Sometimes when working with someone who has not done too much modeling, or when the ‘chemistry’ is not quite right, it can take a while for both the photographer and model to relax and for both of you to get into the flow. One of the tricks I’ve found useful to help get the shoot moving a little is to use a prop and get the model to ‘react’ to it. You often find that the mere act of having to think about what to do, with suggestions coming from both sides of the camera, helps take the pressure of a little and more relaxed pictures start to appear. Here are some examples with the same prop (a chair) from five recent shoots. All images taken with the Olympus OM-D E-M5 or Panasonic GX7 and post-processed with onOne Perfect Photo Suite V8.
“Sinead” ISO 200, 1/125 @ f/8, Olympus M.ZUIKO 25mm (OM-D)
“Raki” ISO 200, 1/125 @ f/7.1, Olympus M.ZUIKO 45mm (OM-D)
“Claire” ISO 200, 1/125 @ f/3.2, Olympus M.ZUIKO 25mm (OM-D)
“Natasha” ISO 200, 1/125 @ f/8, Olympus M.ZUIKO 45mm (GX7)
“Harley” ISO 200, 1/125 @ f/5.6, Olympus M.ZUIKO 25mm (OM-D)
Peter Cripps | Photography 
[…] For a while I worked in a studio that had a battered old leather chair and every time I shot there I got my model to use the chair in any way they saw fit. I found it helped break the ice and relax the model. I wrote a post about it here. […]