Action Photography Video Demo

In this article/video, we’ll start by showing you what to avoid for capturing an action photography shot, and then we’ll go through the artistic process of finding better picture angles to get to our final image. We cover these concepts and more for all cameras, including smartphones, in our Creative Photography 101 Course.

6 Steps to Better Action Photography

Avoid the “Walk Up” Shot

Before we get into the steps for capturing an exciting action photography shot, let’s talk about walk up shots and how to avoid them. To illustrate, we began this session by capturing a walk up shot of our model Derek doing a backflip on the beach. The shot is framed well enough, but the background is distracting and the picture angle is average at best. Unfortunately, this is the picture angle that most people would use when walking up with their smartphones or cameras to capture the action.

Use a Wide Angle Lens for Action Photography

First, lens choice. As a general rule, you want a lens that is as sharp and fast as possible. Depending on what you are shooting, you are likely going to want something that can get close to the action. If you are shooting a sport like baseball, hockey, soccer, football, or anything else with a large playing surface, your best bet is to purchase or rent a fast zoom lens such as a 70-200mm f2.8 or something similar. If you have good lighting, there are quite a few options for longer telephoto lenses that won’t break the bank but that will still provide great images.

For non sports action photography, start building your action photography shot by using a wide angle lens, such as a 15-35mm lens at 15mm, which will allow you to move in closer and actually get into the action. 

Basically remember:

• Large playing surface = Use a zoom lens to get close to the action.
• Smaller playing surface = Move around!

Action Photography Composition

Rather than relying on a perfect background, we can look for creative picture angles that use available objects in our favor. For this shot, I chose to lie on the ground and shoot toward the sky, incorporating the palm trees that the model used to launch into a backflip. The trees (along with the sand that I’ll introduce later) serve as a thematic element for the beach, but they also help frame the subject, leaving plenty of negative space in the blue sky to highlight the backflip and make the model’s outfit pop against the background.

Pro Tip: Snap a reference shot. Ask your subject (or an assistant) to step in while framing your shot so that you don’t have to repeat the action because you didn’t frame it properly.

Whenever your subjects are moving in a direction, a basic rule of photography is to leave room in the direction the subject is moving. This rule is important because the viewer’s eyes are naturally drawn from the subject to whatever the subject is looking at or facing. If the subject is facing the edge of the frame, it leaves the viewer wondering where the subject is looking. Furthermore, if the subject is moving toward the end of the frame, it leaves the viewer wondering where the subject is going, leading the attention off of the image. Lastly, if the subject is moving toward the edge of the frame, the subject can seem confined and enclosed. As always, showing is more effective than explaining, so as you view these images, imagine how they would look if the subjects were cropped at the other end of the frame.

Shot at the 2009 University of Utah vs. San Diego State Football Game in San Diego, CA on a Canon 40D with a 70-200mm f/2.8L Zoom Lens at 1/250 f/2.8 ISO 400

Shot at the Summit House in Fullerton, CA on a Canon 40D with a 70-200mm f/2.8L Zoom Lens at 1/400 f/2.8 ISO 200

Dial In Your Exposure Settings

Before you cue the action, make sure to dial in your exposure settings. If you aim to freeze the action, prioritize your shutter speed and then adjust your ISO and aperture until you get a balanced exposure. Ideally, you want to maximize your dynamic range to maintain as much of the highlights and shadows as possible. You can enable the highlight alert and use the histogram to help ensure that you’re not blowing out any highlights on your subject’s skin. I like to use live view for this step.

Pro Tip: Set your camera to burst mode (or some similar high-speed setting) so that you can shoot through the action as it unfolds and choose the best frame for your final image.

Lock Your Focus

You don’t want your camera to hunt for focus during your action photography, so lock in your focus ahead of time. For this shot, I set the focus on the model’s head while he stood by for the reference shot and then enabled the focus lock feature on my camera. You can also switch the lens to manual focus.

Cue the Action and Add Variations

All that’s left at this point is to cue the action and capture the shot. After looking at my initial capture, I liked the results, but I wanted to see how it’d look if I added another visual element. I decided to throw sand over the subject during the flip, which you can see in the final images below.

Pro Tip: I would recommend exercising caution when photographing at the beach, especially when playing with sand. Cameras and sand don’t mix well!

