HOW TO POSE FOR PHOTOS

Happy Monday my pumpkins! Today, I am sharing with you my tips to pose in photos. Believe it or not, I am not photogenic, even though, I publish a lot of photos of myself. But, 30 youtube videos, and 100 trial photos later, I finally know all the good tricks to pose for a picture. Also, I did study cinema so I am familiar with the world of photography.

If you want to know how to pose for photos then keep on reading! Also, don’t forget to check out my previous post: HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY MANAGE YOUR BLOG

How To Pose For Photos

Body Language

In a photo, body language is everything and what usually works best in photos, is to have an open posture. Personally, I love to rest my arm on my hip, lay one leg in the front, lift my head a little bit and straighten my back. Another flattering pose would be to stand on the side, then turn your head towards the camera. Or even, to cross your legs a little bit and lay your hand on your hips for extra sassiness.

The tricky thing when posing is to know what to do with your hands, there’s so many things you could do with your hands; you can lift one arm a little bit close to your face, you can do the Kendall Jenner pose (put your hand on your face, close to your eyes and lift your eyes a little). Or you can play with your hair. Usually a pose that look pretty in photos is not necessarily normal, authentic or even comfortable. Like you wouldn’t usually, go around with your hand on your face à la Kendall Jenner. Usually, to look good in photos, I like to “exaggerate” my pose, like I straighten my back in an unnatural way. I just think when my body language looks firm and “exaggerated”, it looks better in photos.

I say, explore different types of poses by looking at models, getting inspired by other influencers or searching on Pinterest. And try these poses out in front of a mirror, to see which one you like best.

Props

When I don’t know what to do with my hands, I always like to use a prop whether it’s a purse, a cup of coffee or something super random like a flower. Holding a prop makes me feel more comfortable with the pose I am trying to do and can make a photo 10 times better. For example, in the photo above, I couldn’t imagine this photo without the flower that matches my red lipstick, it kind of completes the photo.

Facial Expression

Another important thing to consider when taking a photo is your facial expression. That seems very obvious but it is hard to practice a facial expression that looks good on camera. Plus, one facial aspect can look good on someone but bad on someone else. For instance, my sister loves laughing in photos, it’s like her key feature but even though I like my laugh, I don’t think mine looks nice in photos. Instead, I love tilting my eyebrows a little bit and slightly open my mouth.

Moreover, showing a facial expression is a lot about the attitude. Like you could be laughing but if you are not happy in the inside, it will show and your laugh will look fake. So what I love to do is just say to myself that “I am a model and I am posing for Vogue magazine”, that sentence puts me in a specific mood that automatically translates into my face. My sister on the other hand thinks more like “I am having a great time and I feel fancy”. I swear, you can easily see that from her facial expression :p.

Angle/Shot

Last thing to consider when taking a photo is the angle, so how you are taking the photo. In this case, you can choose to a take a photo from a low angle (so from down), from a high angle (so from up) or same-level angle. Usually, a low angle is used to empower the person whereas high angle is the opposite. That’s why low angle is mostly used by influencers. Personally, I use same-level angle but sometimes, I love using low angles, just slightly low to emphasize my jawline (see photo above). Moreover, low angles are great to show all of the outfit you are wearing.

In photography, you could also choose to either have a medium shot, a close-up shot, a medium-long shot (roughly translated as the American shot) or a long shot. Medium shots would start from above your waist and medium-long shot would start from above your ankles. These are the two shots I use the most in my photos. Long shots would show your whole body and is ideal for when you want to show your whole outfit like in the first photo of me or the photo which is right above. A close-up shot would show your face closer, in greater details like a portrait photo. I don’t use this shot maybe only when I take selfies, technically.

Trial

Finally, I really advise you to try the poses in front of a mirror just to see which pose works for you. Furthermore, I really recommend to start taking photos alone, at home, in front of a camera on a tripod. This will really help you start being more comfortable around the camera and to discover which angle and shot works for you. Plus, not having someone around looking at you and waiting on you, is more motivating. That’s how I feel, personally.

And that’s it, how to pose for photos!

I hope you enjoyed reading this post and if you did, don’t forget to give it a ‘like’ and to follow my blog.

xx

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