Posing Guide for Photographing Women: 7 More Poses to Get You 21 Different Photos [Part II]

A post by Kaspars Grinvalds from Posing App.

If you haven’t read the first article in this series, I would kindly recommend you to start with Posing Guide for Photographing Women: 7 Poses to Get You 21 Different Photos – Part I where we started with 7 standing poses.

Let’s continue this time with 7 sitting poses for female subjects and their possible variations in order to get at least three different shots for each pose.

Pose 1

Nice and simple pose to start with. Ask your model to sit comfortably with knees placed together. One hand relaxed on the knees while the other hand placed near the neck. And remind her to straighten the spine.

Photo 1 – This basic starting point provides you with many different choices to continue with. But in the very beginning you may want to just test different shooting angles and heights and check what works best for your model.

Photo 2 – After I got the first shot similar to the sample, I asked the model to lower both arms and rest them on the knees.

Photo 3 – And finally I returned to the initial pose and took a close-up portrait shot.

Pose 2

Another easy pose with hands placed together between the legs. Notice that arms should not be completely straightened, rather slightly bend at the elbows. Also in the sample pose it is illustrated that toes should be straightened in order to raise the knees slightly up.

Photo 4 – The model easily recreated the sample pose and we could move on with some variations.

Photo 5 – This shot is exactly the same pose just taken from a side. Minor change but already different result.

Photo 6 – And again one more close-up portrait shot but this time the model is looking down her own body.

Pose 3

Another very simple pose with one leg crossed over the other. And I have to say here that including the legs in the frame can be challenging because it doesn’t work with all body types. If your model is curvy, consider framing closer comps (for example as in photos with the previous pose).

Photo 7 – My model was with slim body type, nice legs and stylish shoes, so I chose to go for a full height frame.

Photo 8 – In exactly the same manner as with the previous sample I simply took this shot from a different angle. The model didn’t change anything, just turned her head to the camera.

Photo 9 – After that we repeated the already tested posture with one hand close to the neck. This hand movement is a very nice variation and works in many posing scenarios.

Pose 4

This pose however is even more demanding than the previous one because it is all about the legs and thus there is no point of cropping them out. And nice shoes are a must.

Photo 10 – Recreating it isn’t hard as the pose is fun and creates nice and playful mood to the photo.

Photo 11 – Here the model is looking down and kind of fixes her shoe. Very subtle changes but completely different photo.

Photo 12 – And once again the same pose but taken from a side creates one more variation.

Pose 5

Simple and easy pose for the model sitting on the ground. And to my mind, in contrast to the previous on the chair poses, sitting on the ground works better barefoot.

Photo 13 – The pose is kind of very natural and is easy to recreate. And as a result the model looks really relaxed.

Photo 14 – After recreating the initial pose, different hand placement options are available. Here for example the model raised them and connected on the knee.

Photo 15 – Only two minor adjustments to the initial pose were made here. Putting one hand up in the hair and slightly curving upper body part to the side. This also lowers the raised knee. The result is another friendly and natural looking pose.

Pose 6

Another easy sitting on the ground pose. Very suitable for different close-up portrait shots.

Photo 16 – While sitting in the initial pose try making two different versions with only the front arm and then with both arms raised on the knees. Both versions works well.

Photo 17 – A slight hand placement variation. This variation works very well for tight crops.

Photo 18 – And don’t be afraid to be spontaneous from time to time. This photo was just an improvisation on the go while sitting in the initial pose.

Pose 7

And finally I purposely chose also one simple portrait pose for the sitting samples. Despite the fact that only face is visible in the frame, it’s more comfortable for the model to recreate it while being seated.

Photo 19 – Here I tried to illustrate the previous statement and showed the sitting position. You may visualize how it would work cropped only around the face.

Photo 20 – Keeping the “portrait with hands around the face” concept in mind, try different variations by moving hands around and making different head tilts.

Photo 21 – In order to achieve the most natural postures in the image ask the model to really move hands around. In this particular example she moved her hand through her hair and I made several shots and afterwards chose the best hand position.

So, this was a process of using 7 sample poses as the starting point to create 21 different photos. I encourage you to try this approach to posing your subjects in a similar workflow and most probably you will find your own and even better ways to achieve some great results.

All of these illustrations and many more posing samples are available on Posing App for your mobile devices.

Kaspars Grinvalds is a photographer working and living in Riga, Latvia. He is the author of Posing App where more poses and tips about people photography are available.

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