Formal Poses

[KevC]

Hey,

I'm shooting a friend before she goes off to prom. Orange shimmering dress. Yes, orange. Basically just for memories sake. I'm basically going to do some portraits for her before she goes off.

My Nifty Fifty is all I have... I'll shoot vertically to get the full body in the frame. Maybe some half body, or even tight head/shoulder crops. The thing is, I don't know any poses. I found a bunch of fashion/glamour poses, but I don't think it will work well with formalwear.

Any suggestions?

I'd normally just go out and shoot everything I can, but I wanna be somewhat prepared since this is her last year of highschool and last prom...

//edit: Oh right, this is going to be about 4pm... I'm thinking a park... maybe some narrow DOF head/shoulders crop to kill the background. Or maybe just brick wall. However, the orange will clash.... ahh I'm scared lol. I have a week to think about this.

[tim]

If she's dark haired try for light colored backgrounds, and vice versa. The best thing to do would be to try to find pics of people in similar situations either online or magazines and see what you like.

[mbze430]

What is up with the brick walls? Hasn't anyone figured out that brick walls are too distracting as background?? I don't get it.

[Aussie_Dog]

Originally Posted by mbze430

What is up with the brick walls? Hasn't anyone figured out that brick walls are too distracting as background?? I don't get it.

I don't take pictures against brick, but I've got a couch that's the same color as a brick wall (red with miscellaneous other colored threads). Every single picture I've taken of an animal on it has turned out bad.

[KevC]

Hm. Location, location, location. I guess it's just like real estate.

Yes, she's dark haired... so I'll find a light background. I've got this oldish beige background in my mind, weathered down wall.... now just to find that in real life.

How about poses?

[tim]

Originally Posted by KevC

How about poses?

What kind of effect are you after? Demure girl? Pr0n star? Hollywood actress? Girl before elegant night dancing? Horror film? Glamour?

[KevC]

Originally Posted by tim

What kind of effect are you after? Demure girl? Pr0n star? Hollywood actress? Girl before elegant night dancing? Horror film? Glamour?

Any and all. Well, minus the pr0n star. I think we'd like the "girl before elegant night of dancing". It'd be much more romantic if it was darker, but this is 4pm in Spring.

I've looked through a wedding book to get ideas for poses, but they all involve some gazebo or elegant trees. I do suppose we can drive hunting these locations, but all I have is a park. I guess I just have to make do with what I have...

[tim]

You should ask her how she wants to be remembered on that night, and structure the poses around that.

[DocFrankenstein]

Originally Posted by tim

You should ask her how she wants to be remembered on that night, and structure the poses around that.

You can ask, but you shouldn't expect to hear anything coherent.

[robertwgross]

Remember, if you shoot a man's portrait, it should show his square jaw and steely determination. If you shoot a woman's portrait, make sure it shows her graceful, swanlike neck.

If she has really dark hair, then consider some hair light from the side.

---Bob Gross---

[MTalley]

Here's a place I ran across the other day. If you can get past the photos from the 1970's and 80's, it at least has some good, basic posing rules laid out. Of course, like any rules, they are made to be broken.

First page on posing women.

[tim]

Originally Posted by MTalley

Here's a place I ran across the other day. If you can get past the photos from the 1970's and 80's, it at least has some good, basic posing rules laid out. Of course, like any rules, they are made to be broken.

First page on posing women.

I've seen that before, the photos are horrible, I wouldn't take those tips.

[MTalley]

True. Given the age of the photos, etc., I guess one would potentially call them "classic" rules. (Ancient, maybe?).

OK, forget I mentioned it.

[Merle]

KevC,

There are many things to take into consideragtion on this assignment. If the dress in question is form fitting or does it flair out at the waist line. One of the first things I would try to do is to photograph this young lady with her date , her in her formal and him in what he intends to wear on their date. Photograph them together(several poses), then phtograph each one seperately (several poses) One of the best tips I recieved over the years was "as long as you are getting good expressions never photograph more than one shot per pose !" You want to photograph a lot of different poses and have them fall in love with each pose so they will need to purchase more, some from each pose.

Good shooting to ya !!
Merle

[Buckeye1]

Hello Kev,
I am properly the newest member as I have just joined a few minutes ago. I am also new to portrait photography as well. Is your model tall? short? Certain poses will not make a tall/short person look good. Are you taller or shorter than the model? Your camera angle might have an effect on the final outcome as well...like double chin. I am sure your female model would not like that. I agree with Bob Gross' (BTW, he is very good at what he does based on his posts in this forum) answer, and you might want to include her beautiful shoulder in some of your poses. I would take a couple of poses of her looking out the window (take advantage of the window light) and smile as if her man has just arrived to pick her up. Please share your final outcome so that I can learn from you, thanks.