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Model Photography
- Posing
Posing is a unique
science that professional photographer's spend years learning.
Most photographers will help to guide you into poses that work.
Amateur models should rely on the experience of a quality photographer
who will take the effort to guide you through flattering poses.
However, as a model, you should work to develop an extensive
repertoire of poses which you can gracefully move through in
a series.
This guide has
been prepared to help you develop these poses.
- Your first
step should usually be to look at pictures in magazines
and learn what makes the poses work.
- Where are
the model's hands?
- Where are
their feet?
- Is there
eye contact?
- What is
the mood of the photograph? Why?
- Do the
clothes work with or against the pose?
- What could
the model have done to make the picture better? (Finding
these mistakes will help you develop a critical eye for
your own photos.)
- Is the
photograph dramatic, humorous, ordinary, or clich?
- Clip out
the poses you like and keep them in a special folder that
you use to provide inspiration. You can even take this to
your photographer who can help you take pictures with a
similar feeling or mood.
Next, you should
practice in front of a mirror or a video camera on a tripod.
Initially you will probably feel very silly doing this, but
there is simply no other way to do it.
- Try different
poses from your folder or design your own poses.
- You will
constantly work to develop poses that take best advantage
of your best features while minimizing your weaker features.
(Yes, everyone has weak points; smart models learn to
overcome these limitations.)
- You should
also pay close attention to your facial expressions.
- A great
model should be able to move through a wide range of facial
expressions as well as bodily poses.
- Once
you have the fundamentals down, you should begin to develop
graceful movements
- This
is the mark of a professional model.
- Learn
to create transitions from one pose to the next without
any choppy or clumsy movements.
- The difference
between a good model and a great model is an understanding
of flow and movement.
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There are
no absolute rules for posing. No perfect position that you
should always use nor any angle that you should never use.
If there ever were such rules, they were quickly broken;
that's what modeling is about.
You will learn
what works for you
Don't become
too bothered by the poses that don't work.
Many models
have learned that a pose that didn't work for them worked
successfully when photographed by a professional.
Professional
photographers have learned to take advantage of camera tricks
that make the shots work.
For this reason,
you should work with the photographer and not insist that
a pose just doesn't work for you.
You should
realize that what you see is not always what the photographer
sees.
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