Help with engagement photos

Hello and congrats!


I think it’s a great idea that you are trying to help her out, and I think they’ll turn out great! First start by finding inspiration pictures, and just be natural. Off guard pics are usually the best ones, and lastly be patient, since she’s not so experienced she may take longer.
Good luck!

View Quoted Comment Hey thanks for that tip! I’m going to direct her to this forum

Dear Marissa,

Thank you for your post! We had a similar situation, as my boss at the time of our engagement's daughter was a new photographer, however very good with a camera. She was only 16 at the time. She charged us about $60 for an hour shoot at a location in between our two homes, and we insisted that we pay her at least $100. She edited over 50 photos of us, and my current profile picture is one of them. That took about two weeks, max to receive all the edited photos. We really appreciated how everything turned out, and she pulled out a few really cool techniques with the fall leaves as well!

My biggest con was that she wasn't experienced and I basically directed the whole shoot. As someone who likes to be in control most of the time, this wasn't an issue for me, but Campbell had a hard time liking some of the photos because he didn't know how to angle/position himself and thought that he looked "overweight" in some pictures. There are several photos that went in the "NO" bin because of that. In addition, she didn't take a photo unless we asked her to... So, no candids. All of that walking through the forest? 15 minutes of us walking the same 10 steps over... and over... and over... Under my direction...

After being engaged for two years, and after two years of growing more together, we decided kind of last-minute to have another engagement session with the photographer that will be shooting for our wedding (we were originally going to use this session for an important date down the road, after we were married; since we'd already taken engagement photos). It'll take about two months to get all 150 photos back, but we've received about an 8th of them for the "sneak peak" that night and are absolutely thrilled so far. Campbell hasn't been nearly as nit-picky with this shoot.

So, my biggest pro would be that: if they're just starting out; it's not going to be $500+ and if you decide that these aren't really the photos for you, you can always have the opportunity to play model another day, with a photographer who has a more extensive portfolio! Also, if you're good friends with the photographer, they might know what to look for better than a random hire.

I hope this response helps a little bit! I went ahead and attached some photos from our initial shoot to give you an idea of what we received (just for reference, my FH doesn't like any of these ). Again, thanks for your post and I'm excited to see what your friend can do!

Aubrianna Abbema

View Quoted Comment That’s awesome they turned out cute! But I’m afraid my fiancé will be nit picky too lol he is my adorable cinnamon roll and is a fluffy dude. Potential to lose weight before the shoot but we’ll see how this turns out.

View Quoted Comment Dear Marissa,


Yeah! Campbell has had a lot of opportunity but as a professional chef he doesn’t spend too much time away from the kitchen, haha... Here are a few screenshots from our sneak peak and you can tell the difference in quality in placement, etc. This is my first time sharing them, and they’re just screenshots as were waiting for the full album to download the digital copies. Like I said, we may have 1/8th of the total photos right now!
We weren’t told “do this! Do that!” It was more of a “hey, why don’t you try sitting in front?” And we would have conversations like that, and she would take pictures as we talked amongst ourselves and as a whole.
Overall, we felt much more comfortable the second time and it was really nice to sit back, have some wine, and not delegate or multi-manage. Having said that, I’m really glad that we had both opportunities because we change so much over such a small amount of time!
Thanks again for your response and I can’t wait to see the final results!!!😊
PS: Does anyone like “My Age of Anxiety,” reference? ‘Tis is the age!😂

Aubrianna Abbema

View Quoted Comment The others turned out amazing!!