Lessons

Lesson Info

Day 28: Posing Men

I have never done this before on Creative Live, and this is the first time I'm shooting boys. I'm going to show you a casual, fun boy shoot, everyday boy shoot that I would do for a family portrait. I'm going to show you the corporate boys, I'm going to show you the headshots, and I'm going to show you the boys going Calvin Klein. Today, it's all about shooting boys and men. Well, you're a man, not a boy. Thank you. (chuckling) This is my wonderful model today, Big Russ. I'm gonna show you how I photograph guys. Now, you know I've photographed over five and a half thousand women, and I'd say every 100 shoots I do, I get a boy in the studio. So, over the last few years, I have managed to photograph close to, probably over 500 men, if not more. They always come in, though, usually as a spouse. And even though my marketing has been seen up to glamour and mostly marketing to women, the boys that come in have been brought in because they want to be photographed with their woman, or the ...

women want them to be photographed. So a lot of the time I photograph guys that don't really want to be photographed. They've just come in because their girlfriends have asked them to or their wives have asked them to. I realized soon after that, it's not that they don't want to be photographed. It might just be how they were brought into the studio. When you do get guys that come into the studio that want to be photographed, they absolutely love it. Men have a totally different confidence in front of the camera that women do as you'll see today when you watch all of the men being photographed. And they move very differently in their body language. So the whole way we pose them, the whole way they stand, everything is completely opposite to how we pose women. So I'm going to take you through a casual shoot with Russ. We're going to go through a corporate-style shoot. Then we're going to do a big of a GQ shoot. We're gonna do a bit of a Calvin Klein shoot. So we're going to show you a little bit of everything to show you how to photograph guys, how I photograph guys in the studio completely differently to how I photograph women. So if you think about my rules, all of those rules go out the window. There is at no point any time that the boys will put their hands on their body the way women do. I'll put my camera down. So, at no point is there any reason for any of the boys to touch any of their body parts. (laughs) Okay, that's definitely a girl thing. With the boys, I keep it very standard and I keep it thumbs into the jeans here. Or even hands by their sides and standing tall looks really good. Everything I do for women about bring their body language in and into an hour glass does not work with men. So they are triangular so we want to always have open, big shoulders, okay? And when the are posed as couples, remember the boys are always on the outside. We want the arms to be bigger and stronger. Okay, so all of the posing for men is upright and strong and you see 45 degrees to the camera. So just slightly turned to the camera. Okay, no touching the body, no hip popping, no pushing booty out, none of that applies to the boys. That's all for the girls. And also, no weight on the back foot. So at no time do we drop the shoulder forward. Okay, we also never connect the shoulder or do anything like that. In fact, every single rule I have: Chin, shoulder, hands, hourglass, body language, asymmetry connection, do not apply to guys. They also do not need reflectors because the stronger that they look in the face, the more masculine they look. So with a woman, we're always trying to bring this in and the reason we bring this in is to try and lighten my face up so that I look younger and more beautiful. Okay, we don't need to do that with the boys. They do not need reflectors to the face. If the room is particularly dark, bring in a reflector lightly but just enough to lighten up the side of the face but not enough to give it a beauty dish light. That's not what we're doing. So if everything's opposite then what do we do? Instead of bringing the elbows into the hourglass body-line, we're gonna bring them out. When he sits down, his elbows will go outside of his knee. Not inside of his knee. So all the girls will be here and the boys are here. When they sit down, both arms can go out. They are the only poses that are symmetrical. They will be symmetrical in their pockets, they will be symmetrical when the fold their arms and that's a really strong position for men. And they'll be symmetrical with the hands even here, on their sides and then they'll be symmetrical, pretty much, when they sit down and put their hands on their knees. All of the poses are open and symmetrical. Wheras all of ours our in and asymmetrical. So let's go through some shots, nice casual shots. Rather than jeans and a shirt, I'm just gonna just move him around back-line and side-line like I do with the girls but I'm gonna show you the difference between how I'm gonna pose him and shoot him as we go. Okay Russ, so what