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Lesson Info

Day 11: Posing & Shooting - Groups of 2, 3, and 4

Today's challenge is about shooting two, three, and four girls. This is about selling the girls' day out. This is about folio building, and booking multiple, multiple bookings and sales because you're increasing the amount of people that you can bring into the studio. So, when I sell a shoot to one girl, I want her to bring a second. If she brings a third and forth, I look at that as a bonus to sell more and shoot more to my clients. It's about creating more marketing, easier marketing, entice marketing, that make a whole group of girls want to come spend a day with you and there, you've already booked four shoots (snap) just like that. So, we need to know how to pose these groups, so that we can take gorgeous group shots, that we can use in our advertising and sell to our clients. Let's get started posing twos, threes, and fours in the studio. So, today we've got four beautiful sisters and we're gonna pose them from twos, threes, and fours, so that you can see as I go up through the g...

raduation how I change the pose ever so slightly, but that you can start with two and add on so that your shoots are efficient and fast. Today, I've got the girls standing and I'm gonna do my typical twos pose. I call it "the love heart." That's where you put your arm around each other at the back so Gabby you come in, and they touch the hips together. So, it's not front onto the camera. Sorry, it's not side-on to the camera. They're not facing each other. They're facing the camera, but it's really important that I bring them around in the front. Gabby move your feet to there. Then, I get them to hold their elbows in the front and the reason I do that is I want it a little lower, sort of about there, not quite on that 90 degree angle. And I just want to create a love heart, and then I get them to bring their chin to the front of their own shoulder, so Gabby goes that way, and Jen you come this way and long chin, nice to the end, and then they come together. So, Jen, you just turned away from Gabby a little bit too much, so bring your shoulder in, that's it and then look at the camera. So, I don't wanna do this, separate. I don't just wanna say "tip together" and have that down tip, because then, that happens. So, what I wanna do is create the exact same pose, so stand tall, is bring your chin and your shoulder together first, so they work their own body language, and then they go towards each other, and if you can do that, then they can almost go cheek-to-cheek, but the chin stays out towards the shoulder, so I'm just gonna take a shot of this to show you, and I do a quick little "joosh" here, and I make sure the hand's relaxed around the back. Everybody looks good. And, I'm just gonna take a quick shot to reference this one. So from here, the one thing I don't like about this, and this is a really good example, probably from your camera Shawn, is I can see Jen hasn't engaged her hips and her feet aren't comfortable yet. So Jen, I need you to just turn in to Gabby, and just, that's a girl, just find the weight on that foot. This puts a bit of shape into her backside, bit of shape through here, and she looks more comfortable. So what she done was she turned her body in to the camera, but she hadn't turned her legs. So, she was sitting like this, and I can tell that relaxed position straightaway. So it's about relaxing into her position. Now, remember, I'm going to make sure always that when I photograph them their face must be on the same plane. So Gabby's ahead of you Jen, you need to come forward with your chin. Push forward, push forward, push forward, push forward, stop. And as soon as they're on the same plane, I can set my focal point at 4.0, or whatever I want to set it at. So let me take a shot. Right. Jen, I just need you to walk your feet closer to Gabby, and then fall at, that's it. Now, tip your head towards her and chin towards me more. Don't move. This is absolutely beautiful and right here, I know I've got a gorgeous shot. Chin forward, and down Jen, down a bit more. That's it, exactly right. Tiny little smile, girls. Little bit more Gabby. That's gorgeous. Now, I've done lots of variations of this pose. I can laugh this up, I can get them in close, I can get them to squeeze, I can get them to wrap their arms around each other. This is my sisters pose, my best friends pose, my mother and daughter pose. Remember, if this is a couple, then they need to be joined at the hips. So, they need to be facing each other. Not pulling away from each other. That's body language. So, this is where I start my two always. If they're curvy, their bums go back, so if they were curvy they would tip forward, towards the camera, because then the weight would go away from the camera and I would slim them down. Now, just to show you how good that works, I'm gonna slim these two down even further. And put your cheeks together. That's it. So push your bums back. Now, when their faces project forward, and I tip them back, I lollipop them, because they're already lean. So we only do