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 effect 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.