I want you to do here is I want you to tune this way. Opps sorry, just kicked the camera. I want you're chin here. Now, there's something I do want to show you and I'm going to go back into this camera. The one thing the boys do get to do, and this is so cool, is they get to do chin-forward. But it doesn't go down. Okay so, all the boys want to have a really good definition in their base jaw line. A strong male jaw is a really dominant thing. So I want to push Russ's jaw forward, as far as it goes, and lengthen him up through the neck and spine. So when he comes up through his neck and shoulders he's gonna look strong through the shoulders, and I'm just going to get him to push his chin forward. Now, the problem with most people pushing their chin forward is you know, is when you tell people to push their chin forward, they go like this, and push their chin up. Okay so, I've got to make sure he pushes it forward but he's not gonna do this. Okay, so he's not going to go down and connect the shoulder. Because if you have a look, Russ you go forward and now go down just a touch, stop. But I'm gonna go forward and down. See the difference in, I'm gonna be here and he's gonna be upright more. So he's holding a strong jawline whereas mine will be connected to my shoulder with bigger eyes. So that's the whole point. I'm gonna keep saying to him, push your chin forward, push your chin forward. Cuz I want him to have a really good, strong line through here. Okay, from here the first thing I'll do is put thumbs into your jeans. So with the girls I would kick back straight away and I would drop them down. I don't need to do any of that with Russ, he's already there, just like that. The boys, they're so easy to pose. Am I in frame if I stand here, is that okay. So you can see straight away he's ready to shoot. Just take perhaps maybe a little half-step away from the wall, that's it. I don't even need to bring in a reflector. Just push your chin towards me Russ and the bring it down this way. That's it, right there. So like my normal shot, right on that window line, I'm gonna take this here. Now what I am going to do, and I'm shooting a 2.8, I'm at 640 ISO. As you can see I'm in the smaller office room today because I wanted to cut down the light for the boys. I'm going to ask Russ to give me a tiny smile in his eyes. So, no differently than the girls. It's just about pushing that expression through the eyes instead of the mouth, push your chin towards me a little more, mate. That's it, that's perfect, don't move. Okay from here, straight-away, I've just nailed that, that's easy. I've got thumbs in jeans. I wouldn't do a whole lot of different hand positions here like I would with the girls. So I can fold his arms. So try that and let's see how it goes. Alright, if you're gonna go into an arm folded position, I'm just going to get you to drop your shoulders down just every so slightly, okay, and then chin towards me. If this is not a corporate look, if this is is where you're gonna photograph the guys I need to soften his expression just a little wee bit more. Okay, and that's perfect Russ, just a little, little bit more. That's one, that's one, great. Okay, let's see if I can do that leaning back on the wall. So, I want you to come towards me just a touch, that's it. Drop your hands bit lower so that, yeah that's it, Come up higher again, that's it, keeping it wide, long chin, pushing towards me. Alright from here, okay just drop your hands down again. Go back to your jean pockets. Okay, leaning on the wall, for me doesn't work. I'm gonna take it. I just don't see it as being a very strong position for a guy. It's okay, maybe go back half a bit. I'm gonna come around, just gonna cRuss that camera, I'm gonna come to the angle here and see if I can get the same angle. Push your chin towards me. Alright, that's perfect right there. I like that a lot. Okay straight away, from here the only other positions, so I really like that. We've got his arm just touching the wall. There's absolutely no body shape going on, you just wouldn't shoot a girl like that. And all he's doing is projecting his chin forward. Let's take you to the back wall here. Just like I do the cover girl position. I'll take him to the back wall. And normally with cover girl as you all know, I'm going to do this. Okay normally with cover girl, I'm gonna go up close. I', gonna pull back, I'm gonna do three-quarters. But with Russ, I'm not gonna do any of those divisions. What I'm gonna do is keep him flat against the wall. So you can actually lean and then what I'm going to want you to do is push your chin forward. So it's gotta come off the wall. Right now, I just want you to put a kick into one of your feet. So, it has to be relaxed, that's it. So that means you can fall onto one hip and then roll your shoulders towards me off the wall. That's it. Now, bring your chin off of the wall towards me as well. Okay go back to what you were doing, and I'm going to reshow that. Cuz have a look at this, from here he's too upright. Now if I take a photo of him