Want to take your portraits to the next level? Feel like your photographs of people are missing that special something? Knowing the commonly used and most flattering poses for different subjects and situations will make a huge and immediate impact in your portrait photography.
Photography Posing Overview
Everyone is familiar with the world's most common photography pose: the annual school picture. You sit on the stool, tilt your head at a strange angle, and try to smile into the camera and the super bright flash. Result? A whole class of eerily similar head-tilted elementary students. This is an example of the nadir of photography posing.
(And yes, I was the one who insisted on the muumuu for my 4th grade school picture.)
Photography posing is meant to be an easy foundation of where to start when shooting individuals or groups of people in positive, flattering ways. Knowing the basics of posing will help you arrange your subjects, shoot with more confidence, and get the great results you want.
The first article I recommend is 20 Things I Wish I Knew about Photography Posing from Photography Awesomesauce. This list provides a great first place to start to learn the basics of posing, and they are written in an easy-to-understand and even humorous way. These insights are useful across all types of photography portraits from individuals to groups.
In a similar vein, this article, 12 Common Photography Posing Mistakes and How to Fix Them from I Heart Faces, provides a quick introduction to posing focusing on some 'worst case scenarios' to be aware of and how to remedy them. The 12 mistakes cover a wide range of photography posing situations including shooting women, men, couples, newborns, children, and families. By focusing on 'what not to do,' you will be better prepared for success!
Photography Posing and Posing Guides
The next step after mastering the basics of photography posing, as described in the articles above, is to focus in on specific situations or scenarios. While some posing advice is transferable to any situation, there are a lot of specific ways to improve a particular subject.
Digital Photography School recently created a series of articles and guides covering common posing situations. While these articles were released as part of a promotion for their posing ebook and printables, there is a lot of information and guidance to be gleaned from these free posts. Each article contains a series of line drawings featuring recommended poses, along with a description of how to achieve that pose and why it looks so good. Click on over to a specific subject to get started: sample poses for photographing women part 1 and part 2, sample poses for photographing men, sample poses for photographing children, sample poses for photographing couples, sample poses for photographing groups of people, and even sample poses for photographing weddings.
Some of my favorite posing advice comes from It's Always Autumn. Her Tips for Photographing Toddlers: how to get them to sit still and look at you is an invaluable resource of clever ideas and common sense for making the most out of a tricky photographic age. Each tip is illustrated with an example photograph or series of shots to really help you visualize how to put her advice into practice.
Looking for even more photography guides for posing? It's Always Autumn also has a helpful roundup of posing-related posts for How to Pose Families and Groups and a great series on newborn photographing including Taking Great Pictures of your Newborn and Posing Newborns with Family Members.
Posing Summary
Do you use posing guides in your photography? Did you give one or more of these examples a try? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Want more great ideas? Follow Boost Your Photography on Pinterest: Boost Your Photography