Dynamic Posing Guide: Modern Techniques for Digital Photographers

CHAPTER 8: Putting Your Poses to Work

 

The foundation of my work and the poses I do come directly from the design of the outfit I am featuring in my photographs. The clothing is my first step in determining the direction I will take. I look at the design, style, texture, and fabric of the clothing. All of those components tell me how I need to pose the model to generate a particular mood and convey a parituclar attitude in the image. The photographs in this chapter showcase some of my personal favorites of this past year, in which I pushed the rules and put all I know to work with some pretty incredible results.

Shea’s Florida Formal

My intial vision for the image in Figure 8.1 was to have the model, Shea, wear a formal dress and then have long pieces of fabric catch the wind to create movement. I wanted the dress to appear big and flowy. Instead of destroying a formal dress to get this shot, I made this dress myself from six yards of champagne-colored fabric that I brought with me to the location in Florida. I wrapped it, cut it, and made the belt. Not too bad, eh?

Figure 8.1

I had some additional toile and tied it all in so that Shea could hold the ends of it. I then put a fancy necklace on her, did her hair and make-up, and put her into the freezing water. At one point I ...