Public Forums > Photography > Posing for photographers

It's important as a model to pose well and practise in front of a mirror so that when the photographer has you, you give the minimal fuss and problems.  In other words, good models are flexible and can move quickly into different positions, and are easy to work with and know what looks good.  Remember the camera can add weight so you always need to stand in a way that makes you look slimmer, makes your body look longer and how to hide your flaws from the camera (like if you have a double chin or bigger arms!).  Practise!

To add onto the fabulous information you've given, poses also include your facial expression. In this sense, models need to learn to "act" out certain emotions or learn what expressions fit with the overall theme of the shoot or the outfit. Doing this in front of a mirror as well will help round out your practice in posing. If you're having a difficult time with facial expressions, the first thing you'll need to learn is to relax your facial muscles. You should have natural looking expressions--not forced. If anything, look through different magazines and take note of the models' faces. But don't just practice the sexy Victoria's Secret pout--that gets old, quick--also know how to smile genuinely, how to laugh in a photogenic way that looks great on camera, even doing silly expressions can help broaden your skills. Have fun with it!

That's so true! I read somewhere about the Olsen twins that they say "prune" when having a photograph taken! I don't know if that is a lie or not but when you look at them, it does look at that.  Even I noticed how tense my face is in photographs because I hate having pictures taken! Looking in the mirror to sort your face out is a great idea because sometimes what you think your face is doing - it isn't!