Hollywood. The photographers who create these images are masters
of making the human form look good to the opposite sex. Your
client will just have more clothing on.
The purpose of defining each type of posing, as well as deter-
mining the reason the portrait is being taken, is to have a direction
for the session. This is the point at which a photographer’s own style
and experience take over. For example, many of my traditional poses
are much more glamourous in their look than what the average pho-
tographer would consider traditional. This is because, as human
beings, I think we all want to appear attractive. People who say they
don’t care how they look are the same people who say they don’t
care about money—and I think that people who would say things
like thatwould lie about other things, too!Settings, Clothing, and Posing.
Selecting the right clothing and setting goes hand in hand with pos-
ing; it is only when the right pose is combined with the proper
clothing, in the proper setting, and with the appropriate expression,
that the portrait attains a sense of style. Only when everything in a
portrait makes sense visually do you achieve a portrait that really
works. Achieving this requires that you look at every aspect of the
portrait and match each element to the others.DEFINING THE POSE 29Different portrait settings require different
styles of clothing and posing to appear well
coordinated.