*For a printable version of this tutorial click here.
I figure there is so much info on this topic, I’ll cover one today and one next week. Though my passion is photojournalism (candid moments) I will first talk about good posing.
We all want that perfect pose. That “everyone-looking-at-the-camera-with perfect-smiles” family portrait. My home has about half posed/half candid on my walls. They both have value. But I think there is a better, more relaxed way to make posed look good.
Individuals
There are certain things one needs to think about when posing an individual. Here are a few good rules to remember:
-If there is anything with “two” keep them on a separate plane. What do we have two of? 2 eyes, 2 ears, 2 arms, 2 legs. Tilt the head just a little so one eye is higher than the other (the ear usually follows suit). The shoulders, put one more in front of the other. Legs–I almost always have an individual bend one knee–while having their foot dig the toe into the ground a little. We want to avoid the two straight legs looking boxy syndrome.
Often, I don’t think about anything but the foot and the shoulders and everything else seems to fall into place. With the foot/knee popped a little, the other “twos” follow suit.
-Never have shoulders squared towards you. Always turn them just a bit to the side. Turn the shoulders slightly away, but not so much that you don’t see that second arm. I want to make sure they are showing both of those arms. The more slimming look is to have the hips turned and shoulders more towards the camera, but not too straight on. Something I heard once and I never forgot is to keep the shoulders pointed away. Never straight on.
-DO SOMETHING WITH THE HANDS! People don’t know what to do with their hands, and when they don’t, they feel awkward and it looks awkward! I’m all about the thumbs in the pocket (as shown above). I like to see the hand, and I want it relaxed. With thumbs in the pocket, you get both. This looks great for men and women. Sometimes I’ll have the men put their hands in and just the thumb out. Hands in the back pocket works, too, but not hands by sides. Doesn’t really work. No pockets? That is usually just women in a dress, and they can do hand on hip (fingers pointing down) or they can lightly grab their dress just around the hip for that bent arm look. Just like this below:
Now teens and adults are much easier to do this with than two year olds. But I’ll usually have the younger ones sit and I’ll move to try to get the different planes. Also, look up the “C” curve or the “S” curve on how to pose for men vs. women. Found this interesting in my quick google search.
With little ones, the best “posed” shots are NOT when you tell them to say cheese (really, don’t ever tell them to do that again) but when you do or says something crazy to make them laugh. Sing a familiar song with the words mixed up, ask them about their favorite show, tell them a made up story that will keep them guessing a(and their expressions are that of wonder). Often, I can get parents to help and be silly. This one below, my friend kept “falling” to the ground and her daughter thought it was hilarious.
Mom would hide behind me and “peek-a-boo” around me, and in between she’d look right at me. Sometimes the one with the camera just can’t do it all. (Her mama hasn’t even seen this image yet, have to get to that session, but must post at the Idea Room first!)
Also, use the elements around you…lean agains the wall or stairs or kneel or rest on the tummy. I always look around at other photographers blogs for ideas. There are also these “recipe” cards that I think of buying, but can’t seem to put the money down for them.
Couples
The point is to have them be together. I do not understand the current trend of “lets stand a couple up against a wall, 5 feet apart with their hands straight by their sides and a mean look on their faces.” I’m thinking it comes from that farmers painting with the pitch fork. What’s that called? Anyway…although it can look “artistic” I think its silly. A couples’ session is about celebrating love. Even when it isn’t a couples session, I try to encourage the mom and dad in each family session to step aside and take a few shots together. Usually I’ll get dumb founded looks of horror. Most parents don’t even want to be in family pics, why would they want one of just the two of them?
I try to first have them do a hug–stomach to stomach–make sure their arms look natural. This below they are holding hands all cute.
Smile and look at me. The man standing behind and hugging from the front.
If they are an engagement couple, they usually don’t have a hard time cuddling up.
If I’ve got kids around, I say “Ok, kids, get behind me and do something silly to make mom and day laugh.” The kids don’t usually have a hard time with that. I’m pretty sure the kids helped with tis one:
Mostly, you just gotta tell them what to do because most feel awkward.
