POSING AT A GLANCE
Hello,
I am pleased to present our weekly newsletter: photo of the week and lesson.
The lesson this week is on posing and was inspired by this amazing photo from Vicki. Vicki you should be proud, posing may be the hardest part of portrait photography to learn, and this portrait here looks amazing. In this portrait Vicky did several things correctly and we will examine a few of them, and explain why they are correct. As we discuss the art of portraiture feel free to look back at this picture as an example.
This newsletter lesson is laid out in a way that attempts to be useful to photographers of every caliber. It’s laid out into three sections for your conveyance. The first section is aimed at beginners, if you haven’t done much portrait photography you should start here. But keep reading because everything will be useful. The second section is for the intermediates to begin at, and the third is for people who are experts, or close to it.
There is actually a lot to posing. It is an expression of the person in the picture. It’s their way to communicate who they are thorough the medium of photography. At the same time the photographer is also expressing him/herself through the image. I don’t want to lie to you, it can take years to become an expert at posing, but this is why it’s a sought after skill. So let’s start with a simple rule. The expression says it all.
The expression in a portrait says everything; it needs to be expressive, maybe colorful. You can enhance facial expression by focusing on the eyes of the subject. Remember that women are typically the buyers of photographs, and most prefer smiles over closed mouths, but the smiles have to be genuine. To get a genuine smile simply smile at the subject.
SUBTLY OR EARNESTY
Many photographers say that posing needs to be subtle, and while I agree with that in theory, I think the truth of the matter is that poses need to be earnest. When you take a picture of a yoga practitioner in their favorite pose it’s obvious that they are posing, but the obvious doesn’t matter because the pose is natural for them. This isn’t always true, and the personality of the subject will play into this a lot, some portraits will depend on subtlety as well. Lets discuss a few things that will make a pose more earnest.
Keep the shoulders uneven if the shoulders are square it will make the subject look stiff, perhaps even uncomfortable. Have your subject lean slightly forward or backward, this will dis-align the shoulders and add an impression of relaxation. You will also want to find a reason for the subject to put their arms up. Having the subjects arms down at his or her side often looks and feels awkward, it also doesn’t define the body of the person, but putting the subjects arms up can be just as awkward if there isn’t a purpose. This is why so many portraits have the subjects leaning against trees and fences.
STUDY BODY LANGUAGE
Over 80 percent of communication is done though body language. It conveys our emotions while words sometimes only give messages. This means that even a natural looking pose may give off some signals you don’t want. If you study body language not only will you not make that mistake, you will also be able to match expressions and posture to create a complete pose. For example in Vicky’s picture the subject is holding a can of cola, and her back is arched. If she was merely smiling then these actions might not blend together. However, together with the huge grin her expressions tell a story. She looks incredibly excited about something that explains the grin and the arched back. The logical thing is that she is excited over the can of cola that she has. Now explaining body language is difficult because many time certain gestures or poses can mean more than one thing. It’s a combination that really tells the story, as we have seen here. However, there is an eBook on Photography Talk that delves into it a bit called Posing Guide Natural Poses for Adult Models. I am also planning an article series around this exact subject. But you can still learn a lot from just observing people. For starters watch different parts of a person body when they are happy, sad, angry, or excited. Note what each part does and why, there are actually some clues in this article as well.
I hope that this was helpful and insightful to everyone. Remember practice is the most important way to build skill in the photography world, so feel free to get out and try what you’ve learned.
Click here if you missed last weeks newsletter