Posing Tips Part 1: Shifting Weight

I consider myself self-taught when it comes to posing a girl and her horse. With the goal of telling a love story between a horse and rider, I began my career by studying wedding and engagement photography to dissect and analyze the storytelling in the imagery. Essentially, I would examine the poses between a bride and groom and then recreate the material by replacing the groom with a horse. I was always intrigued by softness and romance, and compelled to tell the story of each duo’s unique relationship.

No one is a harsher critic of my work than I am. While I cull I am constantly asking “How could this be better?”. While I color correct I am questioning “What should I have improved upon here?”. While I retouch I continue to discern “What could I change next time?”. Examining my work and criticizing it is exactly how I taught myself how to pose. I found out what I liked and what I didn’t like. The more I mulled over the images on my computer, the more I learned to see what was happening through the viewfinder in real-time at the session.

For example, I’ve learned that when I see something like this through my viewfinder, I need to instruct my subject to soften her hand. Here, all I can see is a claw:

With a quick instruction on how to place her hand, I’ve eliminated the distraction of a “claw hand” and created a softer feel. This ability took me years to work on through the process of critiquing every session.

Over the next few weeks, I’ve created a posing video series where I break down my own work and offer quick tips to help you instruct your subjects!

Enjoy week one on “Shifting Weight”: