I
n glamour photography, especially with private glamour photo ses-
sions, your subject often relies on your professional expertise as a pho-
tographer to guide her to great poses. Most models even feel lost during
a photo shoot unless they have a good photographer who can direct them.
The following are some overall guidelines to consider. In chapter 3, we will
begin our examination of the mechanics of posing specific areas of the
body.The Subject’s Comfort.
If a pose looks comfortable, it will probably photograph well; if it feels
uncomfortable to the model, it will probably photograph even better.
Now, that’s not to say you should make the model stand on her
head or adopt some unladylike stance. What that means is that
sometimes you’ll need to position the model so she’ll photograph
better in the light and with the specific scene and focal length—
even though the model feels it looks funny. This is one of the great-
est advantages of digital cameras in glamour photography: you can
show the model what you mean right after you take the image so
she’ll be comfortable again and have confidence throughout the shoot—
even while posing in an uncomfortable position.
For example, tilting the head in a chin-to-shoulder posture angles the
chin toward the shoulder closest to the camera. Tilting the forehead away
from that same shoulder, then, creates a natural diagonal of the face. While
this type of pose looks great for a vertical image, it often feels awkward to
the subject. However, if you talk your subject through it and then show
her examples as you shoot, she will quickly feel comfortable with the pose.
My “A list” models know this so well they kid me about it—I’ve even
seen them help pose new models on the set. Do I tilt the head to the
shoulder in every image? No. But does it work well when I do? Yes.2. Posing Basics..
Your subject relies
on your expertise to guide
her togreat poses.
POSINGBASICS23