Strange Question About Shooting People or Groups

I know this is going to sound odd, but I just wanted to get other ideas on how to do something. When you are shooting people or groups, what technique do you use to tell people you are about to take the photo? Do you count: 1..2..3, then click? Or are there other ways? It seems odd when I am shooting folks that each time I take the photo I do the count thing. How do you handle this, if differently than what I mentioned? Thanks in advance and sorry for what is seemingly a trivial question...

Groups - get the to close their eyes and open on a count of three. Shoot a burst just after 3. I use it with groups of up to 200 people and it works almost every time. No closed eyes.

memoriesoftomorrow wrote in post #15465326
Groups - get the to close their eyes and open on a count of three. Shoot a burst just after 3. I use it with groups of up to 200 people and it works almost every time. No closed eyes.

Agreed.

"Everyone close your eyes.. and on three, open 'em!"

Then a slow-speed burst of three. One of them will be a keeper; worst case, you can easily swap a face from one shot to another.

Thanks to you both. That is a great idea.

What about when you are shooting portraits of a single person? Do you just have them do their thing and keep snapping away? Or do you try to get them to pose for a single shot, do the countdown or eyes closed trick, and then shoot? When watching pros shoot with pro models, it seems effortless. The model does his or her thing, moving/smiling/reposit​ioning almost with no direction from the photographer. The photog simply shoots away and gets what seems like an infinite number of great shots. This isn't real world, at least not my real world, so I guess I am looking for advice on how to 'direct' a single client and then how best to get them to act naturally. I hate the 'ok, 1..2..3 shoot' concept as it seems to invite anxiety and unnatural expressions. Am I way off base here? Thanks again.

I think I mostly use the count thing when shooting in very noisy environments (music in the background e.g.)--and here I'll use my fingers to count them down; or I'll use them when interacting with people some of whom might not have English as a first language. I guess I use the countdown other times as well, but to be honest, normally I'm not grabbing 'smile and shoot' photos, but rather talking with them, eliciting responses. As an example (a meta one), after a few shots I might say 'okay, let's not bust your smile muscles so soon--you can totally relax them for a moment'. Sometimes they in fact smile, very naturally at this point--I'm ready for that shot.

Christopher Steven b wrote in post #15466384
I think I mostly use the count thing when shooting in very noisy environments (music in the background e.g.)--and here I'll use my fingers to count them down; or I'll use them when interacting with people some of whom might not have English as a first language. I guess I use the countdown other times as well, but to be honest, normally I'm not grabbing 'smile and shoot' photos, but rather talking with them, eliciting responses. As an example (a meta one), after a few shots I might say 'okay, let's not bust your smile muscles so soon--you can totally relax them for a moment'. Sometimes they in fact smile, very naturally at this point--I'm ready for that shot.

Wow. Thanks. This is excellent.

^ I should add, the whole interaction thing is really really challenging for most people. I still don't think I'm very good at it; but I can still get by shooting for long stretches without super awkward silences.

The main thing I'm doing is finding similarities between myself and them (or the couple, usually), and asking them questions that bring out their interests.

Secondarily, (and these are 'meta' ) I'm being self-deprecating (best accomplished if you are actually reasonably confident about producing good results and they are confident in you), and sometimes pointing out the weirdness of what we're engaging in--shooting in public, e.g. I'm also asking for slight changes in position (tilt your head up just a little..) and then offering positive feedback about how they are looking in the photos thus far.

Not all of these 'moves' work for all personalities (I'm speaking about the photographer now)--they come very naturally to me. But this probably gives you an idea about why some photographers rarely have to revert to the countdown.