A photographers view: Posing like Pro

I wanted to talk about posing. I get invited to look at a lot of photos. I always try to be kind when looking and critiquing them. Sometimes I will admit my facial expressions give me away!

So lets get started. The first rule of thumb when posing subjects is to keep in mind their sex. With men you want to be sure to have your subject tilt their head towards the back shoulder or away from the camera. With a woman you should tilt her head towards the front shoulder or towards the camera. With either men or woman you can also use a neutral head position (not tilted to the front or back shoulder). Always try to keep your subjects at a 45 degree angle to the camera. This helps to keep things in the proper scale. With woman you can have a more severe shoulder turn, but you should only use this method with a smaller framed subject. If you remember those school photos you hate, you will notice that most times you were square to the camera with your shoulders going from one end of the frame to the other making your head look smaller then it should.

Next remember to keep the camera vertical when shooting one to two people. Its easier to fill the frame this way and you can even use this technique with a family that has small children. Anything over 3 people should be shot horizontally. You can add some interest to your posing when shooting horizontally by moving your subjects to one side of the frame. How ever you should keep in mind the rule of thirds when doing this.

For those times you have more then 3 people in a group to photograph don't panic! First get anyone who is unusually tall to sit down and put them in front. Begin building in groups of three like stair steps. Also it's very important that you try to keep a half head height of distance between all subjects posed next to each other. This is another rule that can be broken however be sure to be very careful when doing it or you may wind up showing one persons entire body and only the head of another. If this technique is used properly you will have approximately the same portion of each persons body visible in the photo.

Now one of the most important things to remember in posing "If you don't see the origin of the extremity, leave it out". I have seen countless images where hands or feet showed no point of origin and it looked as if they didn't belong to any one in the photo. Stay away from hands on shoulders or around the waist.

I have provided some sample photos that show some of these techniques. I hope this helps, and happy shooting!