like this I'm not showing, there's your passport shot. (laughs) Okay so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna shape it. I'm gonna do two things. One of them, is I said roll your shoulders off the wall so watch his shoulders and his chin come forward. That's it, see that instantly brought his upper body straight, you know, strong to the camera. And then I said kick that foot acRuss and he dropped down into that position. Now roll those shoulders forward a little wee bit more. So, you can get the boys to roll their shoulders forward here and their lats come forward, you know, their arms and triceps pop forward, they get nice big shoulders. You would never ask a woman to, watch me roll forward, you couldn't watch me roll forward like this because my arms get really big and I don't, I would roll forward from the side for that supermodel pose. Which is when you push through the torso. But never ever ever would you ask a woman to roll her shoulders forward. So rolling your shoulders forward Russ and then pushing your chin towards me. As soon as I roll his shoulders forward, I'm gonna be here, I'm shooting on the three-quarters. So just push that chin chin and down a little touch that's a tiny little smirk. That's perfect, I like that a lot. Okay now, nice easy smile Russ. Just let it go, no that's a fake one. Okay bring your chin down. That was better. Okay, awesome. Okay now that's exactly right, now just try that, I really like that, your foots really relaxed there. Just give me cRussed arms again, okay. And then pushing your chin forward, that's the one. And from here, nice easy smile. No don't hold it, just give me your lips together. Just smirk first. Give me just a little, sort of easy smirk. Push your chin towards me, that's it keep going. I actually prefer that because I think it looks more like Russ anyway. And ya know, it's not so much a guy thing, it's pretty much a personality thing. Some people are big grinners, some people are just happy through their eyes in expression. Just have a look at what they are. If they just the sort of guys that smile a lot then get them smiling. If they smile already without having to do a a big cheesy grin, you don't have to do a big cheesy grin. But it's that simple for me, I'm there, there, there, and there. Okay so keeping that, shoulders rolling forward made a big difference. So let's look at another variation. I've got a little apple box here and I'm gonna steal that. And I'll show you something else that I've done in a standing position. In what this does is it just brings, just come forward just a little wee bit Russ. This might be a bit high but I'll see, if not I can swap it out. What I want to do is put Russ's right foot up there. Yeah, so just step back a little wee bit Russ so you're behind it. That's it, go back a little bit more. Little bit more, little bit more. Okay, this really needs to be at right angle. And the reason it's at right angle is cuz if it's lower he's not going to be able to go forward onto it. So what I'm gonna get him to do is lean forward onto there. Okay now, this is an easy position to get into and all I'm trying to do now is bring the focus to his arms, his shoulders, and get him into this nice relaxed position here. So I want to keep that there. One thing I never do with the girls is I would never ever ever ever get their knee on the outside of their hip. So what I never do with the girls is bring their knee outside but the boys can do that. Ya see, I always joke, so hop down Russ and I'll just show, for the girls I always sort of call this Farmer Joe. And so I'm always like we have our bodies on the inside line, we're always projecting our knee into the middle of our body with our arm into the middle of our body here. And that's sort of, if I ever see girls in this position I'm always like, "oh that's so Farmer Joe." But the boys can instantly go into this position. So I'll put Russ back here and the reason, I've just checked the height of my box cuz that's a really high box but Russ is a tall guy. If he can bring his elbow forwards. Now a lot of people can do this comfortably, a lot of people can't. So you have to look at what's comfortable for him. Can he put his other hand through. So if I bring both your, both your elbows forward, can your other arm go in their comfortably? So can you lean forward? So in order to do that, yeah that's it, you've got to pull back. Now I really like that. For the guys, I can get up here and do this shot. I can pull that out just a little bit. And I can take a nice headshot, I kinda cut the knee off right about there. So, I'll take a few and see what looks good and if it doesn't I'll stand him up and put his hands back in his pocket. And now pull back with your chest, that's it, so pull back here. So it's about pushing back through there and pushing your chin towards me and down. Now see how he's got really good strong big arms. I really like that, I think it's masculine. Their hands, boys have really good hands. Sort to position, they don't really do the stiff hands that