My take on lifestyle photography is a mix of both genuine and posed moments. To capture several diverse images in a short amount of time, I create a variety of opportunities that generate life-like images. I may direct my clients into poses, but I aim to capture images of people in a real moment in time.
My sessions are usually about an hour of actual shooting.
I capture memorable moments while having fun with your family at the park, beach or any other location you choose. I prefer to shoot pictures of parents and kids having fun and interacting with each other – those intimate moments between a parent and a child and siblings are precious.
I will make sure I take individual portraits of mum, dad and the children, and a group photo that will look amazing as a large print.
Most of us have pets (cat or dog). We love them to bits, but the photographer spends hours of work in Photoshop to remove their fur from your clothing. It will be a great help if you make sure there is no pet fur on your outfit before your photoshoot.
Wear solid-coloured clothing so that we see all of your faces and no individual stands out. If you wear stripes or flowers, you will stand out from the rest of your group.
Choose muted tones that are a bit subdued so that you are the subject, not your clothes, and so you don’t stand out from the group. Bright colours project (especially reds, oranges, and yellows), which makes you look larger.
Choose similar tones for the top and bottom (both dark or both light). A white top and dark pants will make your top look bigger. White pants and a dark top will make your butt look bigger.
Choose one to three colours for your group portrait, colours with similar tones that go nicely together. Then have everyone work within that colour palette. For example, a group could wear dark green, navy, and burgundy, all dark jewel tones. Or a group could wear tan, a lighter olive green, and denim, all of which are lighter, softer tones. This is, so we see people first, and your portrait looks stunning. Wedding group photos look so good because they’re all wearing the same colours and the people stand out!
Choose a top with sleeves at least to the elbow because your arms take up more skin area than your face and will draw attention. It may also make your arms look larger.
Choose long pants for men/women or a skirt below the knee for women so that your legs don’t take attention from your face, and you will be able to sit and bend without showing too much leg.
Choose dark socks and footwear (unless preparing for a barefoot photo on the beach) because white sticks out like a sore thumb, and that’s all you’ll notice in your portrait.
Keep jewellery simple and minimalistic because too much jewellery takes attention away from your face.
Do your hair the way you normally would while wearing your portrait clothes: No fancy updos with jeans, no ponytails with evening gowns, etc. (This is common sense, or so you’d think, but I’ve had ladies go to the hair salon and get fancy updos, then show up in jeans and a t-shirt. It simply doesn’t make sense because you wouldn’t normally do that when putting on jeans and going to the park for a BBQ or something.) This is because your portrait will be more timeless and represent more closely who you are, not just what you look like.
If you plan to get a haircut or new hairdo, make the appointment at least two weeks before your portrait session. Fresh haircuts rarely look their best the same day or the next day. Ladies need time to practice working their hair; men need it to grow out just a little. Allow some time to live with your new look before your portrait session.
Colour Schemes: [click on image to view the larger image]
One of the most challenging things when photographing people is posing. It doesn't matter if you're the model or the photographer – this is something where we can all use some help!
Posing is especially true if you're a regular person who has no modelling experience or aspirations but wants to take photos. (Maybe it's for your wedding day, your family photoshoot, or you want to look attractive in photos!)
Here are some extra tips to help you become more photogenic and learn how to pose.
When your face and body look straight at the camera, you can end up looking bulky. However, if your body is turned 45 degrees towards one of the sides, you'll look slimmer and more relaxed.
Alternatively, you can have the body facing forward and the head turned 45-degrees. The 45-degree rule is one of the most classic poses in portrait photography.
You'll see this classic stance used time and time again in both infamous portrait paintings and photos.
With this pose, you position the subject with one leg placed slightly forward than the other, keeping the weight to the back foot. By doing this, you allow the front leg to bend and look more natural.
Putting the weight on the back foot works well for both male and female models. It has the added advantage of popping the hip to accentuate the body's natural curves for women.
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These portrait poses are generally used for women. You can cross the leg in front of the one that's holding the weight or behind it.
In both cases, the crossing of the legs makes the hip look curvy, accentuating the body's shape.
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Leaning back is a great pose because of its versatility. You can use this on men and women, children and elders, for casual and formal shoots, groups or single portraits – with slight variations between them.
The idea is that by having physical support, the rest of the body can be more relaxed.
You can mix it up with other poses and make it fit the situation and model. For example, if you're photographing children, you can ask them to tilt their heads back towards the wall, while for female subjects, you can ask them to curve their backs a little to enhance their natural curves.
If you're looking for full-length portrait photography poses, this is a simple and relaxed one. It's a casual variation of the previous pose where you bend one leg up to the wall.
