Directing amateur models

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Having too many options can reduce the overall efficiency of a project. This is particularly true for photo shoots that involve amateur models. In contracts to professionals, the amateurs do not have an a priori idea of which poses and camera angles work best for them and how to adjust their posing during the shoot.

For the next high-volume photo shoot at our university’s graduation party, my associate and I decided to give very close directions to the students, whom we are going to photograph, which would drastically limit their choices of available poses. Our hope is tat this would expedite the overall process of running the photo booth and improve the experience of the students by eliminating the stress of choice.

With any photo shoot that involves many people, there is a potential for turning it into a sort of production line, without any creative element. To avoid this, we will try to remain conscious of having fun, interacting with the students, and involving them in the process of creating an artistic composite image in just a few minutes.

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