When you think you’ve taken the perfect couple shot only to realise that even the highest quality DSLR camera can’t make you not look like a potato, it’s tempting to lose hope.
That temptation increases tenfold after you scroll through 20 images of a night thinking: surely we both look good in one of these, only to find that you look tipsy in all but one of them (and in that particular photo your partner blinked).
But, given the correct preparation, it’s possible to refine your couple photos to the point where you’ll score upwards of 50,000 likes per shot. Luckily for you, one such couple, Marie Fe and Jake Snow, have taken it upon themselves to reveal their five top tips for taking awesome couple photos.
Here’s what they had to say.
Buy A Tripod
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While you may be able to convince a third wheel to accompany you to some of the world’s more luxurious locales, if you’re heading off the beaten path with just the two of you it pays to have a tripod to get a more natural—or in the above case, spectacular—result.
Also, perhaps unusually for a couple you might expect to always be spruiking high-end products, they recommend you go for something cheap: “We like to buy sturdy but relatively cheap tripods because we always ruin them by putting them in salt water.”
“If you want to get the ‘shot’ you will need to put your tripod in places it shouldn’t be.”
Frame The Shot
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We don’t all have an influencer’s physique… But we do all have the ability to frame our shots using the landscapes nature provides us with.
“Composition is key; make sure your place yourselves thoughtfully in the photo.”
As Jake and Marie point out: “An advantage of being a couple is that you can send one person out into the frame to judge where exactly the best place to be is.”
Use this wisely, and, “Be natural and enjoy yourself (because) it is easy to tell if a photo contains true happiness.”
Take Advantage Of Time Lapse Mode
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An essential part of taking great couple photos is exploiting your camera’s time-lapse feature, which allows you to capture a more natural-looking scene. As Marie and Jake explain, “After we have framed the shot will set our camera to time-lapse mode and set the time-lapse to shoot 1 photo every 3 seconds.”
“We also set the camera to autofocus mode to make sure the camera stays focused while we move around.”
“Taking your photos this way will lead to much more candid and authentic shots,” they continue, “Instead of standing there waiting for the timer to go off or trying to hide your phone while you use it as a remote, you can just enjoy yourself and the location you are at and let the camera do its thing.”
Download LightRoom
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To take top tier couple shots, learning how to edit is almost as important as getting a good shot in the first place. According to Marie and Jake, “The powerhouse of editing software is Adobe Lightroom.” And while romantic scenes like the above are priceless Adobe Lightroom is only $14.99…
Try Out Some Presets
Not just one of the greatest EDM groups of the century, Presets are templates you can apply to any of your photos once you open them in Lightroom.
“If you want to fast forward the learning process in Lightroom and skip to having amazing photos straight up then you can buy some presets.”
“A preset, Jake and Marie explain, “Will automatically adjust the tones, presence, highlights, shadow, colours etc.”