SEATED POSING 81FACING PAGE—Here, the subject is leaning for-
ward and posed at an angle to the camera.
ABOVE—Finding natural posing aids isn’t al-
ways easy—and when you do find them,
they usually aren’t at the correct height. In
this pose, we had the young lady do the
splits to lower herself to the level of the cut
off stump.
Once you have a foot that is grounded, the other foot/leg becomes the ac-
cent leg. You can cross the leg over the grounded leg, you can bring the leg
back and push up the heel of the foot, whatever you want to do, but always
have one foot on the ground and the accent leg in a position that adds interest
to the pose and subject.Angle the Body and Lean Forward.
As in most poses, seated poses should have the subject’s body turned to the
side of the frame. Unless you are pulling the legs in close to the body to rest
the arms on top of them, the knees should never be pointing directly back at
the camera.
Looking at outdoor portraits taken by other photographers, I often notice
that they have the subject reclining back into a chair or sitting straight up on
a rock or log. In contrast, I prefer to have the subject leaning forward to rest
on their knees; this automatically covers the waistline, which becomes such a
problem in seated poses. I also think it looks much more natural. If you have
ever sat on a rock or log, you know that you tend to make yourself more
comfortable by leaning forward on your knees.
In group portraits, having the seated subjects lean forward onto their
knees also lowers their faces to get them closer to any subjects who might be
posed on the ground. When we are photographing a couple, we often pose