Written with love, by Bride-to-Be Ava Soltysik
Engagement photo tips from a bride-to-be's perspective...
To get the most out of your engagement shoot you really have to know what you want the photos to look like. Use social media tools such as Instagram, Facebook, Flickr, Blogs, Pinterest and build a mood board of images you love. This will help you develop a baseline to build upon when deciding on how you want your engagement shoot to turn out. Work with your photographer to see how they can make this happen, have they done something similar before? Did it work well?
Plan Your Poses
With most photographers, you are limited to 1-3 hours for your engagement shoot. if you haven’t gotten an idea of how you are going to pose or what will look good, you will waste your time. Of course, with Impavido Studio we had a whole day - Gurj and Talv are there to direct you but only you two really know what makes you unique. By having an idea of some poses you will do it means you have more time to be spontaneous because you know no matter what, you will have some great poses.
Practice Your Poses
No matter how long you and your partner have been together or how ‘in love’ you are, when you see that huge lens pointing at you, it is increasingly difficult to look natural. With that said, practice how to pose. Take photos of yourselves from different angles and work out which is your good side. Practice posing together in the mirror or get a friend to take photos of you and really learn to be comfortable with each other.
To really make it your own, look at little things the two of you do in your daily life and make that a pose. This keeps the shoot original and injects a little more of your personality in to it.
Shake Off Those Nerves
The key to a great shoot is all about shaking off the nerves ASAP! Once you have warmed up in front of the camera the magic can really happen. We would always recommend that you hire a photographer who doesn't think the engagement shoot is 'part of the package' and gives you a few hours of their time. On our day with Gurj and Talv, we found it took us an hour or two to shake off the nerves!
Hide Those "Bingo Wings"
Hide those ‘bingo wings’ by keeping your arms by your side but keeping a small gap so that your arm is not squashed against you. This can make even a size zero look like she has bingo wings.
Eliminate the Double Chin Look
What double chin? Tilt your head up slightly this stretches the chin and removes any possibility of it appearing as though you have a double chin.
Mary Poppins Magic
Something will go wrong! The trick is to be prepared for it. During our shoot my blusher slipped out of my makeup bag and managed to empty out all over one of my dresses. Luckily I had packed makeup wipes and managed to salvage the dress for the final photos, which turned out amazing!
Be ‘Wheelie’ Prepared
We packed all of our outfits in to a small wheelie suitcase that was easy to manoeuvre (and carry over fences!). I packed our clothing with their accessories in the order in which we planned to use them. This allowed me to easily check we had everything for each outfit change.
It's All About the Photographer
Hire a photography team who takes the engagement shoot as seriously as you do. You really do get what you pay for! We had 2 photographers, 2 creative directors, 1 makeup artist and LOVE how the photos came out!
We are a creative imagery team that consists of two photographers, 2 create directors, and a makeup artist. Together, we take the concept of your photoshoot and take it further than you had imagined possible. We constantly work with the client to make sure they are engaged in the process and have fun along the way!
