Engagement photography is usually used by the bride and groom to use in printed materials such as save the date postcards and wedding invitations. In these sessions, both the bride and groom are aware that they are meeting a photographer for their session.

Proposal photography sessions, usually (or, hopefully) are a surprise session for the one about to be proposed to. This involves a lot more planning and discussion between the photographer and the one proposing.

I have had a large number of proposal sessions lately, and recently made my first trek to Indian Run Falls. The groom and I discussed locations and agreed on where he should stand and where I should wait. We discussed how to plan for the session. We texted each other to make sure we were each in position. Even with the best laid plans, there can be something you don’t take into consideration. Here, It was a super humid and hot day, and there were families playing in the falls for a respite from then heat.

In order to keep the surprise, we moved forward with the proposal, but the photos did need some extra retouching. There is a lot of AI tools to choose from to retouch photos. I work in Photoshop with a modest array of AI tools that help me keep the integrity of my focal points without creating an unrealistic photo.

Int these photos, the only AI tool I used was the remove tool. It did not work in all of the photos, but where I was able to work through it, it helped a great deal. These photos are not something I could not accomplish without AI, but helped speed the process up immensely.

I am in the phase of speeding up my workload by using AI where I can, but do not use it to make people look different than who they are. This process is not entirely easy. Well, it can be, but it is a gamble. When the background is a nature scene, it is easier to remove people in the photo, but if there are rigid lines, it may not work at all. I did resort to the cloing tool when it would not work.

Just like all of my proposal session, I like to add value to the session by taking posed portrait after the proposal (should the other person say yes!). We went to the new Dublin Link Bridge. We got caught in the rain but made the best of it.

Indian Run Falls: Proposal Photography