Before I explain to you how I pose my couples, I just wanted to take the time to welcome you to my blog and thank you for taking a look. This is the first of many posts, so I hope you find the following information helpful (especially if you’re considering booking a couples portrait session).
When it comes to posing couples, the first thing I do before taking ANY photographs, is to run through some simple posing guidelines, and teach my couple some foundation poses based on five feet positions. The idea of this being, that once you know some basic posing techniques, you will relax and feel more confident during your portrait session.
Like the couple featured in this blog, most of us have only ever posed for awkward school photos and so we worry that we wont be any good at posing for professional photographs. Let me reassure you that with a little guidance anyone can learn to pose for photographs, and the great thing is that once you know how to pose, you can take what you have learned and apply it again in different situations (like when you have to pose for photos at a friends party).
POSING GUIDELINES FOR COUPLES
These are simple guidelines (which I demonstrate), that my couple can follow throughout their portrait session to help create flattering poses.
For him:
Stand in a wide stance, a shoulder width apart (to emphasise masculinity).
Stand with toes pointing out (to create an impression of confidence).
Have a straight spine (to improve posture).
Expand the chest (again to emphasise masculinity).
Relax the shoulders.
Keep hands relaxed or in a pocket (with thumbs out - it’s more confident).
Slightly extend neck (to create a defined jaw line).
If asked to do a walking pose, walk normally.
For her:
Stand in a narrow stance.
Keep knees together.
Drop/drag a toe (no flat feet).
Kick out a hip (to help create an hourglass shape).
Have a straight spine (to improve posture).
Keep a slight gap between arms and body (to define waist).
Keep hands relaxed.
Slightly extend neck (to create a defined jaw line).
If asked to do a walking pose, cross one foot over the other, with toe pointing out (to help kick out hip).
FOUNDATION POSES FOR COUPLES (FROM THE FEET UP)
Most of the standing poses in a couples portrait session will be based on these five basic feet positions:
V-SHAPE (HINGE)
The couple creates a V shape with their feet by standing together with shoulders touching, one arm around each others back. From here it’s easy to ask one or both to ‘open’ or ‘close’ if they imagine that their shoulders are a hinge.
Claire and Dan in a V-shape pose.
OPEN
The couple stands next to each other, with their feet facing forward, directly towards the camera. This is known as an open pose because you are open to the camera.
Claire and Dan in an open pose.
CLOSED
The couple stands facing each other, with feet facing inwards, towards each other. In contrast to above, this is known as a closed pose because you are closed off from the camera.
Claire and Dan in a closed pose.
STACKED
The couple stands together, one in front of the other, with feet both facing the same direction.
Claire and Dan in a stacked pose.
REVERSE
The couple stand next to each other, with feet facing in opposite directions.
Claire and Dan in a pose very close to a reverse pose (I didn’t actually have a proper example of a reverse pose).
Once I have run through my posing guidelines and these five basic feet positions, we are ready to start taking photographs! All I have to do is ask my couple to stand in an closed pose for example, direct them to adjust the position of their heads, arms and hands, etc and et voila, we can create a variety of different poses!
Hopefully these beautiful images of Claire and Dan (thanks to Claire for letting me use them), show that there is no need to worry if you have never posed for professional photographs before - with a little guidance from a friendly photographer, you can have fun creating images just like these, to treasure long after your portrait session.
If you’d like to book a portrait session for you and your fiancé/partner, I’m running a special offer on couples sessions in celebration of Valentine’s Day, when you book between the 14th February and 14th March.
For £150, you can enjoy a relaxed 2hr couples portrait session (on a date of your choice) with a pre-shoot consultation before hand (to discuss details like location and outfits), a private online viewing gallery and 25 digital images from your session (with the option to purchase more).
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