Appendix A: Posing Basics

Why include a section on posing in a book about Canon Speedlites? The answer is simple: Posing and lighting are the two biggest factors differentiating the pro from the amateur. The responsibility of posing subjects can strike fear into the hearts of even the most intrepid photographers; many feel unsure about directing people they’re photographing. Think of it this way: It’s your job! The people who seek you out are counting on you to help them look their best. Most people who you’ll be photographing won’t be professional models, and they’ll expect you to be a confident leader. They’ll want guidance about what to do in front of your camera. Absent this direction, you’ll have nervous clients and uncomfortable sessions. Countless books and DVDs by some of the best in business are available on the topic of posing, and I encourage you to seek them out. Look for educational materials and examples from Hanson Fong, Bambi Cantrell, David Williams, Doug Gordon, and Robert Lino (see Appendix C for more resources). Here I cover some important basics to help get you started.

Your personality and your ability to connect with your subjects and put them at ease is an essential component in the posing equation. No one approach works for everyone or every situation. This is where your intuition and ability to read people and judge their temperaments comes into play. Should you be gregarious, soft and contemplative, or something completely different? Ask yourself these kinds of questions on a case-by-case basis. Figuring out the best way to reveal something truly unique in each person is essential to really good portraiture. Photographer Peter Hurley’s DVD with Fstoppers.com, The Art Behind the Headshot, covers this subject well and demonstrates how to use your personality during sessions to get what you want from clients.

Posing, much of which is based on paintings of the old masters, is sometimes perceived as stiff, old, and stale. I agreed with this view before I took the time to really investigate the concepts behind posing and the work of its master practitioners. These stereotypes are misrepresentations based on poor examples of something really worthwhile. Posing at its best can be traditional, contemporary, or many variations in between. For inspiration, look at fashion magazines, movie posters, and advertising campaigns — you’ll see that posing is everywhere! Whether traditional or modern, a pose should be the result of careful thought about body placement. With posing and lighting, your aim is to create a mood, tell a story, or evoke a feeling. Body language is a huge part of this! Developing a good foundation in the basics of posing and knowing how to apply these techniques will add depth to your portraits.

Start by letting your subjects know what space to occupy in the scene. To use a theater term, you’re essentially blocking out the subject’s space, showing them the acceptable range of movement. You want your subject to know how to stay within the bounds of the light you’ve created, allowing you to consistently achieve great results. I also call my subjects’ attention to the key light in the scene by asking them to look toward it during the shoot. Letting subjects know the kind of framing you’ll be working with also helps in guiding expectations. Are you shooting full-frame, three-quarter-length, or head-and-shoulders images? If your subjects know you’re using head-and-shoulders framing, they don’t have to worry about the position of their feet.

Clearly communicating that you want clients to shift positions, change their angle, and turn or tilt their head can be a linguistic challenge. I find that by first explaining a series of hand gestures you can make with one hand can help tremendously in conveying your message. Clench your fist and explain to your subjects that it represents their head, then tilt it backward and forward and twist it left and right. Ask your subjects to mimic these movements with their head. Try the same thing with your hand flat and turned with its thin side facing the subject, also twisting it to the left and then right. Again, explain that it represents their body and asking them to follow along when you signal. This little technique has been a big help!

Here are some basic poses for individuals:

▶ Feet placed naturally. If you’re shooting full-length portraits, foot positioning is important. You want the feet positioned close enough together but not so close that it looks like they cannot support the shape of the body. Additionally, if your subjects face you at an angle, have them place most of their weight on the back leg. To help create the desired and classic S-curve when posing females, ask them to push their front hip toward the camera. This is what photographers mean when ask a model to pop the hip. These are slimming techniques that naturally bend the front leg toward the camera.

▶ Shoulders at an angle. This is the most common pose in portraiture. When the subject’s shoulders are turned at an angle to your camera, you create a slimmer profile. Having the shoulders squared and directly facing the photographer makes the subject look boxy, unflattering, and wide. In other words, not good!