Famlies–Large Groups
Ah, the family pose. Keep in mind a lot of the same things you’d think about for the individual. Think Triangles. When you’re posing a group for a family portrait, try to arrange the heads of your subjects so that they form triangles. I don’t always do this so well, but I start with that basic goal. Get the family on different levels–not all on the same plane. Some sit, some kneel, some may stand.
One of my favorite things to do with groups (as these cousins here) are to get them in a cute posed position and take a snap:
Then shout–“group hug” and get this more warm, happy shot:
Funny, with both of those above images, one mom ordered the first, while the other ordered the second. Personal preference, really.
With larger groups, I often use a tripod in the event I might have to swap an unhappy face with another I took 10 seconds ago. Sometimes, you can’t worry about posing, you just shove them all in and hope for the best! Like this one with lots of little ones….
Ok…its 2am, I’m sure I left something out, so let me know if you have any further questions on posing!
I’ll leave you with one of my favorite family shots. My baby is a week old. Tripod in my living room, I set the timer and ran about 10 times, and we came out with this. My boys have scared smiles (must have been my threats to smile or else) but I love the cohesive-ness of it. It says–we are a family and we are a team.
And just for fun….2 pull back shots that just didn’t cut it…
Happy Thursday!
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Thanks for the information. What a cute family you have! What did you use to hold up your backdrop?
oh, how I wished you lived closer to me! Great shots and great info! Thanks for sharing :)
amy
I do portraits I call "life portraits. A portrait of the person doing something they love.
I don't pose. I move around a lot to get the shots I want and shoot a bunch of frames. It's more work for me but it's the way to get the results I want. Because of this I rarely will photograph any more than 2 people (plus a baby with them).
Love your family groupings! Nice.
FANTASTIC!!!! I've heard most of this, but often forget some of it!!…I'm printing this!!
I have a question (don't I always LOL)….when is it ok to cut off arms, legs, feet and other parts? I thought one time I read you should cut them off….but obviously there was more to it that I don't remember, so I always get paranoid "is this shot going to look funny if I cut off at the knees or a bent elbow?"?????
Thanks so much!! (I had my first newborn shoot the other day!!- those little boogers are hared! LOL)
Darth Mama–About 7 years ago I bouth my backdrop stand and a white and black backdrop off of ebay. I use my black the most b/c I shoot natural light mostly (though my flash was bounced in these) and the white often looks grey. Anyway…they are large muslin. Check ebay, I think they still sell them.
Amy–where do you live?
Teri–I am covering candid photo journalism next week.
TidyMom–congrats on your first newborn, they are hard! With cutting off limbs, I generally do a full body shot or try to cut at the waist. I think cutting at the knee or just below doesn't look great, or cutting off hands doesn't. In the little girl, I cut off her hands–but to print I'd probably crop it in a bit closer. All in all, there are rules, but you can make them up for yourself for whatever you say looks good!
I've really enjoyed this series, and am trying to add the button to my photography/digital scrapbooking blog, and I can't get the code to work. Is there a code error, or just a user error?
Thanks!
thank you, thank you, thank you! I like to do candid shots, too, but posing those family group shots seems to stump me every time!
American Gothic, Grant Wood
Thanks for the great tips-children's tips will come in handy for my own little darlings.
What a beautiful family you have! Thanks so much for the tips. I am thrilled that you are sharing your photography knowledge with us. THANKS!
Fantastic tips here. Fairly new to photography on the whole and working on just faces for now but bookmarked these tips for future reference
Yeah, always look forward to these tutorials. Thanks.
Oh my goodness – this was SO incredibly helpful! Thank you, thank you. I just shot in manual mode and RAW for the first time. My pics turned out so much better AND photoshopping them was SO much easier using the sliders. I had no idea the sliders were available because I'd never shot RAW before. So great! Thanks! I put before and after pics on my blog to show the improvement … and a shout-out to you as thanks! http://sweetmintstudios.blogspot.com/2010/06/photography-improving-my-pictures-by.html
Kristen, thank you so much for all your tutorials. I have learned so much and hope you will keep doing this. I had a couple questions. I'd like to know how to make stunning black and white pictures. I learned in photoshop to use the gradient map to make a color photo into black and white, but it's not stunning enough. Also, how do you take your own family photos or self portraits? Does someone do it for you or you just use a tripod and timer? Thanks again for all your hard work!