that with curvy bodies. So, come back upright, and then if you can move around this pose a little bit more, I'll show you a couple of really cool ones. I really like it when, you can drop this arm back Gabby, you can stay there, and I just want, Gabby, for you to hang this arm back, that's it. So Gabby's opening her shoulder out, and now Jen's tipping towards her. So, tip down that way. So you can change this pose, ever so slightly. And just make it gorgeous. But just move around within the pose. Also, another cool tip. Here let me take a shot of that. You've just got this naughty little number 50 there. Okay, so Gabby just open up this way. Let that hand go, there, that's it. Jen go towards her more. So really tip in now. That's it. Perfect. So, I love doing sister shots like this. Chin forward and down, Jen, little bit more. Good girl, that's beautiful. And, also, one of my absolute favorites is a beauty shot I do, Gabby you turn around, turn your back to her. And both of you, go shoulder to shoulder. So there, like that, and both of you turn your chin. So just keep your hands there. Turn your chin all the way to your front. Don't tip back, Gabby, so tip forward. Move your head, but bring your chin around this way. That's it, and I do a double face shot here. And this looks incredible. So, Gabby, what I need you to do is to just bring your chin around to the front, that's it. Now see how far forward she is, Jen? You need to go back, Gabby, that's it. Now this one here, I do it like that. And I just think that this is so beautiful. Now, notice Gabby's too side-on, so let's kind of pull her this way and bring your chin down, Gabby, to the front, and give me a little tip that way. good girl. Jen you're gonna go and meet her in the middle, there. See them come into play there? They both came in nicely. Does that look good, Susan? See, now I want you to work the shoulder, Jen. So rolling it forward gives us that gorgeous body language and instantly it turns into a beauty shot and I'm here. And I can shoot this horizontally, so I'm gonna show you this. Gabby, bring your chin around to me a little bit more, and you can open your body to do that. Notice Gabby's also, weight on the front foot, so Gabby swap weight onto the back foot. Don't move, just push your bum back. Good girl, that's it. Just twist hands, girls, and just. Don't so much hold hands, but yeah. Exactly right. And Jen, forward and down with your chin, this way. That's it more and more, now stop. Okay so, from here, I would shoot this nice and close. Okay both of you need to tip that way, but, Gabby come back. No, no, come back with your chin. Now Jen, come forward. Okay, so I'm right in here, and this is where I would add another sister. Cara, come in here. And what I want you to do is go and face Gabby. So absolutely beautiful. Three different colored hair. Looks like Estee Lauder ad. Now I need you to come in as close as you can so I can get your three faces and look that way at the camera. Now, you two need to tip towards Cara. Okay, so nice and close, nice and close. And I'm creating this same heart shape. Are we out of frame? Girls, can you all wiggle this way? Like, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, stop, stop, stop. Is that better? Okay, now, tip in. Now, I've gotta make sure I engage them. So, I'm gonna put this hand into here, but I want different hands. So then, relax, relax, relax. Now, can you turn your chin this way, Cara? No, to the camera. All the way around, and then engage into Gabby. And then pull back a little, tiny bit in from the camera, that's it, stop. Alright, Jen, you engage that way, and then come in. Gabby, come in to the middle, then I've got three faces. Now, this is still a horizontal shot for me. Long chin, Gabby, push it forward and down. Jen same, forward and down. No, don't turn away from me, just towards me with your chin, that's it, keep coming. Gabby go back. I've got to get these girls on the same plane. If they're not on the same plane, someone's gonna be out of focus. I wanna push that focal point. Tiny little smile in the eyes. I'm not gonna shoot this, I'm gonna shoot this up here. This is a beauty face shot. Look at that, right up close. This is about three gorgeous faces. Want a little smile in the eyes, good girl. (laughs) Okay, I need to engage Cara in, so see that? There it is. And as soon as I see that, I get that there. That is absolutely gorgeous shot. Now, it's a beauty shot, not a big smiley smiley fun shot, okay, it's just beautiful. I can bring in my fourth sister here. And I'm still nice and close. So Melanie, come in, and you're gonna do the same thing. So just come into there. I want you to do something a little bit different with your hands so just come in, and then you tip in, chin around this way, and then you're there. And straightaway I'm still close as anything. I've gotta look for these square lines to the camera. So, Gabby go that way, Jen come forward, Cara come in as close as you can, stop with your chin this way. Good girl. Tip in, and Melanie tip in to Jen this way. No, not with your chin, that's a girl. And I can still come