The Ultimate Guide to Couples Portrait Photography
In a sea of photography subjects, few are more captivating than couples in love.
The lure runs deep for us, having experienced shared love with one another for over a decade. Relationships are often difficult things, but made easier when there is a true connection that is felt and experienced by both people involved. We could probably fill a book with our thoughts just on “love” as this great philosophical topic, and go into great detail of what it means for us, and how it has shaped our lives in significant ways.
Of course, that book isn’t why you are here (this isn’t a love advice blog), but it’s the foundation that underpins why couples photography is so meaningful to us. We are a couple (married husband and wife wedding photographers, too!), and have experienced all the highs and lows that comes with that.
Outside of just our “couple’s experience,” we’ve also been on both sides of the camera “as a couple.” We had engagement photos taken, and we got married and experienced having a photographer at our side the entire time. We did a “Day After” shoot with a friend of ours a few months after our wedding. We occasionally take pictures of ourselves just to remind us of what it’s like…
We translate all of this experience – the long-term “love” experience, along with being behind and in front of the camera for all these significant moments in our own lives – and the lives of the people we photograph – into something concrete, meaningful, and actionable for you.
We have been capturing the love of other couple’s for several years now, and have a lot of insight to put out there in order to be able to help you have more success when it comes to taking pictures of couples yourself.
The 5 Core Things to Know About Couples Photography
There are many things you will become aware of as you learn to photograph couples, but we’ve boiled things down to 5 simple things you need to know out the gate in order to get the best images possible.
1). Every couple is different.
It’s no surprise that everyone brings their own unique personalities to the table. It’s also probably not surprising that you will not click with every couple that comes along. Your goal as a photographer should be to learn how to adapt to the many personalities and idiosyncrasies that come along with the people you are photographing.
As photography business owners with success, we have been able to start being more selective of the clients we work with. We are able to better screen people through emails, phone calls, in person meetings, and so on to see if it will be a good fit.
Of course, not everyone has this ability – especially those just starting out in the very competitive and saturated photography market. We’ve been there, and have done shoots just to do them in the past. In the least, they all bring learning experiences that help shape who you want to be in the future, and help you define who your ideal client actually is.
Returning to the main point: how you approach shooting one couple may be different than how you approach another. On paper, your approach will apply to many people. With posing (as an example), we like to use a lot of prompts to elicit natural responses in our couples – but there are occasions where this approach simply doesn’t work, and people just need more direction (ie: posing). We’ll discuss all of this in more detail soon (we promise!)
How you approach each couple should be consistent, but flexible to change when it’s necessary.
2). The value placed on photos varies.
As an artist, it’s sometimes difficult to hear feedback that, sometimes, people just don’t care what your photos are like. It is, occasionally, a challenge when we work hard not only during a shoot – but spend hours upon hours editing images to make them very concise to our photography style.
Don’t get us wrong! For some people, these images will be treasured in ways difficult to describe. But for others, they are “just pictures,” and while nice to have – not so groundbreaking as you might think.
Being able to take a step back and acknowledge that, while your photography product might be great – it is at the end of the day a service being offered, and like any product, the effort that goes into it’s creation won’t always go recognized.
Want extra help working with couples as clients? Read our list of questions to ask photography clients.
3). Most couples will be awkward (at least at first).
If there is any recurring thing we hear at virtually every shoot, it’s “we’re going to be awkward.”
We’re pretty sure we said this ourselves when we showed up for our engagement session, too.
Sometimes, being awkward can be a scary thing – maybe even more so when someone is going to document the awkwardness. Photographers have a significant opportunity to help make the client experience easier, and the awkwardness go away – or can exacerbate it.
If there is anything to learn about couples photography, it’s that your technical and compositional skills take a backseat to making sure you can create an environment welcoming of photography.
It probably sounds daunting when spelled out like that, but in practice things tend to be simple: have a relationship with your client, make them feel comfortable, then reach for the stars with your photography.
4). You need to give a lot to get a lot.
Most people just see the end result of photography – the photo (or a gallery of photos). They don’t see what goes on behind the scenes, and for the best couples photography, it is often a quite involved experience.
Our approach to photography is always to attempt to represent the people we are photographing in an accurate but beautiful way. This means making a lot of decisions to do things that reflect who they are as a couple. The result of this is to always focus on them in our images first (their experience and affection for one another), and the environment second. In the end, this means we can make great images no matter where we are shooting.
