How to look natural during your engagement photo session
If there’s one phrase that we as wedding photographers hear all the time it’s, “We’ve never done anything like this before”. Without fail, pretty much every single engagement photo session starts in that way. So don’t worry, you’re not alone!
One of the hardest things for people to do when they’re not used to it, is to look as natural as possible in front of the camera straight away. But with some coaching and minor adjustments, your engagement photo session can look as natural as the ones that you see on Pinterest! The main thing to remember, is to trust your wedding photographer that he or she knows what they’re doing to make you look your best!
Something that we’re very adamant about, is for you to dress comfortably. If you’re wearing something that you would never wear typically, you may not feel as confident or as natural as you would if you were wearing something that you would normally wear when you guys go out on a date, for example. What we typically suggest is exactly that: pretend you’re going out on a date together, what would you wear? Luckily in this situation usually you have each other to trade ideas back-and-forth before the engagement photo shoot!
Remember, you can always bring a change of clothes in case you want to do two looks, or if you want to have options once you see what it looks like on camera. We always show you what it’s looking like throughout so you can let us know if you want to make any changes! We love making sure you’re looking great to you!
Focus on one another
After being in front of a camera for sometime, you’ll start to feel a lot more natural! This is a great time to start ignoring us when we’re shooting around you. There are many moments where we will tell you go ahead and ignore us and pretend you guys are out on a date, and we begin shooting through objects to make it look more like a story! And as we mentioned before, throughout your engagement photo shoot, we will be reminding you as far as what to do with your hands, how to position yourselves, etc. A tip that we always give, is put your hands on each other. You always want your hands to be on each other, rather than your hands just hanging to the side.
Bring ideas and make them your own
Pinterest is a great place to get inspiration and ideas, however remember that this is your engagement shoot and you want photos that are specific and unique to you! Whenever we get Pinterest mood boards, we tend to analyze what theme you prefer, rather than copying exactly what we see. For example if we see that you prefer more of a candid look, we try to focus more on that candid look than the posed look. Or if you prefer more of the wide-angle kind of shots where it’s an environmental portrait with you guys in the photo, then we tend to focus on that as well. Typically there is an ongoing theme and most of us are drawn to very similar patterns when you really analyze it. Remember that the inspiration that you bring is just our jumping off point, and we want to give you something beautiful and unique to take home with you!
Hopefully this article can help you and your fiancé with feeling more comfortable with your engagement photo shoot. Of course if you have any questions please feel free to reach out to us and we will help you as much as we can!
