How do you calm a subject's nerves?

[RMelick]

I was just curious to how you all help to calm the nerves of the people you are taking photos of. Last night I had a girl who had never had her photo taken before and was thus very nervous. She is a friend of mine from school, so she was already comfortable with me so thankfully that was not an issue.

I have always had the idea that a photoshoot should be a very comfortable and non-stressed environment, so I had her bring her ipod and plugged it into some portable speakers. With that, we also talked about everything other than photography. Eventually she got very comfortable and really opened up to the camera.

So, in short, what do you all do when on the job to help your subjects?

(and some shots to share)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2585/3810011437_a5d4617ee8.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2610/3809922357_2495c59e71.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2668/3809925797_21a530a5b5.jpg

[stsva]

A few drinks seem to help.;) Lovely model and nice shots, by the way.

[S.Horton]

I joke with them.

Make them laugh.

Nice series, BTW.

[zasey]

I'm typically a goof ball, so I make sure to stay in my "me" mode so that they feel it's ok to relax and have fun. I think they get nervous because they are having their picture taken and want to do a good job and look good too. I usually save my really great ideas for 15 or so minutes into the session allowing the early jitters to subside and for both me and my subject to get comfortable. Shots are good, and she looks pretty comfortable to me :0) I wouldn't recommend drinks simply because if you don't know the subject you want to still come across as someone who is professional and was able to make them at ease with your professionalism and personality...not the booze you gave them :0P

[Mark_Cohran]

Music, jokes, casual conversation all work. A professional attitude and a amiable demeanor also help a great deal.

[wizkidd]

Compliments, and showing them the goods on the lcd

[DStanic]

Glad I came across this thread, I'm going to be shooting my first "model" on the weekend. :)

[RMelick]

Good luck! I forgot about the LCD thing. I have been tempted to get the Eye-Fi card to try out an idea I had of taking the photo and having it pop up on my laptop immediately so the model could see it without us having to get out of positions and such