Final Images

Before

After

Settings for the Final Image: 15-35mm at 15mm, 1/2000, f/4, ISO 100 | Edited with Visual Flow Presets > Mood Pack > Hard Light

What Kind of Motion Should You Show?

There are two approaches to photographing motion. You can freeze the motion in progress or you can capture it in a manner that shows the motion. If you choose that option, there are two ways to do it. You can either allow motion blur into the photograph, or you can pan along with your subject and blur the background to indicate motion.

Motion Blur for Action Photography

To introduce motion blur to a photo, simply lower the shutter speed enough that the sensor picks up a bit of your subject’s movement. You can simply take the photo as you follow your subject with your camera and with a slower shutter speed they will leave “trails” as they progress through their motion. Or, if you know where your subject is going to end up (like a runner at the finish line or a baseball player at home plate, etc.) you can pre-focus on where they will end up and snap the picture as they move into the frame. This will also capture the motion while helping provide a sense of action to the shot. Another fun way to be creative with this is to use a slower shutter speed that shows motion blur while turning your flash on in rear curtain sync mode. This will fire your flash at the end of the exposure capturing both the motion trails and a relatively sharp capture of your subject.

Freezing Motion in Action Photography

This might actually be one of the simplest pieces of the puzzle! Freezing motion is all about getting your shutter speed high enough that the camera doesn’t show the movement. Depending on what you are shooting, you might have to get shutter speeds up into the thousandths of a second! Of course, when doing this, you have to be in an area that has excellent, bright lighting. Obviously, the shutter isn’t open very long in these cases so, the more available light in this case, the better.

Conclusion

As photographers, we really have no excuse for capturing uninteresting photos. Most everyone has access to quality cameras these days, even using their smartphones. Where people tend to come up short is technique. As you can see here, putting in a little creative effort can go a long way to build a worthwhile action photography shot.

If you’d like to dive deeper into your photography education and exercise your creativity side, our latest course, Creative Photography 101, provides frameworks for training your creativity so that you can stop settling for boring photos.

Tip #1: The Sky is a Softbox with Cloudy Day Portrait Photography

Photographers spend an enormous amount of money on lighting and lighting modifiers. One of the most popular lighting modifiers on the market is a soft box, which diffuses & softens the light passing through it. Clouds, which essentially act like giant soft boxes in the sky, diffuse sunlight on a grand scale, often resulting in flat lighting. While some photographers fear flat lighting, it has a time and place, and portraiture calls on it often.

For closeup portraits, flat light reduces the appearance of lines, blemishes, and imperfections in the skin to create a more flattering look. Go ahead and place your subject in a bright, open area. The clouds should provide enough cover to keep your subject from squinting while you direct your subject into a pose and cue whatever expression you’re after.

Tip #2: Create Directional Light With Overcast Skies

Flat lighting is not your only option when in cloudy day photography. If you want to add shadows for dimension, you can easily create directional light using one of two methods to either add or subtract light.

Option 1: Add Light

To add light, use the white or silver side of a 5-in-1 reflector and position it at a 45-degree angle in relation to the camera and the subject. It helps to have an assistant so that he/she can hold the reflector. You can also use flash to add directional light.

Option 2: Reduce Light

To subtract light (see the image below), place the subject next to a dark object (building, tree, or the black side of your 5-in-1 reflector) and position your subject so that the dark object reduces the light reflecting on one side of your subject’s face. A large open space will allow more light to fall on your subject, but the dark object will cut or block some of the light falling on that side.

Tip #3: Capture Catchlights from Above

In addition to serving as a giant soft box, a cloudy sky can also stand in as a large reflector. If you’re shooting at eye level with your subjects and you ask them to look down or off to the side, you’ll likely struggle to find any catchlights in their eyes; however, if you position yourself at a higher vantage point, either by standing on a bench or asking your subjects to sit, you’ll find the cloudy sky provides a great source for catchlights as your subjects look up at you.

Tip #4: Get Moody with Off-Camera Flash

Off-camera flash definitely opens up the creative possibilities of any shoot, and we recommend familiarizing yourself with various flash photography techniques. One thing flash photography allows photographers to do is add drama to an image. By lowering ambient exposure to retain more highlights and using flash to expose your subject’s skin, you can take advantage of the cloudy sky to capture a moody portrait that wouldn’t work as well in a clear, blue sky.  This maximizes the potential of cloudy day photography so long as there is some color behind the clouds.

