How to Take Engagement Photographs

Engagement photography is an industry that has greatly changed over the last ten years, as digital photography all but completely took over the photography industry. The prices of professional engagement photographs have risen to incredible heights as the editing process of such digital photography tends to be so tedious and absolute perfection is expected. Because of this, many young couples have turned to their family friends and asked them to kindly help out with their engagement photographs for much cheaper rates. If you have found yourself in the position of the chosen "family photographer," here is some advice on how to take quality engagement photographs and to avoid being over-worked at the same time.

1) Establish the expectations: Be honest and real with the couple that you are photographing. Let them know fully about your experience (or lack there of) in engagement photography. Show the couple the quality of photographs that they can expect from your camera and photo editing software. Additionally, it will be very helpful to hear their views on how they would like their engagement photographs to look like. Spend some time online browsing the engagement portfolios of professional photographers and find out what styles that your couple likes the best. Let them know how closely you feel that you can realistically mimic those styles, given the limited budget, experience, and equipment that you have.

2) Know the location: Prior to the photography session, you should have picked out a couple of locations to shoot at. Scout out these areas beforehand, so that you won't be wasting the couple's time with figuring out good photography spots at the location on the actual day of the photo shoot. If you think that the timing of the day that you will be shooting at will require extra lighting, find a friend who is willing to come along and shine a portable light wherever needed on the set. While parks and rivers always provide great engagement photography settings, city streets, bookstores, open fields, and even Laundromats provide great creative alternatives to regular park scenes.

3) Set your price: Professionally shot engagement photographs cost a good sum of money, and you've probably been chosen as a way to avoid these enormous fees. However, if you feel that the quality of your work and time is worth more than a pat on the back and a "thank-you," it is important that you establish this prior to actually photographing the couple. If you feel that you should charge them for your work, set a fee; since you are probably no where near the quality of professional photographers, this fee should be extremely minimal and more of a token of gratitude than an actual great expense on the bride's budget. If you don't plan on charging the couple at all, let them know beforehand that you are doing the work for free, so that there is no misunderstanding on their part as well.

4) Don't delete photographs: Engagement photo sessions are sure to be full of "oops" photo moments that you'll probably be tempted to delete. Don't do this. Instead, give the bride-to-be a full cd of all of the photo moments that you've captured during the engagement session and let her be the one to decide which ones can stay or go. Also, your final CD of photo moments should include both your edited and unedited work so that the originals are always preserved for the couple, just in case they happen to like those better.