- As a photographer, you need to know how to pose people who aren't models. People are gonna come to you
with all sorts of awkwardness, and you need to know how to dial that in and make them look amazing. In this video, I'm gonna go over some rules to live by and never forget, so you can pose people and
make them look amazing. (upbeat party music) Hey love, I'm Gia Goodrich, and welcome back to my YouTube channel that's all about helping take
you, my fellow photographer, from pretty good to frickin' fabulous! Today, we are digging into posing, and I'm gonna show you how to
pose people who aren't models, and do so in an easy breezy way, that makes them look amazing. But first, if you're new around here, take a minute to consider subscribing, (graphics click and ding)
because every week I come out with new content that's
designed to make you the most badass photographer you can be! Let's get into the video,
let's do this, okay! The first rule in terms of posing to know is anything that's closer to the camera is gonna look bigger, and anything further away
is gonna look smaller. So (chuckles) this really comes in handy when you have people with
bodies where there are parts where they would like to
emphasize versus de-emphasize. For example, my hips. I would not like them to be the biggest (chuckles) thing in the frame, so what I have subjects do is put any part that they want to de-emphasize
further from the camera. For example, a lot of
times what I'll say is, put your weight on your back hip, boom. And then that takes that back hip away already from being full and frontal. This leg should be totally loose. Then a lot of times what
I'll have them do is, it's kind of, if you know
ballet, fifth position, it's a little bit close like that, but it's just putting this foot at a little bit of a diagonal. But that subtle hip shift takes the hips and makes them feel a little
more flattering there. And the next thing is that
people are going to be totally awkward with
their hands. (chuckles) And giving them options is
always a great way to go. I love photographing people with pockets, because if they're nervous and awkward, that is a great way to
get their hands engaged and get their arms and
everything just under control. 'Cause people will literally, you'll put them here and they'll be like, okay, but what do I do with my hands? The best thing is you actually are comfs, plus you got pockets.
- I do have pockets. - And pockets are amazing
because they allow you to have range to a whole
different level of body language, so you can like serve
it just a little bit. (funky music) I always pose from the bottom up, because once you have somebody's
body language dialed in, then you can address the face, but if you try to adjust the face, then you might be moving them
around lower, and you know. It all falls apart real quick. Now, I will have them put
their hips back like this, and then I will say, put
your hands in your pockets. When they do that, it's not
keeping the elbows wide, it's putting the elbows back. The key to this is having them pull up through the base of the spine, so what I will say is,
and I will go like this, pretend there's a string right here, and pull up through
the base of your spine. And then they will go woop! Now, what everybody does is
they will lift their shoulders, and you'll say now drop the
shoulders, and they'll do that. Put your weight in your
back hip, bend this knee, and then put your hands here. Now, other options with the
hands is they can put one here, they can put them here,
they can put one here, they can also rest them down. If they rest them down, you
don't want toy soldier arms, because this is creating
maximum thickness, and maximum awkwardarificness. (bell dings) The key here is to have a
slight bend in the elbow. Once they have that, that's great, and then rolling the shoulders back. That creates a beautiful silhouette. In painting it's called contrapposto, which means there's a
little bit of an S curve. That's really what's
flattering for people. The other thing to remember is that anything that's
square to the camera is going to be experienced
in its full width. With a lot of people, they don't want their full width to be experienced. (man flutters tongue) So a lot of what you'll be doing
is putting them on an axis. So for example, I will
say, rotate to the side and I'll say, rotate to this diagonal. Then I'll say, put the
weight on the back hip, rotate your front foot out, and then put your hands in your pockets. And this way, they have a really nice lean way of experiencing their body. However, when you have people do this, a lot of times they'll sink, and they'll start to get really '90s model ghoulish golem world (bell dings) And that's when you go back to, pull up through the base of the spine and drop the shoulders
and then put the weight in the back hip there. The other thing that's important to do is a lot of times people will
relax their abdominal wall, which looks pretty attractive. I never say suck in your stomach, because when somebody does
that, they go (sucks air) and all of a sudden their breath is gone, there's tension all through here. What you wanna say is,
tighten your abdominal wall. Everybody knows that, that's
a feeling of doing a crunch. So it's going from here to
totally relaxed to here. Now, when you pair that with pulling up through the base of the spine,
now their ribcage is lifted, and this appears to be pretty flat-ish. The other thing to think about is a lot of people have a hard time giving you variations,
giving you things to do. And when you think about
what a lot of people want, they will say that they want something that feels effortless, that feels relaxed, and you're like, okay, great,
are you gonna give me that? No, I have to get it
from you, okay, awesome. (bell dings) The best way I found to do that is to give them a little motion. Now here's the big mistake. Most people will say,
you know, dance, or rock, and then people will get
really uncomfortable, and they'll make all these ugly shapes, like if you froze that,
ew, if you froze this, ew. And they'll do all this
stuff that's not helpful. The way to get around that is to have them do little motions. A lot of times what I'll
say is face this corner and rotate to me. And then I'll have them
