The Camera-Shy Guide to Being Photographed

How to prepare for your professional photoshoot if you're feeling nervous (or even a wee bit terrified).

Hello! If you’re reading this, you probablyyy have a relationship with being photographed that’s closer to hate than love. Add a fancy camera to the situation, and professional photoshoots may be downright terrifying. 

And that’s totally fair. 

I’m not going to tell you that a camera is suddenly going to be your favorite thing just because you’re with a professional photographer, but I will say this: It is not your job to come into a session feeling comfortable. It is your photographer’s job to get you there. 

Now that said, here are some tips to make your session - be it headshots, engagement photos, wedding portraits, family mini sessions, you name it - a bit less intimidating:

1. Wear something that makes you feel confident and comfortable. The camera may not be able to tell that your shoes are pinching your toes or your pants feel too tight, but it’ll absolutely pick up on that little facial twitch of discomfort. And on the flip side, it’ll capture that authentic smile that subconsciously peeks out when you’re wearing your favorite shirt. 

   
   

2. Relax your facial muscles by taking a deep breath. This is one of my favorite tricks in the book, especially for longer portrait sessions. You know that feeling when you’re supposed to smile, and suddenly you’re aware of every single facial muscle it requires and you’re thinking this should honestly count towards your step goal because it’s EXHAUSTING? The fastest way to fix that is to just take a deep breath, relax those facial muscles, and go into the next smile feeling a bit more like a human and a bit less like the Joker. It is 100% ok to ask your photographer to take a (literal) breather - I would so much rather my client took a break & smiled authentically for 5 minutes than fake it for 6. 

   
   

3. If you’re being photographed with someone else, pay more attention to them than the camera. I don’t mean don’t smile at the lens when we ask or ignore your photographer’s instructions (I promise there’s a method to our madness, even when we ask you to do silly things), but remember that the point of this shoot is to capture your relationship with the person standing next to you. If your mind wanders, rather than wandering to what the camera is seeing, try nudging it towards the person standing next to you & maybe even a happy memory or two. 

   
   

4. Lean towards movement over stiffness. For the most part, your photographer will be handling this for you - movement in photos adds so much to an image’s story, and they’ll likely give you prompts to encourage motion. But if there are times when you feel like you’ve been standing in one pose for too long, and yet again, your muscles are feeling a little uncomfy, take a second to quite literally shake it out. 

   
   

5. Have your shoot somewhere that’ll make you happy. This one is definitely situational, but if you get to choose where your shoot is taking place, think of somewhere that makes it even easier to smile. There's kind of 2 parameters for this in my head: Beauty and nostalgia. Here in Denver, Colorado, beauty is pretty easy to find. Your photographer likely has some favorite spots for mountain backdrops or dreamy meadows, so asking them to help choose can be super helpful. For nostalgia, maybe you just got engaged so you decide to do your save the date photos at a vibey cafe you really love or a park you always go to for picnics. Or maybe you’re doing newborn pics, so you choose to do them in the nursery where your baby is (too quickly) growing. 

   
   

6. Choose a photographer you think you’ll vibe with. Honestly, I think this is just as important (if not more so) than finding a photographer with the style and aesthetic you’re going for. Folks can edit pretty much any photo to look gorgeous, but making you feel comfortable enough to authentically grin and show your joy is what will take a photo from being a pretty frame on your mantle to something that makes you smile just looking at it.  

If you got this far, thanks for reading! I hope some of those ideas make it a bit easier to ward off the nerves and let the essence of you/your relationships shine through in your photos.