Encouraging people to pose - tips for great photography

As a professional photographer I have actually only rarely worked with a professional model. My most recent experience of models was working with the Oxfam Bridal Shop in Heswall. The manager had arranged for some volunteers to wear the dresses and I would photograph them.

Click on the images to see them larger

So may people are shy of having their photographs taken and neither of these two girls had been formally photographed before. However, they had a natural beauty and without too much posing created some every elegant and simple images.

These we intend to enlarge and use in the shop window to advertise the quality of the wedding dresses which can be bought there. I hope it gives these two young women and their families a buzz to see their glamorous images large on the high street. Perhaps they will be less shy next time the photo opportunity comes.

Here is an idea, find someone else with a camera, both dress up, and take pictures of each other in a beautiful garden or other location. Take lots of pictures and I am sure many will look fantastic!