Portrait Photographer | A Hands-Off Experience

There are professions that require that the professional touch the clients in order to make their work easier but in the area of portraiture, touching should be in the minimum if not avoided totally.

The truth is that there are many people who don’t like to be touched by strangers but don’t mind if they are touched by people they know very well.

How then can you do portraiture without touching the client? How can you make the client pose the way you want without touching them?

The Las Vegas portrait photographer recommends putting the clients at ease. Here, your people skills are also required. To put the subject at ease, you have to be at ease too. When the subject sees how relaxed you are, he or she will too.

Explain everything you want through articulation. Telling them in simple terms what to do works very well. Even if they are not getting it, you have to apply patience. As a matter of fact, the more patience you have, the more the subject relaxes and gets what you are trying to portray.

Bring up a comfortable conversation that can make the subject trust in you and follow your directions without any problem. Ask the subject to pose in several ways and when they don’t know how to pose, offer some directions on how to do so.

The Las Vegas portrait photographer recommends that you remember that 9 times out of 10, you are a stranger to the client and they may not want you touching them. Think of great poses they can do that is related to the purpose of portrait photography.

For example, let’s say you are doing a shoot for Christmas, the Las Vegas Portrait Photographer recommends thinking of cheery Christmas poses the clients can do and if they have props that would make the shoot look great, encourage the clients to bring them too.

To make things easier, make sure the client has a shoulder angled without making it look out of proportion.

To make the client feel more at ease, try to encourage them by praising them. Everyone responds positively to praises. When you praise them, they also feel more confident.

You should also observe their emotions. They may be thinking about something else while you are taking the shots and even when you try to direct them, they are not listening.

The natural next line of action would be to touch them. Instead, call their names gently and bring them back to the present. Speak kind words to them as you take your shots.

If you are the type who has a makeup artist, you can direct the makeup artist to do some of what you are trying to make the subject do. However, you have to get permission before you do that.

In fact, if you do not have a makeup artist and you absolutely have to another choice than to touch the subject, ask for their permission first. Ask politely and you never can tell, they may just grant you the permission. That is better than touching them out of the blue.

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