Communicating during a shoot - tips?

[keith204]

Possibly my biggest weakness is communicating with the clients during the shoot. Some clients I can click with just great, but for others it's hard to entertain them - in general it's people who are uncomfortable in front of the camera.

What do you do to loosen people up during a shoot?

[Stickman]

Start talking to them before the shoot, thats when they will be most relaxed. Continue a theme or points of interest as you get them ready, and as you are shooting. Give direction where needed, but continue to talk with them to keep their mind off being uncomfortable.

[bsaber]

I have the same problem. I find that you start talking to them a second you see them and find something in common. You can keep at that subject for good while and then transition into another similar subject.

[RDKirk]

Talk about them before the shooting starts. During the shooting, always praise them for what looks good and never make a negative remark about anything that looks bad.

When they give you a good expression, say stuff like, "Wow, that was great! Let's get that again!"

When shooting women, always continue to give them constant praise. "That's very pretty, that's very nice. Wonderful! Do that again!"

Never say, "That's not working," say "This will work even better."

When you smile and sound happy about the session, they will relax and get happy about it too.

[mrbojangles13]

novel version
conversation makes for a comfortable model which makes for great shots... i like to start warming the model up long before i touch my camera. i dont know how you guys work things but i really take the time to get to know my models. try and find things in common. that is what conversation is anyway, talking about things; and how are you going to talk about something you dont know? how are they? when i first started off i would never have many good images in the begening of the session, they were not warmed up. eventually when the conversation broke in and took over things worked out.


spark notes version
find things in common
get to really know them
warm them up before you touch your camera