Tip #5: Go Bright for a Clean Backdrop

In the opposite direction from the previous tip, you can embrace the bland nature of the cloud cover and use the dreary sky as a canvas to create a clean backdrop. This is one of those situations where it’s okay (even encouraged) to blow out the highlights for effect. Check your histogram and enable your highlight alert to ensure you only blow out details in the sky, not on your subject’s skin. A clean background can set the scene for an elegant portrait and draw more focus to your subject, especially if you follow the next tip.

[Related Reading: Tips to Overcome Bad Weather from 14 Wedding Pros]

Tip #6: Add a Dash of Color

When set against the drab backdrop of an overcast sky, bright colors tend to pop a bit more and can be used to create visual interest and emphasize the focal point in a photo. If there’s time to plan ahead for wardrobe, brush up on your color theory and choose colors to enhance the mood in the image or establish a complementary or monochromatic color scheme.

Tip #7: Adjust Your Settings for Reduced Light

When shooting on a cloudy day, you will need to boost your ISO to compensate for 2-3 stops of light reduction from the clouds. This means if you typically shoot at ISO 100, you’ll need to bump your ISO up to 400-800, sometimes needing to go as high as 1600. Most modern digital cameras make easy work of this adjustment without adding too much graininess or noise to the photo.

Tip #8: Try It in Black & White

If you find you’re still lacking adequate contrast in your cloudy day photos, go bold & dramatic with black and white edits. I’m not saying that you should edit the entire session in black and white, although that is an option, depending on your taste. Instead, choose an image or two and adjust the highlights and shadows to create more contrast. You can go beyond a standard black and white conversion and create incredible monochromatic images from your cloudy day photographs with just a few key adjustments.

Tip #9: Create Your Own Golden Hour

If your clients have their hearts set on golden hour shots, they’ll delight to hear you can still make it happen on a cloudy day. Creating golden hour portraits under an overcast sky will require off-camera lighting gear, but the setup is pretty quick and easy. You can learn more about using this technique here. We even offer a complete mini-workshop on the subject.

Tip #10: Backlight the Rain

In the event that the cloudy weather gives way to rain, fear not! So long as you come prepared, you can take advantage of the downpour and lift your portraiture to new heights with a backlit shot. Gearwise, you’re going to need the following items:

• Umbrella
• Rain Sleeves/Zip-lock Bags for Your Camera & Lighting Gear
• Off-Camera Flash
• Portable Light Stand

Your subjects/clients are going to love the look of the illuminated raindrops glowing from a light placed behind them. Simply place a flash behind the couple and point it directly at them to create some unforgettable images.  If your cloudy weather photoshoot turns into rain, make the most of it!

[Related Reading: 8 Rainy Day Wedding Photography Tips You Need to Know]

Conclusion

We hope you enjoyed this article on cloudy day photography and how to get great pictures in unideal weather. Here’s a quick recap of the tips we included above:

• Use the cloudy sky like a giant soft box
• Create directional light
• Capture catchlights from above
• Get moody with off-camera flash
• Go bright for a clean backdrop
• Adjust your settings for reduced light
• Add a dash of color
• Try it in black & white
• Create your own golden hour
• Backlight the rain

Your results & options will vary, of course, depending on the intensity of the cloud cover, but just remember that you can make most weather scenarios work in your favor with a little planning & creativity. If you’d like to dive further into your photography education, check out our Premium subscriptions, which include streaming access to all of our workshops on everything from photography fundamentals to advanced lighting and editing techniques, as well as a number of complete training systems (flash photography, wedding photography, photography business, and more).

Video: Five Cloudy and Rainy Day Photography Techniques

Don’t let cloudy or rainy days get in the way of taking amazing pictures. It’s easier than you think to use foul weather in your favor. The next time you find yourself scheduled to shoot under a looming cloud cover, use these five cloudy and rainy day photography techniques.

Technique #1: Backlighting

When used correctly, this rainy day photography technique will yield amazing pictures pretty much every time. All you need to do to pull off this backlighting shot is place an external flash (with 200-250 watt seconds of power, such as a Profoto B10 or a Flashpoint eVOLV 200) on a light stand and position it chest-high about 5-6 feet behind the couple. You’ll get different effects based on the distance between the light and the couple, so experiment for best results if time permits.

