Posing Fundamentals

Jerry Ghionis presents a two-hour B&H posing session, sponsored by Westcott, with live demonstrations meant to stop photographers ever running out of poses. He shows how he directs clients towards fun and fashionable images, with approaches for plus-size brides, couples of different heights and couples who resist being posed.

Christian Tudor teaches posing principles, not a catalogue of poses, urging photographers to practise themselves to show rather than tell. Working from head to hands, he builds an S-shape with shoulders and hips at different levels and flexed hands, applying the method to a former bride new to modelling.

Lou Freeman describes four body shapes and styles each towards an hourglass: apples get a cinched waist with a belt or corset; pears wear a flared skirt with a push-up bra or gel inserts; hourglasses need close-fitting clothes and V-necks; rulers wear anything but are moved to create curves.

Julia Kelleher sets out six posing fundamentals for family and newborn work: lens compression, comparing 85mm with 50mm; camera angle, shooting new mothers from above so hips recede; elbow foreshortening; keeping everyone on one focal plane at f/4 to f/4.5; offset heads; and lifting the chin, even for newborns.

Mike Browne argues the quickest way to learn posing is hiring a professional model and asking to be taught, rather than directing an untrained niece. Model Steph explains how professionals create emotion, know their angles and read the light, then runs through shapes outdoors as Browne watches the light.

Justin Laurens walks through fourteen female portrait poses using footage model Cynthia filmed at home: leaning against a wall for depth, an open forward-facing pose, a head tilt backed by a University of Bamberg study, headshots with props like flowers and scarves, expressive hands and the mini facelift pull.

Vanessa Joy poses Juliana with a Canon R5 and 85mm f/1.2, using a 48-inch reflector against green bounce. After a loosening walk she poses from the feet up, weight on the back foot, and reads elbows as body language: right angles for strength, obtuse for elegance, acute for vulnerability.

Pye Jirsa and model Chelsea work through seated posing mistakes as body language: sitting deep so thighs spread, fixed by perching on the edge; legs opened for masculinity or narrowed for femininity; slumped spines; wrists bent to 90 degrees rather than softly; and faces pressed into hands, which distorts cheeks.

A CreativeLive lesson works through the body part by part: hair moved off the near shoulder, weight on the back foot and leaning in for curve, men's shoulders angled to control broadness, paired limbs at different levels for drama, chin pushed out and down, and eyes posed to hide whites.

Jerry Ghionis shows how to flatter challenging facial features: minimise a large forehead by cropping into the hairline, chin up, head tilted away and camera lowered; shorten a long nose similarly; light a crooked nose from the opposite side; and turn the face until a prominent ear vanishes.