Tag Archives: romantic

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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Fun wedding at Kingston Plantation in North Myrtle Beach

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Kingston Plantation seems to be one of my usual spots, like the Grand Dunes, that I end up going to frequently.  It’s nice when I get to work at the same location multiple times, I can really get to know all the good photo spots after a while.   It’s also nice because it’s out of the Myrtle Beach city limits so you don’t have to worry about getting fined by trying to take pictures on the beach.  This couple was a lot of fun, I got a lot of just casual, fun shots of them as well as really nice posed shots as well.  I know it’s hard to relax at a wedding, but if you can and just try to act silly and not worry about things too much it makes for a lot better photos.  I tried to pick out some shots to highlight that were more unique to this wedding.  We did a lot of normal poses of course that turned out great, but I tried to highlight some that were more candid or a bit different.  I hope you like them.

First look at the bride - Kingston Plantation - North Myrtle Beach

First look at the bride - Kingston Plantation - North Myrtle Beach

Passing the rings among the family during the ceremony - Kingston Plantation - North Myrtle Beach

Passing the rings among the family during the ceremony - Kingston Plantation - North Myrtle Beach

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Wedding and sunset pictures at Ocean Isle Beach, NC

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Sorry I haven’t posted to the blog in over a month.  The idea was I wanted to put up a blog post after weddings to show pictures from different location and events.  What I realized is in the summer I just don’t have time.  What I’m thinking I will do is during my slower months, I’m going to go back through all my spring and summer weddings, and put up some post about them.  So it should get more regular soon.  Also, sorry about the delays in getting proofs up and orders done, I’ll be getting caught up here in the next few weeks.

I always like doing weddings up at Ocean Isle, it’s such a pretty location.  It’s a lot like the Garden City area where you have the ocean on one side and the marsh area on the other.  The sun was still pretty bright and harsh during the wedding itself, but it turned out fine.  Later I was able to get some pictures of the couple a little while before sunset that I just loved.  I actually tried to get them to go out right when the sun was actually setting, but they were too tired by that point to do it.  I ran out and took just a sunset picture without them because it was so pretty.  I’ll post a few of the pictures below, actually there are lots of pictures from this wedding I loved in addition to these few, but I just don’t have time to post them. Remember you can always see a lot more if you stop by my home office to talk about a wedding.

Almost ready for the ceremony

Almost ready for the ceremony - Ocean Isle Beach, NC

Dad saying goodbye

Dad saying goodbye - Ocean Isle Beach, NC

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