As a Photographer, Good communication is the key to getting better poses -Modelling Photography Tips

As a photographer, effective communication is essential to ensure that you are able to get the desired pose and expression from your models or actors whatever the case may be. Here are some tips to help you communicate with your models

Be clear and specific

When directing your models, be clear and specific about what you want them to do. Use simple, concise language to convey your instructions. Many times, photographer and directors use English without realising that the models and actors might actually have a better understanding of their Native language. Now you are not expected to know Russian or Italian if you are shooting with someone who is from a non English speaking country. I such cases, speak slowly and clearly with a lot of gestures so that language does not remain a big barrier. In the local context, it is always a good idea to speak in Hindi or your native language, if you feel that the communication in English is not very well understood.

Apeaking in a particualr language may not help if it is not clearly being understood.

Use visual aids

Show your models, examples of the poses and expressions you are looking for. You can use photographs or sketches to illustrate your ideas, but do not ask them to blindly follow these references. All of us are different. Our Bodies, our expressions are all different and what suits one body type may not work for another. Use these only as a clue for the talent to understand everything better and draw some inspiration. let them do it their own way which may usually work better as their personal characteristic would also be added to it. In many cases such ideas may have been suggested by your advertising Agency or you may have created your own story board based on the brief provided by your client or Advertising Agency. So when you have professional models or actors working for you, getting into the character as per your reference may be important and crucial for the overall look. So, as a Photographer or Director, you should be well aware of what you are trying to achieve and know the positive and negative aspects of your subject.

Give positive feedback

Encourage your models with positive feedback when they are doing well. Let them know when they are achieving the look you are after. Performance depends a lot on the experience of the model or actor. Motivate them to do even better. Sometimes, you need to do it yourself and show it to them or verbally suggest them how they can do it even better. Keep it positive always and never lose your patience.. Do not discourage them by using words like "you can't do it". Now that you are already underway a shoot, you don't have much choice but to bring out the best in the Models or Actors available to you. This is the very reason, that it helps to run through some auditions before finalising your talent. And to pick up the actors who fit as closely as possible to the desired character. Sometimes, looking good is not the only parameter but fitting well into the role is much more important. Expressions and the Body language carry more weight than just being beautiful. Being able to emote is important.

Show them their pictures

A lot of people learn by seeing what went wrong in their performance or what worked really well in what they did. This is a big advantage of shooting digitally. Show the photographs or the video to the model and explain why it did not work and how he or she can rectify the same. Also show the expressions and poses which are nice so that further shoot can progress on those terms. Spending a small amount of time in going through your work together can immensely help improve the overall productivity of the whole team.

Build a rapport

Build a relationship with your models based on trust and respect. Be approachable, friendly and open to feedback. The person in front of the camera should be very comfortable in expressing his or her opinion and apprehensions, if any. It should be a very cordial relationship without any fear of any sort. They should know and understand that it's a teamwork and everyone's contribution, be it the photographer, director or the makeup artist adds up to create the final shot.

Be Firm

At the same time, do not deviate from the original plan of action unless you fully endorse any suggestions made by your coworkers. Are the suggestions adding to make your shot look better? Sometimes, being better is not always relevant but following the exact brief is more crucial. In Advertising, there is always a point that you need to put accross and deviating from that might make your shot look better but lose the very relevance. so, keep this in mind.

Be respectful

Always be respectful of your models' boundaries and comfort levels. Avoid asking them to do anything that makes them feel uncomfortable or objectified. If the shoot involves nudity or exposure of any sort, it's always a good idea to discuss the same with the model beforehand when she is assigned or in fact before that so that she is sure of what she is heading for. The brief should be very clear and without any scope of misunderstanding. As mentioned earlier explain in the language he or she clearly understands. However, it does not mean that any crew member should take an undue advantage and exploit the situation. It should be as much as is predicided. There should be complete professionalism on the set with all respect for the person who is only playing a role.

Give Space

There are a lot of people on the sets involved in different aspects of the production. Ensure that they are not very unnecessarily dominating. Only the crew directly involved should be around and this is helpful irrespective of the kind of shoot you are doing. People in general do get nervous in front of the camera and if it's a challenging shoot, this makes it all the more difficult and uncomfortable. The communication should strictly be between the Photographer and the model and any suggestions or ideas may go through the Photographer only. The Photographer in his discretion can take a quick decision if the suggestions which ever source these may be coming from, have to be implemented or not.

Experiment and collaborate

Be open to experimenting with different poses and expressions, and encourage your models to share their own ideas and suggestions. This will happen only if you have created a good rapport with your model and who can freely express their ideas and opinions. If the model has confidence in you, she will be more open to experimentation as she will be sure to get some great shots in the end.

Provide clear instructions:

Use clear and simple instructions that the model can easily understand. For example, if saying, "Tilt your head to your left", is not clearly understood do not hesitate to rephrase it with "Turn your head towards the window"....to be more clear. This will avoid wasting time and everything will keep flowing smoothly from one pose to the next and so on.

Keep Calm

Remember, every model is different and may respond differently to different types of direction. Therefore, it is important to be flexible and adaptable, and to adjust your approach as needed to achieve the desired results. Even if any Actors, Models or your own crew members lose their tempers for any reason, keep calm and let the shoot go on as you being in charge of everything must ensure that everything stays in control and the clients or the Producers, whatever the case may be do not suffer due to unprofessional attitude of anyone. Many models and actors have very short careers so can afford to be unprofessional but as a Photographer or a Director, you need to look at your career graph from a long-term perspective. Do not forget that you are the captain of the ship and must always act in a responsible manner.