# Engagement Session from 9/19/17. Pic heavy.



## crimbfighter (Sep 21, 2017)

I had an engagement session with a fun and goofy couple on the 19th. I really liked the way this session turned out. My new editing style is finding it's groove. There were so many I liked that I had a hard time choosing ones for the post!

Full gallery can be seen here:
Kiel and Alex Engagement

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## Tomasko (Sep 21, 2017)

Very nice set, but I have a small issue with posing. Some poses look a bit weird (both looking different ways?) and the girl even tilts her head away from the guy in few shots.
My favourites would be probably #10 and #12. In my opinion they show their love the best. Other shots are clearly posed and not very natural.


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## crimbfighter (Sep 21, 2017)

Tomasko said:


> Very nice set, but I have a small issue with posing. Some poses look a bit weird (both looking different ways?) and the girl even tilts her head away from the guy in few shots.
> My favourites would be probably #10 and #12. In my opinion they show their love the best. Other shots are clearly posed and not very natural.


Thanks for the reply. You're right to notice the posing as this couple was actually very awkward when it came to posing. They are not your typically affectionate couple, so getting the poses I got was a challenge. Nearly every image they had to be talked through the entire pose, so if they look awkward, it's because they were!


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## smoke665 (Sep 21, 2017)

Very nice, #9 & 14 are my favorites. Only small ding would be that some of them appear they might benefit from a slight increase in saturation on the skin tones. #14 on my monitor appears the best of the bunch on nice healthy skin tones.


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## tirediron (Sep 21, 2017)

Nice set; I don't quite 'get' #10, but overall?  Well done!


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## crimbfighter (Sep 21, 2017)

smoke665 said:


> Very nice, #9 & 14 are my favorites. Only small ding would be that some of them appear they might benefit from a slight increase in saturation on the skin tones. #14 on my monitor appears the best of the bunch on nice healthy skin tones.


Thanks for the comments! I find it's a fine balance with skin tones and I tend to fall just on the side of less saturated. Granted, I've made some significant changes to my editing style, so it is still a work in progress.



tirediron said:


> Nice set; I don't quite 'get' #10, but overall?  Well done!


Thanks! #10 was one of those "let's try something different" moments. Some work, some dont.. I was going for more of a silhouette and it was in the parking garage on the way back to the car. Certainly not everyone's cup of tea, but I liked it.


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## smoke665 (Sep 21, 2017)

crimbfighter said:


> I find it's a fine balance with skin tones and I tend to fall just on the side of less saturated.



So true, I also noticed the slight red tint to the young man's cheeks, something that a digital image always seems to emphasis. I share that same problem with my granddaughter.


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## TheLibrarian (Sep 23, 2017)

Color and exposure seem nice and technical. None pop, they seem not exciting and composition could be better. The first with the stairs could use the stairs more. Less use of the side rail and maybe come out a bit further and go straight up the stairs. I often try to squeeze people into the photo and show them but see nice things where the people are much smaller than i would do and it comes out nice using more landscape and background. Likewise the door in number 5 could be used to frame them better which might make a more stylized shot. But very nice overall.


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## crimbfighter (Oct 12, 2017)

tirediron said:


> Nice set; I don't quite 'get' #10, but overall?  Well done!


The irony of these shoots sometimes is how you never know which ones the clients will really like. #10 turned out to be the one they liked the most and the one they wanted in the larger print! 



TheLibrarian said:


> Color and exposure seem nice and technical. None pop, they seem not exciting and composition could be better. The first with the stairs could use the stairs more. Less use of the side rail and maybe come out a bit further and go straight up the stairs. I often try to squeeze people into the photo and show them but see nice things where the people are much smaller than i would do and it comes out nice using more landscape and background. Likewise the door in number 5 could be used to frame them better which might make a more stylized shot. But very nice overall.


Thanks for the suggestions! Always appreciated!


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## Derrel (Oct 12, 2017)

GOOD set! Wow....somehow I missed this post way back in Sept...nice work. Varied. Fun. Well-processed. GOOD expressions. Authentic.


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## crimbfighter (Oct 13, 2017)

Derrel said:


> GOOD set! Wow....somehow I missed this post way back in Sept...nice work. Varied. Fun. Well-processed. GOOD expressions. Authentic.


Thanks, Darrel!


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## Braineack (Oct 18, 2017)

Derrel said:


> GOOD set! Wow....somehow I missed this post way back in Sept...nice work. Varied. Fun. Well-processed. GOOD expressions. Authentic.



did you view the full set too?  I like many of those better than shared here too!


