What Is "Psyphotology" And How Can You Use It To Your Advantage?

Headshot photographer Peter Hurley recently gave a speech at a TEDx event in Cambridge with the psychologist Anna Rowley, explaining why people feel uncomfortable in front of cameras and how to solve that problem.

Peter begins the talk by telling a story about a woman whose headshot he took. During the editing process, that woman turned to her husband saying: “Honey, I can’t stand my face!” That woman happened to be miss universe. EVERYONE has a gap between how the world around you perceives you and how you see yourself. The only thing that varies from human to human is the size of that gap. It is that gap and your “inner critic” that make you uncomfortable in front of cameras.

Peter Hurley and Anna Rowley met for the first time while working for Microsoft and Anna Rowley had to experience that same fear of getting her headshot taken when Peter was assigned to photograph her. It was that moment that led to the main topic of their speech: Why do most people feel so vulnerable in front of cameras? And what can a photographer do to silence that inner critic and to make his clients feel comfortable in front of his lens?

Peter and Anna actually offer workshops on their website about how to feel more comfortable in front of cameras and on how to make people feel more comfortable in front of them.

Thoughts

In my opinion, communication with your model or client is one of the most valuable skills you can have as a photographer. There are just so many of these awkward photos out there in which the subject literally screams that the whole situation is extremely uncomfortable for him/her and you should try to avoid that by comforting your model. Peter Hurley is a master of directing his clients and communicating with them so they feel good in from of his camera. Here are 2 more of his videos on the topic of posing and communication:

What do you think about this TEDx talk? Do you have any tips regarding this topic? Feel free to let us know in the comments!

Robert Miler

I think DIY Photography jumped the shark, when it took on a dedicated team of guest contributors. Don’t get me wrong they all have valid input to the photography, and are talented, but when roughly one in ten posts are actual DIY projects, and one in ten or less of them are new and fresh ideas. I miss the old blog, the one that came out of Udi’s garage, complete with spelling and grammar mistakes. I know this is the way of progress, just had to get it off of my chest.
- Andy
  
  So say we all. I come to DIY Photography in the constant hope that I’ll see another DIY post, but am continually disappointed by regurgitated and non-DIY posts. This site has a fantastic niche and I don’t understand why they are ignoring it.
  - udi tirosh
    
    Heya Andy,
    As i told Robert, I appreciate the feedback. there are many reasons that the site has shifted the gist of it in the comment above.
    
    If you are only after the DIY posts, you can puck up the DIY category RSS. but I think we do a fine job of covering other stuff too.
- udi tirosh
  
  Heya Robert,
  you are right, we did shift focus a while back.
  The garage thing was great for the time, but it was not sustainable. There are only so many softbox variations you can build :) and only so many people are interested in making it themselves.
  To keep the site alive, we had to cover more. we always ALWAYS try to add value to posts we make.
  
  all that said, we do still post DIYs (follow Laya’s posts, he is a DIY master), and I still have way to many spelling issues on the posts that I write.
- ajfudge
  
  I had the same thought about a couple of months ago. I didn’t complain because I have read their “About” spiel. There, they admitted their shift. The change in their favicon should have given you a hint. But be calm, the DIYs are still there.
Tether Tools

This is fantastic!