Photographing Women: Posing, Lighting, and Shooting Techniques for Portrait and Fashion Photography by Rojas Jeff

Author:Rojas, Jeff [Rojas, Jeff]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rocky Nook
Published: 2016-12-01T16:00:00+00:00

FORGET WHAT YOU LEARNED ABOUT POSING

A couple years ago, I wrote a relatively controversial article called “Three Reasons Why I Hate Posing,” for a website called Fstoppers. In it, I explained that there are dozens of classes, courses, and books discussing posing—and that they were all useless. If you’re reading this book and wondering why I’ve said that, given that the title is Photographing Women: Posing, Lighting, and Shooting Techniques for Portrait and Fashion , don’t worry—this hasn’t been a huge waste of time. Let me be clear; posing means nothing without understanding context.

While you can pose your client to look their best physically in a scene, it doesn’t mean that their body language fits with the tone of the image or the reason you’re photographing them. For instance, photographing a doctor to accentuate her curves doesn’t necessarily suit the scene if you’re photographing her for a professional portrait. You have to understand why you’re photographing her in the first place.

One of my favorite things to do is watch behind-the-scenes videos of other photographers. Why? Because it allows me to step into the mind of someone else and analyze what they see and why they’re making the creative decisions they’re making. Take, for example, when Annie Leibovitz photographed Keith Richards for Louis Vuitton. During this shoot, she said, “Keith . . . you really don’t even have to pose. When you play the guitar, you do that, it’s the best stuff.”

My takeaway from this was that in her mind, she was going for a more candid and comfortable photograph, nothing that looked contrived. Having had the opportunity to work with subjects who have worked with Annie in the past, it seems as if that’s her usual approach. Beyond posing, there’s a sense of genuineness about each photograph.

I’ve found that I’m able to get more out of my subjects when I’m more focused on communication than micro-posing every element of the scene. While it’s a delicate balance, it’s one that will allow you to understand your client’s body language better and one that will ultimately impact the way they’re perceived in the photographs.

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