Hello all. I am exhausted. The second time around the engagement session was not any better as the first time around. Even though, I was able to utilize my ipad to view images taken via an eye-fi card in camera in real time there was still a few complications. I’ll be going more in detail on the complications and revised lighting setup in a post in http://www.PhotographySILO.com .

What I ended up doing was using one ipad to connect to my 42 inch flat screen tv and used it as a reference device where I’d look to for posing examples and then use the other ipad to review how we looked after the image was taken.

Also similar to the first DIY engagement session, I would not have been able to pull this off without the new pocketwizard plus IIIs and the remote camera cable to fire the camera without wires.

Before i go into detail, I want to highly suggest to hire a makeup artist for your engagement session. You will thank me. The makeup you see on my beautiful fiance was provided by the skilled and talented Cream Wong.  Yes, that is her first name. She is indeed the CREAM of the crop. Once you see my fiance’s makeup you’ll surely want to book her. Give her a call at 626-518-2228 or email at creamwongmakeup@yahoo.com and let her know you found her through this post.

4 hours later and a tired and sweaty fiancé, we were able to achieve the majority of the images we wanted to capture for our engagement session.

Below is our inspiration board for our engagement session part 2 (closeup portrait) make sure to continue to follow as we start working on engagement session part 3 where we do the scenic engagement photos.

IMAGE 1:  Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks W magazine inspired engagement image.

This image was pretty easy to replicate. It only required a two light setup. 4:1 light ratio with the background to be 2 stops higher than the main. This lighting configuration provides that soft dreamy look.

IMAGE 2: Royal engagement photo inspiration. Another easy 2 light setup to replicate this image. Although, we found that we liked the one light setup better for this engagement photo. What do you think?

IMAGE 3: Vampire looking couple portrait inspiration for this engagement photo.  This is another easy image to reproduce just using one main light.

IMAGE 4, 5, 7:  We decided to postpone these Vogue inspired engagement photos for when we plan our outdoor engagement session.

IMAGE 8: Jason Bateman and Jennifer Aniston Marie Claire cover inspired engagement portrait.  I was expecting that this image would require 3 lights to execute but I was able to pull it off with just two lights.

IMAGE 9: Camping in living room inspired engagement photo.

In order to capture this image, I needed to set the white balance so that the ambient light is blue to replicate moonlight and then gel the main light and the light inside the tent to match the candle light.

It feels great to be able to execute a shot you envisioned.

If you are not able to replicate these images for your own DIY engagement session, you can always contact me and I’ll make it happen for you.

It’s very important when choosing a photographer that they are not a “at the right place at the right time photographer” you need a photographer that can create a moment not just capture it.

Hi all. I have a new attack plan for the 2nd DIY Engagement session attempt. If you’ve read my previous post on the DIY engagement session 1, then you are aware how we were only able to create one of the seven images we planned to create due to unforeseen events that caused a delay which resulted in not enough time for the photo shoot.

Well I’ve learned and now will plan for an unforeseen event to occur. How do I intend to plan for an unforeseen event you ask?

Well, I will create a detailed step-by-step plan of what I plan to capture so if there is another unforeseen issue that arises I’d be able to efficiently execute more images.

SPECIAL TOOLS
- Netbook ( Tethered to camera for remote triggering)
- Ipad 2 (Used to preview images)
- 42 inch flat screen LCD (wirelessly connected to ipad )
- Eye-Fi Pro X2 8 GB Class 6 SDHC Wireless Flash Memory Card EYE-FI-8PC (wireless transmission of images from camera to ipad for preview)
- onONE DSLR Remote Pro (iPhone APP to tether camera and allow for intervalometer )

Ok let’s begin:

NUMBER OF LIGHTS: TWO

DIFFICULTY: EASY

IMAGE 1: “Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks Cover” inspiration found here: http://pinterest.com/pin/261138478363462455/

Props needed:

• NONE

Lighting diagram:

Shoot details:

