Making non-models comfortable in front of the camera

I love fashion stories, but you might not realize that I do many personal portrait shoots as well. So I don’t always work with agency models, often I shoot with people who have never modeled or had a shoot done before. Along the way I picked up many tips on making non-models comfortable in front of the camera and that is what I will share with you today.

1. Breaking the ice

The very first and most important thing is that people feel the most awkward when they are not sure of themselves and are also in front of strangers. Even worse if it’s in a public space. So before I start shooting anything, I make sure to have at least a little chat with the person I’m shooting. Ask questions about their life, get to know them a little. Even better if you can grab a coffee/tea before shooting and discuss the plan for the photoshoot and look at inspiration photos.

Also the best thing is to joke around a bit – I don’t even think I’m particularly funny, but I tell stories about past shoots or how silly some situations might have been. Almost always people warm up a lot quicker and smile / laugh more then and feel more comfortable. It’s about making them feel like you could be their friend, not just some stranger they just met.

2. Be prepared

Even if you are not the one posing, you are the one who is the professional / more experienced in this situation. So before the shoot, gather as much info as you can from your client / subject on what they want from the shoot. Even better, ask them to show you some inspiration pictures to learn what they like. (It can be your pictures or anyone elses.) That also helps to decide on location and what they can wear.

3. Poses

That also includes preparing some pose ideas to show them any time they feel stuck. I have a big Pinterest folder with poses just for this, but I also have it separately for most shoots as well – picked specifically and what I think would suit the theme.

You can also just have some that are your “go to” portrait poses that you always like to try or that are easy for inexperienced people to do. These you can just show yourself to illustrate as it might help people seeing a pose in person.

I also always like to tell people that I shoot with to just move all the time instead of staying in one static pose. It’s a lot easier to feel and look natural if you have an action to do. Even tiny micro movements help and result in different looking pictures. An action could be – walking (slowly or just in place), engaging with the environment, fixing hair or the outfit. For the hands which usually feel the most awkward, it’s a great idea to use a prop. Holding a bag, book, flowers etc.

Shooting in public

I do a lot of my personal shoots in public places – which might be the thing that seems the scariest for people. Strangers and random passers-by seeing you “pose”?! However that always only seems the worst in the beginning. I keep chatting with my models the whole way through to have their attention and honestly everyone usually gets used to it quickly. We will never see these people again – who really cares what they think? And also it’s good to remind yourself – people are a lot more concerned with themselves than with what you are doing.

Some people are just more shy and in their head than others of course. However almost every person I shoot tells me at the end that I really calmed them down and they had fun even though they were scared or unsure before it.