I like to use a CTO gel on the flash and keep the white balance set to around 4400 Kelvin, which allows me to warm up the image while also exaggerating (or deepening) the blue tones. It also helps to choose a dark background when setting up for this shot, whether it be the sky, bushes & trees, or something else. The darker the background, the more pronounced the illuminated raindrops.

Lastly, because it’s raining, be sure to put a rain sleeve or plastic bag over your flash to keep it from getting wet.

Technique #2: Reflections

One side effect of the rain is the collection of puddles, which you can use to create reflections in your portraits. In terms of framing the shot, you can go for the traditional look by shooting low and including your entire subject in the frame, or you can try something a little different. To capture the image above, I worked more on the model’s pose and shot down into the reflection rather than across it to show the model’s silhouette against the sky. Keep in mind, the negative space is what can make or break a shot like this.

Technique #3: Dynamic Range

If you’ve followed much of my work, you’ll know the emphasis I place on maximizing dynamic range. When you’re shooting on a cloudy or rainy day, you can maximize dynamic range in-camera to take advantage of the textures and occasional colors that the sky provides. One of the benefits of the cloud cover is that it cuts down the direct sunlight, which gives us just enough room to squeeze all of the information we need into a single shot. Some of the best single frame, HDR-type shots come from cloudy or rainy weather.

In the image above, the histogram in Lightroom shows that we’ve pushed the blacks to the edge without clipping them, and we’ve pushed the whites to the edge while retaining as much of the highlights as possible. If I have to bias one side over the other, I usually lean towards preserving all of the shadows to avoid any muddy, green tones in the shadows, and I let the camera keep whatever highlights it can retain.

You can see above, a simple application of the HDR Environmental preset from the Visual Flow Crush Pack and a radial burn from the Retouching Toolkit yields a fantastic final image.

If you don’t have these presets, you can use the settings outlined above for the preset and cloud+sky enhancement brush (which can be used over the cloudy areas to reveal even more detail).

[Related Reading: Cloudy Day Photography | How to Get Great Pictures in “Bad” Weather]

Technique #4: Sky as a Soft Box

If nothing else, cloudy days give photographers the all-time biggest natural soft box for diffused light. To take advantage of this during a portrait session, position your subject so that he/she is facing up toward the sky. In the example above, you can see my subject was sitting in a hedge in a parking lot. By positioning my camera slightly above her and having her look up, we get a naturally beautiful light that captures the catchlight in her eyes and softens the skin.

Technique #5: Golden Hour

We don’t actually need to shoot during golden hour (or even have the sun in the sky) to recreate the look. Even on a cloudy day, we can add our own backlight and mimic the highly sought after look. Here are the basic steps you need to take to pull of this technique:

1. Place an external flash behind your subjects. For this shot, we set the flash up several yards back. Basically, the flash needs to be placed far enough back to illuminate the objects in the background in a believable way.
2. Add 1-2 CTO gels to the external flash to match the warmth of the sun.
3. Use a high-powered strobe (like a Profoto B1, 500-watt strobe at full power) to generate sufficient light, especially if the strobe is placed a considerable distance away from your subjects.

If you adjust your position a little, you can add a flare for an even more convincing look (see above).

[Related Reading: 8 Rainy Day Wedding Photography Tips You Need to Know]

Conclusion

We hope you enjoyed this article/video on five cloudy and rainy day photography techniques. If you’re interested in diving deeper into your photography education, check out our new Creative Photography 101 workshop, which we designed to boost your creativity using any camera, including your smartphone! It’s the ultimate iPhone photography tutorial.

Be sure to catch our next episode of Mastering Your Craft on Adorama’s YouTube channel next week! If you want to catch up on all the episodes, make sure you check out our playlist!

Video: Shooting Flat for Better Exposure Information | Exposure Triangle, Pt. 4

Welcome to the fourth & final part of our Exposure Triangle series! At this point, you should already have a firm grasp of the exposure triangle and understand how it works, compositionally. You should also know the histogram and highlight alert. In this article, we’re going to continue exploring what it means to get to the perfect exposure, this time focusing on how to shoot flat for better exposure information. This technique, which is often reserved for video production, also works exceptionally well for still photography. Like the previous parts of this series, this article expands on concepts covered in our Photography 101 workshop.

If you missed the first three articles, you can find them below:

• Part One
• Part Two
• Part Three

Why Shoot Flat?

