Feeling comfortable in front of the camera

Look for a photographer who makes you feel comfortable around the camera! There are some photographers who are very skilled at getting natural reactions from people, and helping people feel less nervous, which then translates into some great photos. I'm not the most comfortable in front of a camera, but when my fiance and I had our engagement photos taken, our photographer made us both feel at ease. We genuinely laughed as we were trying to figure out poses, or telling jokes, or just naturally in conversation, and at times, I didn't even realize that our photographer was still taking photos! I was super nervous at first, but we had so much fun taking the photos, and we ended up absolutely loving the way the pictures turned out. If you haven't found a photographer yet, look for one who you feel comfortable being around.

If possible, have zoom meetings and communicate as much as she/he could. This will break the “stranger” issue. Tell her what you told us here. Find your “chocolate side” and tell her about it. She sure can photoshop your pictures base on your wishes. Lastly, your fh knows you from any angle, he still wants to marry you. Don’t worry much about how you look in pictures, since a lot of brides do feel that way, more or less 😉

Will you be doing engagement pictures? That helped us A LOT! It gives you a chance to work with your photog and get used to being in front of the camera. I know it took my fiancé about a half hour to finally start loosening up, and we were glad he had that opportunity during the engagement session rather than having a lot of awkward wedding photos! It also gives you a chance to see how you you look on film and what changes you can make on the big day (different hairstyle, different make up, certain expressions you make that you don’t like in pictures, or certain poses that aren’t flattering that you can tell your photographer you would not like to have included on your wedding day).

If you find a good photographer they should be able to help you with that!

But I totally understand what you mean. I feel like I've been out of touch on how to smile or pose and I'm hoping my wedding pictures don't turn out terrible. But I'm excited to start working with my photographer and just let them know I'm not great with photos and just tell me what to do to make the pictures look good!

I always felt kind of nervous about wedding photos because i felt like the poses felt so staged sometimes. so my advice is have the photographer continually take photos even in between poses because sometimes you'll get really genuine moments. for instance some of my favorite wedding photos were ones where i wasn't posed! they were caught in between when i was legitimately laughing about something

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Oh gosh, I really hope we're able to have this happen! I'm so happy that you found someone to make documenting your day flow naturally! ☺️ Was the process of finding someone that made you feel comfortable difficult?

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This is a great idea! I think conversing in non-text form would make the getting used to you period evaporate quicker than just meeting right before the wedding. Thanks! ☺️

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We haven't actually done engagement pictures yet 😬🙈 We got engaged right before I started a masters program abroad, covid hit and I ended up stateside earlier than planned, but I've just procrastinated so much 😓 We definitely want to have them done though! we're just waiting out winter now lol.

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Omg, same with the being out of touch with smiling and posing 😅 I don't post photos of myself anywhere and I end up taking picture of places and things instead of pictures with me in them 😬 Have you found a photographer yet?

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Yeah, I feel like I just freeze up and become really self-conscious when I know there's a camera on me 😅 Hopefully I can find someone that does the continuous/non-staged photos! I love the genuine feeling from capturing moments candidly. Like I just want to have photos to look back on with everyones true expressions and feelings on display

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Yes, we did!

Not to sound weird or rude, but one thing I looked for in the photographer's portfolio was how they captured several couples from attractive looking couples to the not as attractive couples. And I focused more on the not as attractive couples and looked at those photos. I looked at their body language and how they posed and felt if the photographer can make me want to keep scrolling and looking at those photos then she did a good job because she probably instructed them on what to do to make them feel comfortable and that is what I want.

Alot of people are that way and not used to being filmed and/or don't like how they look on camera. Most photographers offer engagement sessions to alleviate the nerves and get you comfortable in front of the camera. Also, a photojournalistic style will be filming you in action being you rather than posing you unnaturally.

So my fiancé was super awkward when we got our engagement photos. I'm the more photogenic one and I just made him laugh to help him relax and get more comfortable. By the end of it he seemed ok.

View Quoted Comment That’s actually brillant 😅😂 I think my main problem and I get nervous and then end up moving too much 😂 I have soooo many photos with my eyes closed too 🙈

My sister, generally a perfectionist and not very confident person, came to a crisis as she was finishing her law program. Weeks in advance she had this interview schedule set up, she was freaking out about her June wedding, oh my heavens passport pictures. She has always looked either like she was in pain, or Tinkerbell scowling, in every picture since her teens. She is delicate and tiny as a porcelain doll and when she saw pics of herself, it was like a rodent was in it, not her. My father tried for years to refer her to a psychologist who does desensitization. No, no, no.
And this wonderful grad student in photography for official for interviews type photos, told her he would work with her. he charged them something pitiful, because he fid not really have any photos to work on. He just required they do what they were told. and for 3 or 4 sessions, he had them use jelly in squirt tubes to give each other mustaches and eyebrows, one he had costumes, and he did the 3rd funny shoot outside with them in odd misfit clothes. 2 hours each, all within 2 weeks. It worked. She got so the problem was her keeping a serious face. They had only a six month engagement, and had not done an engagement shoot. This he charged regular ( low) fees for. And dressed up and all, it carried over. She was relaxed, and playful. Wonderful pics, if not smiling then just adorable.
I have known people good with kids, but since her teens sis had been locked up by the thought of a camera. If this is what people mean by making friends with it, I think it is absolutely worth doing.

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Same! My mom had a friend I tested out to possibly do some pre-wedding event photos and provided us all the photos he took and over half of them I'm not ready or my eyes are closed! Since I didn't like any of the photos we obviously decided not to go with him since he didn't really help us pose or make us feel as comfortable taking pictures.

The best advice I can give about being on camera is to BREATHE.

So many people forget to breathe and that is what makes them uncomfortable. Practice doing regular, deep breathing without a camera around. Find ways to settle into that feeling, either with memory or practice or an object.

Practice with your FS, too!

Then, even if you don't get to know the photographer, you two can remind each other to breathe, which will relax you and help you both get more natural poses.

Having a photographer that we connected with really helped! Ours also focuses on naturally capturing moments, not fake poses. She spent our engagement session making us laugh and talking with us. Having that session made a world of difference! We aren’t nervous for wedding photos at all now.

I'm not sure what your photographer situation is, but try to do your engagement session with the same photographer that will be shooting your wedding (most wedding photographers include engagement sessions in your package).

Engagement sessions are a great opportunity to get comfortable with your photographer and in front of the camera. We also chose our photographer because she's good at directing/posing, and that's something we wanted; I need someone to tell me what to do with my face and just entire being, lol.

Our photographer was also very chatty with us, made jokes to get us to laugh/relax a little, etc. Those things really helped!

What makes you feel confident? For me, getting my hair/makeup/nails done for our engagement session and wearing some of my favorite outfits put me at ease.

Lastly, don't think too much about it -- just have fun with your fiancé!

I'm not comfortable in front of the camera either! My fiance is the same way, so we were both so nervous about taking pictures. Our wedding photographer includes an engagement session in all of her packages to help make couples more comfortable and it help us both so much! I highly suggest doing an engagement session! If you're not doing one maybe you could find a friend or family member that could go out with you and your partner and take a handful of pictures in different places. You could even do it in your backyard! It's not necessarily the same, but it may help you feel more comfortable.