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Simple

Posing Tips: Make your Subject Feel (& Look) like a Model

You don't take a photograph. You make it.

Posing tips. It is not natural to everyone and your job is to make your subject feel good and look good. Even if you are not shooting professionally, you will inevitably be asked to take someones photo because you are “the photographer of the group.”. Here are my top posing tips that will keep the photos polished and have your subjects feeling pretty fantastic about themselves.

For these tips I am using the photos from a recent photo shoot with my sister. A performer and musician she needed some head shots and senior portraits. This was a mix of the traditional and fun.

1. Place the Hands Intentionally

Bring the hands towards the face or place them in the hair. Whatever you do, do not let them hang there. Give specific instructions for where they go. My lines for hands in the past have been the following:

Pretend like you are playing with your earing
Run your hands through your hair
Feel the texture of _________ (in this case the scarf)
Hands in your pockets- thumbs out like you are “Chillin”
Gently touch your fingers to your lips
Cross your arms (more masculine look)
Lay their hands on a rail (make sure there is not a intense grip)
Hands on waist (not hips)

Here are some NEVER’s for hand placement:

Over the crotch
Typically any “praying hands” look not so great
Hanging at the sides
Fists (unless they are a MMA Fighter)
“Just do what feels natural”

2. It is all about the Shoulders

I rarely will shoot the shoulder straight on- even when it is a man. A 3/4 approach is always more flattering.

Here are some phrases I used to position for the shoulders in addition to some taps and gentle movements:

Drop your shoulder facing me
Look towards your shoulder (now up)
Take a deep breath (lift shoulders with them) and drop
Shoulders back
Lift your hands to the sky and have them bring back behind them (BEFORE shooting)- this is good for the especially humpback prone

3. To Smile or Not Smile

Have your subject constantly switch between smiling with teeth, being serious and no teeth. Don’t forget to capture the candid in between moments too.

For a sultry look, have your subject breathe out of the mouth. A slight part also tends to elongate the face.

I typically carry some new chapstick or Vaseline with me in the case of dry lips since that tends to be a pain to touch up and remove from photos. Also – ALWAYS tell your client or subject when something is in their teeth. You must.

4. Catch the Candid

Catch those in between moments. Posing can be exhausting and sometime subjects get in their heads or build anxiety.

Take breaks, move locations or change your set. Crack some jokes and have a chat. They will let loose and you can get some genuine smiles. Who doesn’t love that?

Candid are my favorite, but only occasionally are my subjects favorite. So do not feel disheartened if they prefer the posed and rehearsed shots.

5. Where do I Look?

Eyes. The window to the soul right? Let’s make sure you capture them in a multitude of ways. Ask you subject to look in different directions. Do not get the whites of the eyes- pay attention to where the Iris is and where your camera is pointing.

Give direction. Subject ask often “Do I look at you?” Tell them before they even ask.

Phrases I use for direction:

Look just over my shoulder (specify right or left)
Look down at your shoe with your eyes (keep their head the same)
Look down and on the count of three look up right into the camera (Have your camera ready to snap)
Blink, Blink, Blink and Open
Smile with your eyes (They always smile with everything and its cute)
Pose them, and keep posing them.

6. Play with the Hair

Move it over one shoulder, all behind. Use part of it to cover their face.

Have them play with their own hair. If you want a really dramatic look start asking them to flip and then run it through Photoshop like I did for fun.

Even if you are shooting an individual with shorter hair having the subject interact with their hair can be fun and change up the shoot.

7. Move Around and Pay Attention

Move between close ups and far away. Try not to have them doing the same thing for long periods of time.

Make sure you keep the background simple. Pay attention that it is not cutting off your subject or distracting from them. Also, just because you blurred the background does not mean it is no longer distracting, the colors can be too.

For more posing tips check out How to Take a Better Portrait with your Phone.

How To Tech & Tips Tips

8 Composition Styles Every Photographer Should Know

Composition: the way that you arrange a subject within the frame. Photographers look at life through a lens. We work in a rectangle or square and thus must place things in a pleasing manner within this space. There are some timeless composition styles that every photographer should know.

Tech Tech & Tips Tips

Creative Apps On My Phone & How I Stay Organized

Hello friends! I am always shuffling through creative apps on my phone, but have a found a few keepers too. As a photographer it is important to switch it up and try new things. It should be only natural as we evolved as artists.

In addition to this, as a phone photographer having a system in place to organize creative content is also important. Most of us do not have multiple phone and use our devices for our work and daily lives as well. I have a few favorite habits and apps that help me keep all of this in check and keep my phone functional.

Watch the video below to see what is on my phone at this very moment and how I stay organized.