Avoid Highlight Alert and Histogram Discrepancies

In the image comparison above, you can see how the highlight alert in-camera is showing areas of the image in which the highlights are blown out; in Lightroom (pictured on the right), however, some of those areas have actually retained detail. Both refer to the same RAW file but render different results in-camera. What’s happening is we’re seeing the image based on a JPEG preview rather than the actual RAW file. The JPEG image represents a processed version based on your picture profile or picture style settings in-camera.

To further illustrate this point, the images above show what happens to the histogram if we dial in a high contrast setting vs a neutral (flat) or standard setting. The camera settings haven’t changed, but as you can see, the histogram has definitely shifted. Again, the preview image we see in-camera is the JPEG preview with the picture style attached. This means that the in-camera playback can misrepresent the image information if it is not set up correctly.

Make Exposure Decisions Based on a More Accurate Playback

You might wonder why we should bother customizing our picture style settings if it doesn’t affect the RAW file. While it’s true that these picture style settings only affect the actual image when we’re shooting in JPEG instead of RAW, what we see on the back of the camera can influence our decisions for dialing in exposure; therefore, the closer we get to our RAW file when playing back our image in-camera, the better chance we’ll have to maximize dynamic range and retain as much detail as possible in our files.

Gain a Post-Production Advantage

When I do post-production demonstrations, I often get asked how I make it look so easy to get to the final image. How is it possible to get to a fantastic final image in just a few clicks? In addition to using specially designed presets, the answer lies in shooting flat to get better exposure information. With a better RAW file to work with, we arrive with better images in post.

These are the reasons why it’s best to shoot flat for better exposure information.

[Related Reading: How to Read a Histogram | Quick Reference]

How to Shoot Flat

Customize Picture Style Settings

The images above outline my ideal settings for shooting flat. Here’s how to arrive at those settings:

1. Go into your camera’s menu system and locate the Picture Style settings (which might change in name, depending on the camera body you’re using)
2. Scroll down to the User Defined (or custom) settings and hit “Enter”
3. Select the “Neutral” picture style
4. Scroll down to Contrast and set your contrast and back it all the way down to minimize the contrast in your previews; when it’s set, hit “Enter”
5. Scroll down to Saturation and lower the saturation point; when does, hit “Enter”
6. Exit the menu and begin taking pictures

It’s that easy and the impact is noticeable.

[Related Reading: Get Perfect In-Camera Exposure with These 3 Overlooked Tips]

Conclusion

We hope you enjoyed this video and lesson (the last of a four-part series) on why and how to shoot flat for better exposure information. You can revisit these and other concepts in our Photography 101 workshop and dive further into the fundamentals of portrait photography.

Be sure to catch our next episode of Mastering Your Craft on Adorama’s YouTube channel next week! If you want to catch up on all the episodes, make sure you check out our playlist!

I’m here to tell you that it’s okay to blow out the highlights. In fact, in this article/video, we’ll show you how and when to use natural light for high key portraits that balance imperfect lighting with a refined, authentic look. We cover these concepts and more in our natural light engagement photography and flash photography workshops, all of which are available to stream as part of a Premium subscription.

Video: How and When to Use Natural Light for High Key Portraits

When SHOULD You Blow Out the Highlights?

Lighting plays a crucial in creating compelling imagery, but it doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, there are instances when imperfect lighting can be used to add authenticity to portraiture. Such is the case with shooting high key portraits. It’s important to remember that other elements, such as composition, posing, and expressions all work together with lighting to create mood and allow the imagery you create to match your vision.

We’ll use the CAMP framework (Composition, Ambient Exposure, Modify or Add Light, Pose & Photograph) to outline the steps we took to compose, light, and capture the final image.

Step 1. Decide on Your Composition

For this image, I placed the subject in a sitting pose in front of a window with a lot of hard light coming in through the window. I chose this location because of its potential for creating a beautiful, bright and airy high key portrait. The hard light falling across her shoulder accentuates the dress and adds visual interest to the photograph.

Lens choice also factors into the composition and artistry of this shot. Using a wide angle lens in such a close proximity to the subject, such as the Sigma 24mm f/1.4 DG HSM lens that I used for this semi-closeup portrait, adds lens distortion, which can be used for artistic effect. If you want to avoid (or at least minimize) lens distortion when shooting on a wide angle lens, you’ll need to place the subject in the center of the frame and/or move farther away form the subject.

