As soon as people are in front of the camera, they can become self-conscious and awkward. How can you pose them in an authentic, natural way, without it looking all… posed? In this section, we’ll show you how to use the way people naturally hold themselves to get portraits that – with a little fine-tuning – flatter them but also look true to who they really are.
Posing People Without Posing
Sometimes, you may want to achieve a fashion-style image with a subject in a dramatic, posed position. The rest of the time, you probably just want your subject to look good and be comfortable. This section is all about the latter: flattering people, but keeping it natural and authentic, too.

Generating Genuine Expressions
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Dealing With Reluctant Subjects
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Posing Men
Traditionally, when posing men most photographers look to emphasise their subject’s masculinity. This can be achieved through a more defined jaw, broader-looking shoulders and a pose (and camera angle) that convey confidence. This section will give you plenty of tips, tricks and techniques for achieving all of these and more.

Close-Up Male Portraits
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Using Your Subject’s Natural Stance
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A Crouch To Suit The Composition
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A Portrait With A Prop
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Posing Women
Traditionally, when posing women most photographers look to emphasise their subject’s femininity. This can be achieved through exaggerating their curves, softening their hand position, guiding them into flattering poses and shooting from optimal camera angles. This section will give you plenty of tips, tricks and techniques for achieving all of these and more.

High Key Office-Style Portrait
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Flattering Feminine Portraits
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Posing Children
Working with children is about much more than making babies smile. First, parents need to feel relaxed, so that their children relax, too. Then you’ll need to overcome the wariness of shy children and calm the energy levels of excitable ones. Lastly, you’ll need to understand their abilities and motivations, so you can connect with children of all ages and capture their latest stage of development.

Striking a deal to get the shot
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Newborn Portraits With No Kit And No Time
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Aiming For The Lens
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Snoozing Newborns
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Blue-Eyed Boy
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Turning Props Into Fresh Portrait Ideas
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Searching For Giants
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Kai With His Skateboard
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Getting Kids To Smile
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Posing Groups And Families
Just when you’ve mastered posing one person, you’re asked to capture a whole bunch of them. How do you pose multiple people to achieve a visually pleasing composition? How do you avoid the totem pole and police line-up effect of stacking people head on head or side by side? How do you make posing look natural? This section has the answers…

Working with people of different heights
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When the puppy has other ideas…
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Fun portrait of a close friendship
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Movie-star posing for teen groups
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Creating triangles with a family of four
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Posing Dogs
As your camera skills develop and your reputation spreads, it won’t be long before you are tasked with capturing a beautiful dog portrait or two. Whether it’s a beloved family mutt, or a beautifully groomed show breed, the tips in this section will guide you through successfully interacting with dogs (and their owners) to capture perfect pet portraits for your clients.

Award-Winning Studio Dog Portrait
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