12 Tips to Make Your Winter Engagement Photos the Best Ever

It makes sense that winter is one of the most popular times of the year to get engaged. If you’re planning around the holidays, you’ve got the built-in convenience of having your family around to celebrate, you can take advantage of fairytale snowscapes and scenery, and just pretty damn romantic at the end of the day.

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When it comes to winter engagement photos, you’ll want to extend that same magic through your photos so they last a lifetime. Here are some tips on how to take the best winter engagement photos ever.

1. Work with a local photographer to make things easier for all parties.

Gary Pope of GDA Wedding Photography in CT explains that this is one of the most important tips for ensuring a flaw-free engagement photo shoot. This is not only going to save you a headache in terms of logistics (what if there’s a bad storm and your photographer already lives an hour away?) but also knows the area, the scenery, and is willing to legit get on the ground to take photos of you in snowy conditions (figuratively but also perhaps literally here).

If you must work with someone who’s further away, Pope recommends confirming with them that they’re willing to do the shoot on a moment’s notice and have the capability and are willing to troubleshoot in case of weather conditions, like putting on snow tires on their car or that they have all-wheel drive to keep all parties safe.

2. Know that you can totally have a stunning set of engagement photos in your own backyard.

Yes, your backyard can totally be the perfect background for this! If you want to have a snowy landscape, fresh snow is super important here, says Pope, so so keep an eye out for weather, and if you hear of snow coming, make sure your backyard/front yard is tidy and photo-ready. A good photographer should be able to make just about any backyard look great, Pope adds. Another bonus of the backyard shoot? You can always pop inside for a second to warm up if anyone needs a break, says Pope.

3. If you don’t wanna do it in your backyard, keep an eye out for local winter events.

Facebook is great for keeping up to date on cute potential photo opps, says Pope. Many cities are adopting Igloo Bars, or clear mini domes you can have to yourself for privacy (and yay, social distancing, but make it cute), which you can host your engagement session in for a cute backdrop, Pope adds. There are also the time-tested classics of ice-skating rinks and sledding if you wanna try those.

4. Work in props that also warm you up.

There’s nothing worse than having to end an engagement session short just because it’s cold, says Pope, so work around that by bring things that double as cute eye-candy photo props and keep you toasty. A colorful, warm blanket or throw and/or cups of steaming hot cocoa work great here, says Pope.

5. Plan on incorporating lots of bold colors into your clothing, accessories, or background if you want to make snowy landscapes really pop.

Go for colors that contrast with white snow, says Azumi Baba Ndanani, owner of Photography by Azumi. “Vivid hues such as marigold, red, and emerald pop beautifully against snowfall and create a surreal quality in your photos,” she adds.

6. Plan your shoot so you have plenty of daylight.

In wintertime, you’re limited to less hours of sunlight, so make sure you and your photog are well aware of when sunrises and sunsets are for your shoot day, says Abiola Matesun, owner and CEO of MalekFoto Weddings. If you’re in an area with even higher altitude, this could also cut down significantly on your daylight hours, so plan to make the most of it.

7. If you’re trying to go for snowy landscapes, aim for the day of snowfall, or the day right after it snows.

You want the snow to be fresh and crisp so there won’t be any trees without snow on them, or brown patches on the ground, says Amber of Zephpyr & Luna, a wedding photographer based in France, with lots of experience in the French Alps and Auvergne region (aka a v. cold, v. snowy area!). The longer you wait after a snowfall, the higher your likelihood of having a less-than-ideal snowy environment.

8. Have a backup plan in case snowfall doesn’t work out.

No biggie if the snow doesn’t work out perfectly. Amber also says that planning a photo session in a pine forest where trees don’t lose leaves and stay green and vibrant all winter, is a great option here. You avoid the look of “naked” trees, it’s still very winter-feeling, and even if snow isn’t on the ground, the pine trees give plenty of winter vibes.

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You can even pull off a winter-looking shoot indoors in a desert, just by wearing holiday clothes (ugly sweaters, festive colors, lots of sparkle, etc), donning gloves and finding the right accessories and props for a shoot, says Pope.

9. Always bring extra clothes to stay warm.

Anji and Pete Martin of Potok’s World Photography, recommend bringing a coat or heavy sweater. There’s no shame in it either — y’know how celebs are often papped between takes on set wearing the longest effing parka on earth and fuzzy Ugg boots? You don’t see ’em in the final cut, and you can stay comfier longer. Who cares if you legit schlep three parkas to your shoot destination? If they keep you warm enough to take the jaw-dropping engagement pics in snowy mountains you’ve been dreaming of since you were a kid, do you!

10. Along with the clothing layers, it’s not a bad idea to pack extra shoes — namely, boots.

The Martins say it’s super important to wear comfy shoes and not to feel weird if you gotta wear boots to and from the shoot destination. Winter wonderland magic also means snow, slush, and other less-than-ideal-traction conditions. You can always change into shoes at the scene, wait until your photographer is taking a full-length photo of you, and plus, you might get some really cute candids of you changing or wearing mismatched shoes during the shoot out of it.

11. If going the DIY route, make sure you know how to operate your camera to make the most of winter conditions, like capturing snow falling in motion and making sure your batteries don’t freeze!

Matesun has three uber-helpful tips for the DIY engagement photographer:

• Experiment with shutter speed for your desired look. Whether you want to see the snow falling mid-air, or want a more blurred effect, there’s a setting for that. “A faster shutter speed such as 1/250th of a second will freeze the movement of the snow in the frame, whereas a slower shutter speed such as one or two seconds will blur the snowflakes, giving you a sense of movement,” he says.
• Keep your batteries warm. Cold temps can drain your camera batteries anywhere from 40–60% says Matesun. Load up on spare batteries if you can, and keep them warm in an inner pocket close to your body, he says.
• Bring an extra lens cloth and airtight bag to prevent your lens from fogging up — one of the major challenges of shooting in freezing temperatures. Lens fog happens when you go from a warm place (like your heated car) to the cold — the sudden change in temperature causes moisture to build up on the lens. To avoid this, Matesun says to keep your camera in a photo bag with a lens cover before entering any warm place, bringing an airtight plastic bag for condensation purposes, and making sure you’ve got an extra lens cloth in case any fogging does occur.

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12. Don’t overthink or over-stress about it!

With trying to capture the weather or snowfall just right, it can be easy to feel a bit stressed around the idea of an engagement shoot. But remember the reason you’re doing it: to celebrate your love for your partner together. There’s always ways to troubleshoot if things aren’t lining up the way you had intended. “At the end of the day, the winter theme will add a nice touch to your photos, but being stress-free during the shoot shines even more,” says Pope.

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Sex & Relationships – Cosmopolitan
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