the girls do so, which is odd, stay there. You're instantly tipping and that looks really cool but straighten up your head for me now. And just push your chin forward. That's the one, I also that a lot. Now you can see how close I am to him. It's not about shooting this back here. I don't want that. I don't want it to look like he's standing on a step. I just want it to look like it's a really natural position and he's leaning forward, that was a really good smile. Excellent. Okay from here Russ, go back to taking this hand back to here. You you had your thumb in your pocket, that's it. And you just were just leaning back a little bit more. So maybe come back into that line, that's the one. Now just let the shoulder cave in, just a little bit and long chin towards me. Push, push, that's the one. There it is, there. So I'll come back to here. So whatever's comfortable for him. If he looks good, if he looks really good with his arm acRuss there then I'll do it because I really like this shot. Okay, knee goes down. So from here, I've got him standing side-arm to me, against the wall, he's gone straight back against there and then I've got his knee out. So without moving, I'm already in three positions. And then looking for a couple of different compositions. So I'm just gonna switch out this box and seat and get him into a seat position. I'll go get my seat now. So just like normal, I'm in exactly the same position with the girls when I come to the sitting position. But instead of being in front and working the body language toward the hourglass, what I'm doing with the boys is opening it up. So this would be the only time ever that you open a client's legs up to the camera. So I'm gonna do two things. One of them is put this foot up here and just slide that foot out just a touch. And then put your elbow right to the edge here Russ. That's it. Now see what he did with his left hand. Automatically he just sat directly into position. Now we never want to have hand towards the camera so we always want to turn them away. But I'm not concerned about that one there and I really like this composition. I like the staggering, the box down here is just enough to lift his foot off the ground and that means this knee is slightly higher which means he can comfortably lean down to it. So this really works for me. I like that it's a little bit asymmetrical and then I can work his chin this way. So I'm just gonna take this still so that you can see it. And for me, I just gotta bring your chin around and forward. Okay Russ, what I need you to do is just go over here and that's the one. Now I'm just gonna have to cRuss in front of there. Alright, so what I don't want to do is shoot this too low. This really just is about the top of that knee. Now I can see the back of that hand so just bring your elbow out to me, that's it. That doesn't bother me, when he brings his elbow out. Because for the guys, it just makes their arms look bigger. And then this hand just come down. What I don't want it to do is be anywhere near your crotch because if the hand comes into the crotch then it looks like your holding the crotch. So this can stay up. Just bring your feet out. Have a look how much better his legs look when they're not tucked back. And this is quite normal for people. Bring your heal back, right into there. And your heal back into there Okay his legs look shorter and if he brings them out, straight away his legs look a lot longer. And they are long legs so we want them to look long. Make sure that hand stays relaxed. So just find your groove there. Sitting up nice and tall through your neck and shoulders and then pushing your chin towards me and down. Oh I like this a lot Russ. Okay push that chin towards me but not down. That's the one. And as you can see, relax your mouth a little bit more, chin forward, we don't have to tell the boys to do anything cuz they just love being in front of the camera so much. (laughs) Do we? Yep. Okay, here's a cool variation too that works. I'll take this out. I want you to stay exactly there but this time I want you to turn away from me, push this box back a little. Yep, so you're sitting, keep going, keep going, right on the edge. Yep. Now, bring your legs around and now just lean forward on your elbows. So it's better if you just sit more on the edge of the box. That's it and your knees go apart and your feet go apart. Right. Straight away, all guys do this, alright, they instantly bring their fingers together here. And that's cool you can keep them together if they look natural or you can let them drop down. But either way, however they hold there, is usually good. Now I want you to just lift up through your chest, push back, yeah, like so, there. Yeah it's about rolling those shoulders forward again, sitting up nice and tall and bringing your chin towards me. So I do this a lot too without that box so without leaning on that. I think Russ is quite long and he's really tall and so I think he actually looks better with his foot up but I'm going to take this shot anyway so you can see this