▶ Head tilted. After subjects turn their shoulders so that they’re at an angle to the camera, have them tilt and turn their head slightly so it isn’t in the same position as their shoulders. When you have your subjects tilt and turn their head slightly while still making eye contact with the camera, you’re also changing the position of the eyes and making the eyes appear larger.

After you get these basic posing techniques down, you’re ready to move on to more creative portrait-posing techniques.

TIP When you’re directing changes to your subject’s posture, make slight adjustments. Small movements go a long way when shooting portraits. You want poses to feel natural, not overworked or contrived. Keep it relaxed and fun, and you’ll be sure to have repeat clients. Remember, it’s as much about the photography as it is about the experience clients have working with you!

Developing Your Style

You can learn a lot by working with professional models or even just watching them work. Notice how professional models place their bodies and angle their movements in a scene. Look at where they’re placed in the composition and think about why these choices were made. They are extremely aware of where the camera is and how to play to that angle. If you don’t have that opportunity, don’t worry — there are many semiprofessional and aspiring models you can work with. You can connect in online communities like Model Mayhem (www.modelmayhem.com) and One Model Place (www.onemodelplace.com). These are also fantastic places to network with other photographers and learn about lighting and equipment.

This is the kind of keen awareness you need to develop. As I mentioned earlier, magazines (fashion and editorial), movie posters, ad campaigns, and Google image searches are also great educational resources and inspirations for posing ideas. Not to mention the scores of posing DVDs available (see Appendix C). Create a scrapbook of your favorite poses and try to replicate them. Eventually you will develop your own signature style. Practice makes perfect!

Positioning the body

Slimming the body is almost always an important goal in posing. As a photographer you’re only working with two dimensions (height and width), so how you handle them is very important. By angling the body away from your camera instead of positioning it squared and straight, you create a noticeably slimmer appearance. Try it — photograph someone straight on, and then angle the body away from the camera and photograph that person again. You’ll be amazed at how much slimmer this technique makes them look.

Slimming poses include the following:

▶ Torso twisted, with legs slightly separated. In addition to having your subject turn his or her hips slightly to the left or right, you should also suggest a stance with the legs slightly separated, or one in front of the other. This reduces the silhouette of the body and makes the hips and legs appear slimmer. Black or dark-colored clothing also achieves this effect. Northern California–based wedding and portrait photographer Bambi Cantrell’s DVD The Language of Lighting and Posing is a great resource and addresses the positioning of legs.

▶ Leaning on a chair or table. Have your subject turn at an angle, either left or right (preferably toward the main light), and slightly arch the back. With correct lighting, this places much of the body in shadow, and more emphasis is on the face and upper body. Turning a chair around and positioning its back toward the camera at a slight angle while having the subject sit with his or her arms folded on top is another look worth exploring. Using chairs, tables, couches, stairs, walls, and other props helps create more interesting posing situations.

When subjects sit, I request that they shift forward a little and not use the back of the seat. I ask them to sit upright, pull their shoulders back and down, and extend their chin forward. This avoids slumping shoulders and helps slim the face and neck. Turning the head slightly also helps tighten loose skin around the neck and jawline.

People often get nervous when posing, tensing their bodies, raising their shoulders, and looking somewhat hunched over. I like to help clients by using my own body to show what I want them to do with theirs. I often demonstrate by pulling my shoulders back and down and giving an example of a more open appearance with my body language.

Clothing can also help or hinder your efforts to capture a thinner and pleasing appearance for your clients. Having a conversation with your clients about clothing prior to their portrait session is a good practice that can help avoid extra work during the session and in post-production. Ask clients to bring several wardrobe options, so you’ll be able to choose different colors and styles and create a variety of looks, enabling you to sell more pictures.

In situations where my client is wearing loose clothing, I use clothespins to tighten clothing closer to the side of the body that’s away from the camera; reducing wrinkles.

