Book description
When photographing people, you can have a great composition, perfect light, and the right camera settings, but if your subject doesn’t look right—if the pose is off—the shot will not be a keeper. Posing is truly a crucial skill that photographers need to have in order to create great photographs. If you’re looking to improve your ability to pose your subjects—whether they’re men, women, couples, or groups—best-selling author and photographer Lindsay Adler’s The Photographer’s Guide to Posing: Techniques to Flatter Everyone is the perfect resource for you.In the first half of The Photographer’s 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 pose—such as placement of the hands, and your subject’s 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 face—with specific sections dedicated to the chin, jaw, eyes, and forehead—as 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 matter’s 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
Table of contents
- Acknowledgements
- About the Author
- Introduction: Posing with Confidence
- 1 Posing and How Your Camera Sees
- 2 Posing and Directing the Face
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3 Posing Pitfalls
- Poor Posture
- Foreshortening
- Mergers
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Poorly Posed Hands
- The Problem: Distracting Hands; Palm or Back of Hand Toward Camera
- The Solution: Place Pinky Toward Camera
- The Problem: Tension
- The Solution: Relax the Hands
- The Problem: Covering the Jaw
- The Solution: Adjust Hand Placement
- The Problem: Hands Pressed Against Face/Body
- The Solution: Gently Place Hands
- Bad Expression
- Train Your Eye
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4 10 Steps to Posing Success and Posing Variations
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10 Steps to Posing Success
- Step 1: Select a Base Pose
- Step 2: Adjust the Pose or Change Angles to Draw Attention To or Away From Body Parts
- Step 3: Check for Foreshortening and Mergers
- Step 4: Ensure Good Hand Position and Posture
- Step 5: Engage the Subject to Get a Good Expression
- Step 6: Shoot!
- Step 7: Vary Your Subject’s Hands, Expression, and Shoulder Placement to Create New Poses
- Step 8: Try Different Camera Angles, Camera Positions, Crops, Depths of Field, and Lens Choices for Variety
- Step 9: Repeat!
- Step 10: Analyze Your Images and Learn from Your Successes and Mistakes!
-
10 Steps to Posing Success
- 5 Posing Women
- 6 Posing Men
- 7 Posing Couples
- 8 Curves
- 9 Family Portraits
- 10 Boudoir
- 11 Maternity
- 12 Bringing It All Together
Product information
- Title: The Photographer's Guide to Posing
- Author(s):
- Release date: March 2017
- Publisher(s): Rocky Nook
- ISBN: 9781681981963
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