Basic Foundations of Posing

There are very few people I’ve met during my lifetime that feel 10/10 confident in front of the camera. Whether it’s because of posing uncertainty, having a professional photograph them being a new thing, not being photographed much during their lifetime, having preferences or particulars about a certain angle, part of their body, etc. most of us have a hard time walking in front of a camera and just working it, hair toss, checking our nails and singing Lizzo.

Believe me when I say that’s 100% natural.

Even I go through my awkward, “okay how do I do this” phase when I step out in front of a camera!

So girl, I’ve got you! And I’ll share with you a few basic foundations of posing. It isn’t some crazy algorithm, the foundations are easy and by the end of this post you’ll have a general understanding of how posing works that you can even implement in your selfies and home photos.

 

First things first, posture. Posed shots can sometimes get a negative wrap when done incorrectly, and posture seems stiff or unnatural.  But, the concept of professional posed shots is that they should truly look natural, flattering and incorporate movement or stillness that you see in real life. Standing and walking tall, lifting your chin,

Second – shapes. So another big thing on posed shots is shapes, which includes the photography concept of rules of thirds. Don’t worry – I won’t explain the nerdy specs on the rules of thirds concept, because typically this is applied for framing of photos – but when it comes to posing: where ever your arm is placed, his hand touches, or your faces meet, we’ll be creating natural shapes such as triangles (i.e. lifting your elbow away from the torso, having his fingers tracing your chin, etc), and the photos will be framed with that concept in mind. A lot of us have natural stances and poses we do, and I love playing off of natural and set up ideas that get my clients focused on the experience of each other more than the shot being created.

Another thing that affects the basics of posing is attitude. Attitude is everything, and a great photographer will know how to get you comfortable in front of his or her camera. To be able to get you excited, relaxed and enjoy the process to the point where you’re literally just having fun! But also, keeping an open mind, listening to suggestions, prompts and letting your photographer guide you during the process is key. Let your main focus before a shoot be on the process of feeling as gorgeous and comfortable as possible. And let your trusted photographer focus on the flow of posing for you.

Last but not least. The biggest thing I hear clients say is that they don’t know what to do with their hands. We are natural and effortless with them until we realized we’re having a photo set up and then it’s like ahh! Where do they go? What are they supposed to do?? The best pose? Raptor hands! Wave them in the air, and… lol, jk! I’m just making sure you’re still with me! 😉 My all time favorite description is to have what’s called “ballerina hands”. Relaxed and never clenched. This is going to be your base posing tip for your hands in everything. What you’ll do in each shot should be a variance of this, and you’ll instantly see the change between awkward and stiff hands, to model-like posing.