No Pressure or anything....

kres

So...

In order to fill out my portfolio in preperation for bigger and better things (like my photog habit paying for itself...) I put out an add on a local forum I admin offering to take shots of events, head shots, and portraits. The only thing I ask is that I get to use the shots as examples of my work.

Great Idea right? Well, it's worked out pretty well as I have gotten 2 events, 2 personal shoots and a stock shot out of it.

My issue is that one of the guys on the board wants me to take some shots of him and his GF before he ships off for Iraq.

No Pressure or anything. :uhoh

Most of my shots are in the Photojournalistic style, so portraits are always a special effort for me. As such, does anyone have some advice on how to engage my subjects? I can compose and bracket with the best of them, but keeping the shoot loose is kinda tough for me.

How do you pro / semi-pro's handle this sort of thing? I figure that we will be shooting at their place first, and then going on location to some of their favorite spots to work in shots that matter to them.

At least that's my idea. Flood me with some "client handling" tips for portraits so I can figure out how I'm going to do this. :scratch Don't worry if you think the idea is basic... I need to get some group brainstorming going on here. Thanks in advance.

Phyxius

I'm certainly no expert on portrait work either. FAR from it. The only portrait shots I've done are for friends, family, and some pro athletes. However, with the athletes we were actually doing a press conference and we had to get some shots of two developers too. The man was quite nervous, I very quitely whispered "smile" while smiling at him. Not quite quiet enough though as it turned out, but he and the other people all laughed and for the shutters started clicking faster.

So, not quite the same situation as this guy was pretty much MADE to be in front of the camera where as your subjects are requesting to be in front of the camera. Either way though, both you and the subjects have to be comfortable. I think going in, they'll be fine. They have each other and that will make everything less awkward. However, if you feel hesitant or out of place that will translate into your pictures and into your subjects. Maybe spend a couple minutes talking first or even meet up for a quick lunch before the shoot just to "get to know" them a bit better since this is something you're quite unused to.

Best of luck and I'm sure you'll do fine!!

photogmomma

What I generally do is try to semi-pose people at first. This gets them a little more comfortable in front of the camera.

Then I'll direct them to do something a bit more comfortable. Talk, walk, hold hands, kiss, etc. And I'll put on a longer lens (need a better one!) and just let them interact and allow the moments to happen.

I think it's nice to have both posed and non-posed photos. They both capture special moments.

Good luck!