BUT! This doesn’t mean the setting isn’t important. Quite the contrary, the setting can add a serious layer to the photographs that is potentially unexpected. While pictures of couples up close can be beautiful – especially for the couple themselves – the shots that often stick out the most are those that meld the couple with the power of a beautiful landscape (or some other type of environmental set piece).
Getting to some of these locations takes effort and determination. We think back to hiking for a long time just to be at the side of a cliff for sunset with one of our couples – a really powerful time, and a lot of time and effort that required just to get to a position to take a photo. On the wedding day, we think of our own determination and push to make spaces that are tight and cramped come away as beautiful…
The list goes on…
Be prepared to give a lot to get the most from the couple you are shooting, but remember the end result will be worth it!
5). You need to be empathetic to their experience.
One selling point for our wedding photography business is that we have been in the same shoes.
We know what it’s like to be a couple, we know what it’s like to get engaged, we know how stressful planning a wedding can be, and we know what the wedding day feels like (a little stressful, a little anxiety, and it goes really quick!). Just these things alone gives us some insight into how a couple is feeling when they get in front of our camera, and we aim to make it a more relaxing and fun experience. It’s less formal, and more of a fun experience when done correctly.
It’s not to say that everyone who takes pictures of couples have to have gone through all of the same life experiences, but it is important to realize that empathy goes a long way to get the photos your couple is looking for. It’s this requirement to get on their level, to walk in their shoes, in order to make something beautiful together.
How to Pose a Couple for the Best Photography Possible
In our experience, the most difficult part of portrait photography – and specifically couple’s portrait photography – is the posing. There are multiple schools of thought on how it should be approached (the traditional “posing” you see in your parent’s wedding photos, and the more modern “unposed” method). Not to mention, there are literally hundreds of books, online courses, and probably a million articles on this topic to be found online, too.
So, how do we teach about posing couples?
Well – it needs to be said that you ultimately need to find your own method in the madness, but we will share what works well for us. If you have already tried some things but feel it’s not working well for you, you might find our process to be better.
The results of our process have been overwhelmingly positive, often with couples saying to us by the end of a shoot how “easy”, “fun”, and “natural” it felt to have their photos taken. Regardless of your methods, this should always be the end result you are looking for.
Our Approach to Posing Couples
Before you actually try to pose a couple, you need to define what kind of response you are looking to get from them.
There is an inherent give-and-take that comes into play where you (as a photographer) ask your subject to perform a certain action – and you will document the corresponding reaction.
The goal when giving posing instructions is to try to be as concise as possible so as to get the response you want, but in some instances to leave the door open for your couple to interpret the instruction in their own way – making for a more authentic reflection of them.
Because our goal is this authentic response, our approach to posing varies depending on the couple, and can even vary from moment-to-moment. Anyone who tries to sell you a one sized glove fits all method is likely not selling a real-to-life approach.
Our method blends the more formal approach to posing with the unposed methodology, giving us maximum control to influence what the resulting images will look like.
Hands on Posing
Some couples naturally respond in ways that are mesmerizing, and don’t need special adjustments, while others require more help to be posed in a way that is flattering for them.
Hands on posing is a much more guided approach that involves just telling your subjects what to do.
It can be as simple as “look towards the camera” or “hold hands.” In some cases, we will help gently guide our couples into certain positions – even helping to reposition arms in a way that is more flattering when necessary.
One of the key words to take away from the last sentence is “gently,” because the aversion many people have to posing isn’t the posing itself – but the stiffness and forced nature we all think of.
It’s a funny thing, because many of our clients have expressed not liking “posed” shots, but in practice a majority of our favorite photos are posed. It’s just an issue of how you approach posing that plays a huge role.
If you are looking for an excellent starting resource to cover this type of posing, consider checking out Picture Perfect Posing: Practicing the Art of Posing for Photographers and Models (Voices That Matter). This is an amazingly detailed book on the topic.
“Unposed” Posing
While being hands on can be useful to get the shots we see in our minds, using prompts in order to elicit natural responses from the couple in front of our camera is our preferred way to shoot. Prompts allow for virtually endless amounts of natural poses that a couple can get themselves into, and can be mixed with some guided posing or left completely open ended for the couple to sort out between themselves.
