O

ther than lighting and expression, nothing is more important to a pro-
fessional portrait than posing. Careful, thoughtful posing makes your
client look beautiful and completes the overall look of the image in a
way that is consistent with its intended
use. Furthermore, posing is critical to
producing portraits that your clients
will actually want to own. This makes
your job as photographer more reward-
ing—both personally and financially.

Suit the Purpose of the Image.

There are many reasons why a portrait
might be taken. Unfortunately, many
photographers approach the posing of a
client in the exact same way, no matter
what the purpose of the image. For ex-
ample, the pose you’d use for a young
woman who wanted a portrait to give
to her father would be quite different
than you’d use if you knew she planned
to give the image to her boyfriend. It
would also be different than the kind of
pose you’d want to use if she needed a
portrait to promote her new real estate
business. (And, for that matter, if the
client’s new business was a daycare cen-
ter, you’d probably use a different pose
for her business portrait than if she were
opening a new law practice). We’ll look
at this issue when discussing the pur-
pose of the portrait in chapter 2.

8 JEFF SMITH’S POSING TECHNIQUES FOR LOCATION PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY

1. The Goals of Posing..

Mom and Dad will love a portrait like this, but it wouldn’t be a good choice if the subject

needed to present a professional appearance.