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

I love talking. My wife says that all I need is a budgie mirror and I’ll happily chatter away all ...
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Dealing With Reluctant Subjects

Pauline walked into my studio and declared, “I don’t know why I’m here”. This is how I responded, and how ...
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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

Two simple, naturally lit portraits of two lovely guys. Read on for three tips for emphasising masculinity in portraits like ...
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Using Your Subject’s Natural Stance

People need direction in front of the camera - otherwise they often become self-conscious and suddenly forget how they would ...
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A Crouch To Suit The Composition

I invited Steve into the studio so I could create some portraits for our book, Mastering Portrait Photography. I was ...
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A Portrait With A Prop

I don't often bring props into my portraits: they have to be there for a reason. In this case, the ...
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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

Bryony actually came into the studio for some headshots. I loved her outfit and the way she looked, so after ...
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Flattering Feminine Portraits

Here’s how to combine one woman, one feminine pose and one close crop for a quick and easy, high-impact portrait ...
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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.

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Striking a deal to get the shot

Alex wasn't interested in having his photo taken, so I needed a strategy to encourage him to cooperate. Happily, one ...
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Newborn Portraits With No Kit And No Time

With all the time and kit in the world, it would be easy creating spectacular newborn portraits all the time ...
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Aiming For The Lens

My high risk strategy for getting young James to look directly down my camera lens (and why safer alternatives are ...
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Snoozing Newborns

Ah, newborns. You can’t ask them to pose or reason with them. They sleep when you don’t want them to, ...
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Blue-Eyed Boy

A simple, one-light set-up, a narrow colour palette and a bit of silliness (to catch your subject’s eye) are all ...
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Turning Props Into Fresh Portrait Ideas

When Grace’s mum turned up at my studio with her daughter’s name in big fabric letters, an idea started to ...
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Searching For Giants

Making your shoots fun for your subjects is key to getting memorable portraits. This image was the final shot of ...
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Kai With His Skateboard

Simple is often best. A patch of daylight on a simple brick wall is all I needed to create this ...
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Getting Kids To Smile

Asking for smiles from young subjects doesn’t work. Instead, you need to set the right atmosphere, tune into the child’s ...
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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

How do you balance out height differences in a couple or group? This is my approach to photographing short and ...
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When the puppy has other ideas…

So there I was, lying on the floor one (really) cold December day, capturing portraits of this family walking along ...
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Fun portrait of a close friendship

It was the last summer before four very good friends said their goodbyes and parted ways. My commission was to ...
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Movie-star posing for teen groups

Three sisters wanted a great shot of their collective pre-teen, teenage and young adult children. The kids were less than ...
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Creating triangles with a family of four

When you're faced with a group of people, the easy option is to get them to sit or stand close ...
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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

This portrait of Rufus, our studio dog, won 'Dog Portrait of the Year' at the 2018 Master Photographers Association Awards ...
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