Some example prompts we use:
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“While holding [name]’s close you, whisper into their ear and talk about a moment you were proud of them”
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“Stand 5 paces behind [name]’s, quietly sneak up on them and give [name]’s a big bear hug with kisses”
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“While facing each other, tell [name]’s you love them in as many different accents you can”
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“In your sexiest voice possible, whisper your favorite breakfast food’s into [name]’s ear”
It’s fundamentally simple stuff, but after reading each of these you can probably already picture some possible responses you’d end up getting.
Some prompts are more serious, and as a result lead to more serious results.
Other prompts are meant to conjure up some laughter, really genuine smiles, and fun interactions between the couple that might not have been seen otherwise.
If this approach to posing is interesting to you, we’d suggest you check out the Unposed Field Guide and the Candid Posing Guide.
The Mixed Posing Method
While there are occasionally couples that only respond well to one of the above approaches, most couples require a mixture of both methods to get the best response and diversity of images.
Most of our photography sessions unfold by using a combination of these approaches. At the start of our shoot, things tend to feel very formal as we get a few “looking at the camera shots” (for mom-and-dad), then we often work into some simple poses and prompts to get the couple warmed up (often laughing a bit because laughter is the best medicine!). As the session progresses, we’ll often get into more intimate poses and prompts. In some locations where we have a specific shot in mind, we will pose more to get the exact look we want.
This blended approach works very well, and we’d imagine most photographers looking to figure out how to pose their clients would benefit from keeping an open mind to this approach.
Example Couple’s Poses
Sometimes, the best way to learn more about posing is to see some real world examples.
All of the photos below were taken by us (Hand and Arrow Photography).
You can hover over the images for more detail about how they were created!
How to Get the Right Composition for Couples Portraits
So much of the conversation about couples portrait photography tends to focus on how to pose the couple, but often with so much focus given to this important component – we can forget that framing the couple in a flattering way can be just as critical.
The important thing to keep in mind is that great poses can look really bad if not framed well, or if shot in places that are not appealing, or in a way that is poorly exposed.
The opposite is also true to some extent, an okay pose can actually look really great when the composition is just right.
There are a few key things we keep in mind when it comes to framing our couple in order to get the best shot – regardless of the pose they are in.
Below are 7 tips for getting great couples photography compositions, featuring one recent engagement session we had where we showcased all of these in a single shoot.
1). Full body shots
Probably the simplest type of portrait photograph you can take involves getting ALL of your couple in the frame. We often start off with this type of shot because we can take a few steps back and let the couple just get used to being in front of the camera.
Of course, simplicity doesn’t mean it is a bad approach to framing. Getting full body shots is great because it captures all of the couple. You can also really highlight the environment they are in – sometimes to add some drama (think: tall trees, waterfalls, etc.) or to add sentimental value (in the above photo the couple wanted a shot of their farm!).
2). Get closer
Our favorite shots (and the highlight of our portrait style) are those that are tighter in to our subjects. There are many different ways to approach these closer up shots, a few we look for:
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Torso up shots
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Face shots (with emphasis on the eyes)
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Neck down shots (usually with emphasis on hand holding)
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Close up shots on rings and other jewelry on the subject(s)
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but our “must have” shots.
As a photographer, you have a lot of creative flexibility to get shots you want to get. But, if you are shooting portraits for a client, you will want to keep in mind the types of shots they are looking for as well.
When we deliver online galleries to clients, we aim to comprise the gallery of shots the clients will definitely love, a few shots for mom-and-dad (the traditional look-at-the-camera picture), and some more artistic photos that suit our aesthetic sensibilities while potentially risking not being cared for by our clients. These types of shots most often are more abstracted images for us.
Of course, how you approach filling your own gallery is up to you to decide!
If you don’t know much about online gallery storage, check out Pic-Time! We use this to host our client galleries and you can even get started for free.
3). Replicate other images (when it makes sense)
This photography tip should not be applied during every session you have, but can be a great way to add more image diversity when it makes sense. There is a fine line between replicating an image and it becomes really cheesy, and doing something that helps to better exemplify the couple themselves.
Generally speaking, we actually actively avoid doing this sort of thing unless it’s specially requested.
