Working in portratures with amateurs, or at least those that are not professional talent, I find the most difficult thing is directing their poses. Amateurs want to give you that stiff, cheezy grin, looking straight in the camera look; and most of the time that is far from what we as photographers want.
Although it's highly dependent on the scene or look your are trying to achieve, what do you say to your subjects to get them out of that stiff look? I've used techniques such as asking them to think of a very emotional time in their life good and bad; look at me and imagine I'm your father, or look off into the distance and imagine that you are trying to figure out the identity of a distant subject.
I'd like to get some thoughts on how you handle this as a photographer. I'd sure like to know what Annie Leibovitz says to her subjects to achieve the look she does.
I've been looking for something like this. Here's a start--mostly full body, but some torso and an occasional head and shoulders. http://www.vci.net/~mmorgan/pg2.pdf
It takes more time, but my #1 recommendation is to talk to the person before you start clicking, learning about things they like and what they like about themselves. I'm not a great fan of having music in the background, but lots of models like music so have them bring along some of their own music too. Then you can get them moving to music they like, talking about subjects they find interesting, and THEN you can start talking about posing.
The trick is to make an amateur comfortable in an element that is inherently not comfortable -- so forget about the photo work for a while, and concentrate on the person.
Finally, I try to demonstrate what I want to see from the model. I have no shame, so I'll pose myself and show the effect I'm trying to achieve.
... although I think you'll agree that if you stick to dictating you're going to get rather stiff poses.
Would you further agree that while the photographer must have a clear idea of what he or she wants, the pleasant challenge lies in communicating that idea to the model in such a way that the model will flatter the idea and give you a successful shoot!
tonylovesmary wrote:
... although I think you'll agree that if you stick to dictating you're going to get rather stiff poses.
Would you further agree that while the photographer must have a clear idea of what he or she wants, the pleasant challenge lies in communicating that idea to the model in such a way that the model will flatter the idea and give you a successful shoot!
Great feedback and yes I agree. I think it's good to give the talent a general idea of what you are looking for but also let their creativity come out. The real life, candid pose is the best for most of what I do.
It does drive me crazy when I'm out just photographing people and someone catches you shooting in their direction. They either stiffen up and give you that cheeky smile or they completely shun away from the camera. At that point you're busted!
runamuck wrote:
I've been looking for something like this. Here's a start--mostly full body, but some torso and an occasional head and shoulders. http://www.vci.net/~mmorgan/pg2.pdf
If I find more, I will post them.
I have to say that 2/3 of the poses there look really bad... It looks more like a yoga chart than a posing chart...
Think you are giving it way too much thought. Simply talk to your client. If you are 100% relaxed without any tension they will relax. If you are stressed trying to think of what to do it will make them the same. Lots of time for business portraits I don't even tell the client we are really shooting. Just testing the light and color. Talk with them some more and 2-3 minutes later tell them I forgot to mention we started but don't worry, we are already finished. If all else fails throw something at them. OK so the tripod leaves a mark ( live and learn) but a stuffed animal will get them smiling, laughing or something other than stiff looking.
Posing is simply interpreted body language. We all respond to it sub-consciously and that's part of the problem: not thinking about what elements make a pose work. There are some cultural stereotypes for masculine and feminine poses which can affect how the pose is perceived by the viewer. For example any person who is squared off to the camera looks more confrontational. Since men by nature are more confrontational than women that would be considered by most a more masculine pose than when the body is turned obliquely, minimizing its size (i.e. a more submissive posture).
A NJ portrait photographer named Joe Zeltsman thought about posing back in the 1960s and came up with a very clever "feet-up" method for both reverse engineering a pose to analyze what make it convey a mood or attitude like: demure, sexy, masculine, feminine, etc. Joe taught my first employer and photographic mentor, a guy named Zucker, and I learned it from him. I explain it here and provide a link to tutorials Zeltsman wrote.
Left to their own devices most people will stand square to the camera, weight evenly distributed on both feet, with hands clasped in front in what I call the "fig leaf" pose. All you need to do to get a more relaxed posture is have them turn sideways and shift all their weight to the back foot to the point they can lift the front heel off the ground slightly. That will angle hips, and shoulder lines resulting in an more relaxed, dynamic, non-static look. The other key variable is how the head is oriented to the shoulder line. People naturally will level their heads with the horizon, which looks static in photos. A more dynamic look is obtained by either keeping the eye and shoulder lines tilted in the same direction, or in opposite counter-balancing directions.
