Capturing your romance with couple photos

 Photo by kainet

Digital photography and camera phones have revolutionized how we visually record our lives, and yet how many of us still lack couple photographs?

Part of the problem is that many memorable couple moments occur, by nature, with just the two of you in attendance, but the solution is easy.

Channel Your Inner Super-Model
Just take your camera with you on a date with the intention of having someone else snap your picture at various times. Waiters are old hands at this and most people are more than happy to point and shoot for you. (It’s helpful if you program your camera to make it as easy as possible for the stranger to take the picture.) However...

Don’t Let This Happen to You
The best portraits capture the personalities of the people in them, so don’t just scootch closer and smile. When you look back on your pictures, you don't want to look at photo after photo of you sitting side by side just smiling. So have that waiter get a shot of you feeding your lover a bite from your plate, sharing dessert, toasting each other, doing that “entangle your arms while sipping your drink” thing.

Going to the movies? Ask a fellow theatre-goer to photograph you nibbling on popcorn, eating a licorice whip "Lady and the Tramp" style, smooching in the back row, or standing by the poster of the flick you’re seeing.

If you’re not going to a restaurant or movie, these poses can be taken anywhere, even in your own backyard:

• holding hands
• looking into each other’s eyes
• rubbing noses
• standing with his arm around her shoulders or vice versa
• with your backs to the camera, arms around each other's waist, heads together
• her riding piggyback
• hugging

Mission Accomplished. Now What?
After you have the pictures, don’t let them languish on your hard drive or on your memory card.

• Put one on the fridge.
• Frame a 5x7. Hang it on the wall or display on a shelf.
• Get a wallet sized one for, well, your wallet.
• Put a collection of them in a scrapbook.
• Make it the wallpaper on your computer or phone.
• Personalize a mug or one of the other gazillion items they can put photos on these days.
• Do this Photo Shoot Date once a month and make a calendar as a gift for your sweetheart.
   

Finally, many cameras have black and white or sepia settings, which can add another romantic flavor to your photographs. Online photo editing websites like Picnik allow you to alter your pictures in a lot of fun and creative ways.

So, next time you're out with your honey, take that camera along with you and record some romantic memories.

Get your coffee buzz with me.
Kim Winklhofer - LA Coffee Examiner