do that a few times. And the more they do that, the more relaxed they'll get, right? Or I'll say, you're gonna end up here, but take a step back, and
walk through that spot. Called your name, you're like, what? And then maybe taking a step forward, sort of a thing,
- Okay. - so we have a little bit of
this like movement in the hips, and kind of stuff. (sexy electronic music) Sometimes I'll do it also with a movement that's a little more
creative, for example, this other video right
here that I just did for how to photograph
somebody with muscles, we wanted to get a lot
of that dancer energy. So then I'll say, what if
you do something like this, and I'll motion here. So what I'm doing is having
one motion isolated at a time, reset, one motion
isolated at a time, reset. The key is to being able to give them one little thing they can focus on doing, so pretty soon their body
knows what it's gonna do, and then you can really
work on expression. The other secret to body
language that I will show you is connecting the chin to the shoulder. Now this really comes into play when you're dealing with
moments in here, right? You're dealing with a tighter frame. The key to that is not only
dialing in the upper body and the lower body, but it's
also curling yourself up. But, the first thing we do is
we get those hips in position, so I'll say, put your weight on your back hip, then they're there. The next thing that I'll do
is I will dial in their hands. Now, some people are
gonna look better here, some people are gonna look better here, some people here, you just
kind of have to feel it out, depending on how big their hands are, depending on the proportions,
you just need to feel it out, especially if it's really
about this moment here. Now, when you have somebody get here, and let's say they're here, you've told them to pull up
through the base of the spine and drop the shoulders,
and you say look to me, they'll go like this. Now, this is like the owl that
looks really awkward, right? (owl hooting) It's kind of like you're
giving yourself a hug, and kind of like, (giggles). And then connecting your chin there. - Yeah, it's like a strain.
- Obvs, obvs. - But like, I'll get it once you--
- Yeah, but it's help if you tilt there, see?
- Mm-hmm. - Okay. Good, tilting the head
this way just a little bit. And so you can even have them rotate more over their shoulder, or less, but every time the chin is
connecting to the shoulder. The other trick that I
just love, love, love, is how to accentuate a
curve in somebody's hip, and really make the eye go where you want. And this is (chuckles) a
little trick with the arm, when you bring the arm straight down, it's adding width, right? When you bend at the elbow
and take that elbow back, it leads your eye along these curves in a really beautiful and flattering way. This can also happen when you
put the hand in the pocket, which is why a lot of times,
I'll have people do this, and then roll this shoulder back, and it gives a really lovely option that accentuates the curve, which leads the eye along
the beautiful places of the curve without adding width. The last thing to know
about posing people, which is one of the most powerful things, is when it comes to negative space. Now, again, going to this
principle about maximum width, if I have my body standing like this with my hips pitched forward, which is honestly how
most people will usually (chuckles) stand in front of you, I have this full width
across that we're seeing. Now, one of the things that tells us how wide or how narrow a shape is, is when we see those boundaries. So if I turn to the side, for example, what you're gonna see is
this full width across here. The way to counterbalance that
is by adding negative space. When you see that negative space, you know the end of that shape. And if you look at a lot of
magazines, a lot of imagery, really, triangles are the
type of negative space that are more aesthetically appealing. So trying to think about
how you can create triangles for the people that you're photographing and how to make sure that
negative space exists there. The important thing to know is that a lot of times with garments, you won't get maximum negative space, because the garment will be, you know, filling in that negative space. So that's when we clamp it, to give them that negative space there. Also pay attention to my rotation, right? If I'm here versus here versus here, there are moments where you experience more of the negative
space or by your angle, you are not seeing it anymore. So what you wanna try
to do with your subject is give them negative
space, give them triangles, and give them options so that they really are having the most
flattering body languages. So here are some quick examples. Okay, I say come here with your legs. I can say put your weight on
this hip and kick this one out. I can say bring your hands
here, rest down here, so we have negative space
here and negative space here. Thinking about different ways you can add negative space to their posing equation that will optimize their body language. Congratulations, you made it this far, which means you are on
your way to being able to pose anybody that crosses your path. If you liked this video,
give it a thumbs-up. It means a lot to me to know that you are digging this content, and take a second and comment, because I would love
to know your thoughts. Was there one posing tip that
really was amazing to you? Or are there things that you're excited to use in the future? Or, maybe something you
want more information about, let me know, let me know! All right, I'll see you next
week for a brand new video. Bye!
(upbeat party music) We are digging into posing. So that they look
amazing, love you forever, and give you all the money, 'kay? Can we go again? All about taking you,
my fellow photographer, from pretty good to pro. What I have, so what I was gonna say, hold on, 'cause those
are two different things. So it all falls apart, it
all, it all falls apart. Why can't I say that? Can you zoom in a little bit more? Oh no, let's zoom back out! (hands clap) The, mm. Something like, or wait, it's so weird being on this side of it. We can do the outro, (hands clap) right? Woot, good, right?
- Yeah.
