The following question was answered by Rosie Hardy {photographer from England} the advice is pretty helpful and something I'd most definitely want to keep in mind when photographing couples who may come off as shy:
"Rosie, how do you get people to pose for you? Some couples are either brutally awkward or they just don't seem to care enough...I'm lost at times! Thanx!"
From what I've found, 90% of couples don't know too much what to do and for good reason - only p
professional models usually have a good idea! :P The thing I try and steer clear of mostly is cheesiness. Adding to that I think the #1 cheesy thing you can do is have someone doing something that's supposedly natural in an awkward, posed way - usually with the couple looking directly at the camera with uncomfortable smiles plastered on their faces. only a few photographers can pull these poses off and not make it look cheese, i certainly can't, so I'd say go in a different direction completely.
When it comes to poses (we're talking wedding/engagement yes?) first thing you want to do on a wedding is say "i'll make this as quick as possible because i know u guys are dying to get back!" that way they start off on your side. that'll hopefully get them to co-operate more.
Tell them to act like you are not there. Any smiling should be 100% like a natural smile, not a "posed for a photo" smile. By eliminating you as a factor in the shoot (somewhat) you're allowing the moments to be more private and so the pictures will be more intimate and natural.
Tell them to move - it's good to learn a few start of poses in case you get a couple who really are reluctant. I take pictures of a few poses i like and store them on my iphone to interpret on the day - so I'll arrange them into a pose I like, step back, and then tell them to just mess around from there and I'll give direction if I spot something really awesome working. The moment that I like to capture isn't the set pose, but the private moments in between when they're laughing at each other and fixing themselves up. The forgotten moments, if you like ;)
Lastly, an awesome trick I like to use if I'm working with a groom especially who doesn't like photos, is I tell the bride to stand in front of him and close her eyes. Then I tell him that he has to stand behind her and at his digression JUMP on her and let her have no idea when he's going to do it. It usually provokes awesome smiles and laughter and gets some pretty nice, fun pictures:
When it comes to poses (we're talking wedding/engagement yes?) first thing you want to do on a wedding is say "i'll make this as quick as possible because i know u guys are dying to get back!" that way they start off on your side. that'll hopefully get them to co-operate more.
Tell them to act like you are not there. Any smiling should be 100% like a natural smile, not a "posed for a photo" smile. By eliminating you as a factor in the shoot (somewhat) you're allowing the moments to be more private and so the pictures will be more intimate and natural.
Tell them to move - it's good to learn a few start of poses in case you get a couple who really are reluctant. I take pictures of a few poses i like and store them on my iphone to interpret on the day - so I'll arrange them into a pose I like, step back, and then tell them to just mess around from there and I'll give direction if I spot something really awesome working. The moment that I like to capture isn't the set pose, but the private moments in between when they're laughing at each other and fixing themselves up. The forgotten moments, if you like ;)
Lastly, an awesome trick I like to use if I'm working with a groom especially who doesn't like photos, is I tell the bride to stand in front of him and close her eyes. Then I tell him that he has to stand behind her and at his digression JUMP on her and let her have no idea when he's going to do it. It usually provokes awesome smiles and laughter and gets some pretty nice, fun pictures:
(Photo credit: Rosie Hardy)
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