Varying Pose

Pose is very important to an image, and how the subject will look in their portrait. I found a really useful book that i bought in light of the weddings I have been asked to shoot this year; Wedding Photograph: A Guide To Posing, by David Pearce. Even though it is tailored for weddings, the theory behind its lessons applies to all portraits. By adjusting the limbs even slightly, or getting your subject to place their weight on a different leg improves their overall appearance greatly. For example shooting slightly higher gets your model to left their face to you so that you end up with a slimmer looking neck line and no double chins, or if there is an arm dangling around the shoulder of someone, asking them to place it gently on a hip makes a much more dramatic connection rather than something out of place or left out. I took some photos for a group of friends how wanted to dress up and have a play around in there portraits. I found it much easier to think of more poses based on a 'character' they were playing as it opened up different ideas on what they should be doing with props and how to interact with the camera. It was a little easier than when they were standing alone together as they had a role to play!

To start with I got the subject sitting on a chair in a very basic pose, but with the legs and hands crossed so it looked a little less rigid. The direct eye contact in conjunction with the forward facing pose looked a little intimidating to me.

By twisting at an angle made the pose a little softer and placing the hands on the hat and the back of the chair creates a loop around the photos from the eyes and around the arms keeping you focused on the expression in the middle of the frame. By giving the hands something to hold it feels more relaxed.

Using the chair as a prop meant we could create something a little more dynamic than just a standard seated position. It makes the image more interesting by her unusual choice of pose, and the fact that she is not looking at the camera makes it appear quite dreamy.

After we had finished with the chair, my subject felt a little uncomfortable just standing to pose, so I got her to place her hand on her hips,and twist her should towards me to that her stomach was pulled in, chest out and the chin was raised. It made for a very flattering pose, and gave an impression of confidence. It even promotes the idea of slight movement as though she about to lean in towards you, so you are drawn into her portrait.

This image was one of my favourites of hers from the shoot. The curve of the chair back is echoed in her arms over the top of it, and the facial expression just looks so happy. The subtlety of her eyes looking off to someone to her right really highlights her expression giving it depth. I edited the image in Aperture and applied the black and white filter and played with contrast settings so that the facial features were emphasised.

Finally for a really fun image, and to practice my photoshop skills I chose one of the standing poses and put it against a 'Wild West' background! Again the positioning of her arms and legs creates a imaginary loop around the body so that she becomes the focus.

What i've learnt so far is that if something bends - bend it, if there is light, use it to emphasise the shape of your subject or features that are important. The pose is very important in showing how the person feels in the image - relaxed, thoughtful, happy, subdued, upset etc. Positioning hands in certain places gives focus to that object or leads the eye to other important parts of the image, and the way arms and legs are bent can be useful in framing the expression of the face or amplifying the emotion.