IMAGE 2: “Royal Engagement Shoot” inspiration found here: http://pinterest.com/pin/261138478363462583/

Props needed:
• NONE

Lighting diagram:

Shoot details:

IMAGE 3: “FASHION stand then cheek” inspiration found here:

http://pinterest.com/pin/261138478363462457/

Props needed:

• NONE

Lighting diagram:

TOO EASY DIAGRAM IS NOT NECESSARY

Shoot details:

IMAGE 4: “VOGUE LIEBE” inspiration found here:

http://pinterest.com/pin/261138478363621934/

Props needed:

• NONE

Lighting diagram:

Shoot details:

IMAGE 5: “VOGUE HOMBRE” inspiration found here:

http://pinterest.com/pin/261138478363621937/

Props needed:

• NONE

Lighting diagram:

SAME AS LIEBE

Shoot details:

SAME AS LIEBE

IMAGE 6: “Sun Flare Vogue Mexico” inspiration found here:

http://pinterest.com/pin/261138478363621931/

Props needed:

• NONE

Lighting diagram:

SAME AS LIEBE

Shoot details:

SAME AS LIEBE

NUMBER OF LIGHTS: THREE

DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM

IMAGE 7: “Blanket Kiss” inspiration found here:

http://pinterest.com/pin/261138478363621928/

Props needed:

• Plaid picnic blanket

Lighting diagram:

Shoot details:

NUMBER OF LIGHTS: FIVE

DIFFICULTY: HIGH

IMAGE 8: “Jennifer Aniston” inspiration found here:

http://pinterest.com/pin/261138478363621932/

Props needed:

• NONE

Lighting diagram:

Shoot details:

IMAGE 9: “camping in apartment” concept inspiration found here:

http://pinterest.com/pin/261138478363462588/

Props needed:

• 5 Boxes of white Christmas lights
• 1 Twin size plush
• 1 Queen bed sheet
• 1 picnic blanket
• 1 Gaffer tape
• 1 boom pole with stand or rope
• 2 frosted circular 12 inch candle holders
• 2 six inch circular candles

Lighting diagram:

Based on my preliminary lighting test, i realized that the look i wanted for the christmas lights to look like stars required the subject at least 7-8 feet in front of the tent/lights.

I also made sure to set the white balance to tungsten to get the blue for the led christmas lights and then apply an orange gel to the flash inside the tent to match the warmer candle color temperature. For the camera right side of the tent, I used a bare flash so the light is blue to give the illusion that the light is coming from the moon behind the tent.

I can capture this image in two different variations:

Variation 1: The tent and the subjects in focus

Variation 2: The subjects in focus and the tent and lights out of focus. ( I like this look more)

Camera setting:

I want to achieve at least a 4 inch depth of field (I want at least 4 inch depth of my subject to be in focus and everything else at a blur. Therefore, I will need to follow the details below. I need to keep the aperture as open as I can to let as much ambient light in to capture the Christmas lights.

IMAGE 10: “Wedding Date on Wall” inspiration found here:

http://pinterest.com/pin/261138478363621926/

Props needed:

• Paint bucket
• Two Paint Brushes

Lighting diagram:

Shoot details:

Hello all. We just completed our first attempt at the DIY Engagement session on Sunday, April 22, 2012 . I have to be honest. It’s not as easy as I first thought. We only had about a 1 hour window for images that can be captured in a studio environment. 7 different poses/scenes that require 3 different lighting setups to execute. We were only able to complete one lighting setup and it the lighting wasn’t dead on. We needed another light camera right behind my head to provide a highlight at the back of my ear and give her some highlights to her left shoulder and right cheek.

Posing is not easy. Make sure you refer to the post I did on posing.

Ok are you guys ready to see the shots from today’s DIY engagement session?  Below are the few that my fiancé approved to share with you all.

