Portrait tips for introverts + Prater lights

Ello ello!

So, as you may know, I love shooting portraits. It stared as taking photos for my friends' facebook profiles and lead me to meeting new people and experimenting with lights, lenses, frames and what I find most important – it extremely challenges my skills.

Don’t get me wrong, I think every shoot should be challenging (in a good way), it doesn‘t matter if it’s shooting landscape or a concert or portraits because it helps you grow as a photographer but portrait sessions are different for me. Naturally, I’m a rather introverted person and shooting portraits requires bossing people around and articulating what exactly you want them to do. So you can imagine that shooting with people I don’t know that well used to be pretty hard for me, but over time, I created this alter ego that does exactly that without thinking too much. And here I would like to share a few tips for all my fellow introverts out there:

1)     Do it for the shot!

So imagine this, you’re too awkward to ask your model to pose differently but without directing him/her, you can’t get the shot you have in mind and that you oh so desperately want, because he/she (in most cases) can’t read your mind. So get over your fear (there’s literally nothing to be afraid of) and describe to them what you have in mind. The results will be worth it and the model will feel more comfortable knowing what’s on your mind plus you WILL get your dream shot, and that's worth it, right? Or simply think about it this way - you would probably stand in ice cold knee deep water to get the shot you want, so why not ask/talk? it's certainly less painful ;)

2)     Crack a few stupid jokes

Is the atmosphere weird because you don't know your model that well? Or is it maybe the first time you’re meeting with the person? And is the awkward silence the thing you’re afraid of? Well, than you’d have to crack a few (rather stupid) jokes. It will ease the situation, you both will (hopefully) have something to laugh at and it simply works as the perfect ice breaker.
 I usually tell funny stories that happened to me/my friends that are related to the place  we’re shooting at and it works every time.

3)     Preparation is the key

And I mean it. Take screen shots, make pinterest boards, quickly sketch what kind of shots you have in mind and show it to your model. Go through all of that together and talk about what you have in mind for this shoot. This way, you will have to talk less during the shoot itself and will be able to focus on your shots and get into the photo flow and zone out (that’s what happens to me haha).

I hope these are somehow helpful, I (unknowingly) follow these everytime I shoot and this way created my photography alter ego (still gotta find a name for her haha).

Here are also a few shots from one of my recent shootings. Prater is honestly the ideal place for these kind of shots during any time of the year and I had a really good model with me as well, so getting the shots was pretty easy (and the only part where I struggled were the edits haha).

I hope the tips are useful and that you like the photos!
Have a nice day everyone!