NOTE Ask before touching clients! When you’re in the middle of a portrait session and caught up in the moment, you may be tempted to jump right in and reposition your client’s clothing, body, hair, hands, arms, and legs. However, exercise caution and realize this may make some people very uncomfortable, or worse, expose you to legal liability! This is why you should always ask first. This is especially true when working with minors. I find having a female assistant on hand for these adjustments is best.

Positioning the hands and arms

The position of the hands and arms in relation to the subject’s body can make or break a portrait. Handled correctly, hands can look beautiful, adding curves and attitude. Handled incorrectly, they can look like wide claws. The same is true for arms, which can add line, dimension, and once again, attitude. If arm positioning is ignored, arms can look like meat hooks.

Follow these guidelines when working with hands and arms:

▶ Triangular pose using the arms and hands. Try using this pose as an alternative to standard vertical portrait positioning. Back away slightly with the camera in the vertical position or switch to horizontal framing. Then fill the bottom of the frame with your subject’s arms folded, filling in the bottom of the triangle, where the arms and shoulders lead up to the peak of the triangle, which is the face of your subject. Don’t be afraid to try cropping in below the top of your subject’s head. This is a very contemporary look.

▶ Shoulders diagonal. Shoulders are great for adding an imaginary diagonal line to your portraits to help break up the symmetrical qualities of the face and body. Lowering the front shoulder creates an inviting line up toward the face, while raising the front shoulder creates more attitude and a perception of detachment. Titling the camera left or right off its horizontal access, known as a dutch angle or dutch tilt, is also a great technique for creating visual interest and tension.

▶ One arm away from the body. Because bodies are so linear and faces symmetrical, adding more visual interest to the image often involves breaking these perceived lines. Having the subject put a hand on a hip or the waist can break these lines and help define the midsection.

▶ Hands relaxed. Hands and fingers in a portrait can include key storytelling elements — the kind of jewelry worn on them, the character and quantity of their wrinkles, and the way they’re used to cover portions of the face, to point, or to touch another person are all elements that can add to an image. Hands are one of the main ways people express themselves, so use them carefully when building your images. Be aware that anything closer to the camera appears larger, and anything farther away appears smaller. This means that hands, more often than not, should be turned to present their slimmest profile when positioned near the face. Hands placed one over top of the other (ring hand up) look more relaxed than with the fingers interlaced. With two people in a portrait, resting one’s fingers on the other’s shoulder instead of the entire hand conveys caring without possessiveness.

CAUTION Be sensitive to your subject’s feelings about their bodies when photographing them. Many people find posing for pictures uncomfortable, and these feelings translate to their body language. The trick is to show clients you’re on their side and truly invested in how they look in the final images. If they trust you and relax, you can more easily produce images that make you both shine. Try posing for another photographer to deepen your understanding of what it feels like to be on the other side of the camera.

Paying attention to the details

Your final posing considerations before pressing the shutter button are positioning the head and neck and directing the angle of the eyes to help your subjects look their best. Subtle adjustments can add a lot to the visual interest of the shot, so spend time on these details to fine-tune your images.

The eyes are often said to be “the windows to the soul” and can be the most important part of a portrait. You make eye contact with the person in the portrait, and by doing so, you make a connection with that person. For most business portraits, this is quite true. In these situations, my portrait subjects want to make a personal connection with their potential clients, employers, or customers. Direct eye contact communicates that they’ve got nothing to hide, creates an open and friendly feeling, and portrays subjects as people you’d be comfortable meeting.

When shooting portraits, producing a broad range of looks from the session should be your goal. Concentrate on getting the expected, tried-and-true (otherwise known as safe) images nailed, and then flex your creative muscles. Have the subject look away from the camera lens to achieve a more contemplative, less camera-aware expression. Try several different angles, directing clients to look left, right, slightly up, or slightly down. Moving the head around and changing pupil orientation opens up more white around the eyes, making them appear larger. When creating these variations, I like to change the composition of my subjects framing as well so that I’ve got images of the subject looking into and out of the frame.