MAKEUP TIME

THE AFTER SHOT OF MY BEAUTIFUL FIANCE OUTSIDE AT THE EDGE OF THE TUNNEL

THE ONLY POSE THAT WE HAD TIME TO EXECUTE FROM THE 7 DIFFERENT IMAGES WE WANTED TO CREATE. YES, IT WAS TOUGH.

Do you want to know how i setup this photograph of my fiance and I looking at her engagement ring as i place it on her ring finger?

Well, here you go:

LIGHTING SETUP:

SHOOT DETAILS

What do I mean by treat your engagement session like a magazine photo shoot? It just plainly means be professional when capturing images that last a lifetime.

Don’t spend seconds or a few minutes planning out photographs that your grandchildren will one day see.

Ok so lets go through the elements that fall under logistics.

• Logistics

• Budget

i.    Take into account the cost for props, new clothes, an amazing venue, permits if necessary, the gear and any assistants for the shoot.

• Props

i.     Depending on your concept props could get pricey. So make sure your scenes are simple. The more complex the scene is with numerous props the harder it will be for the viewer to interpret your visual message.

• Clothing

i.     Allocate enough money for about 3 sets of clothing with different colors. Of course this depends on how many locations as each location might have a different main background color.

• Location

i.     This is very important as it sets the scene/feel of the concept. Don’t  take this step lightly.  Choosing a location that doesn’t make sense for your planned engagement session will waste everyone’s time.

• Equipment

i.     If you are a photographer, you have pretty much all the gear necessary for the DIY engagement session. You might just have to buy a remote trigger cable for your pocketwizard.

ii.     If you are a wealthy non-photographer, then look to spend a few thousand for decent equipment. On the Brightside, if you really enjoyed capturing your own engagement session, then this would be a great hobby for you.

• Personnel

i.     Do you need a makeup/Hairstylist with you at all times? You need to ensure you book a makeup/hair stylist or both.

ii.     Do you have boxes of props and a set? You need an assistant.

iii.     Do you need help with the lighting? You need a lighting assistant.

As you can see, logistically there are a lot of elements that need to be considered on the execution front alone. So make sure you are up to it or you will find yourself wasting a lot of time and money.

1. Personality identification
2. Love Story
3. Photo Pose research and Selection

Take the information and start your Google image search for inspiration.

I would type a few combined keywords from the personality identification section and love story.

For example: fun and energetic (personality identification) oceanfront stroll (love story) and then add engagement session at the end to refine the search.

Similar to the normal text search, the most relevant results based on the google logic would be in the first two rows.

As you can see from the search example screenshot below, the image that communicates my keywords the best falls on the first row and the 4^thfrom the left.

Now you follow the steps above for the rest of the keywords.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me here http://lawrenceatienza.com/connect/ and I’ll do my best to help.

Please make sure you also subscribe to my new youtube channel www.youtube.com/lawrenceatienza for video versions of the articles if you don’t like to read.

Lawrence Atienza Production presents his first attempt at Wedding  videography/ cinematography.

Special thanks goes out to Scott from Viva Videography for letting me tag along (also letting me post online before he does) and the photographer Alvin of AVM photography for being ok with me being there. Of course a special thanks also goes out to the Bride and Groom for allowing me to share this moment with them. I hope they like my vision of their day.

I did my best in capturing all the necessary shots considering my fly on the wall status. I did my best not to get in the way of Scott and Alvin as i was not hired for the wedding so they of course got first dibs on the key shots. I hope this explains why you didn’t see the getting ready shots and walking down the Aisle shot among other key shots. But again I did my best. Maybe from this sample of my vision, I’d be able secure a primary wedding cinematography role one day. Please don’t get this confused with capturing the entire event. I only capture key moments of the wedding to tell a short story of about a max of 10 minutes. This should be sufficient time to capture the key highlights of the wedding day.

Disclaimer: The video uploaded is a rough edit straight from camera (no post processing (noise reduction, color etc. and without music. )

The purpose of posting this wedding video unedited is so that I can get help from all of you to see what type of song I can use for this video.

