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.
Seems like more of you guys, especially those saying 70-200 need to try the 35-150 f2-2.8 lenses from Tamron and Samyang. Just incredible with how versatile they are, I’ve got some of my best shots in years with the Tamron which is my #1 travel lens now.