Smith - Jeff Smiths Posing Techniques for Location Portrait Photography

LEFTIn an architectural setting, more formal attire can support a glamorous posing style. RIGHTA casual outfit in an outdoor setting calls for a casual pose.

Selecting the right clothing and setting goes hand in hand with posing; it is only when the right pose is combined with the proper clothing, in the proper setting, and with the appropriate expression, that the portrait attains a sense of style. Only when everything in a portrait makes sense visually do you achieve a portrait that really works. Achieving this requires that you look at every aspect of the portrait and match each element to the others.

A client I photographed years ago led me to write my book Corrective Lighting, Posing, and Retouching Techniques for Portrait Photographers (also from Amherst Media). She was the person who taught me what my job as professional photographer really was.

This young lady was very overweight and none of the classes I ever had taken, or the books I had read, had prepared me for photographing a person like this. She wasnt the first overweight person I photographed, of course, but for the first time I really thought about how this young lady would feel looking at her images. So I went into her session and I start hiding every area where weight gain was visible. I used flowers, fake trees, columns, arms, legs, and hair to cover the areas I knew she wouldnt want to see. When I was done I was exhausted.

This was in the days of film, so two weeks later the young lady and her mother came in to see the portraits. I happened to be there, so I stood by while they looked at all the images. As the mother looked at the proofs she started to cry. She walked up to me, hugged me, and said, I always tell my daughter that she is a beautiful woman, and these portraits show the beautiful woman that I see.

People deserve to look great in their images. Your job as a professional photographer is to make this happen for them.