Finally, after working through some of the other steps, I realized the frame still left something to be desired, so I added a plant that was sitting on the opposite side of the room to add visual interest to the foreground (see the image above).

[Related Reading: 5 Natural Light Techniques Before You Flash]

Step 2. Dial in Your Ambient Exposure

The first two steps go hand in hand, really, when setting up this shot. You can start dialing in your baseline exposure as you move your subject into position so that you don’t have to recompose the photo due to an unforeseen issue with lighting. I chose not to underexpose the image in this instance because saving details of objects outside of the window (such as cars, buildings, trees, people, etc.) would only add more distractions to the scene. I want to keep the focus on my subject.

Instead, I opened the aperture all the way to f/1.4 to let in light and blur out the background with shallow depth of field, further minimizing any distracting elements.

Step 3. Modify or Refine the Exposure

While I didn’t necessarily add any light, I decided to further refine the ambient light after taking a series of test photos so that I could retain as much detail as possible in the subject’s dress, knowing I can blow them out more in post if necessary.

In order to do this, I simply brought up the histogram and enabled the highlight alert. This reveals any clipped shadows and highlights and lets me know how much further I can push my exposure before losing too much detail in the image.

Step 4. Cue Your Subject to Capture the Perfect Expression

With composition and lighting dialed in, simply direct your subject into a pose and give cues for capturing the perfect expression. Watch how light is falling on your subject’s face and make adjustments until the resulting light pattern flatters your subject’s facial features.

[Related Reading: 5 Primary Light Patterns and Their Purposes]

Final Image

This represents what we call a perfectly imperfect portrait, where we’ve utilized imperfect lighting to give the image a natural feel. It serves as evidence that it’s okay to blow your backgrounds and create bright and airy portraits. This technique works especially well for bridal portraits, which look amazing when captured in a bright and airy style.

Conclusion

We hope you enjoyed this video and lesson on how and why to blow out your background in your portraits. For more education on natural light engagement photography and flash photography techniques, be sure to check out our workshops and Premium subscriptions at slrloungeworkshops.com.

In this article, we’re going to look at different ways to use foreground elements and special effects to make the most of your location and boost visual interest in your photos using some examples from our latest Engagement Photography 101 course, designed to guide you from communication to capture to create stunning engagement photography using the gear you already have.

Set Up Your Shot

Before we even start incorporating foreground objects/elements, let’s start by framing and composing our shot. Here are 4 easy steps to remember using our C.A.M.P Framework (learn more about it here):

Step 1: Scout for Worthwhile Locations

Incredible portrait sessions start with scouting for worthwhile locations. The more prepared you are going into a shoot, and the more familiar you are with your surroundings, the better chance you have of maximizing your session time and capturing the best of what each location has to offer. This is especially true for wedding & engagement photographers, who often operate under strict timelines. For this reason, it is imperative that you scout your locations (ideally in person) before using them during a live session. As you’ll discover in the following steps, some locations offer simple tools you can use to enhance your shots and add visual interest to your photos.

Step 2: Let the Light Guide You – Look For the Brightest Area of the Scene

When first walking into a potential location, most photographers look for objects, like fountains or trees, to place their subjects next to, and they base everything on the placement of the object. Using an object as a compositional tool is great, but a tree’s presence alone won’t make for a great portrait.

Rather than focus on the object, it’s important to first look at the light in the scene, especially if you’re shooting with natural light. One simple “rule” to remember is to place our subjects in the brightest area of the scene. If we were to place our subjects in the shade under a tree branch, for example, they would fall into the dark part of the frame while the highlights of the brighter, backlit leaves would draw the viewer’s focus away from our subjects.

Instead, if we look through the branches in the scene (as illustrated in the image above) and notice the sunny patch in the grass and leaves behind, we know we can use that patch and our subjects will be in the brightest area of the scene. There are few (if any) branches directly over our subjects’ heads, and with the sun at their back, we get a natural hair light that helps the subjects pop against the background. We can further accentuate this effect by positioning ourselves to place darker areas in the background behind our subjects.

Step 3: Dial in Your Exposure

Take a couple test shots to dial in your exposure before you move on so that you can turn your attention to capturing the shot rather than fumbling over the technical details. It helps when you have a final look in mind so that you can expose accordingly. Depending on your style, you can use your histogram to help maximize dynamic range, and you may also want to use your highlight alert to avoid clipping highlights that are less apparent in the histogram. Doing these two things will help you retain more detail and give you more editing option during the post-production process.

