Hey guys. I'm Claudia Paul, and I'm a portrait shooter here in New York City.
And today, I'm going to give you five tips on how to work with
people that are not models and how to make them feel comfortable in front of the camera.
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Alright, tip number one: get to know your subject.
Meaning, if you can, hop on a phone call with them before.
You know, have a coffee if that's possible.
Just find out you know what their story is, what they're passionate about.
And you know let's say if you're shooting someone a little bit more high profile,
go on the internet and Google them and go on Wikipedia.
And just find out if there's anything that you could use to connect with them on the shoot.
You know, they have children. They're like a passionate basketball player.
And I think it just gives you a much better connection with them.
It gives you an icebreaker.
It shows them also that you're generally interested in who they are
and that you want to capture that.
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So, my tip number two is coach people what to wear for their shoot,
and I'll explain a little bit.
So, for me, a lot of people don't really know. They're kind of insecure about what to wear.
They might go out to buy new things
and might not know what colors look good on them and with their skin tone.
They might not know what shapes fit them the best,
so I always like to do a consultation with my subjects and my clients.
Help them if they need help.
And you know this could be saying, "Look, bring at least one piece that you absolutely love
"and that makes you feel like a million bucks."
For me, for example, that's my leather jacket.
And so, I feel like everybody has a favorite piece,
and it doesn't have to be a new piece of clothing.
And the other part is, I think that, in portraits, you don't want to necessarily just notice the clothing.
You want to notice the person.
So I feel like the clothing should always be helping the image,
but it shouldn't dominate the image.
Alright, my tip number three is know your gear, which is your lighting and your camera,
because, once you have a person on set, I want you to be able to focus on the person,
how you communicate with them, how you make them comfortable.
And if you need to, you know, fumble with your settings
and you're insecure about your lighting,
It kind of translates to the subject a lot of times,
and it makes them more nervous.
And they're like, "Oh... How is this coming out?"
So, I feel like once that's second nature to you,
that you really test out your lighting beforehand
and really know how you want to shoot
and have those settings ready,
that really frees up your time and energy to just focus on your subject
And make them look the best that they can.
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So, my tip number four is be real
if you want them to be real.
And that for me is sharing some of who I am,
you know maybe sharing some of my insecurities, my vulnerabilities.
This way, I feel like, when I open up myself to the subject,
I usually get something in return that's much more in-depth
than as if I'm just having small talk with them.
You know, for me, the goal is always to capture someone's real, authentic personality,
And for that to happen, I have to make the first step, if that makes sense.
I have to open up myself
and share something that's personal to me, maybe, in a conversation.
And this way, they get to relax, and they get to open up,
and they get to, in return, have much more meaningful images.
My tip number five is know when to stop.
So people that aren't models, they don't have that kind of stamina
when it comes to being front of camera.
And so sometimes you might be pushing them too much for too long.
And you know, also if you're using strobe lighting, it can really kind of affect them.
So, when I notice that a person is kind of getting stuck,
you know you feel like they're just not present,
they might get tired,
you know, have them get up, get off the set,
you know, dance around, shake it out.
Do whatever they need to do.
You know, have some water, listen to some great music.
but really just get them out of that moment
if they might be feeling insecure or might not be happy with the images quite yet.
Get them out of that headspace.
and have them move around and then you know kind of reset and start fresh.
I find that that helps a lot,
and just, you know, take little breaks because they're not trained
and they don't know how to be on camera all day long.
It's not realistic.
And my bonus tip is that I like to show each person one really great image.
And this could be--you know, I like to shoot tether a lot,
so I'm shooting right to my laptop a lot of times.
But, also back of the camera. If you scroll through
and something jumps out on you
and you really feel like you've captured a person in a great way.
It helps to show your subject that image
and just you know share your excitement
and tell them how happy you are about that image and how excited you are
and how great they look.
And usually, that kind of energy translates to them
and makes them feel so good about themselves and how they look.
And then, this usually makes the rest of the shoot...
kind of like takes it up a notch.
And I feel like it really opens opens them up again
and just you know makes for better pictures in the end.
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I hope these tips helped you in some way
and you can always reach out to me
or put something in the comments below if you have any questions.
You can find my website claudiapaul.com
and I'm also on instagram @ClaudiaCPaul
And always love to hear from fellow photographers,
So don't be shy and reach out. Thank you!