in nice and close here. Okay, now, if I'm just gonna do the eyes, beauty shot, I really just wanna crop this nice and close. This is just about getting it in here. So let's take it back to where we were. So Cara you jump out, and Melanie you go on the other side. So we separate the blondes, okay? And I'm gonna take this back to love heart again. So, I'm gonna come back to position one. So, come in, and now I want all of you girls to be engaged hands somewhere. Now, it's not important where their hands are engaged. What's important is that there's a bend in the elbow. Okay, everybody must have a bend in their elbow. Also, everybody takes their weight on their back foot. But they don't tip back, that's it. Perfect. Now, you look at the camera, Melanie, and then, so you've got your chin to your shoulder, and now come towards Gabby. Okay, this is, again, the heart shape, but I'm not gonna shoot it the same way I shot the beauty shot. I'm gonna shoot this more like the family shot. So, come in, and to there. Now, I've gotta make sure all three girls are projecting towards their own shoulder in the front. So, you're coming this way Melanie. That's it. Gabby is going this way, and Jen is that way. But she's coming in on the outside. Then, you all go cheek-to-cheek, that's it. You push forward this way. It's about goin like that. It's not about going like this. They're not Barbie dolls. I don't wanna see this. And it's not the choo-choo train, okay. So we don't wanna be like the choo-choo train. It's wrong, okay? It's here. Connect them, okay? Nobody has a pull to it with somebody else, unless they love them. And so it's a family member, a best friend, a sister. Get them to touch down, link hands, roll over, what ever it takes. Cross over, link fingers, like be here, but connect them to each other. And then, you connect them to their own body language by teaching them that when they come to their own shoulder, look at the change in that. Look at the body language in that when they all connect to their own shoulder. So, straightaway, I'm gonna open Melanie up cause I love there. So, you just keep bringing this chin back to me. Gabby you go down, stay there. And I'm gonna shoot this just like the love heart here. Okay, Gabby I feel like you're pushing back to Jen a little too much so I want you to come that way with the top of your head and that way with your chin. Jen come all the way in to her, that's it. I love this, and there it is. So there's my three girls shot. Now, the three of you, I just want you to push your bum away from me, just a tiny touch. That's it, now open up to me, that's it perfectly. Little wee smile, Gabby. Jen, being your chin around this way a little wee bit more. Perfect, perfect, there it is. I can see they're all lined up. And now, I need, this is for mum and dad. So beautiful big smile girls. Okay, Gabby a little bit. (laughs) I love that. Perfect. Alright. Now, we get our fourth sister. And come in fourth sister. And what I want to do here is straightaway. Now, you're shorter then Jen, so I'm gonna tuck you straight into here. I want you to join with your sisters and I want you just to really come in here. And bring your chin that way. That's it. So you're not lying on her shoulder, but you kind of are coming right into there. And I do the same love heart. I'm gonna pull back here. Melanie, I just need to get you in. Bring your chin around this way. Perfect. And there's my girls there. Now, Jen, chin forward and down to your shoulder. And Cara, come in tight. Tight as you can. Now, interestingly enough, I would put Cara in heels. So just come up onto your, yeah, and come in closer to Jen, that's it. I would put Cara in heels, because she's that little wee bit shorter or, I'll show you a different transition. This is incredible, ladies. Change your hands, I just want Jen bring your chin down just a touch. That was a good hand change. In fact, Gabby bring your chin back, that's it. Bring your chin back to me this way, Gabby, all the way round. That's it, that's it, and here we go. Beautiful big smiles, okay, little bit more, okay. I know you're the baby of the family but, stop misbehaving. Okay, so, have a look at that from the front. You watch this. Change your hands again, ladies. You watch what they did. Change your hands again, ladies. And now, change your hands again, like, just keep changing them for a a little bit. One more time. And reach across. See how they're changing their fingers? They're intertwining. Whatever they do, I then come and correct their arms. Like, I don't mind this being on top of Cara's arm, as long as it's not making Jen's arm look fat, and if any arms are pinned to the body, like this, I'm gonna pull 'em away a little bit. And I'm gonna make sure all shoulders are working constantly so that they get that sexy body language. And I'm gonna make sure all hands look good. So, whatever they do, I want them to do it naturally, and then I wanna correct it. And that's really, really important. Okay, from here, now what I'm gonna do is I can take them through a whole series of laughing shots, okay, I can make them laugh, giggle, look