In my previous post I showed how I capture love. Those tight passionate shots only make up a part of my engagement shoots. Here is the detail of my pre-wedding or engagement portraits process. I have included my business targets in case they are of interest to those of you who shoot weddings for a living. I use just one lens and keep everything simple.
The business bit… My aim is to have about 60 or 70 frames to show the client so I find myself taking about 200 photographs in total during the session. I keep approximately 1 in 3 frames to show my clients who usually go on to buy 60 – 70% of what they see. I learned early on in my career not to show too many images. ‘No’ is not a great word to hear too many times in the viewing room. So we show only the best pictures. My client saying “no” more often than “yes” in the viewing room is a clear sign that something is wrong with my photography. “How do we choose? We love them all” is a target phrase. My aim is to produce an album with 40 or so pictures for the couple plus photographs in desk frames for each set of parents and grandparents. Other sales add ons include framed prints for desks at work and a large mounted print that the wedding guests can leave personal messages on.
The practical bit… I usually have about an hour and a half for the shoot so I have to work efficiently and keep the pace up. I meet my clients at 11am at a coffee shop near the waterfront in Bristol and within half an hour we are on the streets shooting. At 1pm they go to lunch at a local restaurant before heading over to my studio some 30 minutes away to view the photographs on the big screen. I get about 75 minutes back at the studio to weed out my pictures and process the 60 or so picks in Lightroom. Working fast has forced me to get it right in camera. Shooting film for many years in the 1980s and 90s helped in that regard too.
Camera kit… I keep my kit to the barest minimum and use just one lens on the camera, If I’m using my Canon 5D2 SLR I fit a 100mm f/2.8L macro. If I’m using my Fujifilm X-Pro1 I use a 60mm f/2.4 macro. The Canon is a better camera/ lens combination to use because the 100mm L lens has fantastic image stabilisation. I shoot both set ups at maximum aperture in manual mode. In my hand I have a camera and lens and in my camera bag I have a Fujifilm X100 camera as my backup, my car keys and wallet.
Keeping the kit simple means I can concentrate on creating and capturing definitive moments and not be distracted by the processes of photography.
The photographs… These 36 pictures are from one recent ‘Photographing Couples’ workshop I ran in the UK. If you like a pose or two why not pin them on an inspiration board using Pinterest or drag them to your desktop and add them to an app like Moodboard Pro.
Stay inspired! Coming up next is my third and final piece on photographing couples. I’ll share with you some intimate couples boudoir images and the business model behind the new genre. These are perfect for sporting couples who want to celebrate the hard work they put in at the gym in order to look tip top.
Please feel free to comment and ask me questions below or message me on or my site Prophotonut
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Thanks for the article! I love photographing couples – there is so much raw emotion there – always grateful for new tips.
Hi Joylene,
Thanks for your kind words. Stay inspired. Damien.
Great shots! Did you use flash or strictly natural light? Thanks
Thank you imagesbytdashfield. Just two out of the 34 pictures were lit with a single Speedlight on a stand. I use two point lighting whenever I can and shoot into the sun. I just so happen to be writing a piece about two point lighting for Photofocus right now. It will be published in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime you can take a look at some of my street portraits lit with natural light and Speedlights here.
Kind regards, Damien.
Thank you for the information.
Excellent article concise, easy to follow and the images backup the text very well. Very useful read before heading out on an engagement shoot. I will be adding it to my bookmarks.
Cheers
Jonny
Thanks Jonathan :)
I’m speechless. This is so well articulated, and the images are so simple and classic and beautiful. Thank you very much.
Thank you Levi. Your praise means a lot to me.
I’ve loved this piece, Damien! Thank you, thank you! You’ve written it at an ideal time for me. Great advice – my couples will have you to thank. I’m really looking forward to the final installment!
Thank you Anna, I am sure your couples will get the attention they deserve. “My business took off when I decided to put my customers first.” This is the kind of phrase that we often hear, but what does it mean to put customers first. In purely practical terms it means to shoot for them, not for you, not for competitions and not for the approval of other photographers. When I started to ignore seeking approval from my contemporaries and I stopped shooting for competitions my consistency of output became solid. There were no more peaks with dramatic award winning… Read more »
Hi Damien, my first time here but have followed your work for a couple of years and never fail to be impressed with your ‘way’ in which you explain your workflows. Love this post and thank you for generously sharing your experience and wonderful insight. Very best regards, Rob. SW Scotland.
Thanks Rob,
A stalker then, Haha. You are most welcome. It’s only my second time here too but if I can bring a new readership to this wonderful blog then I might be invited to stick around. Thank you for your encouragement and feedback. I think the plan is to publish my posts once a week so why not create a repeating diary event to visit Photofocus over coffee on a Wednesday morning and catch up on the posts for that week.
Stay inspired, Damien.
Sounds like a wonderful idea, Damien. As for stalkers, I’m sure I’m just one of a large crowd of us. You’re an inspiration. Keep up the amazing work you do. Best regards, R.
I really enjoyed reading this article. Thanks for going into all of the details about why to post/not to post the sky/background/eyes. It was informative and a fun read.