TIP When shooting portraits, either indoors or outdoors, consider using fill flash to create catch-lights in your subject’s eyes. Catch-lights are tiny reflections in the eyes from the main light source, whether it’s a flash, bright sky, or the sun. The eyes are one of the most important elements of your overall portrait, and this attention to detail adds a natural feeling and polished quality to your portraits.

Here are a few more details you need to consider when posing your subjects:

▶ Beware the hair. To save yourself a lot of unnecessary retouching headaches during post-production, pay special attention to your subject’s hair. I don’t know how many times I’ve had to learn this lesson! Be sure hair looks neat and orderly, without strays going across the face, eyes, nose, or mouth. Also watch for unwanted gaps in the hair that allow skin to show through. Check and recheck the hair, strays, and gaps every time you change a pose. Having a professional hairstylist (or even an assistant, friend, or spouse) on hand to help watch for and correct hair as needed is an even better plan, allowing you to focus on your client. Having hair and makeup professionals on hand also puts clients at ease and reassures them that they’re in good hands.

▶ Jewelry and accessories. It’s easy to get so caught up creating the best lighting and posing for a subject that you can miss other important elements, like what’s happening with jewelry and accessories. Again, this is a good argument for having an assistant on hand tasked with keeping an eye on things. Remember to make sure that necklace clasps are hidden and necklaces centered, rings turned the right way, and earrings positioned correctly. These simple steps produce the best results possible and require the least amount of retouching.

NOTE Be careful with the way you photograph a subject’s neckline. The position of camera, clothes worn, and age and weight of the subject all play important roles. Many older women are particularly sensitive about their necks. To minimize these factors and achieve the most pleasing portrait, hide portions of the neck with clothing, position the camera to reduce the amount of the neck shown, or shoot down from a position slightly higher than your subject. This technique is also a great way to reduce double chins and the overall perceived weight of your subject.

AA.5 Having subjects positioned on the left or right of the frame and looking into or out of the image adds direction and drama. Exposure: ISO 100, f/13, 1/200 second with an EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM lens.

Positions to Avoid

I’ve briefly discussed some helpful concepts to keep in mind when designing your portraits. Practice them, find what works for you, and incorporate them when and where you see fit. Keep in mind there are no set rules, so develop an informed posing vocabulary and then let taste and creativity be your guide. Here are a few posing pitfalls that you should avoid:

▶ Straight on to the camera pose. This pose might work well for portraits in which you want to make the body appear larger and the subject seem heroic. This kind of image is usually captured from a low angle to further accentuate this larger-than-life quality. At almost all other times, this arrangement looks rather stiff, artificial, two-dimensional, and unflattering. Avoiding rigid poses that call attention to the symmetrical and linear quality of the body helps make your subjects look more natural, casual, relaxed, and three-dimensional. Break up the body shape by bending legs and arms whenever possible.

▶ Repetitive poses. Using the same pose repeatedly and lighting it the same way is lazy and will quickly bore you and potentially cast a pallor on your images. Part of the fun of creating portraits and being an artist is keeping things fresh and exciting. This is also important for your business. Try regularly introducing new skills and equipment into your repertoire. Challenge yourself to develop new photographic, business, and interpersonal skills. A great habit is to set yearly goals for yourself, such as, “This year I’ll work on mastering Speedlites.” I look at every subject and shoot as unique and an opportunity to choose different tools, backgrounds, or lenses, depending on the look I’m going for. Be creative and push yourself to new heights.

▶ Chins too low or too high. Head positioning is all-important. Make sure that your portrait subject’s chin isn’t directed too low to a point where the eyes are shadowed, and watch out for having the chin so high that your model looks too snooty, aristocratic, or thug-like.

▶ Negative body language. Be upbeat, relaxed, patient, and confident. Remember that you’re the leader, so clients look to you to set the tone and tempo of the session. Body language is subjective and depends entirely on the type of image. Folded arms, a back toward the camera, or a subject looking down might work great for a senior portrait or commercial image but be perceived as off-putting in a family portrait. Being aware of the impact body language has on the message of the image is your best preparation. And if the vibe in the studio is negative, you can bet the images will reflect it. You want your subjects to have a good time during their sessions. Winning images, happy clients, and repeat business are dependent on the experience clients have when working with you.

