Genuinely Joyful – Photography Advice

Don’t you love it when you look at an image and you can’t help but smile because you can just feel the happiness a photo shows? There is nothing like an image that is just genuinely captured emotion.  Usually the subjects are laughing, or they have a real smile that makes you smile too. As photographers, its our job to make our clients feel comfortable and stress free so they can feel free to be themselves, the photos will truly show for it!
Here are a few helpful hints I have just from my own personal experience that have helped ease up some awkward tension at shoots!

1. Pray!

Pray not just with your self as you drive to your session with nervous jitters, but with your clients! I try to remember to do this more often then not but I like to say a quick prayer WITH my clients before the shoot. Its as simple as just thanking the Lord for the time together, that he will bless it, ect. I can always tell when I’ve forgotten to do this. Its amazing how God blesses when we put him fist! Also, what a great witness you can be as you run your own business! I always feel at peace after a prayer and its sure to ease up a shoot and make for a good time.

2. Use a long lens

If I can tell a client is a little apprehensive or nervous at the beginning of a shoot, ill use a longer lens to give them space! Try something like an 85mm or 70-200mm to let your client loosen up and relax before you get close and in their space with something like a 35mm. Every client and situation can be so different,  just be aware to what your client is feeling because body language can make or break your images.

3. YOU be yourself too!
If you are nervous or trying to be something you’re not, it’s really easy to make the situation awkward. For the longest time I was trying to be the “cool photographer”. Don’t ask me what that means because I still don’t know, I just remember my own self feeling uncomfortable and it affecting the outcome of not just my work but my clients experience. Now I’m just my goofy self, I probably say awkward things, or look really funny trying to get a 3 year old to smile, but I know I’m comfortable in my own skin, can make a client laugh and feel like they can be who they are too. I realized I set the standard for how my client feels they need to act. And I want that to just be them so I can do my job to the best of my ability.

4. Less posing

I find it hard to show true smiles or interaction when I’m forcing a scene, now most of my poses are actually interactions/motions so that way a natural moment can happen, and that can be anything! Instead of having everyone stand all prim and proper and say cheese, I direct them to walk or talk  or play so I can get something real, like the reaction to a funny joke said, or a fun tickle, all things that happen on their own and not by something Im forcing, but directing. 

Have fun, and happy shooting! Tag me in your genuinely joyful instagram photos! @ElizabethLaurenPhoto and @DelightAndBe !