Question: (from Alicia of Beba Photography)
What are some tips for shooting portraits of singles so that they’re relaxed and natural–so they don’t have that “deer in the headlights” look? With couples, it’s often easier because they’re focused on one another and don’t feel singled out, but sometimes singles go into “fake” mode where they feel like they have to pose for their picture, rather than just being their natural selves…how do you overcome this?
Answer:
You are correct, it is much harder to shoot singles than it is doubles or groups. The main reason is, YOU have to do all the interacting with them. For this reason, give yourself extra time to allow them to warm up to you. The key is to move around a lot. If a pose is not working move on. My dad used to take photos of me as a kid and he would take forever! It drove me mad because while he was fiddling with the camera and looking through the lens I would get more and more self conscious. He would tell me he was waiting for me to look good which made things even worse. (maybe this is the reason I am BEHIND the camera now! ha ha!) Anyhow… what you will want to do is make them feel like every shot you take just gets better because of THEM not you. Compliment the way their eyes are looking, how their hair is catching the light in just the perfect way, etc. Be honest, though because if their eyes look horrible because you did not light it well, then once you show them the final shots they will KNOW you were putting them on. You will develop your own “camera side manner” so keep working on it. If all else fails and they keep giving you the “photo face” then just ask them to giggle. They will and then they will laugh because they feel awkward giggling on command. That is what you are looking for. If, however they just giggle and then go right back into stiff face mode, try to catch the fake giggle. Here is why: Your laugh muscles are different than your smile muscles that have been built up over time thanks to Kodak. When you laugh you look more natural, when you smile on command you look odd. Here is the physics of it: when you giggle, your brain hears the sound and thinks you are going to laugh so it automatically engages your laugh muscles and not your smile muscles. You are guaranteed a more natural looking face if a person makes a sound (pretty much any sound) right as they smile. No joke, you can check the science out by doing a google search on this. Hence, saying “cheese” is scientifically proven to make you look better. Imagine that!
The above book cover I designed and photographed for Patti Handy. We spent about an hour partially in the studio and then walking around the community a bit. This was one of the last photos we took out of over 300 shots. We both had fun and you can tell she is pretty relaxed by now and used to how I shoot. The book is set to release soon and you will want to check it out!
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Copyright © 2009 by Jen O’Sullivan http://www.jenosullivan.com