Have fun with your subjects. A successful portrait session depends on your subjects feeling comfortable, as well as your skill and creativity. Practice your craft often so you can be confident with clients. Being well prepared and knowing your techniques and equipment inside and out is essential for you to be relaxed. When you’re calm, clients are able to relax knowing they’re in the trusted hands of a trained professional. Encourage your subject to relax and just be natural; keep an eye out to capture any special looks they create on their own, even when not posing. Often those fleeting, non-camera-aware moments are where the true magic lies. Things such as wrinkling the nose, winking, or rolling the eyes can reveal much about a subject’s personality. All these little things that people instinctively do every day can be special moments that end up making a great portrait image. Engage your clients and see what kind of expressions you can coax out of them. Get the safe stuff first and then have fun!

Planning Poses

Part of the excitement and creativity involved in shooting portraits is the decision-making process determining the eventual look and feel of the portrait. This planning (or previsualization) is an important step in the way I like to work. Typically, this is a collaborative effort between you and your client. Obviously, if you’ve been hired, you should make sure you and you’re client are in agreement about the look, style, and purpose of the final images. The important thing to remember is to always speak with your subject beforehand and make sure you’re on the same page. If you keep the client’s expectations in mind, you’ll both be pleased with the final results.

The flexibility of digital capture allows you to shoot as many different poses as time permits and immediately review them to see which poses work and which lack impact. When at all possible, shoot tethered and take advantage of the large and accurate previews possible on a computer screen. The ability to compare images side by side on a large computer screen is also worthwhile.

Traditional posing

Traditional or more conservative posing is popular with business leaders and professionals. There are many uses for a headshot, such as website bios, speaking engagement announcements, marketing materials, annual reports, and newsletters. Having a good foundation and skill set for creating these kinds of portraits is money in the bank. There’s a time and a place for the creative projects photographers all strive for and love, but as a well-rounded professional, you must address the needs of a broad range of clientele.

Many traditional poses share these characteristics:

▶ Conservative expressions. A slight smile, but not laughing, is key with traditional posing. For business media and publications, subjects often have more serious facial expressions and strong, direct eye contact.

▶ Subtle backgrounds. For traditional portraits, plain, subtle backgrounds are used. The most common looks are solid or mottled colors on dyed or printed fabric and painted muslin.

▶ Seated positions for portraits and headshots. The most common position for traditional posing is the sitting. It allows the subject to relax and stay in a designated area to be photographed. An adjustable posing stool is ideal for making small adjustments to the height and angle of your subjects as they face the camera.

▶ Standing positions for environmental portraits. Having subjects stand is sometimes a good way to convey a commanding presence and can work well for business leaders and executives photographed in environmental settings. Standing poses are also very common in the wedding industry, as the participants are often dressed stylishly, in a suits or more formal attire, and standing can make them look and feel more comfortable and also shows off the wardrobe.

Editorial posing

Editorial posing, common in environmental portraiture, differs from its traditional cousin in that it captures subjects in a context relative to their surroundings, possessions, life events, and careers. These kinds of portraits, most often shot on location, are more relaxed and, at their best, tell a more complete story about people being photographed and how they live.

AA.8 Creating images that appear natural and unposed but that are still in perfect light and at a perfect location most often requires some planning and slight direction. Here the couple was asked to turn and walk away hand in hand down a nearby forest path that seemed perfect for this kind of image. Exposure: ISO 1250, f/3.5, 1/60 second with an EF 50mm f/1.2L USM lens.