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## crimbfighter (Oct 18, 2017)

sinfultones said:


> Nice set!


Thanks!



Braineack said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> > GOOD set! Wow....somehow I missed this post way back in Sept...nice work. Varied. Fun. Well-processed. GOOD expressions. Authentic.
> ...


Thanks Braineack! If you don't mind, which ones from the full set did you like more? I like to hear others perspectives on what they like. It helps me critique myself.


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## Derrel (Oct 18, 2017)

crimbfighter said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> > GOOD set! Wow....somehow I missed this post way back in Sept...nice work. Varied. Fun. Well-processed. GOOD expressions. Authentic.
> ...



39,615 times here it has been D_e_r_r_e_l. On every single post my name is spelled,properly, right there. My grandfather's first name; my dad's middle name; my birth name. It kind of irritates me that I spent time looking at 108 of your pictures on Flickr, and you spell my name incorrectly. I take it as a slap in the face.


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## crimbfighter (Oct 18, 2017)

Derrel said:


> crimbfighter said:
> 
> 
> > Derrel said:
> ...


Sorry about that, Derrel, it certainly wasn't intentional. Typing your name is an automatic thing and I didn't realize I was doing it. Now that I know, I'll be conscious of it in the future.


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## Braineack (Oct 19, 2017)

crimbfighter said:


> Thanks Braineack! If you don't mind, which ones from the full set did you like more? I like to hear others perspectives on what they like. It helps me critique myself.



I think the biggest thing I'm noticing with your shots is the framing.   Some of them are a little too tight for my liking, and where you don't get a sense of the environment around them. 10 and 11 are good examples versus 14, 15 and 16.  I realize the first two are more candid and you captured an awesome moment between them, but to me when I look, they just kind of look odd in the frame.  A super close up here of the facial expressions could have been cool.  The later set made good use of the surrounding elements to give the shot a unique element. I like #16 and how you've framed them above the railing and how it runs OOF in the foreground.

The shots of her drinking water are shots I struggle with.  To me they look odd, I don't like the angle shooting down on her and I don't like the angles of the vertical elements, and she's just kind of there in frame.  I know it was a cute moment, and I'm pretty sure I know why you took the shot, but I wish there was a better creative solution to it.  again, I struggle here.

A few others have unusual angles that don't quite work--I realize you're probably experimenting--but ones like 96 and 96 don't work for me.  luckily you have so many other winners in the entire set. But this is good because you're able to find out what works or doesn't work without them all being shot the same way.

Some others are they are low in the frame like 98-100.  I have this exact same problem -- it's usually tied to my focus point with my very small focus areas and using the center point.

a lot of them are the same pose over and over, there's some funny faces here and there, but one thing I've learned is that you can't always rely on the subjects to pose perfectly and sometimes you gotta make the magic.  Having some reference shots on a phone to refer back to might help you get some creative juices flowing.

I quite like #7 -- I'd just bring up the shadows in the faces a bit, especially on hers.

#12 is a cool shot to get the detail of the ring.  I like the idea of tossing in shots like these of details of holding hands and very shallow DOF.

you picked #21 to share, I like #20 better.  The way she's looking at him is perfect.

#46 is really cool with the leading line of the wall and then going back to OOF -- I personally like this sort of shot.  I'd edit out the power box.

#68 is great.  I'm a fan of backlit scenes.

I like the attempt at #65 -- keep experimenting with that.

I like almost all the shots along the brick wall 80-87 -- 87 is a great shot of the guy.

#88 makes more sense as a silhouette to me -- I would have tossed the one shown here


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## crimbfighter (Oct 19, 2017)

Braineack said:


> crimbfighter said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks Braineack! If you don't mind, which ones from the full set did you like more? I like to hear others perspectives on what they like. It helps me critique myself.
> ...


Thanks for taking the time to provide the feedback, I appreciate it! You've made some great suggestions. I particularly like the idea of keeping some reference shots on my phone. I remember thinking about that some time ago, but forgot about trying it. You were also spot on with your observation about experimenting. I still haven't yet developed a large repertoire of poses, so there is quite a bit of trial and error on every shoot. I have heard one school of thought about culling similar shots down to only one of that pose, but I seem to prefer providing several slight variants, if I have them. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like people often have slightly different tastes than I do, or for some reason may prefer a small difference in one photo over another.


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