Posing
Direction has to be specific and quiet. Vague instructions read as a test and produce the folded arms.
In short: Direction has to be specific and quiet. Vague instructions read as a test and produce the folded arms.
The default. Solves the hands without looking arranged.
Only works with the weight genuinely shifted.
The frame that gets used, almost every time.
Grounded, comfortable, no fidgeting.
Whatever they brought.
One frame, deliberate. Often the portrait they choose.
Start with hands in pockets, thumbs out — the first two minutes are warm-up and the first pose should be the one that asks least of anyone. Move to leaning against a wall, weight back and walking, looking away once the shoulders have dropped, and keep straight to lens, no smile 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.
Asking for a big smile, and any pose a parent suggests from the sidelines. Both produce the same closed face.
Parents standing behind the photographer. Booking an hour when twenty-five minutes was the real window. And overruling the outfit, which decides the mood of the whole session before the first frame.