judge), you would leave their shoulders running horizontally through the
frame. However if the subject is a little more fun-loving and personable, you
don’t want them to appear stiff. To relax the look and make them seem more
approachable, make the shoulders run more diagonally through the frame by
having the subject lean back on one arm or lean forward to rest their elbow on
a knee or tabletop. This gives the subject a more approachable appearance,
which is desirable for almost everyone.
At this point, you have used corrective ideas and made the subject look bet-
ter (a major plus if you intend to sell the portrait!) and you have posed the body
to make the person look more likable. Now what? What about using the pose
to aid the composition of the portrait? Why not separate the arms from the
body to not only define the size of the body (if the portrait is cropped long
enough to show it) but to form a base for the bottom of the composition? In
this style of photo, nothing looks worse than when the body doesn’t fill the
frame to both edges. Bringing the elbows out from the body eliminates this
problem.
Now you have a basic head and shoulders portrait that a client will purchase.
It may not excite you—you probably aren’t going to put it on the wall (unless
the person is famous!)—but it’s salable. We have sold thousands of dollars worth
of portraits to a client that only had this style of portrait to choose from. This
may not excite you, but your bookkeeper will be happier; she probably has a lot
of month left over at the end of your money.
Resting Poses. Be careful to analyze the posing style that a client wants
when they say they want a head and shoulders portrait. Many photographers
simply stick them in the aforementioned yearbook/business pose out of habit
instead of taking a few minutes (on the phone or before the session starts) to
find out what theyreallyhave in mind. The words “head and shoulders” or
“from the chest up” don’t have the same meaning as they used to. When we
hear those words, we think “business portrait.” When clients say those words,
though, they might be looking in the mirror and thinking how scary a full-
length portrait would be!
Listen to the adjectives your clients use as they describe what they are envi-
sioning. When I hear words like “relaxed,” “fun,” or “natural,” I start to think
of what I call resting poses. These are portraits that capture the person as they
really are when they relax—and they account for 60 to 70 percent of portrait
photography sales. Because they are what people actuallybuy,these poses are
very important to your bottom line. (Note:Earlier, I mentioned that the most-
requestedportraits are the extreme close-ups that have a more sexy/fashion look.
However, there is a limited market for those “sexy pictures.” They’re fine for
impressing your friends or significant other, but not so good for Grandma, busi-
ness cards, and all the other ways people use their portraits. Therefore, the big-
ger market lies in the portraits that capture the person as they really are.)POSING 87Listen to the adjectives
your clients use
as they describe what
they are envisioning.