Difficult model

mentos_007

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This is a question for all you pro photogs. What to do if you are shooting outdoor senior portraits and your model is extremely camera shy? My model wanted to have some photos of her taken just to give those pics to her family and so on... but at the beginning she started to pose on her own - that was terrible. So I told her to be natural... I even encouraged her to move, walk naturally.. .even to chat up somebody and I'll spy her. She tried but she kept on following me with here eyes what turned out awful. So finally I told her to sit, don't move, don't pose... just sit and follow my hand with her sight.

What is more, she was not very photogenic... she had a problem with her eyes.. I mean one went a bit up while the second one down.. I realised this after i took about 10-15 pics and I was chimping to check if everything's fine with the settings. Then i concentrated on this eye - to make it "invisible" (notthe eye - the eye problem)... ehh... how do you people cope withs uch models??
 
Try telling her to tilt her head in different directions.. sometimes the eyes being off means that her head is tilted weird.
Even if the eyes don't match up perfectly it can be fixed by a different angle.

Also, take LOTS of photos!!! That will be the key to getting the ONE good photo. trust me on that one.

I'm sure you'll do fine.... one time I had to re-shoot a girl a ton of times just because she didn't like how she was posing. :confused:
 
Not exactly looking forward to this kind of scenario - an 'easy-on-the-eye' model certainly makes life a little easier for the photographer but sadly not all of us are blessed this way! So i agree with Little man in taking HEAPS of shots, trying different angles/poses and hopefully you may get a couple of keepers?! You poor thing xx
 
mentos_007 said:
This is a question for all you pro photogs. What to do if you are shooting outdoor senior portraits and your model is extremely camera shy? ...So I told her to...chat up somebody and I'll spy her.

Good aproach. I often will do the same. I'll just stop working for a while and chat a bit, all the while watching my subject. I usually get more natural expressions, and sometimes the sitter will move into a pose that's a bit more natural for him/her.

You did well with the eye problem too.... having her follow your hand until you see the most natural look.

All the while you're doing this, watch your subject from OVER the camera and not through the viewfinder. A cable release will help.

You're on track! Good goin'!

Pete
 
Christie Photo said:
Good aproach. I often will do the same. I'll just stop working for a while and chat a bit, all the while watching my subject. I usually get more natural expressions, and sometimes the sitter will move into a pose that's a bit more natural for him/her......

forgot about that... I do that all the time. It's one of the best ways to get her/him to feel comforitable.
 
LittleMan said:
forgot about that... I do that all the time. It's one of the best ways to get her/him to feel comforitable.


yeah... I tried this to, but all her answers where like "yes" or "no" ... sometimes "not really".
 
Hi Mentos_007.
It is a difficult problem and obviously your subject is aware of the situation, so talk to her about it. She has probably had the eye problem all her life and that is probably the cause of her shyness. Seek her advice on the situation.She may have shots of herself over the years that she's been happy with..ask to see them. You may need to get a friend of hers involved and maybe shoot as she's chatting to her friend. She needs to know you are aware of her problem and together you can work out a solution. Philip.

www.philipweirphotography.com
 
Ok, I'm probably weird, but I go over and pose for them, to show them kinda what I'm looking for. And then I tell them that they will look better because their butt is smaller, and I make a sexy poo look.
I do this at each pose. At first it's all smiley funny stuff, and later, because I've already made a fool of myself, they don't feel so stupid, and they start being more serious.
Meanwhile, the whole time I'm shooting, I chimp. I don't let them see it, but I'll say, "Beautiful". "OMG, this is magazine stuff". "Absolutely gorgeous!" It gives them confidence, and you will start seeing really strong poses.
Other times, I'll tell them to start dancing. I'll dance right along with them. I'll even sing some top 40 song, and believe me, I can't sing, so that usually brings some laughter. As I'm dancing along, I'll stop every few seconds, and take a shot, and then keep right on dancing.
In short, a hodge podge of little tricks I've learned from others.
 
elsaspet said:
Ok, I'm probably weird, but I go over and pose for them, to show them kinda what I'm looking for. And then I tell them that they will look better because their butt is smaller, and I make a sexy poo look.
I do this at each pose. At first it's all smiley funny stuff, and later, because I've already made a fool of myself, they don't feel so stupid, and they start being more serious.
Meanwhile, the whole time I'm shooting, I chimp. I don't let them see it, but I'll say, "Beautiful". "OMG, this is magazine stuff". "Absolutely gorgeous!" It gives them confidence, and you will start seeing really strong poses.
Other times, I'll tell them to start dancing. I'll dance right along with them. I'll even sing some top 40 song, and believe me, I can't sing, so that usually brings some laughter. As I'm dancing along, I'll stop every few seconds, and take a shot, and then keep right on dancing.
In short, a hodge podge of little tricks I've learned from others.


What great ideas! I'm going to book a session with you when I get to Dallas :D

One thing I have tried is asking what they are most worried about, usually it's a feature they think doesn't photograph well so we try to reassure them that we will make sure the shots are flattering. Another trick is to start shooting and tell the client you're just testing the lighting/exposure. They don't think you're getting "keeper" shots and are usually a lot more relaxed.
 
Elsaspet! that was a great advice! thank you so much! And... I wanna a photo shoot with Alison when we would be in Dallas :D
 
I find a sense of humour can do wonders to make them relax, and I talk - alot - get them involved in a conversation...all the while I am snapping away. Now while we know that a lot of these shots will not be good because of mouth movement its easy enough to delete them - if you are on digi - and start the more serious pose stuff once they are over their camera shyness.
I also often show them how I want them to sit...all the while making a joke of it as Elaspet does, and yes it works. I have found sometimes too that if you let them know that you will remove obvious flaws - things that you know they are worried about - in post editing they tend to relax a bit more...
 

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