A
fter I’ve posed the lower two sections of the body I move to the
neck and head areas. I tend to leave these areas for last; after all,
the final pose is worthless without a face, or the main element of the head.
The Neck.
Let’s start with the neck. Some necks are long, some are short. Ideally, a
good model will have a neck of normal length with smooth skin and very
few horizontal lines. The key to posing the neck is knowing that its main
purpose is to support the head, just as the legs of a tripod support the
camera. Accordingly, it’s the head that turns, that pivots up and down and
side to side, not the neck.
The wrong position of the neck can create unflattering problems, par-
ticularly when photographing the typical private glamour subject who is
looking for the photographer to provide her with a more youthful look.
Problems in this area are extremely obvious and will cause you to lose a
client fast.
The first problem you are likely to encounter in the neck area is the cre-
ation of a double chin. This can happen with any model when her head is
5. The Neck, Head, and Face..
Playboy model Kelly strikes a natural, re-
laxing pose which is accentuated by the
juxtaposition ofAmericanIdolstar Amy
Davis in the background in this indoor
image. (Camera:Canon 5D;Lens:Canon
85mm f/1.2L, USM lens, effective focal
length 85mm;ISO:100;Shutter speed:(^1) / 500 second;Aperture:f/1.2;White bal-
ance:6000K)