In the above photo, we replicated the painting American Gothic, because the couple thought it would be a fun shot to have. In this case, it worked out really well – and is the type of shot that makes us smile every time we look at it. This image, in conjunction with all the other images in their engagement session gallery, really come to represent who they are and their personalities.
4). Capture intimacy
Real intimacy tends to evolve in a very natural and candid manner. While this isn’t strictly a compositional tip in and of itself (ie: we’re not telling you how to frame the subject), the beginning of all compositions is seeing things at the right time in order to capture them effectively.
Sometimes, the things we see are lines and shapes that make for interesting subjects (or abstractions of subjects). Other times, as is common with couples photography, we’ll see powerful emotions.
It’s hard to not see real affection in the photo above.
It’s something that even all the posing in the world can’t replicate, and when it happens it is really a magical thing to get to photograph.
In this particular image, we used a low f-stop in order to blow out the background, and just let the image be about the couple.
5). Use selective focus and depth of field
Because you are photographing two people at once, another way to mix up your compositions is to focus on just one of them at a time.
In the above image, this is seen pretty dramatically in our “faux first look” photo at the couple’s engagement session – where the intention was to highlight the guys reaction to her. This look is achieved by using a low f-stop in order to have a large depth of field – in this case blurring both the foreground subject (the girl) and the background behind him.
This is an example of one of the many artistic decisions you will have to make. It’s possible you don’t care for the girl looking so blurred out – in which case you could take a similar image at a higher f-stop (let’s say f/8) and have both of them in focus.
The options are both available, and this is why knowing how to use your camera effectively in manual mode will give you the most options.
6). Change your lens for a different perspective
Early into our photography career, we stuck pretty much exclusively to a 50mm lens. Don’t get us wrong, this is a good lens and is suitable for a lot of different shot types – but it becomes limiting to be forced to use just a single focal length for every shot.
As we expanded and bought other camera lenses, we started to see the merits other lenses had to offer our approach to photography. In fact, our current approach is heavily shaped by the lenses we are using.
While most lenses won’t tick all the boxes, you can get lenses that suit your specific wants.
Some of our favorite lenses (we shoot with Canon – but you can find comparable lenses in other brand names if that’s what you’re looking for) include:
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Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 USM III Lens (Read our review here)
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Canon EF 50mm f/1.2 USM Lens (Read our review here)
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Canon EF 85mm f/1.2 IS USM II Lens (Read our review here)
As a general rule, here is how lens focal lengths translate into shots for us:
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16mm – 35mm: wide angle shots (good for showing the couple in their environment – the above shot was taken with a 16mm)
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35mm – 85mm: close to medium range portrait shots (35mm is great for wider portrait shots, while 85mm is our favorite portrait lens for proximity and depth of field capabilities)
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80mm – 200mm: medium to long range portrait shots (the longer the focal length, the more compression and DOF you will have in your image – great for getting tight shots from farther away)
7). Use unique camera techniques
Lastly, you have the ability to mix things up by doing things that can only be seen through a camera.
Most photographs tend to be fairly realistic to what our eyes can see – and generally speaking most photos we aim to take are like this. A natural representation of the couple.
But! The artsy and fun shots that can slip in there take advantage of different techniques and added items that can make for something different.
In the above photo, we used a long exposure to capture the waterfall as smooth streams. This is achieved by lowering the shutter speed (in our case to 1 second) and placing the camera on a tripod. Fortunately, the couple was able to stay still enough so we didn’t have to worry about compositing them into the shot in Photoshop as well, though we did take some other photos in case we wanted to do this later.
This is an in camera technique, and some other common things you can do includes using your cell phone, a prism, a suncatcher, or a copper pipe to achieve cool effects by placing them up against (or close to) your lens.
Conclusion
Photographing couples is a really fun experience, but can be intimidating too if you’re not used to it.
On the surface, it seems easy enough – point your camera at the couple and shoot, right?
In our experience, it takes time to really refine your approach to couples photography. Your first goals should be to just get some go-to poses locked down in your mind, and a few verbal prompts if you want to explore that side of posing. From there, hone your technical photography skills so you can start to think less about what your ISO should be at – and more about the composition and look of the couple in your frame.
Hopefully you find this article to be useful insight into our process for capturing couples. If you have any particular questions, feel free to leave a comment below and get the conversation started!