at each other, I can film them in slow motion, do a little fusion of them, whatever it is, but this here, to me, is building up to that sort of family shot. Now, if they're not sisters, if they're all best friends like these girls are, again, we do what we did in the 30 to 40 demographic. This is about taking a group shot at the end that I can then market with, because it's about marketing the experience of them all being photographed together more than the portrait of them all being photographed together, okay? So that's how I go from love heart, up to the four love heart. Now, let's take exactly the same thing and put them on bar stools and create triangles and diamonds. This is exactly the same scenario but I've moved the girls down onto boxes. And the reason I've put them on boxes is 'cause I want to show you how to stagger people when you pose them. This is a vertical shot. All of the other shots we did were horizontal. So, what I'm gonna show you now is a really basic, two-staggered move. What I've got is I've got Melanie sitting on a box with her feet on the ground. She's crossed her legs. And then I've put Gabby on a bar stool behind her. The best bar stool you can buy is one that goes up and down, okay? Because then you can adjust it. Also, white or black depending on where you're gonna shoot it. Gabby's in a nice, big, flowing skirt so I've put her legs on either side of Melanie so that she can come closer to her. Now, what I do is I engage them by bringing Melanie's elbow onto there, and then, I engage Gabby by bringing her forward onto that pose there. And straightaway they come together. Now, the reason that this works so well, sisters, mother and daughter, best friends, and remember if this is gonna be a couple, then you need to join them closer in their body language. So wrapping arms around each other, cheeks together, lips together, but for girls, mother, daughter, just a two-staggered pose, brother and sister, I would be more inclined to always put the boy on the front, because then the girl can touch the boy instead of the other way around so, if it's a brother and sister I would have the boy just sitting normally and the girl on his shoulder. And remember, always looking at the appropriate body language for whatever the relationship is within that image. So, here, I can turn Melanie so she can work her shoulder in the front and bring your chin back to camera and still look great. Gabby can cave down through here, and her posture's really good, Gabby was sitting upright, like this and leaning forward and it looked wrong, so I told Gabby to cave in here, and then come down to her and then it's really Vogue, supermodel. You know, it's not slouchy, because what you see is the connection between their two heads. So, straightaway, I can bring Gabby forward. And then I just want you to push back Melanie, and then bring you chin around this way. Don't tip back to her, and now bring your chin down. Okay, see how they're both engaged right there. And this is how I'm gonna take the shot for you. So, when I take the shot it's one and two, just like that, and I can do this, of course, on any color, I'm shooting right on Melanie's eye line. So, I'm just below Gabby's eye line. I'm right on Melanie's and I can also get them to connect hands, hold hands. I can get Gabby to put this arm across and they can link fingers, like you can put this hand up Melanie, and just grab her hand there. I can get them to link fingers. If it was a mother and daughter, I'd get them to embrace all the way around, so mum was holding her daughter, I would pull them in tight like that. There's so many great options, as long as she's sitting higher. Now, if I put Gabby down on the same level, she wouldn't be able to do any of that. And, also, I need to be able to move Melanie within here, and then move Gabby inside there. So, I'm bringing Gabby down to Melanie, not the other way around. The biggest mistake everybody makes is Gabby sits upright, Melanie comes in her body language. That's not how it works, okay? It's all about her pushing forward and looking hot with her shoulder and chin down here, and Gabby projecting down into there. That works straightaway. Now, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna add on, so I bring in the third sister, and straightaway I'm gonna get Jen to come in and stand at the back. So Jen, come right into here. What I'm trying to create here, and I'm gonna stand back, is for Jen to be the perfect triangle. So, you're gonna come up and over. It's really hard to do for Jen, she's standing in heels, so that she's a little bit taller. I can connect Jen's hands here, and then I have this beautiful staggered pose. So Jen, come in. And I'm trying to create that one, two, three. So, Gabby turn your chin back out. And I'm trying to create that one, two, three there. And still involve hands and watch the connection come through all three girls. Let me take a shot of that and straightaway, I think that's beautiful, ladies. Beautiful, beautiful. Okay, so Jen come down just a little tickle more with your face, but I don't want you just to be a head that