Ever tried posing your family or other non-pro friends for a photo. For some, it comes naturally, but for others, it may feel like an excruciating experience.
Mango Street (previously) is here to the rescue. They share three basic (yet powerful) tips to help you pose and direct your friends. As usual, good photography starts with the basic things, so once those are in place you can continue to build to more advanced levels.
Tip 1: Use curves for softness, straight lines for power – I think this is the very first tip they teach at posing school and they do it for a reason. You may have heard of it as “if it bends, bent it” rule. The human eye likes angles and curves more than straight lines. If you use this rule to create curves, you will convey softness, if you use it to create angles, you convey power.
Tip 2: Provide directions instead of detail-posing – When you tell your models when to place their hands, fit, fingers, chins et cetera, they may end up focusing so hard on placements, that they’ll forget their face. Another option is to give general placements and then direct your subjects. Tell them to keep a secret, ask them to reminisce, make them react.
Tip 3: Motions helps your subject to look natural – When you are moving, it’s hard to be artificial. Your brain is working on the movement, so it has no cycles to fake a face, use that to your advantage and ask your subjects to move.
