Posing
Garden photoshoot poses
Gardens invite standing about, which is the least interesting thing anyone can do in one. Give people a reason to be there.
Posing
Gardens invite standing about, which is the least interesting thing anyone can do in one. Give people a reason to be there.
In short: Gardens invite standing about, which is the least interesting thing anyone can do in one. Give people a reason to be there.
Movement plus a natural line for the composition.
A real task; also puts the face into softer, lower light.
Grounded, and it stops the wandering.
Frames the subject and uses the best light in the garden.
Hands occupied, and it explains why you are there.
For the last half hour of light — warm, calm and no squinting.
Start with walking along a path — the first two minutes are warm-up and the first pose should be the one that asks least of anyone. Move to crouched at a plant and seated on a step or bench once the shoulders have dropped, and keep turned into low sun, eyes closed for the end, when self-consciousness has gone. Shoot each one in bursts through the movement rather than holding it: the usable frames sit between the instructions, not on them.
Two metres back with the lens zoomed rather than close and wide — distance is what keeps facial proportions natural. Camera at or slightly above eye level for portraits, at chest height for full length. Below eye level enlarges whatever is nearest the lens, which is rarely what you want in frame.
Standing centred on the lawn at midday. Overhead sun plus a flat green background is the least flattering combination a garden offers.
Shooting at midday. Standing people in front of a flower border so their head sits in a bush. And forgetting that a lawn reflects green light upward onto faces, which is the reason garden portraits so often need colour correction.