How To

How to Photograph in the Rain on your Phone

Photographing in the rain can be tough. It feels dreary and often uninspiring when all the lighting is an overcast diffused gray. However, I have to get over this and shoot despite the weather.

As you know I am an avid hiker and try to get outside and at least once a week. In my current location and the surrounding areas it rains….ALL the time. I live in the Pacific Northwest, home of green and lush forests, but this means rain for about half the year. The video above was one such day on a hike.

The same can be said for some of our travels. An equally dreary place was Ireland that held a similar climate. We visited in the summer and were able to experience some glimpses of sun, but the constant spitting of rain was common.

Here are some of my top tips for shooting in the rain starting from the gear to what you can look for. Watch the video or read the post! 🙂

Tech & Tips

Filmborn App: Quick Edits that Elevate your Work

Hello Fellow Photographers! Some of you have heard me talk about the Filmborn App in the past. It is my go to photo editing app for my iPhone. You can use the app to actually shoot photographs as well. It was originally designed to teach you how to use film and has the manual feature of a film camera right on your phone. There is also some Pacific Northwest pride tied up in this since they were created right out of Seattle in my home state Washington.

This app has what we my call “filters” which mimic a film quality. I am such a huge fan because I still shoot on film and am in love with the quality and tonal range that film can hold, especially when it comes to black and white. Filmborn makes this accessible on your phone with your digital photographs.

Road & Trails

On the Road to Garden of the Gods

Hello Friends!

This is the last of the Colorado videos! I cannot wait until my next trip to share even more with you. Garden of the Gods is located right outside of Colorado Springs and offers hiking for the beginner to the advanced.

We arrived in the afternoon and had that gorgeous evening lighting that allowed the rock formations to truly shine in that bright orangey red. I love textures and was so inspired by the dessert surfaces here. Reminded me of my summers in Arizona growing up.

Enjoy friends!

Inspiration

Taken or Made: An Evaluation of Re-photography in the Technological Age

“You don’t take a photograph, you ask, quietly, to borrow it.” -Author Unknown

You are exposed to thousands of images everyday. They scroll in front of our eyes on Facebook, Pinterest, billboards and more. There mode of existence is your computer, phone, car: essentially technology. This new age of technology comes with an over-saturation of images and easy access. In this blog I too contribute to plethora of images being produced. It is this trend that has offered support for a sub category of images marked rephotography.

Rephotographing historical sites or even other artist’s work has been a highlighted theme in the contemporary art world. A peaked interest has been found more recently in the heavy saturation of online images.

Are these advances in technology allowing for more taking rather than making of images?

How To

How to Fake a Cyanotype on Your Phone

The History: A Woman, a Pioneer, and Prussian Blue

In the days of the first photographs, around 1839, pioneers of this field who integrated science and art began to emerge and take their place in the history of photography. During this era the thought of color photography in the contemporary sense was not even in the minds of the ingenious inventors.

However, one color did manage to make its mark through the hands of a woman born in 1799 named Anna Atkins. She is marked with being the first to publish a book of photographs and one of the first female photographers. [1]

Figure 1. Anna Atkins, Untitled, Cyanotype Photograms, 1843-1853, Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions.

The vivid Prussian blue images that you see above are one of the 425 photographs published by Atkins. It is called a cyanotype. The name cyanotype was derived from the Greek word cyan, meaning “dark-blue impression”.

Road & Trails

On the Road – Photoshoot at Multnomah Falls OR

Hello! Go on the road with me and my phone to Multnomah Falls OR and see what I photograph. While a typically tourist filled area, my partner had only seen it as a kid and did not remember everything. We went on a Friday evening after work for the best light.

This is my very first “On the Road” post. I have had a vision for this idea for awhile and I am stoked to finally bring it to life. Go with me on adventures, see my gear, and what I take while there. In the future I plan to incorporate more “How To’s” into these videos. Watch to the end for some before & after transformation of photos.

Subscribe to the e-mail list so you can see where my photo next adventure takes me. Thank you all.

Tech Tech & Tips

Moment Mounting System & How to Convert your Old Lenses

Hello Friends,

As you may recall from my previous post, I ordered the new Moment Tele Lens, but made the mistake of not realizing I needed a new mounting system too…which happens to be their phone case. In case (pun intended ;)) you didn’t guess, I caved and bought it! This video covers the new Moment mounting system.

Below I made a unboxing video for the phone case, along with a How To for converting your old lenses to fit the new system. If you are curious about the lenses, I think they are phenomenal and I am NOT SPONSORED. However, I have yet to formulate a full opinion on the case yet…I will get back to you all on this.

Enjoy!

Addendum: They are no longer selling the Moment Lens adapters and were only a transitional product. You can find some online from individuals who still have them. Although I recommend switching over your whole set if possible. They even have a trade in program.

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