appears, so Gabby pull away. Pull away, pull away, okay, there it is. It's about that space. Let me show you what happened. Gabby come back in. Gabby was too tight to Melanie from the second shot, and I could see this arm just coming around here, so what I did was I got Gabby to pull away and watch when Gabby pulls away, when I create that space, how beautiful that looks. Straightaway, I've got this, three gorgeous faces right there. So let me take this shot for you. And Jen come down a little bit more with your chin. So just on your down axis, that's it, stay there. Melanie push back to Jen, and lift your chin up to me half an inch. That's a girl, perfect. That's it, tiny smile Gabby, just a tiny tiny that's it, perfect. Ladies, I'm just gonna take one more, but I've gotta watch, making sure I watch all three eyes, which is the hardest thing to do. Now, here, it's a very traditional pose. It's a very very model-y pose. I want everybody to relax their arms and find a hand, and all connect to each other, that's it, and just lean onto each other a little bit more. Sleepy family, gorgeous, that's beautiful, ladies, right there, wow. Now, I'm gonna bring in a fourth sister and I have two awesome options here. Standing up nice and straight again, ladies, where you were. Working your chin and your shoulders. Cara, come around this way, and I want you to come around to the outside of Gabby. So, I want Cara to come into here, I want her to be higher than Gabby, and I want her to come in as close as she can. Lean in, and Gabby tip forward, that's it. And come in as close as you can there. I don't want her to be the same height as Jen. I want her to be down, one, two, three, four. Tipping in this way, darling, stay there. Okay, now I'm gonna take this shot. I'm gonna take this shot long, and I'm gonna take this shot square, and I'm gonna show you the difference between the two. Melanie, pushing back to Jen, so that back that way, and chin up to me, so that you're not so low. Okay, now I need a beautiful smile, girls, big, big, big smile, big, big, perfect. Okay, so I'm here, let's bring Cara around, and then bring Cara into the diamond. So what she's then gonna do is she's gonna make the four faces of a diamond there. But they're not too even, because obviously Cara is shorter. Cara just work your chin to the front, that's it. And there it is, there. There's my one, two, three, four. I'm gonna shoot that vertically. I'm gonna shoot that horizontally, and crop it square, so let's have a look at how that works. I've got the girls in the closest face plane that I can. And I'm shooting mid-height to all of them. Gabby pull back from Jen, pull back with your body, and give me that nice, down, that's it. Jen pull the hand off Gabby's back, that's it. Just halfway back. And ladies, I just want you here. Melanie push back to Jen so that your chin is up a little bit more. Now I can shoot that square, and I can shoot this here. I also wanna bring all of their faces in together, nice and close, all four of them. Closer, closer. Gabby pull back. But not too perfectly close, so. Jen chin down, just a touch. That's it. Gabby stay there. That's perfect. And that's where I wanna be. So just adding on. Watch elbows, watch them work their shoulders, and make sure everybody's working their chin. Make sure everyone's got their chin forward and down. Make sure everyone's doing something great with their hands, and just let them all embrace each other and fall into perfect positions. So this is going from my staggered pose, to my staggered three, to a staggered four, to a diamond. Enjoy practicing that one! (laughs) So now, we're gonna pose two, three, and four on the floor. We can do this on the floor, we can do this on an ottoman, on a box, or on a bed. The same rules apply, whether they're kneeling like me, with their elbows on an ottoman or a box, or whether they're lying down like this. It doesn't matter, as long as their shoulders are up, and over the elbows to create length. And then, we want to bring the girls together with their body language. So let me show you how. They can't put their hips together here because their shoulders in the way. So, I'm going to get Melanie to put her arm over the back and I would do the same thing, lying down. So, it is easier if she turns up like this instead of trying to lie flat. Then, to engage their body language, I'm going to get Jen to push her elbow into her space. And then I'm gonna get her hand to come up and over in the front. Then, I've engaged fingers and hands. Then, I can get them to bring their heads together, or their cheeks together, to the front. Now, I've just gotta make sure that all the hands are really elegant in the front, relaxed. If they're a mother and daughter I can get them to lock their fingers. And what's important is that they stay up as high as they can possibly go, and then put their cheeks together from the front. So does that look good from this position? Okay, so I can't see from the front, so just tip into each other, nice and close, and there it is there. That connection is absolutely perfect. Now, when I bring in a three, come