It's usually better to do this if the model is wearing trousers (long pants) since having the knee pointing towards the camera isn't very flattering.
Leaning forwards towards the camera is a great way to shape the body and make the face the focal point. That's why leaning is used in a lot of portrait photography poses.
Keep in mind that anything closer to the camera will look more prominent, so this will automatically slim the body.
You don't want the face looking disproportionate either, so stand at a reasonable distance and avoid using a wide-angle lens. Again, leaning forward will prevent distortions.
The S-shape pose is mainly a feminine pose. To accentuate the natural curves and give more flow to the body, pose your model or client following an S shape.
It shouldn't be exaggerated in a way that looks awkward or uncomfortable – even a hint of the S shape is good.
This pose can be done with the model sitting, standing or lying down – you'll see many famous portrait photographers doing this.
If you're wondering how to pose arms in pictures, you'll find many suggestions in this article. First, however, here are some basic rules to follow regardless of the pose.
Also, don't put them towards the camera unless you have a specific reason to do so – for example, showing off a tattoo. This is because you don't want arms grabbing the viewer's attention.
Most importantly, avoid dead arms. Don't just leave the arms hanging without any action or tension. Instead, try bending the elbows a little – this will give a natural flow to the body.
This will also create a space between the arm and the body to create a slimmer waist and torso.
The crossed arm is a classic pose for headshots or corporate portraits. It should be used with care, though, because it can look stand-offish if the model looks stiff or is not smiling.
Build a good rapport and help them relax before you take the shot. I wouldn't use this pose as the first one of the photoshoot.
Having said that, it's one of the portrait photography poses you can use successfully with both men and women. It's also a good one to display some attitude when posing fashion models.
Crossed arms around the waist is a softer variation of the crossed arms pose. Normally, it works better on women.
As suggested in the above tip about posing arms for portraits, be careful not to put too much pressure on the arms, or they will look thicker than they are.
This is a great wedding pose for a bride wearing a wedding dress with an enlarged bottom-half, since the bride may be unable to let her arms hang by her sides.
One arm crossed is another photo pose variation that works for both men and women. One of the arms can be hanging naturally on the side (slightly bend to avoid the 'dead arm' effect) or with the hand at the waist or in a pocket.
Then, the other arm is crossed to hold the loose arm – above the elbow is a good point, but you can adjust according to your model's proportions and outfit.
Arms up is a classic pose used by portrait photographers because it helps the body look slimmer. It also helps frame the face to make it the focal point while the arms serve as leading lines to direct the viewer's gaze.
While the hands are up, they can also play with the hair, hold up a scarf to flow with the wind, etc. – you can make it as playful and creative as you want.
Posing the hands is one of the trickiest photography poses. To help you out, you'll find some specific poses that involve the hands throughout the article. For any pose, though, here are some general guidelines.
Let the hand and fingers curve naturally – don't try to bend them in 90-degree angles or anything you wouldn't normally do.
The same goes for the separation between the fingers – don't extend the hand; leave the natural space. Sometimes it's helpful to make a fist and then let go, which will release the tension.
If you're photographing a couple or family members where they're holding hands, don't interlace fingers. That pulls too much attention and makes the viewer stare at the hand because they see too many fingers!
In general, in any portrait photography poses, try to give the hands something to do – whether to hold a prop, stroke the hair, etc.
Putting the hand on the chin directs the viewer's eye towards the face, which is essential.
This pose is most commonly used on headshots – but as you can see in the example above, it can work on wider shots depending on the posing and situation.
Try to have the hand and fingers relaxed for a more pleasing result.
The hand on the chin pose was made famous in recent years by the iconic photo of Steve Jobs by Albert Watson, known for his iconic celebrity portraits.
Another popular pose is to hold a piece of clothing – traditionally, it's the coat's collar, but it can work with a hat or a scarf.
Fashion photographers mainly use this for catalogues or editorial shots as it draws attention to the clothes and shows some details.
Try to have the hand and fingers relaxed for a more pleasing result.
For the model, it's a comfortable pose because it gives them something to do with their hands. It works well for male and female subjects.
An excellent way to avoid the 'dead arm' is to bend the arms slightly. Placing hands on the hips will also give some space between the body and the arms to make the torso look slimmer.
For women, placing their hands on the hips looks very natural, and it helps to emphasize the visual effect. But, again, it can be just one hand or both.
'Hand on the hip' is another excellent photography pose for boudoir, too, since it's aesthetically pleasing and helps display some of the model's confidence.
Putting hands in pockets is a variation of the hands-on-the-hips pose. It works well on men and children but is also lovely on women – especially if you're going for a more casual look.
