Previsualization and directing subjects.

Q: I NEED A GOOD RESOURCE TO SEND TO MODELS THAT WILL TEACH THEM ABOUT POSING. SOMETHING THAT HAS A LOT OF GOOD INFORMATION IN ORDER TO HELP DIRECT THEM ON A SHOOT.

A: Resources for Directing Models. A rant by Zack Arias.

You are supposed to be that resource. You’re the photographer. You’re the one who has to create the final image. It’s on your shoulders to be the resource. Not the model’s. Not someone else. You.

A professional model brings a lot to the table. A professional photographer brings a lot to the table. Together, along with hair, make-up, and wardrobe, the image sings. The story is told. The work is great.

From where you are right now—based on this question—I can and will only recommend that she should look to you. Sounds like you are a new photographer working with new models.

The weight is on your shoulders. What photo, or series of photos, are you trying to create with this model? Why send her to learn something dramatic when you want something youthful and free? Why show her youthful and free when you need dramatic? The model isn’t dictating the shoot. You are. It’s your vision. It’s your photograph.

What photograph do you want to make?

“I don’t know.”

If you ask for directions but you don’t know what your destination is, how can anyone give you directions? Right?

So. You want youthful and free and happy. Now you have a destination. You want dark and dramatic and pensive. That’s a destination.

What are the arms doing when someone is free? Are they spread out and flying or are they wound up tight around the body? When someone is dark and pensive are they standing on their tippy toes or are they folding into themselves and sitting?

Is it about the pose? Or is it about the body language? Don’t think “pose.” Think “body language.” (Some light bulbs should be going off over your head right now.)

Not only do these questions start to form the posing, or body language, of your model but they start giving lighting clues. Location clues. Wardrobe clues. Make-up clues. Hair clues.

It’s called pre-visualization. In most cases, it’s your job to figure this out before the model is even booked. You book the model based on these clues. Some models are happy and free and float through the air. Some are dark and dramatic. Some can go either way as you direct them.

You think it through. You close your eyes and you picture the picture. You try to see the final image hanging on the wall or printed in a magazine next to a body of text. You try to see the thumbnails of the shoot in the Lightroom of your mind. What does your first edit look like when you close your eyes?

It sounds like I’m taking you for a ride on a rainbow while we listen to the spiritual vibrations of crystals, but I’m not. You have to begin to see the images you want before the day of the shoot. You give yourself room to change and adapt on the fly, but you need to have a loose idea (or a solid idea) of what you want. You have to have a destination.

The model walks in the door, green as grass, and cannot see the images you see in your head. You’ve worked out the lighting. You’ve worked out the location. Wardrobe is finalized. You know which lens you are going to use. Now you get that model in the light and location. You get the lens on them. They have no idea what to do from there. Now you direct them. Now you tell them a story they need to live out. You direct their body language.

“You’re lost. Something is chasing you. You have no exit from the deep, dark woods you’re in. You’re holding your arms around you like you are part cold and part needing comfort—like the hug of a mother. You’re tired. Lost. Your expression is starting to go blank as you give up and all hope is lost for you.”

“You just saw the man of your dreams. He stepped off that curb over there and is lost in the crowd. You’re trying to find him. Stretch your neck up and out like you’re standing on your tippy toes looking for him. You’re excited and happy but anxious. Not anxious like worried. It’s kind of a grin/smile kind of anxious.”

“You just told your asshole of a boss that you quit. You threw a drink in his face. You kicked him in the nuts. You are now walking out that door like you’re ready to rule the effing universe! You’ve just been freed from a prison. Walk with that kind of confidence and determination.”

The model stares at you like you’re speaking Latin.

You step in. You stand in their place. You put your arms where you want their arms to be. You make the face you want them to make. You act out the scene and they have to mirror you. She’s still a blank stare.

You pull a notebook out of your bag that has tear sheets in it that you’ve pulled from magazines specifically for this shoot. Point to that girl’s face. “See how she looks lost?” Point to how this one girl is standing. Point to that girl’s arms. “See how she’s searching?” You act it all out again. You get back behind your camera and—“Action!”

Where does she look for direction? To you, and you alone.

“But I’m not good at this stuff yet.”

Well, you better figure it out.

“But how?”

See the photo you want before you take it. Pull the scales off your eyes and see. We all talk about vision. This is what we’re talking about to some degree. Vision. Seeing. Creating. Directing. Posing. Lighting. Lens choice. Post-production. You see it. You close your eyes and imagine it.

Why am I not fearful of people who buy a nice camera and suddenly fancy themselves photographers? Because this shit I’m talking about doesn’t come in the box. The camera will never see. The camera has no vision. It’s a f*cking hammer that can’t build a house. It’s a stove that can’t cook. It’s a stupid, stupid, stupid piece of plastic with some metal bits. It’s useless as it sits there in a box. It knows nothing. It does nothing. It sees nothing. The camera is a piece of shit.

“But cameras are getting better and smarter and they take better pictures these days.”

No they aren’t. They will never take a picture. Buy all the cameras in the world. They will never see.

Study. Research. What do you want to create? What picture do you want to look at because no one else has shot it yet? You’ll hear movie directors talk about making a certain movie because it was a movie they wanted to watch. You need to take a page from that.

Nikon doesn’t give you vision. Canon doesn’t give you vision. That new flash you want won’t make you see. It won’t direct your subjects. It won’t do shit for you. You point it where it needs to be pointed. You control what sort of light enters it and how much light enters it. You direct your subject in that light you have decided to work in. You are in charge. You, and you alone. If you think for one second that the camera is doing something for you, then you have your brain turned off and you’re being stupid. Stop it. Take control. Do it all. No matter what crazy-ass thing they make these cameras do next, they will never, ever, ever see the world.

That’s your job.