Of course once the song is selected, I will re-edit the footage to match the song.

As this is my first attempt, I’d appreciate any constructive criticism.

I also wanted to mention that the slider shots were thanks to the Konova Slider. Make sure you check out the review i did on http://www.photographySILO.com .

Special thanks also goes out to Ikan for the ikan iLED 312.

Hi everyone.. i hope all is well on this cold Sunday here in southern California.

You might be wondering what is up with the title of this post right? Well, let me finish the sentence.
I couldn’t resist Vera Wang so I had to take it upon myself to take a picture of my fiance’s beautiful shoes that she will be wearing on our wedding.

I know what you are thinking? Why couldn’t you just let our wedding photographer capture the image of the shoes. Well, i am a photographer too right? It’s always good to have more images of your wedding details right?

What do you guys think of the images i took of the Vera Wang Lavendar?

I made sure to highlight what i found most beautiful about the shoe.
1. The Texture (love that snake skin look)
2. The stones on the front.

It took 5 lights to get this shot. So actually after thinking about it, I don’t think my wedding photographer would be able to get this shot at the hotel as my fiance is getting ready before the wedding.

Actually, it got me thinking a bit. What do you all think about wedding photography executed like magazine editorials?

Let me know what you think and send me an email. i’d love to hear your thoughts.

When you are browsing through a magazine and come across an amazing print advertisement, do you think it’s due to only the photographer’s skill in capturing the image? I think not.  The model/s play a big role in making the concept believable.

The same goes for engagement portraits or any type of portrait for that matter.  The art of the pose is very important. The pose can look too posed and fake which can take away from the concept of the image.

With that said, let’s go over the pose research and selection process.

Now that you’ve identified the concept it’s time to search for poses that will compliment and help make the conceptual engagement portraits look amazing.

3 EASY STEPS

STEP 1: Make sure you are on Pinterest. (If you need an invite, email me)

STEP 2: Do a google search for designer brands that match your style.

STEP 3: Categorize the different types of poses you see on Pinterest.

To help you get started you can check out my Pinterest  where I’ve categorized Poses by Gender/number of people/situation.

Now have fun and choose some rocking poses for your engagement session.

Look out for the next post on Engagement picture inspiration for your concept.

Hey All.. I wanted to let you all know that my Hair Stylist Grace is a rockstar. Grace not only amazes me during our photography shoots but also cutting my own hair.

Grace did such an amazing job this time around that I had to take a picture of the hairstyle.

I asked for a “Mad Men” type haircut and Grace surely delivered.  Let me know what you guys think.

You can find Grace at http://www.beautybygrace.com

What do you guys think about the self portrait?  I thought I was going to be able to pull it off with just two strobes but I ended up using 4 lights and a reflector.

I also threw in a black and white image using just one light. (Again, it’s not about how many lights you use but using what is necessary to execute the creative vision)

Disclaimer: I didn’t photoshop any of these images. Just plain Lightroom.

I have more shoots coming up so please stand by.

Now it’s time for the most important portion of the concept creation stage, which is the Love Story reveal.

Combine the information you gained from the personality identification stage from the previous post to create meaningful and timeless engagement pictures.

Take for example the engagement session I captured below Titled Rockstar couple:

Exercise: Write down in the comments below with the title Rockstar couple what this couples main interest and what they love to do. Hint they are not musicians.

Below is a collage of more of my engagement sessions that you can comment with what the images communicate.

Now do you see where I am getting at with images that tell the love story?

Examples of how to visually communicate your love story.

LOVE STORY:
Couple experienced love at first sight at the club.

IMAGE:
Refer to 1^st two images top left (I was able to talk to the owner of the club into letting us shoot the session at the club)

LOVE STORY:
Couple met by passing notes to each other.

IMAGE:
Refer to the image with the “hi and hello notes”

You get where I am going with this right? Use your love story to create meaningful and timeless images.

Look out for the next post on Posing for your concept. Posing will add another dimension to your love story engagement pictures.