Environmental portraiture is also increasingly popular in wedding photography where more relaxed and less camera-aware styles are preferable with many clients and photographers. Most of my wedding clients come to me for what they refer to as my unposed style. Although this is a compliment that I appreciate and means that I’ve done my job correctly, it is also a misconception. The trick is to make it look that way! Here’s the way I work: My first step is finding a great spot for my clients to interact, in an ivy-covered archway, nestled between the rows of a vineyard, lying on the grass, or walking along the beach, to name a just a few examples. Next I give the couple some subtle direction — stand here, face each other, lean in and kiss, touch foreheads, walk toward me, pretend I’m not here, and so on. Then I hang back, give the couple space to interact, and shoot with a mid to long focal-length lens. This kind of shooting is where the magic often happens, and these kinds of photographs from the wedding day are what many photographers refer to as the Romantics.

AA.9 For this portrait of an urban family with a love of fitness, rap, and pop culture, the right setting was key. Finding locations that fit your subjects’ personalities is an essential part of environmental portraiture. Creating an image catalogue of locations you like is a great way to keep track of spots you find. This can easily be accomplished with GPS on a smartphone. Taken with two Canon 580EX II Speedlites. Exposure: ISO 100, f/4.5, 1/320 second with an EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens.

These techniques allow you to capture images that are relaxed and natural-looking to the viewer, appearing unplanned and unposed. However, the secret is that without the couple first being placed in an ideal location, chosen by an experienced photographer with an eye for such details, and some subtle directions given to clients to spark their interaction, these images would not exist.

Environmental portraiture tells a visual story and gives insight into the subject’s background and motivations. Styles can vary from gritty to beautiful to humorous, but all environmental portraits share the goal of going beyond the traditional. The best examples convey something more than just the face to reveal deeper contextual elements about the subjects, the way the world sees them, and how they see themselves in the world. This style of photography is something you’re exposed to daily in magazines and advertising and is very popular.

Glamour style

Glamour-style photography involves creating images that are sexy and sultry. The poses are usually slimming and provocative, with eye contact directed toward the camera. For the most part, these photos are created using very flattering lighting.

The pin-up girls of the 1940s were the first subjects of glamour shots, and today that style can be found in advertising, boudoir, and even wedding and maternity photography. True glamour shots produce an air of romance and sexiness without ever crossing the boundaries of good taste.

For today’s digital portrait photographer, thinking of glamour photography as an art form is key to understanding the possibilities of the medium. When shooting glamour-style photographs in your studio or on location, remember to be professional at all times. This is extremely important to build trust and future referrals. Make sure your models are comfortable with the types of poses they are expected to assume, and invite them to suggest poses themselves. Being verbally supportive behind the camera can go a long way to making your subjects feel confident and truly beautiful in front of the camera.

One of two situations usually exists when shooting glamour. The first is where the subject (usually a model) is familiar with his or her body and already knows what poses work best. In this case, the photographer is more concerned about lighting, placement, and location, as the model already has the posing routine down. If the photographer does need to request something, it’s usually quickly understood and executed by an experienced model. The second situation occurs when working with subjects with little or no formal training in modeling and involves the photographer taking a more proactive role in directing the entire look of the shoot through posing direction, lighting, placement, and location.

You can frame poses for head-and-shoulders portraits, three-quarter-length body shots, and full-length images. The flash or flashes should be positioned to take advantage of and define the contours of the body, face, and hair, typically without harsh shadows. It usually helps to give your subject a broad area in which to pose, allowing the model to feel comfortable moving freely and not confined to a certain rigid lighting pattern. Posing for glamour-type photography should follow all the previously discussed posing suggestions with special emphasis paid to the eyes and, to a lesser extent, the mouth. Even slight changes of expression in these areas, along with the tilt of the head, can create a wide range of looks for successful glamour-style photography.

Courtesy of Stacy Frazier

AA.10 Glamour portraits are images meant to convey a lifestyle brimming with a certain vitality and sexuality. Images such as these can be used to market any number of products to a specific demographic. Exposure: ISO 100, f/3.2, 1/200 second with an EF 50mm f/1.2L USM lens.

Props and clothing accessories can also add visual interest and appeal to the image and can hide less-than-flattering features of your subjects, allowing them to look their best. Resist the urge to clutter your image with too many of these items, as the intent should always be to show your subject in the best possible light.