If you’re just getting into wedding photography, it can be a bit scary thinking of all the shots you need to take throughout the day. But worry not, John Branch IV has got your back. In this great video, he gives you ten go-to poses for photographing wedding couples. And more than that, he shares a bunch of useful tips that will make your photos even more beautiful.
A great thing about these go-to poses is that they can serve merely as a guideline, and each of them has plenty of variations. Therefore, depending on your creativity, you can turn these ten poses into dozens.
Still poses
1.Chest to chest – this is the most basic pose when your couple stand close to each other, chest to chest. There are plenty of ways to pose their hands and heads: they can hug each other, kiss, look at each other or at the camera… There are plenty of variations.
2. Head cuddling – forehead to forehead or, as John calls, it “head cuddling,” can come from the previous pose. It works best for couples that don’t have much of a height difference, so that’s something to keep in mind.
3. Wall bokeh – this pose requires the bride or the groom to stand against the wall while the other is close to them, and you get to photograph them from the side. This way, you’ll get the front and the back bokeh from the wall, and you can also shoot this pose against a fence, a wall of flowers, ivy, or a hedge.
4. Normal spoon – what most people picture as the usual “spooning” is when the man is behind the woman. When photographing the couple, you can capture them as the groom stands behind the bride, embracing her. Just bake sure to avoid him embracing her around the belly because this is more appropriate for a maternity shoot.
5. Reverse spoon – as you can probably conclude, the “reverse spoon” would have the bride stand behind the groom. In my opinion, photos like these look wonderful when a woman leans against the man’s back.
Poses with movement
6. Walking towards the camera – this pose takes a bit of the movement to your shots. Have the couple stand further back and then slowly walk towards you. Adjust your AF to continuous and shoot away. Give your couple something to do: talk to each other, look at each other; add a little hip bump or a little twirl, and capture those spontaneous moments.
7. Walking side to side – here’s another shot that adds some motion. You can take it with a wide lens, or with a telephoto lens but from further away. Include some context in the shot and have the couple walk sideways to create some dynamic photos.
Classic poses
8. Hipster poses – this pose essentially requires the couple to stand next to each other with some space between them and look straight into the camera. You can also have them stand a bit closer to each other or a bit further back; and look at each other or away from each other. I personally don’t like photos where couples look away from each other because it looks like they had a fight, but that’s just my two cents.
9. Dance and twirl – you can ask the couple to slow dance a bit with each other and do a little twirl. Similar to walking towards the camera, use continuous AF and continuous shooting to capture the perfect moment.
10. Classic looking into the camera – finally, have your couple stand next to each other and look at the camera while holding hands or embracing each other around the waist. Yes, this is probably the least creative of all shots, but you’ll want to take it: this is the kind of photo all friends and family want to have.
Make sure to watch John’s entire video. As I mentioned, he gives you a ton of useful tips as he suggests how to pose your couple, so you’ll learn how to avoid some common mistakes along the way.
[Wedding Photography: My 10 Favorite Easy Wedding Poses via FStoppers]
FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!