Posing male models...

I've not always been on the ball with male models posing as much as female.

are there any good guides online for this??

http://digital-photography-school.com …ed-with-photographing-men

Open them up. Depends on what you're going for but I don't like legs crossed. All the shots in the tutorial would look better if their legs were open (example below). Key is get them to have a subtle squint. Peter Hurley has been a strong advocate of this and turns out, he's right. James is squinting in 99% of his pictures. GL

What I find most challanging while shooting men, is to get them to relax enough to get something other than their "stone face". Frequently these days they have their hair gel on so thick it is difficult to change the look.

One ploy I find works is to get them to go to an exagerated pose. Like asking them to "Give me your best GQ pose" or "introduce yourself Mr. Bond". If you can get tem to relax and start having fun in the direction you want them to head you will start to see the possibilities for the particular model.

Sometimes I ask them to become an actor - saying something like "Show me what Jim Carry would look like coming face to face with a charging pit bull"

i find that you need more creativity working with them to get them to move out of their preconcieved ideas of the look(s) they are comfortable presenting.

Good Luck and happy shooting!
-John

very interesting tread