“Just act natural.”
It sounds like sensible advice until somebody points a camera at you.
Suddenly, you become aware of everything.
Your hands feel awkward. Your smile feels forced. Your shoulders rise. You start wondering where to look, how to stand and what your face normally does when nobody is photographing it.
The harder you try to look natural, the less natural you feel.
That is why I don’t ask my clients to act natural.
It places all the responsibility on the person being photographed. It assumes they already know how to stand, move and respond in front of a camera.
Most people don’t.
They shouldn’t need to.
When somebody books me as a natural portrait photographer in Surrey, my job isn’t to wait for them to become relaxed and photogenic. My job is to create the conditions that help them look comfortable, credible and recognisably themselves.
That comes from conversation, movement, small adjustments and clear direction.
Not from telling someone to be natural and hoping for the best.
You don’t need to arrive confident
One of the biggest misunderstandings about professional portrait photography is that confident people naturally take better photographs.
They don’t always.
Some very confident people become uncomfortable the moment a camera appears. They may be excellent in meetings, on stage or speaking with clients, but freeze when asked to stand still for a portrait.
Others arrive convinced they’re unphotogenic because they dislike nearly every picture they’ve seen of themselves.
Neither reaction tells me what kind of photographs we can create.
Confidence in front of the camera isn’t something you need to bring with you. It’s something we build during the session.
That begins by removing uncertainty.
When you know where to stand, what to do with your hands and where to look, you have fewer things to worry about. Once you see that the photographs are working, the whole experience becomes easier.
You don’t need to perform confidence.
You need enough direction to stop thinking about every part of your body at once.
Conversation creates genuine expressions
A fixed smile rarely looks convincing for long.
You can hold it for a second or two, but the longer you wait, the more it starts to feel like a mask.
That is why conversation is such an important part of my portrait sessions.
I’ll ask questions, respond to what you tell me and keep the session moving. You might talk about your work, your family, a recent project or something completely unrelated to the photographs.
The exact subject doesn’t matter as much as the response it creates.
When somebody is listening, thinking, reacting or laughing, their expression changes naturally. Their eyes engage. Their face moves. The photograph begins to feel like a real moment rather than a pose being held for inspection.
This is commercially important too.
A business portrait needs more than a pleasant smile. It needs to communicate something useful.
A potential client might need to see warmth, experience, confidence, energy or authority. Those qualities are difficult to create by asking someone to smile harder.
They appear through small, believable changes in expression.
Conversation gives us those changes.
Movement stops the body becoming stiff
People often feel most awkward when they’re asked to stand completely still.
The body becomes rigid. Hands are held too carefully. Weight sits evenly on both feet, which can make the pose feel flat and formal.
Movement breaks that tension.
I might ask you to walk towards me, adjust a jacket, turn away and look back, sit down, stand up or shift your weight from one foot to the other.
These aren’t random instructions.
Each movement creates a slightly different posture or expression. It also gives your body something familiar to do.
Walking photographs can feel confident and purposeful. Adjusting clothing gives the hands a clear task. Turning into the camera often creates a more natural expression than beginning in a fixed position and holding it.
The final photograph may capture only a fraction of a second, but the movement before it changes how that moment feels.
This is particularly useful during branding sessions.
Photographs of you working, talking with a client or moving through your workplace can help people imagine what it would be like to work with you. They usually communicate far more than a row of static poses.
The action needs to make sense, though.
Pretending to type on a blank laptop or repeatedly pointing at an empty notebook doesn’t look natural. I would rather give you something genuine to do and then refine the position around it.
Small adjustments make a big difference
Good direction doesn’t need to be dramatic.
Often, the smallest changes have the greatest effect.
I might ask you to lower your shoulders, move your chin slightly forward, turn your body a few degrees or shift your weight onto your back foot.
These adjustments can improve posture, create shape and help your face connect more clearly with the camera.
Hands are another common concern.
People suddenly become very aware of them during a portrait session. They either hold them stiffly at their sides or try to hide them completely.
I’ll give your hands a purpose.
That might mean placing one in a pocket, resting them lightly together, holding glasses or interacting with something connected to your work.
The difference between a natural-looking pose and an awkward one can be a change of only a few centimetres.
You’re unlikely to notice all of those details while being photographed.
You don’t need to. I’m watching them for you.
Clear direction removes the guessing
Vague instructions create anxious clients.
“Do something with your hands.”
“Look confident.”
“Be more relaxed.”
None of those explains what the person should actually do.
Clear direction is specific.
I might ask you to angle your body towards the window, keep your face towards me, place your thumb inside a pocket and bring your chin forward slightly.
Once you’re in position, we can make smaller changes rather than starting again.
Clear direction also helps create variety.
Changing your body angle, eye line or expression can produce a very different photograph without moving to another location or rebuilding the lighting.
That means we can create a useful selection for different purposes.
You might need a friendly headshot for LinkedIn, a more serious portrait for a press article and a relaxed image for your About page.
You don’t need to know how to produce each of those looks.
I’ll guide you through them.
Natural doesn’t mean unplanned
There is a difference between a photograph feeling natural and a photograph being accidental.
The most natural-looking portraits are often carefully planned.
The location has been chosen for a reason. The lighting is controlled. The background has been checked. Clothing works with the setting. The pose has been adjusted and the expression has been encouraged rather than forced.
Good planning allows the person to relax because the technical decisions have already been made.
This matters in business photography.
A photograph can feel warm and spontaneous while still being sharp, well lit and suitable for a website or press release.
Natural doesn’t need to mean casual, untidy or poorly controlled.
It means the photograph feels believable.
You look like the person a client would meet, not a stiff version of yourself created for the camera.
Seeing the photographs helps
During many of my sessions, my camera is connected to a larger screen so we can review photographs as we work.
This is known as tethered shooting.
For clients who feel nervous, it can completely change the session.
Instead of wondering whether anything is working, you can see the results.
We can compare expressions, adjust clothing and identify which angles or backgrounds suit you best. You become part of the process rather than having to wait for the finished gallery.
That first strong photograph often creates a visible change.
Shoulders drop. Expressions become easier. The client realises they don’t need to fight the camera.
It also helps me understand what you respond to.
You may prefer a smaller smile, a particular side of your face or a slightly less formal pose. We can use that information immediately.
The aim isn’t to make you inspect every tiny detail.
It’s to show you that the person appearing on screen is still you, and that the process is working.
Being photogenic isn’t a fixed quality
I don’t believe some people are naturally photogenic and others aren’t.
Some people have more experience in front of a camera. Some know their preferred angles. Some find it easier to hold an expression.
That experience can help, but it doesn’t determine the outcome.
A good portrait depends on light, direction, timing, expression, clothing, background and the relationship between the photographer and the person being photographed.
Those are things we can control.
When somebody says they aren’t photogenic, they usually mean they haven’t seen many photographs of themselves that they like.
That isn’t the same thing.
It may mean they’ve mostly experienced phone cameras held too close, harsh overhead lighting, badly timed snapshots or photographers who offered no useful direction.
A professional session should feel different.
It should be built around helping you look like yourself, not testing whether you already know how to pose.
Natural photographs still need a purpose
For professional clients, looking natural isn’t the only goal.
The photograph also needs to do a job.
It may need to build trust on a website, create recognition on LinkedIn or support your credibility in a press article.
That means we need to think about more than whether you look relaxed.
What should the photograph communicate?
A financial adviser might need to appear experienced and approachable. An actor may need a portrait that shows presence and emotional range. A designer might want something more expressive. A business owner may need several versions for different parts of their marketing.
The direction changes according to that purpose.
A natural portrait isn’t one where you have been left to do whatever feels comfortable. It’s one where the guidance is good enough that the final image doesn’t feel over-directed.
That is the balance I’m looking for.
You don’t need to practise posing
You’re welcome to think about clothing, intended uses and the kind of impression you want to create before your session.
But you don’t need to practise smiles in the mirror or study posing videos.
That can sometimes make people more self-conscious.
You arrive with a collection of rules in your head and worry about whether you’re following them correctly.
I would rather respond to you as an individual.
We’ll find positions and expressions that suit your face, body and personality. We’ll make adjustments as we work and create enough variety to give you a real choice.
My article How to Look Natural in Photos shares more advice about working with the camera without trying to pretend it isn’t there.
But the most important point is simple.
You don’t need to arrive confident. You don’t need to believe you’re photogenic. And you don’t need to know how to pose.
You don’t need to know what to do. That’s my job.
