The Comfort Zone
Wednesday, August 10, 2011 at 9:01AM
Keeping your subject outside of their comfort zone will produce images that won't be nearly as good as they would be if they were inside that zone.
The comfort zone, by definition, is an anxiety-neutral state that a person can operate comfortably in. By keeping a steady set of behaviors and conditions in place, a person can usually perform at or near their best.
Thats not to say people shouldn't occasionally step out of their zone to try new things, but when making a portrait of someone you have to keep them as comfortable as possible. Any discomfort can have a huge affect on the pictures. The lighting can be perfect, but the subjects comfort level will make or break the portrait. A good portrait requires a certain amount of mental conditioning.
Occasionally, if there's time, I'll ask the subject to step out of their comfort zone and try something completely different than what we had planned "just for fun." The idea that it's for fun and not serious can be enough to get a really good pose from them.