My question is basically the title itself, but if I have to give more context, I’d say:
I really love raw/natural pictures: smiles, persons, laughs, lights, landscapes, scenes… And sometimes I can capture these moments but sometimes I miss my shot and want to “redo” it when I take a picture of someone. The thing is, once I ask them if I can take a picture of them, their body just, just does not act as natural. Some people (including me) do not know what to do with their body in front of a camera, so they often just stand up straight. I figured out something (maybe) that kinda works: I make them laugh or I ask them to do somthing that requires more movement, like jumping, but you can guess that I’m not always funny or I do not always have something to say, or I do not always want my subject to jump.
So please I’d really like some advices/tips/help
I don’t do this with everyone, but particularly if it’s someone I know (and trust haha) I sometimes give them the camera and I go and stand in the spot I want them to model in. I’ll tell them to look me through the camera and consider things like how much posture looks, how much shadows or harsh light there is on my face, how different I look when squinting or frowning etc. That tends to get them very comfortable and they understand what I’m looking for when I am directing them in the shoot.
If it’s someone I wouldn’t trust with my camera, I can still do the same just asking them to stand there and put themselves in my shoes to get them thinking about the shoot.
One last caveat: for one or two people, they were so nervous and overthought everything, I didn’t take this approach because it would just confuse them too much. This is easy to gauge when chatting with them leading up to the shoot.