There are photographers who've pulled stunts like telling a couple that a dog just got killed in an accident to get a gravely serious expression out of the sitters.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/nyregion/richard-avedon-photographer-of-influence-review.html
Among the anecdotes circulated about the legendary photographer Richard Avedon (1923-2004) is one involving the Duke and Duchess of Windsor — that is, King Edward VIII of England and Wallis Simpson, the American divorcée he married after abdicating the throne.
In 1957, Avedon was commissioned to take a portrait of the couple, who were notoriously photo-savvy — way ahead of the curve of today’s paparazzi-beleaguered movie stars and royals. Knowing that they were dog lovers, obsessed with their own collection of pugs, Avedon is said to have told them that the taxi he had taken to meet them had run over a dog (which wasn’t true). The couple grimaced sympathetically, and — snap! — Avedon took the picture, which is on view in “Richard Avedon: Photographer of Influence” at the Nassau County Museum of Art in Roslyn Harbor.
The photograph’s title is very specific: “The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Waldorf Astoria, Suite 28A, New York, April 16, 1957.” And yet, it doesn’t tell us anything about its making...