Step 4: Place and Pose Your Subjects

Once you’ve identified a spot with ideal lighting, place your subjects in the scene and direct them into a pose. You will continue directing your subjects with simple cues even after you start capturing images, but it’s good to demonstrate how you want them to pose to get things started.

There may be occasions in which you have to improvise if the scene is uncomfortable for your subjects. For example, in the image above, you can see that we’ve used a couple 5-in-1 reflectors as seats so that our subjects wouldn’t have to sit directly on wet ground, and we made sure to position the couple so that we couldn’t see the reflectors.

Bonus Tip: It’s worth noting that many locations require permits and have rules about how you can use the property (some locations do not permit tripods and discourage straying from established trails, for example), so please be sure to do your research and follow the guidelines for the locations you use.

[Related Reading: Official Couples Posing Guide – Tips, Cues, and More!]

Adding Foreground Elements & Special Effects to Boost Visual Interest

Now that you’ve set up your shot, let’s discuss ways to start elevating the visual interest buy incorporating foreground elements and/or special effects. Most spots offer a variety of everyday objects we can use as foreground elements (like leaves on a tree, for example) to serve a number of purposes, which include concealing or enhancing parts of the scene to help draw focus to our subjects and add visual interest to our images. We’ll outline a few engagement photography examples below and discuss how to make the most of your session.

Step 5: Use Foreground Elements to Frame the Shot and/or Create Depth

With our subjects in place and the lighting dialed in, we can start to find ways to use various foreground elements to frame our subjects and add visual interest to the image. It’s ideal, whenever possible, to use elements that are present on location because you can create a more authentic looking image if the element already belongs in the scene, as you’ll find in the examples below.

Tree Branches and Leaves

Trees offer plenty of opportunities to add foreground elements to your portraits. From low hanging branches and leaves to the trunk itself, you can stand under, next to, or even at a distance and still utilize a tree to help frame your shots and enhance your images. Leaves can prove especially useful to conceal distracting elements in the scene while drawing focus to the subjects. All of this while adding beauty and depth to the imagery. Here is another great example of using tree branches and leaves to help frame your subject(s).

Snowy Plant

While on location, just before leaving a session, we found a large bush whose branches were full of little seeds that would float in the air with even the slightest breeze. We decided to use the bush as a background and shake one of the branches that had fallen on the ground to create a snowy effect and add visual interest to our photo. Learn more about this technique here.

Rocks or Reflections on the Beach

We often think of epic sunsets when we think of beach sessions, but they’re not always available. Such was the case at the beach in the session pictured above. The sky lacked any significant clouds and color, and it wasn’t exactly interesting to look at. By getting low to the ground and using the rocks and a puddle to fill the foreground and add a reflection, we created a more dynamic image than if we had filled the frame with the mostly empty sky.

Special Effects

If you don’t have elements available, such as those listed above, you can always bring props and special effects tools with you (such as a prism, a bronze tube, or even a phone).

[Related Reading: Building the Shot – Ring Flare and Lens Special FX]

Step 6: Shoot from Different Angles – Wide, Medium, and Tight – to Enhance Storytelling

A simple change in perspective can go a long way when it comes to telling stories with your images. Follow all of the tips above, and then photograph your subjects from different angles to establish the scene and work your way into the details, revealing more about your subjects along the way.

Step 7: Direct for a Range of Expressions

By continuing to direct your subjects with simple cues throughout the session, you can change up their expressions and poses, however slightly, to produce a wide variety of final, deliverable images. Here are a couple of cues you can use, depending on your comfort level with your subjects:

• From a stacked pose, ask the subject in the back to pull the other subject in and hug him/her as if they haven’t seen each other in several weeks.
• Tell a joke, like “Why did the gnome laugh when it ran across the grass?”
• If jokes don’t work, you can ask for forced laughter, which usually results in genuine smiles just after the awkward laughs.

Conclusion

I hope you found these tips on using foreground elements and special effects to boost the visual interest in your photos helpful. If you’re interested in learning more about how to photograph couples, don’t miss our Engagement Photography 101 workshop, which is available for pre-sale now with a special, limited-time discount.