You can make some variations to the pose by using the back or the front pockets, pockets from pants or the ones from a jacket, one hand or both – it's one of those portrait photography poses that's very versatile.
Looking over the shoulder is a great pose that can be fun, flirty, mysterious – it depends on the outfit, the environment and even the model's facial expression.
You can have the subject turn their back to the camera, or they can be sideways, then ask them to turn their head towards you.
This pose is appropriate for all sorts of subjects. For example, it could be a child sitting down at the dinner table that turns around on the chair to look at you, or it could be a man walking away and casually looking back.
It's also an excellent selfie pose since you can usually hold your camera phone in one hand and still make it look natural.
Some portrait photography poses work on every subject, and this is one of them.
It's perfect for softening a pose or adding some movement to a headshot.
Most professional models already know their 'better side'. However, for non-professional models, you'll need to find it, so try both sides and see which looks best.
Head tilt with hair on the side is a variation of the head tilt most suitable for women with long hair. It's often used in editorial or fashion photography, but you can use it in portraits photo sessions and boudoir photography with clients as well.
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One of the biggest problems in the execution of a pose is to avoid looking stiff. Action shots can happen because the model is nervous or just because they held the pose too long.
A fun way to avoid stiff models and have dynamic portraits is to capture the model while moving around in front of the camera.
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Except for a studio portrait against a seamless background, almost any portrait photography setup will give you the chance to interact with objects from the location.
Whether this is a column, a doorway, a stairway, etc. – locate someplace where your subject can lean or climb to add a unique touch to your portraits.
Portrait photography poses where the model is sitting are great because they can be as casual or formal as you want them to be.
Models can sit down on the floor or a chair, and they can have their legs crossed or extended – the possible combinations are endless.
You can also use these seated poses in all sorts of circumstances. For example, if you're doing an outside-urban shot, you can ask your model to sit on a ledge; if instead, you're shooting a formal indoor portrait, you can use a stool or a chair and have them sit down straight or leaning forward.
Now that you know how to pose your subjects individually, you can use some of these poses together to pose a large group properly.
Make sure you choose portrait photography poses that look good together to create a harmonic composition between the group members.
To make the picture more dynamic, make sure you create different heights between your models or clients. This gives a natural flow.
For example, some of them can be standing, some leaning, and some straight. Then, others can be sitting, and others are crouching.
If you're talking about a couple of people instead of a group, you want them to be interacting. It doesn't matter if they are best friends, family members or a romantic couple.
Hugs are a great way to show emotion, but they aren't always photogenic poses. One hug that's perfect for pictures is the hug from the back because you can see both faces.
Keep in mind that you can always do this with the couple standing, sitting down or even lying on the side.
One thing to look out for is the position of the man's hands (assuming he's hugging the girl from behind) – if both hands are placed on the girl's stomach, it might look too much like a maternity photoshoot… so be careful!
A variation of the hug from behind is a piggyback pose. If one of the subjects is strong enough to hold the other one up, you should give it a try. Piggyback works well for romantic couples but also friends or siblings.
Piggybacking – and its pitfalls – always makes the models laugh, which is excellent for getting fun and relaxed photos.
A frontal hug is always friendly to do, especially for romantic couples. In addition, it's an excellent pose for maternity shoots, engagement sessions and wedding photography.
Sometimes a front hug can look a bit awkward and stiff – a nice tip to help avoid this is to ask the couple to close their eyes and inch forward until their noses touch, then grab each other.
The frontal hug can elicit laughter and some natural reactions, resulting in some nice, candid portrait photography poses.
When you browse through the photography poses suggested in this article, take them as a guideline, not as a shot list.
I hope you enjoyed the classic portrait photography poses in this guide that you can use as a starting point in your next photoshoot.
No, I don’t. My style is outdoors with lots of movement and fun. My sessions can be refer to as play dates for the young and old.
I use Pro-Platinum 300g photo paper and print on a canon pro-1000 printer.
All frames are black. The reason I prefer a black frame is that I print images with a white border and a black frame makes the image pop out more. This is a classic look and is suitable for any room as decorative wall art.
A2 - $ 80.
A3 - $ 60.
A4 - $ 40.
Size - Landscape (large) 420 x 297 mm.
Paper - Lustre 190g.
Cover - Faux Leather (black).
End page - Black with frosted fly page. (professional look)
The photobook comes with a gift box. (easy to store and the box will protect the photobook for years)
These books are handcrafted and stitched bound.
20 pages = $350
40 pages = $478
60 pages = $588
80 pages = $698
100 pages = $808
Before getting too far, I want to make sure I don’t give the wrong impression. Most of the time, you probably don’t need to hire a professional photographer to get good pictures. But, there are situations where you and your gear just can’t quite cut it.
