This is my first time visiting Magnolia Plantation in Charleston for engagement portraits. It’s a very nice area. It reminds me a lot of Brookgreen Gardens. Unlike Brookgreen, we were allowed to go wherever we wanted to do the pictures and spend as much time as well. I had a lot of fun walking around for an hour or so with the couple and finding places to do shots. The first time to an area takes a bit of experimenting and exploring around.
We had some pretty strong early afternoon sunlight which can be difficult at the beach or in an open area, but being in a nice area with plenty of trees and shade it’s not really a problem. In fact, the intense sun gives some nice bokeh from the pinpoints of light reflecting off the trees, you can see this, especially in the first image. You can tell if someone has a really good lens not by looking at what is in focus but by looking at the quality of the out-of-focus areas.
I especially liked the old fence where the horses were as well. You can see several shots from that spot below. The bamboo was really cool as well, but what I wanted was the evening sun showing through the bamboo, and I couldn’t get that. I’ll try again at this couple’s wedding in December. It should be very nice and will be later in the day, so things should go even better. Let me know in the comments if you like the pictures.
