Shooting with a buddy? Communicate!

When shooting with an assistant, communication is the name of the game. Especially if you’re married to them. You don’t want to argue in front of your subject, but awkward silence can be worse.

We did a portrait session a while back—Ken was the photographer, and I was the lighting lackey. He was having some issues getting the strobes to work properly, and I kept offering advice and asking questions, trying to help. He would just shake his head and go back to his work. We spent much of the shoot that way. In the car afterward, he shared that my trying to help was just frustrating him further. Feeling that I’d just driven him crazy all day, I shut up and shut down.

A while later, we did another portrait session, with the same roles. Remembering our experience last time, I kept out of the way, leaving the ideas and setup to him. I just put the light where it needed to go, offering thoughts only occasionally. In the car afterward, he asked why I didn’t share my input—he wanted my ideas on poses and locations, and was disappointed that I wasn’t sharing them.

So here’s the takeaway: don’t worry about the model thinking you’re silly for asking for input. If your advice isn’t followed, don’t take it personally. If you’re getting ‘help’ when you don’t want it, say so. In short—communicate! Don’t wait until the shoot is over and there’s nothing you can do about it.