EB & Ryan's Save the Date Photos...by Me!!!

...My SIL got engaged over the holidays. She's already full swing into planning mode. They've set their date for September 20. She called me right before New Year's and asked if I would take their "Save the Date" photos for them. I was so excited and honored that she asked...and nervous too!

The Friday before, I spent the afternoon practicing. Here are the pins that were the inspiration: Pin 1 and Pin 2.

My models were less the cooperative.

The dog wouldn't sit still and my husband acts like a middle school boy.

Finally! At least one of them cooperated!

The first Saturday in January, I dropped AR off at my MIL's and headed out to Busch Wildlife to meet my SIL, her fiancé, and their Rottweiler. It's a favorite location of the entire family. Here's some posts I've done when we've visited before: post 1 and post 2.

I'm a long ways from being a professional, but I had fun and EB was happy so that's the important thing! Her fiancé hates to have his picture taken, but he played along while we spent an hour in the snow taking picture after picture. Here are some my faves from the day.

I wish I could've gotten a better shot at her ring, but I think this one is great since they're both smiling. Natural lighting is not my thing.

I did focal black and white editing on this one but you can't really tell. I love her hair in this pic.

This was the shot they wanted for their Save the Date card. Again, focal b&w on the dog/sign with them in the background.

I only took 140 pictures in the hour we were there. I edited a few of her favorite images and let her pick from different styles.

This is my favorite! I can't believe Zeus sat still for so long, he was such a good doggie!

This was EB's favorite, she's got a great smile.

I love this shot of Zeus looking back at them while they kiss.

A family photo, seriously this dog rocked the photo shoot!

After doing this shoot, it makes me want to take another camera class so I can work on lighting, especially outside, and figure out what the heck an F-stop and aperture is!

I took my laptop with me so we could pop in the memory card to make sure we got some good ones before leaving. She was thrilled just with the quick look at them so that meant this photog was one happy girl!

 

One of my goals for 2014 was to do a photo shoot for someone other than AR (not including this one) so I might be calling some of my STL friends to see if I can do a family photo shoot for them. I'm not looking to get into this regularly or seriously, but I want to be able to take good pics, be able to help out friends and family, and be slightly dangerous with my DSLR.

 

Any tips or feedback would be greatly appreciated. Also, what do you use for editing? A big thanks to Sara and Katie for the tips!