Couples photography poses, ideas and inspiration

Jul 19, 2012 | Continuous Lighting, Flash, Location

01. The kiss.  Shot into the light, softly posed, purposeful yet delicate, anticipation of the perfect moment. I see so many kiss shots as a wedding photography tutor yet rarely do they work as they should. Love, intimacy and sensitivity are the real subjects of the shot, not the process of kissing.

Here are 40 of my shots from last weeks Photographing Couples workshop. I took 5 delegates on a tour around the streets of Bristol and we shot our couple en route. I used one Speedlight in manual mode on a lighting stand for some of the shots and the rest were lit with natural light. It rained almost all day but we worked under cover, in bars and with umbrellas.Being able to shoot in all weather is a plus especially if you ever want to shoot weddings. Delegates on this workshop got a lot of extra valuable tips about how to cope with wet weather and flat light.

Models: Nikki Chislett and her husband

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Please feel free to comment on these pictures below.

If you’re interested in learning more about Photographing Couples take a look at this downloadable video tutorial.

16 Comments

  1. Kathryn

    Wow, what stunning images, thank you for sharing. I’ll certainly use this for inspiration with my own work.

    Reply
    • Damien

      Thank you Kathryn :)

      Reply
  2. KedR

    Love the use of lights (continuous LED I assume) in some of the photos. Very artistic

    Reply
    • damien

      Hi KedR,

      I used a single speedlight for the shots that are lit.

      Thanks, Damien.

      Reply
  3. David Stubbs

    Thanks for the compliment Darren. Well it was a pre-wedding shoot, just not a real one! – ha. Other than saying the 3 words ‘pre wedding shoot’ in the title, there is no further write up to the post. If potential clients do find the post, then I don’t want to start confusing them. as I see it, here is a post of pre wedding shoot ‘type’ photos that I have done. I learnt so much on the day, it’s irrelevant and even happy to remove the pics from my site as the quality of my work has improved because of the day. – David

    Reply
  4. Leeds Wedding Photographer - Martin Hillary

    I like your thoughts on the kiss shot and think it works brilliantly. I’ve seen so many of these types of shots done that to be honest are awful to look at. Photographers tend to just use them when they’ve run out of ideas. ‘Give her a kiss then’ and all you see are scrunched up faces. Nothing intimate, no connection and not that good to look at. Stunning work!

    Reply
    • damien

      Thanks Martin :)

      Reply
  5. Romana Wyllie

    Stunning work Damien. I love the connection between them that you have captured beautifully.

    Reply
    • damien

      Thank you for your kind words Romana.

      Best wishes from the UK,

      Damien.

      Reply
  6. Darren

    Superb images as usual Damien, hopefully I might make it to one of your workshops one day.

    Checked out your images too David (Stubbs), excellent work although I wouldn’t have tried to pass them off as a pre-wedding shoot. Why not come clean and state that you attended a workshop to improve your photography? After all we can all improve and I dont think anyone would criticise you for it.

    Reply
  7. ayo-iShutter

    Awesome and creative as usual. I like the anticipation of intimacy used here so well. The couple are great. Lovely shots. The reason I keep coming back. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  8. Andrew Cresswell

    Lovely work as usual Damien. With you all the way with the kissing shot, squashed noses and lips don’t make good shots.

    Reply
  9. darek

    Damien,
    What camera did you use during that session? Very creative and simple and the result so wonderful.
    Darek

    Reply
  10. David Stubbs Photography

    Thank you for teaching me so much on this workshop Damien. I now have more confidence to interact with a couple and create beautiful and consistent looking photos. My attempts are on my blog. I will certainly be booking on a workshop again. Maybe how to photograph a not so good looking or uncomfortable couple?

    Reply
  11. Jeff Sham

    Great set Damien, I can see why your courses are sold out! Numbers 30 and 31 are my fave.

    Reply
  12. Darek

    these are great Damien!!!
    I am such a fan of yours. too bad you dont do any workshops in Poland. :( I would be your shadow. Perhaps you will have more of your workshops in download format. :) Great work again!!! One of those days we should do facetime on x-pro1.

    darek

    Reply

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