Modelling Tips

Do you often find yourself waiting, camera in hand, while your model struggles to get the pose right for the shot? For the professional photographer posing a human model, the working relationship is something like that between film director and actor. Yet photographers don't get training in the human side of posing a model. Here's a little list of tips and tricks for getting your subject to perform well for you.
Flatter Them Actors and models get into this line of work because they love the attention, after all, so work with that. Fuss over them about how great they look today, what a nice shot you're taking of them, how they're Vanity Fair material, and so on. Their confidence will reflect in the kind of performance they give you, especially in sensual photographic subjects.
Play With Them What? Yes, really! For getting a spontaneous, cheerful shot, you might want to keep the camera put away first and challenge them to a one-on-one game of catch or a pillow fight or something else childish and simple. What on Earth for? For inspiring a mindset of playfulness in the model, which will translate into sparkling eyes, impish grins, and sweeping body movements during the shoot. Lacking that, even some small talk where you can tell a joke or otherwise lighten the mood before you shoot helps.
Coach Them Especially with an amateur model, they might not know all the tricks of posing. Tell them to keep stomach in, shoulders back, back straight, breathe from the lungs and not the abdomen, not to hold their breath, look off to the side, keep their weight on one ofr the other leg, and so on. And of course, smile, smile, smile!
Calm Children In working with child models, you have the opposite problem from adults - getting them settled and focused on the job. You might try leading them in some meditation exercise! Just play "Zen master", setting an example while having them sit still, breathe deeply, and hum for a few minutes. This actually works to help them center and focus, without being distracted.