The Best Tips On How To Pose Your Subject

Pos­ing your sub­ject can be intim­i­dat­ing, but it does­n’t have to be. Let’s talk about some tips on how to pose your subjects. 

Let’s talk about pos­ing. If you are shoot­ing pho­tog­ra­phy that involves peo­ple, pos­ing is as impor­tant as com­po­si­tion, and learn­ing how to pose your sub­ject takes time and prac­tice. Most peo­ple are not nat­u­ral­ly com­fort­able in front of a cam­era, and your job as the pho­tog­ra­ph­er is to help them relax and pose naturally. 

The Basics Of How To Pose Your Subject

The first thing that I do at the begin­ning of each ses­sion is spend 10–15 min­utes get­ting to know my sub­ject. I talk to them, get them to relax, get to know them. I do this even if I pho­to­graph my kids, hus­band, or brand new client. I spend a few min­utes talk­ing to them about their expec­ta­tions from the shoot, if they like get­ting their pho­tos tak­en, or sim­ply about their day. This not only helps your sub­ject relax, but it helps you to begin to know what to cre­ate ques­tions or con­ver­sa­tion about dur­ing the actu­al shoot.

The next thing that I cov­er with them is the basics. I remind them to avoid slouch­ing, help them remem­ber to angle their bod­ies at a 45-degree angle, nev­er lay their arms flat against their bod­ies-hor­ri­ble look-push their chin slight­ly for­ward, and last­ly, I remind them to move and have fun! Now, I cov­er this again and again in the ses­sion, but it is good to cov­er it ini­tial­ly as well.

How To Pose Your Subject-Families

I love shoot­ing fam­i­ly pho­tos, and know­ing how to pose each fam­i­ly mem­ber is impor­tant. You are doc­u­ment­ing their his­to­ry, show­ing their fam­i­ly dynam­ics and mak­ing sure that mom gets an amaz­ing image to hang on her wall.

The impor­tant part of pho­tograph­ing fam­i­lies is cap­tur­ing their inter­ac­tion, joy of being togeth­er, and love of one anoth­er. You are doc­u­ment­ing their lives, encour­ag­ing them to show their love and affec­tion, and remem­ber if you appear relaxed and at ease, so will they.

With any fam­i­ly ses­sion, I get the posed shots out of the way at the begin­ning, the whole time remem­ber­ing to use the rules of com­po­si­tion. The kids are usu­al­ly more inter­est­ed in the whole thing ini­tial­ly and are more atten­tive, so get the guar­an­teed pho­tos tak­en care of first thing. After that, move into the less posed,more can­did shots.

A great pose to show the fam­i­ly’s affec­tion is the “cud­dle pose.” Have the fam­i­ly stand and have the taller mem­bers wrap their arms over the small­er mem­ber’s shoul­ders, wrap­ping them in a cud­dle. Make sure it’s not too forced and looks relaxed. If there are walls near­by, lean the fam­i­ly against the wall, stag­ger­ing the heights and mak­ing sure that they are tight and touch­ing. Have dad’s hand on the lit­tle one’s shoul­der, mom’s arm looped through dad’s.

One tip on how to pose your sub­ject is to think out­side of the box when shoot­ing fam­i­lies. Pho­tos of them walk­ing away or slow­ly towards you, talk­ing and inter­act­ing with one anoth­er, will be mean­ing­ful to the fam­i­ly. Also, have them all lie on their backs and shoot down on them. Remem­ber that a fam­i­ly pho­to does­n’t just mean faces. Cap­tur­ing their feet all lined up or their hands are great shots as well.

How to Pose Your Subjects-Parents & Kids

What about par­ents and kids? I always start by just let­ting them play. Fol­low the leader, tag, or a shoul­der ride are great ways to get nat­ur­al shots of dad and the kids.
Have dad sit and have the kids sit on his knee or hug him over his shoul­ders, all the while hav­ing dad tell jokes to make the smiles natural.

If they have a favorite activity…football or danc­ing, incor­po­rat­ing that is a sure way to get nat­ur­al smiles.
If the child is lit­tle, lift­ing the child in the air and hav­ing mom spin slight­ly is sure to get gig­gles. Cap­ture this shot from dif­fer­ent angles, straight on, from below and keep­ing a cute toy on top of your cam­era to keep their atten­tion will help as well. 

Have mom sit and hug her from behind, or sit in her lap and look up at her. Remem­ber that they don’t have to be look­ing direct­ly into the cam­era for each shot.
Have them get nose to nose, or have mom plant a lit­tle kiss on their nose. If there are two kids, make sure to avoid mom being in the mid­dle with her arms around each. Remem­ber, we talked about how this is not a flat­ter­ing angle at all? Instead, have her turn to the side and hug one while the oth­er hugs mom.

If the kids are old­er, have them hold hands and talk. Or lie on their stom­achs, telling jokes. Ask them to sit, lean­ing on mom or dad’s shoulder.

Prop­er­ly pos­ing, or in some cas­es, not pos­ing, your sub­ject can instant­ly make your pho­tos look more pro­fes­sion­al and con­vey your artis­tic vision. It does­n’t mat­ter if you like posed pho­tos or more of a nat­ur­al unscript­ed look­ing image or if you are unde­cid­ed on your pho­tog­ra­phy style, know­ing how to achieve either will help you immense­ly and learn­ing how to pose your sub­ject is key. So fol­low my tips on how to pose your sub­ject and watch your pho­tos improve, and it you want week­ly Top Tips make sure to come join the Learn Pho­tog­ra­phy with Dena Face­book Group.