How to get the best out of your subject - Part 1: What to say from behind the camera.

Let’s kick off the new year with a two part post all about directing your subject and getting a good performance out of them on camera.

This week I'm going to talk about what to say from behind the camera, and next week talk more about how to actually direct your subject to get that performance.

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Now, anyone who's ever had their portrait taken by me will know that I often sound like a complete idiot when I'm taking pictures.  At my best I can go into full Austin Powers mode and be pretty unstoppable.

Yeah Baby.

Now there's a very good reason for this, besides just liking the sound of my own voice.

If you are a professional model, or a celebrity who's had lots of media training, then somebody sticking a great big camera with a big lens on in front of your face, loads of lights going off,  and possibly a large crew as well is not going to bother you very much. It's your natural working environment. You'll just sort of get on with it. Do what you need to do. Go through the motions. And I've been there hundreds, probably thousands of times in my 30 plus years of working where a celebrity or model just literally goes through the moves - boom, boom, boom, gives you what you want and off they go.

Now, if your subject is not so familiar with being in front of a camera, then all of those things I’ve just listed can be very, very intimidating. I imagine all of us who've tried to photograph people have found this at one time or other. You bring a great big camera & lens to your face and your subject instantly freezes up. Couple this with a wall of silence, and the problem gets even worse.

A nice, steady stream of chatter can really help to put your subject at ease, and that's why talking from behind the camera is so important. But saying that it's so important is one thing. What should you actually say and how should you say it?

First off, always be positive. Don't draw attention to negative things. Don't say: “oh, don’t sit like that, you're getting a double chin!” because your subject will instantly think: “oh my God, I'm getting a double chin” and become very self-conscious of it. Instead, say something like, “oh, can you just lift your head for me and turn it very slightly and just look up that way?” This movement will minimise the double chin and they hopefully won't be thinking about it as much.

Always try and frame things in a positive light.

This next point should be obvious, but avoid controversial topics of conversation. The last thing you want is for your subject to get very worked up, and potentially even walk away. It's really easy to stay away from anything that could get someone wound up, so save it for after the shoot in the pub.

Closely related to that. Don't try too hard to be funny. Making someone laugh is obviously a very common tool for photographers to try to relax people, and put them at ease. Humour is very, very subjective though. What you find hilarious, your subject may not! Even if you have a real talent for it, I’d still advise caution. You may end up annoying your subject far more than you’ll put them at their ease.

The last little tip regarding talking to a subject from behind the camera is, remember, it's not actually a conversation. Yes, you want to be talking to them, to put them at ease. But don't ask them loads and loads of questions and expect responses, if you also want to be taking their picture at the same time.

As these freeze frames will show you, people don't generally look very attractive when they're mid-conversation. Freezing 125th of a second of somebody moving their lips and mouth like this isn't terribly flattering. So save the questions that demand responses for after you finish shooting or in gaps and pauses between shots, because people talking doesn't often look very nice on camera.

Okay, hope lots of that helps. Next week, as I say, we're going to talk in more depth about the actual direction you should be giving your subject to get the best performance out of them.