus on the eyes is imperative. Either the focus was missed or your DOF is too thin at f/2.8 to nail sharpness on the eyes. Also, they're not looking at the camera, which is ok, but they should be looking with some directionality (ie, like into the frame, or even out of the frame.) Their eyes appear to be oriented towards looking at something on the ground.

#3 I think has the nicest color balance and exposure of all the pictures. I love the way that they are posed, with him standing behind (as evident by their lower bodies) but with their upper bodies almost side-by-side. I think it may have been a little bit better if DOF was a little bit thinner. Off-camera flash on your two subjects would've been awesome, but I know that's not always possible.

#4 Nicely done - I'm sure a lot of people will like this. Personally, if I'm going to have couples walking away with back toward me (ie, toward the image viewer), they should be holding hands.

#5 His shadow across her face detracts from the image. Her facial expression does not display happiness or any other emotion - it looks like she was caught in between saying/doing something. Again, eyes are not super-sharp.

#6 Really great warmth and togetherness in this image. I would again suggest that you work on your B&W conversion, and you could have a really stellar image here. This one looks like an incomplete desaturation.

#7 I'm iffy on this one - some one complain about the hay/straw/weeds (whatever, I'm a city boy ) in front of their faces, but I don't mind it. I think his eyes need to be sharper, though

#8. In this one, the branches are a little bit more distracting than they were in #7 because they are sharper than your subjects. A better idea would have been to move them away from the foliage, and focus on them, shooting through the foliage so that it's more out-of-focus. Also, I don't like that she's posing/smiling into the camera, and he's looking into the distance. It creates a disconnect between the two of them.

All in all, a pretty good first shoot, but there are recommendations I would make for future shots:
- Nail your focus on the eyes. They should be the sharpest part of any portrait
- Work on your white balance. I realize that some of these are "off" due to the time of day they were shot, making lighting really difficult
- Black and white conversions, if done properly, can really give your images some more impact
- In general, watch your compositional elements, particularly so that the couple is interacting (poses, glances, making sure they "match up," etc.)

I hope this commentary helps!

Wow, thanks for that Mike. I'm definitely going to look into the B&W conversion, because you're right, it's just a simple de-saturation above. I didn't want to interact with the couple too much, because like I said, I was accompanying another photographer, and he was the main dude, so I was just working with what I could get. Thanks for taking the time for C&C on them!

SuzyView wrote in post #11789820
I like #'s 2 & 6. I do a fair share of portraits and I think the setting is almost as important as the gear you use. #2 works for me because the couple, their expressions, the way you used the background to focus on them is just wonderful. The last few shots the branches just get in the way. It distracts from the couple and makes their faces the background, not the subject. Also, give #2 some more contrast and saturate it some more. Sharpen it, if that helps. You can really make that image sing.

Keep at it. I have a few spots I do couples shots that are wonderful. This time of year is tough. It's the nature of the beast. See if you can find some old abandoned barns or rail stations. Works great around here in VA.

Hotsauce wrote in post #11789842
2 and 8 are definitely flat and need some contrast. I like 6 but it also could use some pop in the blacks.

Thanks, Suzy and Hotsauce.... I'm definitely going to get back in lightroom and look into what you've mentioned. I just recently started shooting ETTR (Exposure to the right), so all of them needed some exposure correction, saturation, and contrast adjustment, but I'm still working with them to get them just right.