In this lesson: Learn how to employ basic and subtle posing techniques that benefit all manner and type of portrait subjects

Posed images are recognizable because they often counter more natural body language. Posing is an art unto itself and requires a practiced attention to detail.

A crucial component of creating an eye-catching and flattering portrait is helping your subject look his or her best. Part of that is selecting a pose that amplifies their best qualities while minimizing features that they aren’t so fond of.

We’ve already covered some compositional suggestions for portraiture in Lesson 31 of Boot Camp. In this lesson, we focus instead on a few posing-specific techniques.

Leaning or Shifting Weight

Have your subject lean forward slightly when seated. This helps minimize the appearance of weight and reduces the likelihood of a double chin. When seated, don’t let your subject get comfortable. Instead, have them sit up straight with shoulders back, and, again, leaned slightly forward. Keeping good posture is critical for an effective posed portrait.

Likewise, when taking full body photos of a subject that’s standing, have your subject shift their weight to one side or the other. The result is a much more dramatic look than if they stand static with their weight evenly distributed.

Cross the Arms

One of the difficulties people have in front of the camera is knowing what to do with their hands. When posing your subject, remove that obstacle from the equation by having them cross their arms. Having the arms crossed generally makes people feel more secure and improves their confidence which will have a positive result on the portrait you create.

Go Simple for Men

Straightforward and traditional poses typically work well for most men. Full-length portraits tend to be more casual and give you the ability to highlight shifted weight and crossed arms. For a more formal look, compose a shot from the waist up. This affords you an opportunity to focus more on a male subject’s facial features.

Make Women Feel Beautiful

A great pose for women is to have them look slightly upwards at the camera. Again, this helps minimize the appearance of weight and double chins. Combined with soft frontlighting, this pose can also help minimize the appearance of blemishes. For a laid-back shot, take a few steps back and have your subject lean against a wall. This gives you a chance to take a full-body photo and highlight the woman’s figure.

Minimize Signs of Aging for Seniors

Many elderly portrait subjects have features they’d rather not highlight. Be that wrinkles, age spots, or bald spots, the poses you suggest should minimize those features should your subject wish to do so. A slightly downward angle of view helps reduce the perceived size of the nose. If the subject has a bald spot, like the older gentleman with graying hair, frame up a shot from directly in front, from eye level. Conversely, if your subject likes the character that age has brought, consider a seated pose in which you take a close-up of their face or even their hands.

Get Onto a Child’s Level

As noted in Lesson 31, the most crucial component of a portrait of a child is to get on their level. Sit down, kneel down, or even lay down on the ground so you can take portraits from their point of view. When it comes to posing, throw all other rules out the window. If you let the child be and do what they want, the result will be far better portraits than most any formally posed portraits will be able to generate (assuming you can get the child to pose in the first place!).

Challenge Activity

You need not contact a professional model to practice your portrait posing techniques. Grab a friend or your spouse, your kid or your neighbor, and practice the posing techniques outlined in this lesson.

Step 1: Identify a location where you can create eye-catching portraits. Remember to refer to Lesson 31 if you need a refresher on basic portrait setup ideas.

Step 2: Determine the type of lighting you will use. If using natural lighting, time the portrait session to capitalize on Golden Hour lighting. Alternatively, shoot under overcast conditions for more even light. You can also choose to use artificial lighting, like studio strobes or a flashgun.

Step 3: Set your camera just below eye level and use the lighting to emphasize the pose and de-emphasize the background. Sync the shutter speed if strobes are used (or use a shutter of 1/250 seconds). Set a wide aperture to blur the background.

Step 4: Practice the posing techniques described above. Rather than trying each pose on a different model, consider practicing posing for men, women, seniors, and kids on one subject. The point is to practice the skill, not necessarily have the perfect subject each time. When you feel confident posing your subject, then try using poses with different models.