Camera Shy! Anyone have tips to get the heck over it?

[deepblue]

The title pretty much says it. I'm ridiculously camera shy. Anyone else been there and managed to work through it? I can't even let my boyfriend take our pic. I'd love to get over it, but I'm not having any luck.

[Mermaid Kelda]

Is it a confidence issue, or something else? If it is confidence - something I found useful was to use spare time alone to take photos of myself. It meant I could find out what angles and lighting and expressions made a better photo, which leaves me a bit more prepared when someone shouts "smile!" :P

[Aziara]

Personally, the only time I get a good photo is when I'm holding a pet or a child. It's because I don't think too hard about making myself smile 'just right' (which usually looks like a grimace of pain if I have too much forewarning that a photo is coming), but I'm trying to make the kid or critter look ok, so I'm just myself. So I guess my advice is to not think about it too hard. And use a camera that you can delete all the ones that you don't like how they turned out. ;)

[Mermaid Kelda]

Agreed - the best photos of me tend to be candid shots of me having fun. But my worst photos are those where I have to pose and I know the shot is coming, like group photos. It's good to know how I should angle my face to the camera and how I should smile to get the nicest photo, especially since group shots can't so easily be deleted on the basis of "No fair! You guys all look stunning, and I look like awful!"

[PearlieMae]

I hated having my photo taken! And I'm a photographer! I did manage to get over it by participating in a challenge where you take a self portrait every day for a year. It's a great exercise and you gain 'muscle memory' for realizing how you'll look in photos.

There's a group on Flickr - 365 Days - http://www.flickr.com/groups/365days/ and they have challenges and advice. It's interesting to watch how you progress as you take the challenge. It's like singing...it just takes practice!

I have no problem being in front of the camera now. I get a bout of self consciousness now and then, but can get over it pretty quickly.

[deepblue]

I've seen that 365 days challenge... it looks fun. Basically, I mine is a confidence issue. Maybe that's a little narcissism, but I do want to not care. My sisters are both really free with cameras. I just look so unnatural and I feel like it makes me stiffen up and I look really bad. I have not got the most photogenic features, since my jawline grew poorly due to impacted teeth, and I am very, really very, self-conscious about my mouth because of it.

Ugh. I want to not care, though. This is what I look like, this is what I need to deal with. heh.

Thanks for the tips, mers. I don't have working camera atm, but I like the ideas here. I could work with this.

Oh, funny thing is, one of the only pics of me I like was taken when I didn't know it was happening. I even look like I have a chin! lol But that was a pro photog, at a club event. I can't reproduce the chin he managed to catch. :p

[Blondie]

I understand you. I HATED being on camera when I was younger. When I was little I had a terrible speech impediment and I would cry when I heard myself on video. I wasn't very pretty either. So I avoided cameras like the plague. Then when high school started I was in a TV class. No one in my group ever wanted to be on camera, so I sort of got sucked into it. I was really nervous about it all. I found that buying make up that I liked helped me a lot. It made me feel "pretty" and was a silly confidence booster.

I think the best thing to get over being camera shy is to take a deep breath and just keep getting in front of the camera. After working in television for four years, I had no problem being a reporter or doing voice overs. If you just keep doing it over and over you'll get used to it and it won't be as scary. Listening to myself on camera or taking pictures is no problem for me anymore. But it did take years to get over.

[Mer-Crazy]

I think preparation is a really good thing to have. I am an amateur photographer and I find my shoots much more easy and enjoyable when I have set poses/shots I'm trying to aim for, rather than just going for my life and improvising (My professional photographer friend taught me that trick). Finding pictures online helps and also having someone you know well/ trust can make the experience easier. That, and a professional shoot is always a super good confidence booster. I'm lucky, and my friend will do it whenever she's free if I ask for no cost, and I always love every photo she takes, they always make me look so pretty compared to normal photos.

[Mermaid Citrine]

I think the best accessory anyone can wear is a SMILE = D
okay, maybe sounds corny, but its true ! I know a lot of people are self conscious about their smile but even if you don't have perfect teeth, everyone looks better
when they smile, smiling lights up your whole face. If you aren't sure how to smile or it always comes out looking 'forced' just try thinking of something funny and literally start laughing, even if you are fake laughing at first, in usually a few seconds it will turn into real laughter and then you can smile naturally for the camera.
You can also ask the photographer to say funny stuff to make you laugh (if they don't) We do this during our photo-shoots if a client is being shy,
its an age old trick that really works.
In my experience, very few people look good making a serious face, its very hard to look relaxed and good if not smiling....I still try this myself and have gotten a little better at it, but in my experience, everyone looks best when they smile