The Comprehensive Guide To Mastering Potrait Model Poses v1.0

Dear Friends



I has just completed a guide to mastering posing when it comes to portrait modeling

Fundamentals aside, in my work the complexities of a modeling pose have been broken down into 3 distinctive parts with supporting influences taken into consideration.

The reason of this is to package it for ease of understanding, application and eventual mastery =)




The Anatomy Of Any Pose Is As Follows

A) Body - The body is the base of any pose, it provides the foundation for the pose.

B) Facial expression - The face gives emotion to the pose, it provides the soul for the pose

C) Body Language - Hands are an essential part of body language, hand posing provides sophistication and flair to the pose




Fundamentals Aside, The Supporting Influence On Posing Is As Follows

Visualization - You will not be able to pose well if you have no mental image of how your pose will look like. Familiarization on how you look when you do the pose in order to “see it” in your mind.

Experience - Knowing what pose to use in the given situation

Camera Charm - Camera Charm is the single element which distinguishes each and every portrait model to be unique not only by looks, it is the factor which reaches out to the audience of the photograph and grabs them by the collar and make them pay attention.




The fundamentals of posing and each of the points above is elaborated in detail with the aid of illustrations at http://famecherry.com/models/posing-mastery-v1-0





In my effort to better understand the human condition, I have spent the past 12 months gathering raw data in a standardized manner. The creation of this guide is one of the practical applications based on the analytical results from the data that I have collected. Although I would admit that my work is still in its infancy, I hope that my guide would be helpful for you.

Should you have any feedback on my work please let me know, it would mean a lot to me and it will aid countless models and photographers who have an interest in portraiture.

Thank you very much

John Kok said:

Dear Friends



I has just completed a guide to mastering posing when it comes to portrait modeling

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John,

Welcome back!

I must say that you are both brave and generous. To take on a task of breaking down the elements of modeling is a huge challenge. Essentially, you're trying to analyze human communication through body language. The inclusion of that last word opens up the door to so many hurdles of culture and custom you have to overcome.

Still, you have not only produce something that is useful, but also been generous is providing it for free!

So John, as a start, thanks for this. I am intrigued by the idea that the pose should be supported by muscle action not by simple gravity. That seems a major statement. I have to re-read all you have written and put my thinking cap on.


Still,

This contribution is given with a sense of openness and good will. I believe that models and photographers can benefit from reading and considering your ideas. That, in itself, can enliven the reaction and magic that can occur between an idea of the photographer and the work of the model in expressing and sculpting that set of human thoughts and feelings with their body.

Asher

I found some useful information in reading your article, thanks.

Just my personal opinion though, 12 months of "raw data gathering" is not nearly enough. When I look for information on posing and portraiture I usually follow these links. Created by lifetime portrait photographers.

http://photocamel.com/forum/tutorials/16516-rules-good-portraiture.html

http://photocamel.com/forum/tutoria...s-fine-portraiture-corrective-techniques.html

http://lumitouch.com/benstudiotutorial/index.html

Asher,



Thank you for your kind and generous words of encouragement ! =)



You are absolutely right about the title ! Thank you ! I have changed the title appropriately to "A"

You are right about centering the pictures, I will get about looking for the codes to make them look the way they should

jake klein said:

I found some useful information in reading your article, thanks.

Just my personal opinion though, 12 months of "raw data gathering" is not nearly enough. When I look for information on posing and portraiture I usually follow these links. Created by lifetime portrait photographers.

http://photocamel.com/forum/tutorials/16516-rules-good-portraiture.html

http://photocamel.com/forum/tutoria...s-fine-portraiture-corrective-techniques.html

http://lumitouch.com/benstudiotutorial/index.html

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Hello Jake =)



Cheers !


I have followed your links

wow ! this is a wealth of technical material that I can digest and integrate to my existing work ! Thank you !!!!! =)

John,

I must admit, I really like this gentle image. I'd love to hear her sing. So it's quite believable. I'd consider going a step further and add some colored gels to get the ambience of a club, or else perhaps, get a pro mic setup for recording, where the lighting might be tungsten, but then she's be in comfortable attire, likely jeans and a shirt.

Asher

I like the shot. There's a nice ease to her pose, a nice flow to her form as well.

Since it's captioned "Critique Desired" Here are a few thing I noticed that may be of use:

Hands, in model photography, are tough and really important. Personally I'd have tweaked her pose a little regarding her hands; the thumb and forefinger over her head misdirect my eye, I would have closed the gap avoiding that finger from pointing me somewhere. And the hand on the mic, fingers are spread open a little too wide. Fashion shots often call for quite contrived positioning of fingers and hands. Fingers when spread wide create a claw-like appearance and can over-dominate the shot.

I wouldn't always agree with centering a model, I quite like her off center as you have her.

Deeper lighting and less saturation, considering the black bg, might put her in her environment a little more effectively and yes a gel or two to throw in a stage/spotlight feel might have also added something rich to the image, her shoulder glares out a tiny bit too much for my eye.

But it is a very decent image and it does have it's refined qualities, I like it.

Julian Knight said:

I wouldn't always agree with centering a model, I quite like her off center as you have her.

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Julian,

There's no argument for centering the model in the frame, LOL! Rather its placement on the page with white space around it is almost always critical to allowing a picture space to breathe.

Asher

I find the two most important aspects for me to be timing, and charm. I'm a bit of an extrovert, so it's easier for me to charm whomever I wish to photograph, than find a model who knows how to act naturally. Real happiness, introversion, and cogitation just don't look the same as when the same are posed.

It's not easy for some, however, so I know that's not necessarily helpful.

Adrian Wareham said:

It's not easy for some, however, so I know that's not necessarily helpful.

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Hi Adrian,

It's more helpful than you might consider. In fact, the photographer is as much (if not more) a contribution to the result of successful model photography (although a quality model will benefit anyone's output quality).

Cheers,
Bart

I hope we'll have updates on your posing ideas after you digest some of the ideas here.

Asher