The Face | How to Get Photography Clients to Nail Those Pesky Expressions
So, truth be told, this was the HARDEST thing for me to feel confident with in my photography. This is the one thing I worked my tail off trying to perfect and let me tell you, the work was worth the effort.
For me, it doesn’t matter how pretty the clothes are, how spectacular the background is, or how gorgeous the client is. If there is no connection in the eyes and face, it’s a dead photo to me. Now, sure….you can choose to take photos of just body parts and in boudoir photography that’s an easy fix. However, it will only hold out for so long. Women do want to see their faces in their photos so let me give you one trick that I use to get my clients to connect with my camera.
The Talk. I find that nerves in a session mostly stem from one place: they don’t know what to expect. The more you can inform your client, the more prepared they feel, which translates to confidence. It also established trust because you are placing yourself in this relationship as the leader and the one with knowledge. So, after she is dressed in her first outfit and before I pick up my camera, I have The Talk with her. I let her know that if a woman has a hard time connecting with my camera/me, it’s because she feels silly, embarrassed, and is fighting against allowing herself to just be vulnerable and give in. I tell her that if she just listens to what I’m telling her to do, and does it without thinking about it, she will LOVE her photos. I go through what each facial expression looks and I show her on my face so she sees me doing it too. I encourage her by reminding her that I do this everyday and have done so for 15 years and it is a waste of her time and money to be shy with me, or to give up. I let her know she can absolutely “go there” because I’m going there with her.
Let me tell you, I have had women that have been photographed by all sorts of photographers, and even modeled, tell me that in all their years and all the photoshoots they’ve modeled for they NEVER had ONE photographer say this to them. They have told me how amazing it was to hear this and how appreciative they were to have this kind of direction, support, and encouragement.
As for the everyday women I photograph, which is 90% of my clientele, when I say “If you do what I tell you to do without thinking about and without questioning it, you are going to LOVE your photos”, I can instantly see them relax and almost every single one of them says right back to me “Oh, I will do EXACTLY what you tell me to! I can follow direction easily!”. And there, in that instant, a bond of trust is immediately established and from then on, the session is smoooooooth rolling from there.
If you found this helpful, you may want to grab my FREE Posing Tips guide for photographers. Yeah—that’s right…it’s FREE. It’s 17 pages of posing goodies that include tips for the body, the hands, and the face, and with photographs too!
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