in Gabby, I'll bring in the third sister, I'm gonna get Gabby to lie down on the other side. Now, no different again than the elbows on the ottoman. And Gabby you need to bring that arm in, that's it, and you're coming in nice and close. So nice, soft fingers and now we're all starting to intertwine. It's really important that we get Gabby up at the same focal plane. So Gabby, just scooch forward a little wee bit. And then, the three of them are lifting up as high as they can. Now, Jen's gonna start taking the weight of everybody in this pose, so she's the one that's gonna start going down and getting pushed down like this. I don't want that to happen, so I want Jen to constantly be pushing up, up, up, and pushing together. So this is one of those hard poses to hold, but we're gonna get it done as quickly as we can. And then Cara, I'm gonna get Cara to come in, and now I'm just gonna build on again. Now Cara's just gonna instantly come in. She's going to lean on that shoulder. And so, I've just gotta watch. Hands to the camera, making sure Jen is pushing up the highest out of the four of them. So that she's really pushing up so that all girls are working their posture up, with their chin forward. And now, their faces towards each other now, so that they're all engaged. And just like that, I can keep building my one, two, and three. Now, I don't want symmetrical hands like that with Jen, so I'm gonna bring her in, and then I can bring Cara in there. And then I can just keep joining them together this way. So, straightaway, I have an easy, easy, series of shots. Let's have a look at them. Okay, now I'm just gonna do a build on the floor four, which is one of my absolute and fun ones to do. So I want your elbows together, Gabby, and just hands flexed and soft. Jen, I want you to put your right feet behind you that way, and I want you to lean all the way over here. Exactly right, this way. So building this stack is easy. It's about creating the same layers and stages that we create when we're on the box or on the chair. We've really gotta use the bodies here and intertwine everybody. I'm gonna get you to come in, Melanie, on this side, where I am, and I want you to actually sit almost opposite to Jen so the way your knees up. That's exactly right, and you know what, nice and close and forward. I actually really liked when you just put your knee up, and just saw your jeans too. Just put that up, and you can put your elbow across, cause I love that. So let's try those. So come in nice and close. And I really don't want you just to pop out of Jen's shoulder, so come over a little wee bit more. And then nice and tall through neck and shoulders so that you're staggered forward, that's it, and Jen, sitting a little taller than you. Cara come in this side, and I want you to kind of hover. You're gonna come down and sit like I am, in your knees position, and then I just want you to come in behind here and put the weight of your arm maybe on her back more than her shoulder. So on her hip line, there it is. And just come in forward now. I'm gonna come to the front, and repose you. So, it's gonna be hard to get the exact focal plane here because Gabby's coming through the center so. I can get Jen to come forward and I can get Melanie to come forward but I need to probably get Cara to come forward a little wee bit more. So, let's see how I work this. Obviously, I'm not gonna shoot this really wipe open because I'm just gonna lose my focus. And this is a great sort of whole scene so let me come out and take the shot. Alright, from here, yes I love that. Alright, absolutely perfect. I'm gonna shoot this quite low. I'm gonna get the whole thing here. And I just want you for one nice little tiny baby smile. That's it. Alright girls, now, little bit more fun. Little bit more smiley. Can you come around? That's it, I don't care if your bum's in the air here, because I'm actually going to crop this square, so I just want you engaged. That's it. Pull away from Jen just a little bit more. Now, Jen pull your body back from me, so that you're not, yeah, dominating so far forward. That's it wherever you can put your hands like that. Now, from here, just come forward Melanie, a little wee bit more, and lift up nice and tall away from Jen's shoulder and then tip towards her a little wee bit more. That's it girls. Right here, now, okay. A little bit more fun. Big smiles, gorgeous, and here, this is where I'd get you to link in your hands. This is where I'd get you to be playful. All of you come together, big smiles, nice and close, that's it, squish in. Melanie, don't hide in Jen's hair, just come out on the side, come out this way, a little bit more honey, and that's it, and forward towards me. Alright, and then, I just want everyone big beautiful smiles and Gabby, push back a little wee bit more, that's it. Perfect, perfect, and nice big smile Cara. Okay, I wanna build stacks like this and just constantly get their heads at different angles, and just always looking for poses that are fun, they can roll around together, they can laugh, and this is somewhere that I would definitely start with a family.