Even people who shoot photos for a living need to hire a professional photographer from time to time! There are plenty of reasons for putting your own camera aside and asking a professional to deliver the results you need.
While it’s true that almost any camera today can produce outstanding results, great photos are about more than just a camera. Professionals know this, which is why their websites and social media posts aren’t about what cameras they have or what accessories they use.
A professional photographer understands concepts like lighting, locations, and editing and how to use them to make the types of images that stand head and shoulders above what most people can get.
For most people lighting and composition, not to mention technical settings like aperture size and shutter speed, aren’t really things they notice or even know about.
Professionals are keenly aware of these factors that can add layers of complication to the simple act of taking a picture. They know how to deal with them, how to plan accordingly, and how to improvise when necessary to get the best results.
This type of thought process doesn’t automatically happen with the purchase of a camera. It takes years of experience, including learning from mistakes and failures, to get things right. Anyone can learn these skills but it takes time and dedication. In the meantime, if you’re someone who just wants to get great photos it can be worth it to hire a professional photographer.
A mobile phone can take good shots on Portrait Mode, but it won’t help you know where to stand to get the best lighting, a pleasing background, and bring out your best smile.
Professionals photographers can do all of this and much more.
One analogy that works well here is cooking. Anyone can look through a cookbook, buy some ingredients, spend a bit of time in the kitchen, and end up with a meal that tastes pretty good.
Professional chefs take the same ingredients and produce culinary creations that delight your taste buds and challenge your notions of consuming food. It’s not a matter of having the ingredients, but knowing just what to do with them in a way that no cookbook or YouTube video can explain.
Experience counts with cooking, and it also matters with photography.
There’s a popular saying in photography: The best camera is the one you have with you. That’s true to a certain extent, but if your goal is to get a specific type of photo, there are certain cameras, lenses, flashes, and other gear that are best suited to the task. These often cost thousands of dollars and can be the difference between images that are adequate and awesome.
Consider the 70-200 f/2.8 lens. These are expensive, heavy, and impractical for casual individuals who enjoy snapshots with their phones. And while you could spend the equivalent of a few month’s rent or car payments on one of these lenses, you might be better off forking over a fraction of that amount to a professional instead.
This lens is just one example out of many, but the point is, professional photographers have researched the right gear for the job. It’s similar to how many people have a basic toolset at home. However, a professional mechanic has a garage full of specific sockets and drivers, as well as impact wrenches and other tools that are ideally suited to specific tasks.
Some people can probably do a basic oil change in their driveway, but serious work requires serious knowledge and an expensive set of tools to match.
The same is true for photography. When you want pictures that make you and your loved ones look your best, it sometimes takes expensive high-end gear to make it happen. And professional photographers have just the right camera gear to get it done.
There’s a line in the 1999 movie Office Space that really hits home for photographers. It’s during an exchange between Stan, the manager of a restaurant called Tchotchkes and one of his servers.
“People can get a cheeseburger anywhere,” he says. “But they come to Tchotchkes for the atmosphere and the attitude.”
The scene is meant to be somewhat satirical, but Stan’s mantra rings true for photography.
Anyone can take a camera, point it at a subject, press the shutter, and end up with some good pictures. They might even be great pictures. But when you hire a professional photographer, you are not only getting photographs, but an entire experience to go along with it.
Photographers create fun, energetic, exciting events that go far beyond simply providing a photo to hang on the wall or share online. I know photographers who have been shooting the same clients for over a decade because their sessions are about creating, not just images, but memories.
Professional photographers create experiences that clients will share with friends and family. When people talk about photos from a session, wedding, or important event, they talk about the photographer almost as much as the photos!
They share stories of how the photographer made their kids laugh, treated people with respect and kindness, listened to their requests, and made them feel like the most important people in the world.
These are the kind of experiences that get people coming back to professional photographers. Moreover, it’s something that holding a mobile phone on a selfie stick can’t replicate.
On the flip side, when people have a bad experience related to service, they will often share that with others even more than a positive experience. Professional photographers know this, which is why they take great care to pay attention to their clients, create memorable photography sessions, and keep them coming back for years on end.
I’ve seen people balk at the price of a professional photography session, and I completely understand that reaction. It can seem impractical or downright silly to spend anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars on a professional photographer.
That money could pay for a lot of camera gear, and even some educational courses to help you learn how to use it! But there’s a reason people pay that kind of money for professional photos, and you will probably be pleasantly surprised at the value you really get for your money.
[Article written by Simon Ringsmuth - he is an educational technology specialist.]
I could not have said it better myself.
