Posing
Posing tips for women that are not just 'hand on hip'
Weight on the back foot, front knee soft, shoulders angled and uneven, hands occupied, chin forward and down — and movement between every frame…
Posing
Weight on the back foot, front knee soft, shoulders angled and uneven, hands occupied, chin forward and down — and movement between every frame…
In short: Weight on the back foot, front knee soft, shoulders angled and uneven, hands occupied, chin forward and down — and movement between every frame rather than holding a shape. The hand-on-hip pose is not wrong, it is simply over-used, which makes photographs look generic rather than bad.
Everything above the waist follows the weight. Standing evenly on both feet squares the hips and shoulders; shifting onto the back foot creates a line through the whole body. Cross the front foot slightly over for a narrower stance in a full-length frame.
Symmetry looks like a passport photograph. Drop one shoulder slightly, or bring one forward with the turn of the body. It is a small adjustment and it is the difference between posed and at ease.
Six that always work: in a jacket pocket with the thumb out, adjusting a collar or cuff, holding a cup at chest height, running through the ends of your hair, resting on the opposite forearm, holding a bag strap. Avoid both hands flat on the hips — the elbows form a triangle that dominates the frame.
Chin forward, then slightly down. Lengthen the neck by imagining the crown of the head lifting. Both feel exaggerated and neither is visible as a pose in the photograph.
Sit forward on the edge rather than back into the chair, which prevents slumping and keeps the line of the back. Cross ankles rather than knees for a longer leg line, and keep at least one elbow away from the body so the arm reads separately.
Walk towards the camera and back. Turn away and look over the shoulder. Sit down mid-frame. The strongest images in almost any set are the ones taken while something was changing — which is also why they are hard to reproduce deliberately.
Hand on hip with the elbow pushed out, the lifted-chin look-away, and both feet planted square. Each was a genuinely good solution and each is now so widely used that it reads as a stock photograph rather than a portrait.
Weight on the back foot, body turned 30–45 degrees from the lens, shoulders slightly uneven, hands occupied, chin forward and down — then keep moving between frames.
Give them a task: a pocket with the thumb out, adjusting a sleeve, holding a cup, resting on the opposite forearm. Hands with nothing to do are the most common cause of an awkward frame.
Turn away from the lens rather than facing it, create a visible gap between arm and torso, keep the camera at or above eye level, and ask for side light rather than flat frontal light.
Next step
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