pose. Cuz this is all about that sort of close 45 there. Lift your chin up to me just a touch and less smile Russ, so just a tiny little lift, that's it. Perfect. And nice and tall. Awesome. Now, if you're gonna do the quintessential, sort of, these poses, you're going to have to make sure that they're working. So there's certain poses that you can do with the boys. You know, everyone sees them. This one. The Thinker. (laughs) And all of those hand poses. But you just have to make sure, just the same with the girls, is some people bring their hands up to their face really easily and some people don't. Some people find that they have quite a natural touch up here and other people are like this. So I'm never going to, I will try, and if a guy looks good like that then I'll do it. What I find easier with men is, as soon as you start talking to them, they resit their pose. So as a photographer, I'll start a conversation while they're here and they will get into a pose very naturally and as soon as I see it I say, "Stop talking, let me take this photograph." And I find that they just do it quite naturally. If you put something here like this they will quite happily sit up and do this quite amazingly. It's quite incredible, it's so easy. They do it naturally. And I think maybe, I don't know why, they hold a different space that women do in terms of confidence but I definitely feel like they're very good at posing themselves. I distract them for a minute and just chat to them about something. I chat to them about work or life or whatever and inevitably they get into these really cool poses. And they're quite so easy to photograph. I also find that of course we take 80 to 300 photographs of women and the guys usually have about 25 good shots and about 24 of them are really great. Just nice and easy. Stand, stand, move down, move down, move down and there we are just like that. Too easy. So before you sit down, I just want to show everyone one thing. If you just sit down, just bum on the ground and knees up Russ. And just bring your arms up on your knees. Okay. Have a look at how comfortably Russ could sit here because that could be my preferred position. Exactly the same as my female sitting down position but of course all the body language is open. Now I want to know how comfortable Russ is in this position today. And if I can't get him up and over with the shoulders I want to stick this underneath, just to elevate him. Because it's more important that I get a really good body language through his upper body into this, that's it. So to me, from here I want to let his knees dominate. Slide your feet forward a little wee bit more which makes your legs longer of course. And straight away I like that position. So here's my casual shot. I'm just sitting him down, it's a little bit of an apple box just to give him some elevation. His arms are strong, he's holding this position now. I can actually walk around this position, pretty much 90 degrees. So I'll do a full turn and see what I can see. From here, I like the side position here. And I can shoot this, hang on I'll just refocus. I can shoot this pretty much here on the horizontal. And crop this square, cuz I like it and I like the jeans just coming out. Or I can shoot that on the vertical there. So I'm here now. From that side angle I'm getting him to push his chin towards me this way. That's it, it's perfect. Now, another thing that the guys can do that the girls can't is that slightly 45 up on the face which looks really really good. I'm gonna go to live view here, there it is. And I'm just gonna follow it around. So I'm gonna stay nice and low, pushing your chin towards me Russ, that's it. Nice, oh this is good. So there I am on his 45 right there. So I really like that except for he didn't smile at me. That's perfect Russ. Now see how I'm cutting into that forearm there. That doesn't bother me too much, I'm gonna come round a bit more and I'm gonna shoot it here. He's following me with his chin. I like that a lot. You don't need to smile. Good, lips together just give me that little wee, that's the one, that's perfect Russ. I like that a lot, there's my angle. Try just relaxing your hands in so that they're not held. And then I'm gonna come to here. Now when I get to here, something changes in his asymmetry. So hold hands again the way you hid your own hands down. That's the one. Now see I'm slightly asymmetrical. Push your chin towards me Russ and give me a tiny little smile in the eyes there. That's the one, perfect. I like this a lot. I would never follow a female client away from the light because I would be projecting light back to her constantly. In order to get a nice open light to here face. But with the boys, I'm pulling him away from my only light source and it still looks good. So push your chin down a little wee bit Russ. I'm shooting on the 45, okay. He's using his knees, his arms are rolled forward. Those hands dominate in the front, I can crop them here or I can pull back and then crop them here. So say, sometimes with the guys it doesn't matter