Thanks Bruce.
You are an inpiration for any photographer Damien and I love your work, lighting, and posing of any human being is a lesson to learn.
Hi Stephane, Thanks for your compliments.This is what I have learned so far about posing. Posing anyone is a process that starts with rapport. The most important 20 minutes of my pre wedding shoot is spent in the coffee shop before we start shooting. Empathy, and laughter builds trust and understanding. These are the tools that I use to pose. Knowing what needs to change to make a picture work is often the key rather than knowing how to pose someone. I start with the mechanical process of bringing the couple together in a place so the light is coming… Read more »
Damien, Your posts are truly inspiring. I appreciate all of the details of how you get the shots. I am more into architectural photography than people but I enjoy learning everything I can. Happy to see you on Photofocus!
Thank you Michael. You deserve a great weekend for your kind comments :) I’m just finding my feet here. I’m blogging diversity at the moment with Hollywood style portraits up next. Once I better understand the readership on this legendary platform I can start to target my posts more accurately. I’ve got 30 posts planned in my notes app and from then on in I’ll be feeling my way.
So articulate, detailed yet to the point, truly helpful. Beautiful, intimate work. Thanks for sharing!
HI ıam from Turkey i loved your photos.ijust wanted to ask whic program did u use to get this black and white photos thanks
Thanks for the article! I love photographing couples – there is so much raw emotion there – always grateful for new tips.
Hi Joylene,
Thanks for your kind words. Stay inspired. Damien.
Excellent article concise, easy to follow and the images backup the text very well. Very useful read before heading out on an engagement shoot. I will be adding it to my bookmarks.
Cheers
Jonny
Thanks Jonathan :)
Great shots! Did you use flash or strictly natural light? Thanks
Thank you imagesbytdashfield. Just two out of the 34 pictures were lit with a single Speedlight on a stand. I use two point lighting whenever I can and shoot into the sun. I just so happen to be writing a piece about two point lighting for Photofocus right now. It will be published in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime you can take a look at some of my street portraits lit with natural light and Speedlights here.
Kind regards, Damien.
Thank you for the information.
I’ve loved this piece, Damien! Thank you, thank you! You’ve written it at an ideal time for me. Great advice – my couples will have you to thank. I’m really looking forward to the final installment!
Thank you Anna, I am sure your couples will get the attention they deserve. “My business took off when I decided to put my customers first.” This is the kind of phrase that we often hear, but what does it mean to put customers first. In purely practical terms it means to shoot for them, not for you, not for competitions and not for the approval of other photographers. When I started to ignore seeking approval from my contemporaries and I stopped shooting for competitions my consistency of output became solid. There were no more peaks with dramatic award winning… Read more »
Hi Damien, my first time here but have followed your work for a couple of years and never fail to be impressed with your ‘way’ in which you explain your workflows. Love this post and thank you for generously sharing your experience and wonderful insight. Very best regards, Rob. SW Scotland.
Thanks Rob,
A stalker then, Haha. You are most welcome. It’s only my second time here too but if I can bring a new readership to this wonderful blog then I might be invited to stick around. Thank you for your encouragement and feedback. I think the plan is to publish my posts once a week so why not create a repeating diary event to visit Photofocus over coffee on a Wednesday morning and catch up on the posts for that week.
Stay inspired, Damien.
Sounds like a wonderful idea, Damien. As for stalkers, I’m sure I’m just one of a large crowd of us. You’re an inspiration. Keep up the amazing work you do. Best regards, R.
HI ıam from Turkey i loved your photos.ijust wanted to ask whic program did u use to get this black and white photos thanks
Damien, Your posts are truly inspiring. I appreciate all of the details of how you get the shots. I am more into architectural photography than people but I enjoy learning everything I can. Happy to see you on Photofocus!
Thank you Michael. You deserve a great weekend for your kind comments :) I’m just finding my feet here. I’m blogging diversity at the moment with Hollywood style portraits up next. Once I better understand the readership on this legendary platform I can start to target my posts more accurately. I’ve got 30 posts planned in my notes app and from then on in I’ll be feeling my way.
You are an inpiration for any photographer Damien and I love your work, lighting, and posing of any human being is a lesson to learn.
Hi Stephane, Thanks for your compliments.This is what I have learned so far about posing. Posing anyone is a process that starts with rapport. The most important 20 minutes of my pre wedding shoot is spent in the coffee shop before we start shooting. Empathy, and laughter builds trust and understanding. These are the tools that I use to pose. Knowing what needs to change to make a picture work is often the key rather than knowing how to pose someone. I start with the mechanical process of bringing the couple together in a place so the light is coming… Read more »
I really enjoyed reading this article. Thanks for going into all of the details about why to post/not to post the sky/background/eyes. It was informative and a fun read.
Thanks Bruce.
I’m speechless. This is so well articulated, and the images are so simple and classic and beautiful. Thank you very much.
Thank you Levi. Your praise means a lot to me.
So articulate, detailed yet to the point, truly helpful. Beautiful, intimate work. Thanks for sharing!