We are Washington DC documentary wedding photographers. That means we will capture you experiencing the emotions of your marriage celebrations authentically. We won’t stage shots or coach you on what you should do during most parts of your wedding day. That said, there are some times when we will pose you. Namely, when we’re taking your family formals and couples portraits. You’re going to be a lot happier when we take a more active role in setting up those shots. And the same is true for your engagement photos. Though we are committed to creating portraits that look and feel natural, we’ve learned that even a little bit of posing can go a long way. Why is that? Read on to learn more about why posing you for engagement photos helps you get unforgettable portraits you’ll treasure forever!
We Want to Make the Engagement Session Easier for You
One thing we tell every prospective client during their first consultation call is that being photographed is weird. Unless you or your future spouse are models, you’ve probably never had your portraits done by a professional photographer before. And even then, it’s likely that you haven’t been photographed together. So a lot about the experience will be new and surprising. For example, you’ll learn that when your face is inches from your partner’s, their eyes blob together and make them look like a cyclops!
Unfortunately, discoveries like that are a lot funnier in hindsight. During your engagement session, they can just make you uneasy and uncomfortable. And even more unfortunately, when you don’t feel right, your portraits often don’t look right.
To make sure that this doesn’t happen to you, we use posing to make the experience less awkward. For example, we start every session with three very simple poses that help you and your partner loosen up. First, we have you look right at us and smile – the classic picture that will go on your grandma’s mantel. Then we have you look at each other with your faces almost touching while we take a romantic closeup. Finally, we’ll position you for a wide-angle shot that includes a lot of the surrounding scenery. (It’s important to note that this idea is not originally ours. We owe Two Mann Studios a tremendous debt of gratitude for teaching it to us!)
Even after you’ve warmed up, we’ll continue using posing to help make the session easier for you. Unsure what to do with your hands? We’ve got plenty of ideas! Still finding it hard to get in the groove? We’ll introduce a bit of movement to help you relax! The vibe feel too serious? We’ll know some ways to make you laugh!
We Want You to Love How You Look in Your Engagement Portraits
The next reason we’ll pose you for your engagement pictures is that we know what matters most to you. At the end of the day, neither the setting nor our creativity are the most important thing. No, what you care about above everything else is how you look in the photos. (Trust us when we tell you we understand this very well. We recently had our own couples portraits done, and that was the first thing we looked at too!)
The problem is that no matter how comfortable you are being photographed, you can’t see yourselves as it’s happening. So you have no idea how the light is falling on you. Or whether your arm is accidentally blocking your partner’s face. Or whether you’re standing in a way that inadvertently looks awkward.
That’s where we come in. As we’re creating each of your portraits, we’re looking at every element of the composition to make sure you look your best. And we’re constantly making adjustments to ensure you look stunning. If the light is unflattering, we’ll move you around or use our flashes to balance things out. If one of you is blocking the other, we’ll tweak the pose to fix that. And if something about how you’re posing doesn’t look right, we’ll change things up until it does.
We Want to Your Engagement Photos to Be Works of Art
The final reason why posing helps make your engagement portraits unforgettable is that it allows us to do some really creative shots. We want to give you pictures with bold colors, dramatic angles, striking lighting contrasts and a lot of other dazzling effects. In other words, we want to give you gorgeous works of art that you’ll want to print and hang on your wall. We’ve got tons of ideas, plenty of experience and all the equipment we need to make this happen for you.
To create art for you, though, we also need one other thing. Namely, the ability to position you exactly where we need you in the frame. In a true work of art, everything in the composition must be in precisely the right spot to create the perfect visual effect. And that includes you!
Perhaps more importantly, creative engagement photography usually requires artificial lighting. All those bold colors and striking contrasts? We usually use our flashes to add those effects. And to get them to look just right, we have to pose you. For example, if we create a silhouette of you we need to position you so that your profiles are facing us. Or if we’re doing night portraits with you illuminated, we need to pose you so that the light is falling on you. (And so that neither one of you is casting a shadow on the other!)
Any Questions or Concerns About Posing for Engagement Photos? Just Ask Us!
Hopefully, we’ve done a good job of explaining why us posing you for your engagement photos helps ensure you get beautiful portraits. The kind that bring a tear of joy to your eye because they (and you!) look just that gorgeous! It is super important, though, that you feel 100% comfortable with the process and our approach. So in the leadup to your engagement session, please don’t hesitate to raise any questions or concerns that you have with us. We love talking about what we do, so chatting with our couples about how we’re going to make them look great is a joy for us!
We also want you to communicate with us during your session. If a pose feels awkward, please let us know so that we can change things up. Because if you aren’t comfortable, it’s going to show. And that’s the last thing you (and we) want!
Contact Us for More Information!
Interested in learning more about our services? Please visit our Wedding Photography FAQ page for answers to all your questions! Ready to schedule an engagement photoshoot of your own? Contact us now to get the conversation started!
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