When photographing people, you can have a great composition, perfect light, and the right camera settings, but if your subject doesnt look rightif the pose is offthe shot will not be a keeper. Posing is truly a crucial skill that photographers need to have in order to create great photographs. If youre looking to improve your ability to pose your subjectswhether theyre men, women, couples, or groupsbest-selling author and photographer Lindsay Adlers The Photographers Guide to Posing: Techniques to Flatter Everyone is the perfect resource for you.
In the first half of The Photographers Guide to Posing, Lindsay discusses how the camera sees, and thus how camera angle, lens choice, and perspective all affect the appearance of your subject. Lindsay then covers the five most important things that ruin a posesuch as placement of the hands, and your subjects expression and posture. If you can look out for and avoid these five things, your skills (and your images) will quickly improve. Next, Lindsay dives into posing essentials, outlining her approach to start with a base pose, then build on that to create endless posing opportunities. She also discusses posing the facewith specific sections dedicated to the chin, jaw, eyes, and foreheadas well as posing hands.
In the second half of the book, Lindsay dedicates entire chapters to posing specific subject matter: women, men, couples, curvy women, families and small groups, and large groups. In each chapter, Lindsay addresses that subject matters specific challenges, provides five go-to poses you can always use, and covers how to train the eye to determine the best pose for your subject(s). In the final chapter of the book, Lindsay brings it all together as she teaches you how to analyze a pose so that you can create endless posing opportunities and continuously improve your work