Posing 101
Here's how you can help teach your child how to pose.
One of the most common opportunities available to children, when they are a part of the talent industry, is print work, often referred to as stills. Print work involves creating photographic images for printed marketing materials such as brochures, flyers, magazines, catalogues, newspapers, billboards and the list goes on. These days however they are most commonly used to appear digitally and online for a website or social media purposes.
This is why it is so important for kids that are a part of the industry to be prepared for how to pose when it comes to print work. So, we are going to help.
Whether your child needs help preparing for an audition where test shots will be taken or for a print work photoshoot, they need to know how to pose, rather than just standing there. Knowing how to pose will also help the kids to build confidence, calm nerves and stand out in a positive way at the shoot.
Here are some of the best tips from our experts to help your child when it comes to posing. Remember practice makes perfect.
1. In order to create the best poses your child needs to pose in an asymmetrical, which is where one side of the model’s body is doing something different to the other.
2. One of the most common ways to create asymmetry is by shifting your balance, e.g. Try dipping your shoulder or your hip.
3. You want to create a shape with your body to ensure an interesting image. Posing can be looked at as creating shapes with your body. When posing think about the basic outline of your body and try to create interesting asymmetrical shapes with it.
4. Don’t cut off your limbs when posing. This is often referred to as foreshortening, pointing your arms, hands, fingers, legs or feet directly towards or away from the camera can create the illusion that they have been removed.
5. Even though models are often required to ‘hold’ poses, you can still create the illusion of movement such as walking. Try planting one foot in front of the other on the ground and stepping forward with the back foot. Practice holding poses at different points during the step.
6. Tilt Your Head. One of the easiest ways to create an interesting and natural-looking pose is by slightly tilting your head to one side or the other. However be careful here not to tilt your head too far, as this can easily ruin a shot.
7. Use your hands. Posing with your hands so they look natural is a real skill. So it is well worth spending a considerable amount of time just practising posing with your hands.
8. Without taking it to the extreme, bend your joints. The more bends in your body the better. Including elbows, wrists, knees, ankles and toes.
9. As a follow on from bending your joints, remember not to hyperextend your joints. Locked joints especially knees and elbows can look like that part of your body is bent in the opposite way that it’s meant to. So try to keep joints bent or at least straight.
10. Lastly, create the shapes of letters if you need some help thinking of poses. A lot of interesting poses can be created by forming the letter ‘C’ or the letter ‘S’ with your body.
All of these tips are a great start to learning how to pose or helping your child learn how to pose. As we mentioned practice makes perfect so continue to practise until their skills are perfect. Turning up to an audition or a shoot prepared and ready to strike a pose will be the best way for your child to stand out and bring confidence to their shoot.