So pay attention to the angles of the hips, shoulder and eye line in poses that appeal to you. When those parts of the body are square to the camera it produces a static, steady, more confrontational look. When those natural lines are angled, both front to back and horizontally the look is more relaxed, and dynamic and less confrontational. Both types work equally well depending on the intended message and mood you want the person to project.
I've found the simplest way to learn how the pose people is to try the poses myself so I know how the look and feel and how the feet are placed, weight shifted, etc. Once you know that you can demonstrate or provide simple to follow verbal instructions on feet placement, weight shift and orientation of head to shoulder line.
When you start to work with flash, especially with white clothing you will discover there is an important technical aspect of posing: keeping things you want correctly exposed the same distance from the flash. For example in a pose where the shoulder is closer to the light than the face it will be difficult to expose the face properly without blowing the detail on the nearer shoulder of the garment. If exposure is cut back to avoid blowing the the detail in the shirt the face becomes underexposed. The solution to that dilemma is to find pose which both look natural and relaxed per the masculine and feminine stereotypes, and also keep face as close or closer to the key light then any off the other parts of the body. The diagram below illustrate a few conventional poses which do both...
Don't take my advice too literally here... I'm not say here that these poses should be way you always pose people, only that they illustrate the points I make about pose, distance to the light and exposure. Also the "feet-up" method is suggested simply as a way to better consciously understand and communicate to subjects the dynamics of body language and posing.
More that posing, body position; how do you get out the character of the person so on film they look like the real life person rather than some stiff board?
Tubby wrote:
More that posing, body position; how do you get out the character of the person so on film they look like the real life person rather than some stiff board?
You get competent and organized to the point what you do seems effortless to the portrait subject. If you are uptight and futzing with the camera, lights, metering, yada, yada, yada... your subject will pick up on the vibe...
Find out what they like to drink and have it on ice. Find out what tunes they like or pick something that fits the mood of the shoot and have it playing when they arrive.
As you sit an talk before the shoot, look critically at their face analyze it and figure out what will flatter them the most. Then while they do final touch-up to clothing, hair, etc. you can set up the lights and be ready to capture keepers. Since you've already figured out (with experience) what will likely flatter them the most and set it up the odds of capturing their best looks sooner increases.
A pre-shoot conversation is also its a great time to find out about what interests them: sports, their family, kids, etc. All stuff you can use to converse and connect to them as people and put them at ease. I find explaining to them how I'm posing, what I think their most flattering angle is and why standing or shifting weight make them look better is a real win-win situation. They understand why you are asking to do stuff which may seem at time awkward, and gain more respect for the skills you are bringing to the exercise.
For young kids I have everything set up in advance. I use butterfly lighting (key and fill centered) which allows great freedom of movement. If the kids are uptight I have them make funny or "monster faces" basically goof off as I snap off some shots. I show the kids the playback and say stuff like "Not goofy enough, not scary enough". It relaxes the kids and burns off some energy. The perceive you as a funny guy instead of the scary stranger with the camera.
In short, your subjects will only be as relaxed as you are and the mood you create
Tubby wrote:
More that posing, body position; how do you get out the character of the person so on film they look like the real life person rather than some stiff board?
Compare your shot against CG's stick people. It should be easy to see which is more relaxed...
Back in the 70's, I shot a lot of 4x5. About 75% landscape and 25% form. As hard as I tried, I never became very accomplished with the form work because I was a terrible director. I knew what I wanted in my mind's eye, but was seldom able to convey that to my models. I flat lucked out on some of my work because I had some good models, but I was mostly unsatisfied with my results. I applaude any photographer who works well with human subjects. Guess that's why I made my living primarily with landscape work!
establishing a repore the only way to loosin them up.. on the seniors i do.. i tell a few stories first and throw some comedy in to boot.. slow the process down. the more you loosen em the less self concious they will be. i usually use a key word for them to say to get natural smiles.. no corny ones. big bucks$ is my favorite. there are many variations to posing and lighting as well.. to numerous to mention. after shooting time and time again you also will become more relaxed. i have shot more than 8 thou. senior sittings in my 60 yrs. and still am apprehensive before each session.. half way through we're all hav'in a blast. make it a fun thing and most of all prepare and do your homework before your subject sees you. you'll have it more together during the shoot. hope this helps.
