This is my first e-session. I usually shoot as a hobby, only vacations, family events, etc., but my sister-in-law asked me to shoot a quick e-session, hoping to get one for a save the date. I'm very bad at posing and took a lot of inspiration from fellow FMer's.

5D2, 24-70L, 85 1.8, Sigma 50

Here we go. Please let me know your honest opinions!

Thanks!

1.

Nice man. 8, 9 , and 11 are standouts for me. I'd pull back on some of the vignetting, but some nice shots you have there.

Cheers,
Jeff

9 is the obvious ringer for me.

Some general feedback I'd like to give you is to try and get in tighter. When I was starting out I had a tendency to go wider than necessary. It was a real challenge for me to get in tight, but challenge yourself to get in tighter than you think you should. And then analyze your shots and think about whether you really did need the things you cut out or not.

That doesn't mean that all your shots have to be tight, but it's something I'd recommend experimenting with to help you further develop your mind's eye.

I would agree with Kurtis. Some of the shots appear to be shot out through a tunnel (1, 6, and 12 in particular). The vignetting is a bit too much in several of the shots (6 &11), but does work on 12.

One thing I'd advise you to do is to try to keep the WB consistent throughout a series. A cheap gray card will do wonders for consistency and will save you time in PP.

I think your sister in law will be happy with these.

BTW, another thing to mention - for a save the date card, you usually want to focus on both the guy and the girl, nice and close-up (because the save the date cards aren't all that big). You aren't showing a shot here that I think would work really well for save the date unless you crop a lot.

Some great advice from Kurtis and Lovesong

pretty good over all for a first e-sesison. i think it helped that you're related as they look very comfortable in front of the lens. The compositions are good, but i felt they were too safe. but that's just my opinion.

The composition is not bad, but I think you may want to practice different post processing techniques.

TTLKurtis wrote:
BTW, another thing to mention - for a save the date card, you usually want to focus on both the guy and the girl, nice and close-up (because the save the date cards aren't all that big). You aren't showing a shot here that I think would work really well for save the date unless you crop a lot.

I was sort of thinking along the same lines here. You need to have a really good shot of the two of them, not necessarily looking at the camera but them sharing a romantic moment and the shot really needs to focus on them composed somewhat tightly.

mosier wrote:
Some great advice from Kurtis and Lovesong

Totally agree!

Thanks so much for all your advices!

Now that I look that them, the photos do show too strong of vignetting.

WB is what I want to focus on next. I usually shot in AWB, but I know I need to get the consistency which is so important.

Hurtis, I will probably do another shoot (advantage to my sis-in-law for living 5 min away from me), to get that close couple shot you mention. You are right, I don't see one that really jumps out as a save the date card.

I will continue to try to improve. Thanks again to all!

8 is solid.
10 has serious potential, though I feel it could use some fill.
The set could benefit from going a bit easier on the vignettes