St Louis Engagement Wedding Senior Headshots Photographer Illinois Missouri Photography
Canon 5D MK3
70-200 2.8L IS
f2.8 1/2000 ISO 200
Creating a collage of images that capture a sequence are great fun to do and tell a lot more about a couple than static images. The movement in the images also help tell a story that static images cannot.
Regardless of the style, these lifestyle sequences need as much planning as a static posed photographs.
Considerations:
In this case a modern kitchen and amazing backlighting from large windows made this the obvious choice. Initially I had the door frame in the sequence to give the shots the spying look. But in editing the images were too distracted by the frames. I also ended up cropping the really cool beams that were around the window. I seem to always come back to my golden rule – “fill the frame.”
Directions:
Before letting the couple begin, I told them the scenario I was creating. I wanted Kristi to look busy and then begin the slow sashay walk to Kyle. I may have used the phrasing of “hunting” when giving her an image:) to help her feel the approach to Kyle. A normal walk up was not going to work.
When she got her “prey” ( it’s like Animal Planet LOL) I ha her place a hand on his chest before having him snake his arm around her waist. The hand on his chest was an important contact point to establish the moment.
My one regret is not getting Kristi to kick her heel up as she stretched her neck to meet the kiss.
Through the whole sequence, I am talking them through the whole moment.
Editing:
The color images look great, but when I worked them through the BW filters, they took on a whole different feel. I really like the white to black contrast with them.
Lifestyle Engagement Photography can be really great in terms of giving clients a unique series of images. The movement and story that unfolds provides a stronger image than potentially static posed ones.
