Potrero Hill Engagement Pictures – Rachel and Jordan

You can tell from literally every single one of these photos that these two love each other so much and that they are so ridiculously fun. I laughed throughout the whole session and then as I was culling the photos I just kept laughing! Aren’t they so fun and cute??

I wanted to practice capturing running so I had them run back and forth across the intersection (when no cars were there, duh). They even make trash cans look cute!! So excited for their wedding! The entire Hang (Austin’s group of best friends from college – there are 5 of them and Michelle and I have “married in”) is going and it’s going to be a blast celebrating Rachel & Jordan (we like to insert ourselves into each other’s families)!!

Shooting: It was luckily not that busy but there were a few cars here and there! Next time I think I probably would’ve squatted because even squatting a little would’ve gotten fewer cars in the picture… but also it’s San Francisco, and it’s inevitable to get people and cars in the shot! I just cropped a lot. It was foggy/hazy but it gave the cityscape a cool misty look and also it made the focus on Rachel and Jordan which is my goal anyway! My goal one day is to take such great pictures that it doesn’t matter that the people are in front of a dump. (they are literally in front of trash cans in some of these pictures because San Francisco but they still make it look good… it’s them not me)!

Editing: Sometimes I don’t know whether I should split tone or adjust white balance. Will I never learn that shadows hold grain? Just kidding that’s not growth mindset. I’m learning that I should only barely underexpose because my camera’s dynamic range isn’t super great. And I don’t want to add too much noise to the shadows when I lighten them in post. I also tried different things which is why the editing style might be inconsistent… I’m still finding the tones I like!

I struggled with white balance for some of these! I think I especially struggle when the people are facing the sun because it adds an orange glow that I’m not super great at getting rid of yet. And then there was a BEAUTIFUL sunset and the clouds were great but then I didn’t underexpose enough to capture that and then retain in post when I bumped the exposure. I’m learning so much! And I would gladly learn again and again with Rachel and Jordan!!

Here are some where I especially struggled with white balance but I kinda like it:

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