How do you get your couples "in the moment"?

[iluvphoto]

During your engagement sessions how do you get your couple comfortable and "in the moment" to get those beautiful, romantic shots?

[scootermcq]

Alcohol

If you don't want to go that way, talking with them before hand so they are relaxed and then don't really try to pose them. I tell them to do whatever comes naturally and just snap. Every once and I while I will prompt with an idea, like look at each other, look at me, now kiss..... that sort of thing. Using a longer lens so that you are not up in their grill also helps. Not only do you get compression of the background, but you are not even there (in their minds)

Two words - Falcon Punch.

If you don't get that reference, then you... are lame.

[Images by Tobias]

It all depends on what the shoot is centered on for me. The concept if you will. Say we doing a anniversary; I ask simple and sometimes cheesy questions to bring the main concept out. So, you might ask the couple to look in each others eye's and think of their 1st phone call, 1st kiss, ect.

[Niresangwa]

It's important that you undrstand why they're feeling awkward, and why they have anxiety in the first place. Anxiety is a universal reaction to being unsure of the situation, and how to act in order to guarantee the outcome...

Two things. Firstly, assure them that feeling awkward is normal. I always start out during the initial few minutes telling them:

"I guarantee, without exception that the first ten minutes are going to the most awkward ten minutes in recent memory for you guys... you're going to be looking at each other thinking "WTH are we supposed to do?"...but as we go through you'll get more comfortable and the end wonder what the big deal was... engagements are always fun, just not when we first start... then they're awful"

this always generates a laugh, and they realise that it's normal to feel weirded out. it's also true, because the lack of confidence starts to dissipate even after a few minutes, because they're experiencing positivity and they realise nothing bad is going to happen... this reinforces the primer you started with, and helps them to trust you.

you also have to be able to recognize when they're getting bored talking to each other, and interject at that point, and either move them a little, or move locations entirely. Don't try gimmicks and don't force things, and mostly try not to insert yourself into the conversation too much... just have them pay attention to each other.

It's rare to get genuine 'moments' precisely because you're engineering a false situation. With practice however, you'll learn to know when they're coming if theyre going to come, and also how to make it look less contrived than it is.

If it fails though, yeah, Falcon Punch.

[faeriegodess612]

Originally Posted by maxharvard

Two words - Falcon Punch.

If you don't get that reference, then you... are lame.

I guess I'm lame then. I'm on Skype with my husband, so I blurt out,.."WTF is Falcon Punch?" and he busts out laughing asking where I'd come across that. I'd already looked it up in Google, but it still didnt make sense to me. So he explained it a lil more.

[iluvphoto]

Yeah - I'm lame... I don't have a clue what falcon punch is.

[kcoppock]

Pretty much this.

How this relates to the topic...I'll leave to your google-fu.

[Arnold23]

ummm whats a falcon punch?