When you’re photographing someone or a team for business purposes, how do you interact with them? Do you spend time trying to put them at ease, ask how they want to be portrayed, or just say “stand here, lean back, look here. YES YOU’RE KILLING IT!”? I got professional headshots done by my company with some team photos and I hate how I look in all of them. The headshots I though would be chest up so I didn’t pose my lower half or I was told to pose a certain way and it looks awful. I’ve seen the other’s photos and they look natural and relaxed. I look awkward and rigid. The photographer said maybe 4 sentences in all 5 photos for how I should stand and none look good. I’ve never had photos taken of me outside of school pictures and I really tried with posing tutorials beforehand so I was excited. Was this the norm for team type shoots or do others do this differently? What could I have done differently as a subject to get the most out of a rushed session?
I rather demonstrate what I want. Works much better than verbal communication in my experience.
Saving
This is a “how do I look better in posed photographs” question, and the answer is still practice. Try out more tutorials.
Have you shown these photos to anybody else to get their opinion?
Yes I’ve shown a few people and my colleagues have seen them and said the same thing. I got one stock stiff pose for team shots of “put your hand in your pocket” that I tried to make more natural with the practise I’d done before. My own ones got less direction as well from what everyone said which is sad because I was excited to be told how to pose well from behind the camera rather than from my perspective. It’s hard to practise looking better when you don’t know what your better is.
The best advice I was ever given for portraits is to get someone laughing and amused. If they’re having fun, their smile will be more natural and relaxed and, as a result, look more like themselves. A forced smile won’t look as natural as one where the person being photographed is enjoying it.
The right way should be honest verbal posing, paired with the photographer modeling the pose so that you can mirror, and explaining why it looks good.
Honest verbal posing - means telling you which way looks good, which angle does not.
Modeling the pose - the photographer should be able to do what he/she wants you to do, easier to copy what you can already see.
Explaining - it really helps to cancel out what pose do not work, we all have angles that do not look good. The photographer should tell you that. You as a subject should not be offended.
You as the subject should, listen and go with the flow. Adjust your pose one aspect at a time, don’t let go of the pose until the photographer tells you to. Breathe, relax your shoulders, feel confident.
This is assuming the photographer knows what he/she is doing.