Tag Archives: engagement

Fun engagement portraits and getting a new lens

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I’ve had a lot of really nice engagement portrait sessions this winter.  The weather has been fantastic, I’ve noticed I had more work this winter then last year probably because of the nice weather.  I actually don’t have anything scheduled this weekend, but I have a couple of engagement session for the next.

I’m getting a new portrait lens the Sigma 85mm f1.4.  You might wonder why I’m not buying the Nikon version of this lens.  I almost exclusively use Nikon, my go to lenses the 24-70 f2.8 and 70-200 f2.8 are fantastic.  Ryan Brenizer, a photographer I really trust, reviewed the Sigma lens and really loved it.  With the problems in Japan, Nikon lenses are so expensive and hard to get right now, I just decided to go with the Sigma instead.  The reason I’m mentioning this, is this will probably be my new lens for engagement pictures, at least for many shots.  For example the Bokeh, or out of focus sun coming through the trees in the first image, with the 85mm prime lens at f1.4 would be much creamier and and softer.  It makes for a really amazing look.  It’s harder to use a prime lens of course, because you have to zoom with your feet.  Also accurate focus is critical when shooting at very wide apertures like f1.4.  I’m going to give the lens a good try and I’ll probably write a review myself as well.

The couple featured below was a lot of fun.  They haven’t set a date for the wedding yet, so I was just doing engagement pictures separately from the wedding.  They were very happy and couldn’t stop smiling at each other, it made for a lot of fun candid shots.  I hope you enjoy some of the pictures below.

Engagement portrait in front of the oak trees - Myrtle Beach State Park

Engagement portrait in front of the oak trees - Myrtle Beach State Park

Couple sitting on the oak tree in black and white. - Myrtle Beach State Park

Couple sitting on the oak tree in black and white. - Myrtle Beach State Park

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Engagement portraits at Magnolia Plantation in Charleston, SC

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This is my first time visiting the Magnolia Plantation.  It’s a very nice area, it reminds me a lot of Brookgreen Gardens.  Unlike Brookgreen though we were allowed to go wherever we wanted to do the pictures and spend as much time as well.  I had a lot of fun walking around for an hour or so with the couple and finding places to do shots.  The first time to an area takes a bit of experimenting and exploring around.

We had some pretty strong early afternoon sunlight which can be difficult at the beach or in an open area, but being in a nice area with plenty of trees and shade it’s not really a problem.  In fact the strong sun gives some nice Bokeh from the pinpoints of light reflecting off the trees, you can see this especially on the first image.  You can tell if someone has a really good lens not by looking at what is in focus, but by looking at the quality of the out of focus areas.

I really liked the old fence where the horses were as well, you can see a number of shots from that spot below.  The bamboo was really cool as well, but what I really wanted was evening sun showing through the Bamboo, and I couldn’t really get that, I’ll try again at this couple’s wedding in December. It should be very nice and will be later in the day so things should go even better.  Let me know in the comments if you like the pictures.

Kiss on a bridge, shot with 70-200 f2.8 - Magnolia Plantation Charleston

Kiss on a bridge, shot with 70-200 f2.8 - Magnolia Plantation Charleston

Kiss in front of a lake, push process black and white - Magnolia Plantation Charleston

Kiss in front of a lake, push process black and white - Magnolia Plantation Charleston

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Highlights from the first half of May

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This is such a busy time of the year I can’t really post about each wedding on my blog, I just don’t have time.  But I wanted to highlight a few pictures from the last couple of weeks.  One was a wedding in Andrews, SC of the same bride featured in my previous blog post.  I’ve also included a few family and engagement portraits from the Myrtle Beach State Park.  I discovered a new spot for pictures I really like at the park, at least the way the light is right now.  It’s the drainage ditch for land runoff into the ocean.  You don’t want to get in that water, but it makes a really great background at sunset.

Another thing I’ve done at my last couple of weddings is display pictures from the ceremony on my iPad.  When I get a chance at the reception, I will load in a few pictures from earlier in the day and put them up in a slideshow.  This seems to go over really well, there was almost always a small group around the iPad looking at the pictures.  I’m going to try and start doing this from now on.

Another fun thing I’ve been doing, which I will have more pictures of later on, is working with the latest Pocket Wizard wireless flash triggers.  I’ve been good for a long time at seeing great light and making use of it.  But now I’m trying to get better at making good light myself, even under bad conditions, using multiple flashes.  The http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/ website is a great resource for really learning advanced flash techniques if you want to learn more.  I hope you enjoy some of the pictures below.

Groom leaning bride back for a kiss - Kingston Plantation

Groom leaning bride back for a kiss - Kingston Plantation

Kiss on the beach walkway faded color effect - Kingston Plantation

Kiss on the beach walkway faded color effect - Kingston Plantation

 

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Cute engagement portraits at the Myrtle Beach State Park

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I haven’t posted anything to the blog in a while so I decided I better make a post so everyone doesn’t think I’ve stopped working.  Actually, I’ve been extremely busy and it has made it hard to take the time to do this, and of course I’ve been playing with my new iPad 2 a bit as well :)   Being a photographer is a good excuse to tell your wife you need an iPad.  I’ve got some really great bridal portraits I’m going to be posting soon, I just have to wait a few weeks until after the wedding to make sure the groom doesn’t see what the dress looks like.

I thought I would put up some pictures from a recent pre-engagement session as the Myrtle Beach State Park.  This is a young couple that is not actually engaged yet but wanted to do some pictures.  They started out a bit shy and uncomfortable, the guy in the pictures was actually hearing impaired, but could read lips.  I find it amazing that someone can do that, I just had to be careful to speak towards him.  I try to be really easy going and make the pictures as fun as possible, I know it’s not easy trying to be romantic with someone pointing a camera at you.  I thought the pictures ended up being really cute and fun, I hope you enjoy some of them below.  And remember, many clients are nervous about getting pictures done, but it’s really not that bad.  It can actually end up being pretty fun, I hear that from a lot of clients after their appointment.

Pre engagement pictures with a young couple - Myrtle Beach State Park

Pre engagement pictures with a young couple - Myrtle Beach State Park

Sunset light coming through the trees - Myrtle Beach State Park

Sunset light coming through the trees - Myrtle Beach State Park

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