Posing.
Shoulders at an Angle.When the body rests on an element in the scene, one
shoulder is typically lower than the other. This gives a relaxed appearance and
is best suited for more casual portraits and settings. When you want to use el-
ements of a more elegant scene as posing aids, you should prevent the body
from leaning or resting on them. Instead, the hands or arms should gracefully
and gently touch the column, tree, etc.
Arms. As noted previously, the subject’s arms should be separated from
her torso to define her waistline. Having the subject do something with the
arms (other than letting them hang at her side) can also make the image a lot
more interesting, as shown in the examples below.
Hips and Legs.While the basic structure of the standing pose from the
waist up varies depending on the location and the clothing style, the rest of
the posing is very similar in design. We begin by turning the subject toward
the shadow side of the frame.
There are lots of options for posing the arms in a standing
pose. Note that, in this example, the portraits have been
posed as standing, full-length images, but are composed
much more tightly.