Jasmine Star, known for her lifestyle photography that brings out the emotions and personalities of her clients, shares some important tips on preparing for an engagement session in the following video.

See Video on Preparing Clients for Engagement Photography

It’s interesting to hear her perspective and approach on the typical Engagement session as compared to ours. As many of you know, we’ve just launched our Natural Light Couples Photography DVD that goes into the planning, posing, lighting, and post production for engagement sessions (aka couples photography our couples sessions). We generally agree with what she presents in this video; and in fact, we cover many of the same topics in our DVD in depth.

For example, in her video she emphasizes the importance of educating clients through detailed emails. For example, she explains to her clients the importance of arriving on time instead of simply telling clients to be on time. While we say something similar in our approach, we also suggest that you mention the cost of adding additional time in the planning stages to avoid having to bring up surprises on the spot.

In the video, she also asks the clients to look at past engagement sessions to make the client feel more comfortable. We like to go a step further and ask for a “moodboard” or a collection of images that represents the client’s style preferences. We encourage our clients to choose most of these photos from our own site to ensure that our clients are choosing us for the right reasons and to manage expectations of the shoot.

Lastly, Jasmine encourages personal elements like props and suggests limiting the wardrobe changes to one. She also recommends professional hair and makeup. These are also things we agree with and cover in depth in our DVD, with entire videos dedicated to each topic.

See The Trailer for Our Natural Light DVD

Click here for more info on our Natural Light Couples Photography DVD, the 12 hour, comprehensive DVD on planning, lighting, shooting, and post producing natural light engagement session.

More recommended learning:

You can also learn more about the entire wedding photography profession in the Fstoppers’, How To Become A Professional Commercial Wedding Photographer. In the DVD, they cover everything there is to know about wedding photography, from marketing to shooting to post production. Check it out!