Just this past Thursday I was called upon to photograph a member of a corporate sales team. This guy is the big cheese of financial and sales analytics. He's the number one reporting guy. As you might imagine his professional image is extremely important and he was well overdue for a profile update image for his business page. I was approached directly by his direct manager to make sure he's taken care of from the image perspective. He knew i knew the deal; the upscale, professional, business look with all the fixings. But he specifically added, "give it your special touch." Whatever that means.
I could tell the guy was apprehensive but he really needed the update. I'd seen the existing pxiture and lets just say it's... Bad would be an understatement. But he knew it wasn't great because he went on and on about how spur of the moment it was when he had taken it etc etc. I wasn't setup yet and I told him it would take a few minutes. I didn't even have a camera immediately on hand; my own was clear across town. But he wanted to just hang around and follow me until I was ready. They didn't have great lights either. In fact, they are atrocious little buggers; weak on power with a terrible color cast that was inconsistence every time you turn them on. The camera they had was also about 14 generations behind the tech curve. I worked very hard indeed to figure out how to set a reasonable white balance on the barely functional paperweight. That's all I had - two weak monolights of two different colors in a room the size of a closet with a prehistoric camera that barely turned on affixed to a generic very loud slow lens stuck on f4 aperture all under weak fluorescent office lights. I had no V-flats and no assistant.
It took a few moments to setup but my intended subject was chatting me up incessantly obviously as a means to quell his own nervousness. Hey, I get it. Some people have very real anxiety when it comes to having their picture taken particularly when they don't want to. No amount of expensive gear and lights will make him more comfortable. Consequently, if he's nervous it will show and what you'll end up with is a crappy picture even if you used $50,000 worth of gear. Sure it would be clearer, brighter and in perfect color but you'll have a subject with an expression that says I really don't want to be here. I'd rather be getting a root canal. Fortunately, I've had years of experience with situations like this. If i didnt I'd be screwed because the company is about 15 years behind on having the appropriate gear for this sort of thing. I mean to say without exaggeration that a cell phone on a selfie stick could take a better picture than some of this company's stuff. From pure experience, I knew that the best pictures are always from people who are comfortable taking them and from people that trust you unconditionally do make them feel and look amazing. So what could I do?
Well I did what I always do. I talked to him. I'd subtly suggested a spot for him to stand in without him even realizing it. He was following me around anyway so I just lead him right into the light and stopped in such a manner that had him stand where I wanted him to be which was right against a bright white very boring wall. What that wall was to me was a perfect way to bounce the already atrocious lighting so that this weak camera sensor I was working with could pick up a bit more light. So while I'm pretending to look for stuff I ask him about projects he's been working on. It eventually lead to a few jokes, him laughing himself to tears and talking about some family picnic he was reminiscing about. Now keep in mind I'm shooting the entire time but he barely paid me any attention. His anxiety was gone largely because he wasn't thinking about the little ad hoc photo shoot I'd learned about only five minutes earlier. He was too engrossed in the conversation to care. To an onlooker we were just two co-workers having a great chat about absolutely nothing but trivial BS.
I had changed shooting modes and aperture settings several times even after only a dozen or so captures in to it. You have to do that with sub par gear because crap gear can be so horribly inconsistent. You're never sure which images will be the keepers. I ached for my own gear but I didn't have access to it and quite frankly this gig doesn't cover the expense or risk of bringing out my gear. Besides, it's a very last minute thing.
I finally showed him the first few pictures I'd taken. He was shocked as to how comfortable and poised he looked and even more shocked as to how much I'd already shot. He said he had always struggled with pictures and never quite mastered the right expression - not until now at least. He was very pleased and even wanted to take more pictures with a variety of backgrounds. Well time was of the essence so I kept it simple and put off something grander for a later date.
The main thing to remember is that really great photography involves more than just standing behind your camera with thousands of dollars in equipment. I've seen those pictures. We all have seen those images; crystal clear, technically flawless in perfect light shot from a $5,000 camera with a $5,000 lens but images that are still boring as hell. You forget about them almost as fast as they left your sight. To really bring out your subject's best you need to engage them. You'll draw more of their personality into the look and that is always more appealing than just asking someone to smile (weird). Remember to stay productive while you're directing, adjusting, capturing and chatting. Remember that you're working. You just make it look easy and that always lowers the anxiet and nervousness of your subject. To the untrained eye you're just having a great time and seemingly rarely firing off a shot. But in reality, you're adjusting lights, changing the aperture and shutter speed, recomposing and adjusting white balance all while having them follow you around the space as you get a variety of backgrounds, genuine expressions and real emotions. It's a win-win because you're capturing amazing images, getting a potential lifelong client and probably making a new friend.
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