Devon Engagement Shoot (Picture heavy)

Very nice set as always. A couple of the landscapes don't look to me like they need the raised-black curve tone to quite that extent or at least not with that exposure, but as per usual the portraits themselves look great

For the jumping shot, it's not immediately apparent that they're off the walkway, it might be worth using a lower crop if you have one to get a bit more context on the feet, or just slightly burning the ground to give them a shadow to anchor them?
 
Cheers Ksanti. I like to keep the processing consistent, so I cant really apply my usual landscape preset.

Good idea with the shadow, I might give it ago and see if I can make it look natural.
 
I'm finding the harsh luminance in the mid day sun quite distracting in a lot of the shots and overpowering the focus of the image. Was there a conscious effort on your part to shoot with their backs to the sun?

Looks like it was quite a hard day for shooting with the harsh sun and as Ksanti has already said the lifted blacks don't work for landscapes but i understand you want all your photos to have a cohesive feel.

Some nice photos there but could do with a tighter edit for greater impact.
 
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Yes, if the light is less than optimal, Ill always put their backs to the sun.

Edit:

Also the blacks can vary allot depending on the monitor. On my ipads, retina macbook and thunderbolt display the blacks are deeper than my dell 3008 and netbooks etc.

From the sample prints from loxley, the images i get from the macs etc, are closer to what I get in print.
 
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Oh yeah sure, I get what you mean. My point was more that the images pre-curve seem like they were too dark in some cases. The first one in particular has about 30% clipped blacks across the frame and it might be nice to see a little more detail if it doesn't blow out the center of the frame?

And yeah I've started turning people away from the sun if it's an issue and I can't be bothered to set up reflectors and other modifiers. I'm not sure if I just didn't shoot in the sun with my 5D or if the D800 is allowing me that little bit more range to play with that sort of detail in the frame. Still, the flare I'm getting from my Sigma 85 is lovely to work with :)
 
Ksanti said:
And yeah I've started turning people away from the sun if it's an issue and I can't be bothered to set up reflectors and other modifiers. I'm not sure if I just didn't shoot in the sun with my 5D or if the D800 is allowing me that little bit more range to play with that sort of detail in the frame. Still, the flare I'm getting from my Sigma 85 is lovely to work with :)
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Yeh there is no way I would set up reflectors etc. not for couple sessions anyway.
I thought about shooting some 'models' off MM for fun, but it seems most don't appreciate the importance of 'good light' and can't understand why early afternoon didn't work for me.
 
Looks like you had great fun! How's about you number the shots next time :D

I really like the shot above the St Georges cross flag. Great variety in the set, nice work.
 
An Exception said:
Yeh there is no way I would set up reflectors etc. not for couple sessions anyway.
I thought about shooting some 'models' off MM for fun, but it seems most don't appreciate the importance of 'good light' and can't understand why early afternoon didn't work for me.
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Haha yeah it's not too hard to weed out the people who will actually put out good work and be easy to work with I've found. A couple of people will flake inevitably and a couple of people clearly don't have a clue what they're doing or talking about, but I've had a few even right from the start who've been great to work with, more so than most agency models I've had the (dis) pleasure of working with.

It's quite an inefficient way of sorting stuff out but then it is quite helpful if I need something specific or if I just fancy shooting on a certain day and don't fancy the "She's not even that pretty" crusaders getting on my back at school for the next two months that happens whenever I take photos of a girl from school. I'm pretty much sorted on models I know I can work with regularly for the moment though.

Idk if it's just that given I'm pretty much the same age as 90% of the people I shoot with but I've always found girls I shoot with pretty keen to learn or at least humour me when I explain light conditions etc. probably because when I shoot with girls it's about 50% about the shoot 50% basically just hanging out and getting to know each other.

I've been shooting around 3 o'clock lately and that's worked okay. Any later and it just gets too cold for most of my work.
 
Rojin said:
Rhys, haven't you got a younger brother you can take along to hold the reflector? :D
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Yeh but he's too shy with people he doesn't know. :o
Actually coming to think of it, he seems to be coming out of his shell lately considering he plays in a band, and has done some local live gigs.

Steves1982 said:
Very nice, about 5 miles from me.

Nice to see some photographs local to me on here :)
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Must be a great place to live. Just as we were leaving we even spotted some dolphins!
Charly_Simon_Engagement-73.jpg
 
Its nice to see some scenery shots but it seemed to me there was too much. Was there any intimate shot you perhaps got of them or superimposed to make it much more reflective of their love for one another. To me, the storyline your showing is like another couple on a day out.

Out of interest, do you give all the photos above to your clients on a CD?
 
Not possible to use some sort of fill flash? Personally feel that it would lift the images and give them a better general look.

Prime example is this
Devon_Wedding_Photographer-043.jpg


Personally feel that a catch light is especially vital in this sort of image due to the position of the sun. The guy also isn't looking at the camera which doesn't help either, yet the shadow just makes his entire face look flat.
 
Well as An Exception has said before, lugging around a big softbox or other light mods ruins the dynamic of this sort of shoot and makes shooting a whole lot more difficult. If you meant just a single flashgun on the hotshoe then they tend to do more harm than good in otherwise natural light situations imo
 
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Some cool pics mate but i feel some of the early shots taken in the forest loses me a bit in a way in which i struggle to find where the couple are!

a bit of cropping or better use of using a leading lines to follow the viewers eye to the subject would be better.

Also, ease up on the highlights! :)
 
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