Posing & Direction

Posing & Direction made easy! Watch as Sue guides you through how to find the best, most flattering position for your clients. She breaks it down into 9 steps for you to remember.

Angles and Rule of 9’s

Sue shows us the 9 different facial poses you can shoot, and how to experiment with each client to see which pose suits their face the most beautifully.

Rule of 9’s Cont.

Sue walks you through a shoot she did with Nikki Closser and explains how they went through the rule of 9’s to find the position Nikki was most beautiful in through the camera.

Key Things to Take Away:

• Rule of thumb: don’t let the nose go past the cheek

Expression

Sue takes you through micro-expressions and how they can make the difference between an engaged and disengaged portrait. Watch in real-time as Sue directs Tessa through different expressions, and learn to do the same for your clients!

Key Things to Take Away:

• Work on your own expressions in the mirror. Then you can properly mirror them to your clients. “The face you look at mirrors your own.”
• Think of yourself as a conductor and talk to your client through their expressions. 

Rotation

When you’re shooting a client and you feel stuck and not sure what to do next, rotate. Watch Sue go through a rotation with Tessa and find poses that work the best for each side.

Key Things to Take Away:

• Turn your client. If they can’t turn, you move.
• Look for poses connecting the shoulder, placement of arms/elbows, and remember diagonals.

Hands

Sue goes through the importance of knowing when to bring hands in and when they’re taking away from the shot. Asymmetry wins over symmetry. “If you can’t find a good reason to bring the hands in, don’t.”

Composition

Get variety in your images by playing with composition. Sue takes you through 5 basic compositions to try when you’re shooting.

Key Things to Take Away:

• Put space on either side to find a good composition for your client: avoid passport photos.

Composition Cont.

Go through the photos comparing the five different compositions.

Posing from the Feet Up

This is about achieving the feminine shape in the body and learning to move how you want your clients to move. “You’re shaping for femininity, not for thinness.”

Key Things to Take Away:

• Practice moving this hip/shoulder motion
• In order to teach your clients how to move, you need to be able to move

Touch

“Where we touch our body is where we look.” Sue emphasizes what kind of body language we portray when we touch certain parts of our bodies.