Posing
The teacher knows the poses. The photographer's job is angle, timing and telling them what is not reading in two dimensions.
In short: The teacher knows the poses. The photographer's job is angle, timing and telling them what is not reading in two dimensions.
Almost every standing pose reads best side-on.
Level with the centre of the shape, not above it.
Frames from the second hold are always better than the first — muscles settle.
Fingers extended, eyes where they belong in the pose. Unfinished hands ruin an otherwise clean line.
The moment between two poses is more interesting than either.
For the about page: the teacher, not the practice.
Start with profile to camera — the first two minutes are warm-up and the first pose should be the one that asks least of anyone. Move to camera at hip height and hold, then release, then hold again once the shoulders have dropped, and keep seated close portrait 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.
Shooting from standing height down at a floor pose, which flattens everything. And asking for advanced poses cold — the injury risk is real and it shows in the face.
Shooting down at floor poses. Using a busy studio wall covered in certificates. And photographing at the end of a class, when the teacher is too tired to hold anything cleanly.