Matt and I started dating our junior year of university, and most of our adventures at that time consisted of camping and road trips from our home base in Boulder, Colorado.

During one school break, we planned to head to Moab to camp. This was one of our first camping trips together! Upon arriving, all the camp sites we came to were occupied. So, after hours of driving around searching for a spot without success, we headed out of Moab and towards the San Rafael Swell in the dark. We had never been to this area, and there wasn’t much info online about it at the time, so we just drove, found a free dispersed spot, and set up camp.

The sunlight the next morning revealed beautiful desert scenery and rugged cliffs surrounding us that we weren’t able to see when we arrived the night before. We were instantly in awe of this area. Since then, we have been coming back here to camp and adventure again and again. And so it seemed fitting to return to shoot our own engagement photos in a place we’ve come to love.

This isn’t the typical content we post on the blog, but we thought we’d share some photos from our desert engagement shoot along with tips for those thinking about shooting their own engagement photos!

Why We Chose to Shoot Our Own Engagement Photos

Some of our friends and family ask why we decided to shoot our own engagement photos. The main reason is that we thought it would be a fun activity to do together. We are by no means professional photographers and the pictures we do take are usually more travel focused as opposed to portraits. But we do love taking photos and were up for this fun challenge.

Taking our own photos also allowed us the freedom to control the whole shoot. From styling, location, and angles to poses and final edits, we were able to tailor everything to turn out just how we wanted. Even if they aren’t perfect by professional standards, being able to put all the details together ourselves made us love the photos even more.

Lastly, professional engagement shoot packages often cost thousands of dollars. We had been wanting to upgrade our camara gear and thought this was a better use of our money. Conducting our own shoot was a good way to get to know and practice with our new gear!

Our Desert Engagement Shoot

Morning Session

Our morning began at a hotel room in Green River where we stayed for just a night to be able get an early start and not be all gross from camping before taking our engagement photos. We got ready, then headed out towards Temple Mountain. We planned to hike to Wild Horse Window, which was great for our engagement shoot because the hike is short and easy, the area is stunning, and it was not far from where we planned to camp that night.

Off we went up to the arch, taking photos as we went. Being there in the early morning, we had the place to ourselves, the morning light was perfect, and it wasn’t too hot yet.

Wild Horse Window was a super pretty spot to shoot at, though some of the lighting was challenging with the darkness inside the cave and the sunlight becoming more harsh around it as the sun climbed higher. We enjoyed the area for a while before heading back down to the car.

As we hiked back to the car, we explored the slickrock landscape a bit and took some photos on the way.

At the trailhead, we changed into comfier clothes and drove down Behind the Reef Road to find a camp spot.

Evening Session

The plan was to shoot more photos that evening in case we didn’t quite capture what we had hoped that morning. We also wanted to take advantage of the warm evening light. After setting up camp, we hung out and waited for sunset. It was late June, so it was really hot midday. Definitely not ideal for making the makeup and hair last, but oh well!

As the sun dipped down low to the horizon, we climbed out of the wash where we were camped and up onto a hill for a better view of the cliffs glowing in the evening light. We broke out the champagne and just had a fun evening taking some photos and enjoying the sunset together.

Challenges We Encountered Taking Our Own Engagement Photos

We have absolutely no regrets about taking our own engagement photos. But here are some of the challenges we encountered and some good things to keep in mind if you decide you want to shoot your own as well.

• It was harder to get the candid shots. Professional wedding and engagement photographers know how to capture those candid moments really well. Capturing genuine moments and motion, such as with the champagne, was harder when we were the ones setting up the camera. We’ll give our tips for overcoming that below.
   
• It took a while. It took much longer to shoot the photos ourselves than it would have if we had a photographer capturing us. Setting up the tripod and camera for each shot and going to check/adjust between takes definitely took a while.
   
• We didn’t really know what we were doing. Portraiture isn’t something we shoot and we’ve never done a couples photo session. So, it took a little extra time to figure out what poses looked good and get comfortable enough to make the photos look more natural.
   
• The weather. This was definitely situational, but a desert engagement shoot in Utah at the end of June was hot. Being sweaty was not helping the hair and makeup and Matt was not enjoying his black suit jacket. There were also so many little flies, which were flying into our eyes and mouths as we were shooting. Yuck!

Tips for Taking Your Own Engagement Photos

Again, we’re not professional photographers, but if you’re interesting in trying to take your own engagement photos, here are some tips we learned from the experience.

• Plan your shoot ahead. Since we had no idea on how to shoot engagement photos, we went online beforehand and looked at various shoots. This gave us a better idea on poses to try and the vibe we wanted. We knew the area we were shooting at, which was helpful. We wrote out notes on shots we wanted to get while incorporating the ideas from engagement shoot examples.
  
  Looking back, we maybe would have brought another outfit for one of the shooting sessions. Many other shoots we have seen incorporate multiple looks. We just brought the one because we honestly didn’t think we’d capture so many photos we loved and were just counting on a handful of great photos from the whole day.
  
  
• Know your camera. You can shoot in auto, but adjusting your focus, shutter speed, etc. manually might give your photos more of a professional feel and allow you to control the look of the photo as you desire. A little practice beforehand can help you get comfortable adjusting these on the go. There are basic setting cheat sheets online as well. If, like us, you get new camera gear before your shoot, it helps to practice a few shots beforehand. 

• Use the timer function. As we mentioned above, it’s a bit harder to capture candid photos of yourself. To get some of those more authentic moments on camera, use the timer/time lapse function on your camera. We set ours up to shoot photos every second or so as we had fun in the desert. This also came in handy for getting those champagne pics. You could also use a remote. We just didn’t want one in our hand for the photos and didn’t want to think about the exact moment the photo was taken.
  
  
• Shoot in softer light. The early morning and sunset lighting are less harsh and easier to shoot in in our opinion. Slightly overcast days also present a softer light. Go for sunset if you want that extra warm glow.
   
• Applying the final touches. Many engagement photographers apply color and light adjustments, grain, and other edits to their photos to give them a unique and uniform look. Some sell their presets for you to apply to your own photos if desired. While there are various paid professional editing softwares out there, there are also free ones, such as Lightroom Mobile. If desired, you can apply your own edits and presets to give your photos a unique look.
  
  When taking your photos, we recommend shooting RAW images. The file stores more data and allows for more extensive corrections to shadows, highlights, etc. when editing.

• Have fun! Plan your shoot around something you enjoy. This could be a hike, visiting a favorite viewpoint or other unique location, having a picnic, etc. This will make a fun day around the shoot and the pictures will turn out so much better if you’re having a great time!

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