if the arms a really strong in the front because it really suits them. I also like this, nice wide shoulders shot horizontally, all the way around, too easy. Now if Russ was being shot with his girlfriend I would bring her on his back line. She could cuddle up to his shoulder, she could kneel down, there is so many positions I could then add on the girlfriend. So from here, we want to get the girls in. We let boys stay in their masculine position. We rotate them this way. She could be here, here, here arms here, up through here holding him on his shoulder, sleeping on his shoulder. And then you end on the girl and then you take the boy away and then you photograph the girl. So then you're going boy, couple, girl and then you've got flow right through your portrait shoot. So nice and easy, let them come away from the light. Let them use their shoulders and their arms, their knees, make sure their legs come out and then just move around them and see what you get. Let these arms sit strong, these hands sit strong. They look good as long as they're a little bit side-arm to the camera. Nice big roll out to the camera and that looks fantastic. And ya know, little smiles, just work with the person whoever they are and make sure that they look good. Alright, pushing your chin towards me Russ, nice and strong, that's the one, tiny little smile in your eyes, just like that, perfect. Stay there, just gonna come up in my exposure. I'm at 2.8 at 100 shutter speed and we're at 640 ISO and I've got one fabulous light source here. Now what I want you to do is just come back to this wall, step back to this wall. Actually before you do, just fold your arms just there, that's the one. Drop your shoulders down, that's it. Nice and strong, long, chin towards me. And I'm up and over here, I like this a lot but you're just gonna have to soften those eyes. Look like the kick ass CEO. And then from here just go back down, arms down nice and strong, there and lean back against that wall just a touch. Okay and from here I just want you to tip forward ever so soft, that's it. Straighten your head up to me and then long chin towards me this way. Okay, so I'm coming around on the 45. Don't drop that shoulder down too low in the front. Actually, straighten up, that's the one. And then a tiny, little smile in your eyes. Just keep it easy that's it. From there, arms folded down here. So just get that downward angle there. That's it and drop that shoulder down. That's the one, perfect. So nice easy smile here, perfect. Don't move, that's awesome. I want you to go back onto that back wall. So from there, remember on the back wall you were thumbs into your pockets or hands into your pockets and then I got you to roll your shoulders forward off the wall, and then I got you to push you chin forward, there it is, and down just a touch, nice and easy. And just keep these hand relaxed into your pockets so, you can put them into your pockets. That's it, looks better with a suit, yeah. Okay so, rolling your shoulders forward and then pushing your chin. So up first with your chin and then forward, push it forward and down, that's the one. Stay there, so, just got a little glear on you glasses. Bring your chin this way for me, that's it. And you're right there. Now let's together just an easy, tiny smile. There, perfect Russ. That's great. A little wee bit more, that's the one. Okay nice easy big smile guy, that's it, stay there, perfect. Okay from here, I just wanna try, oh no that's a fake smile. I bet it's horrible. (laughs) No, okay nice smile. Don't think about it, just smile at me. There that's better. Okay, from the edges fold your arms in nice and comfortably against the wall there. I like that a lot. Okay, this I need a cheeky smile for, that's it. No no no, not so much. Just more of a smirk, that's perfect. Okay from there, I want to bring this box in. And I just want to put your right foot on there, so nice and tall. And with your right hand, just leaning forward. So this hand can go into your pocket. Yeah, and just leaning forward. And nice long chin towards me. That's it, chin forward and down. And then just bring your chin very, stop that's it, perfect. So just nice light, that's the one, that's perfect. And then from here, I don't know in a suit if you feel comfortable bringing this arm forward because you may nor be able to but try if it's restricting you. Yeah. Yeah, just a little bit. Just, no let it come forward just a little and just see if I can make it work. If I can't, then I'll just pull away through your chest just a little wee bit there. That's it, and then chin comes forward. Okay, yeah it definitely looks better down so just put it back into your pocket and I just want to take one more there. Just because the jacket's gonna post right acRuss your shoulder line. Okay, from here we'll swap this one out, we'll put this box down. We'll bring in the white box. And we can sit on that, so just go that way. That's it, and a bit closer to this side. This one, and I'm gonna get you to sit on the corner and your right foot is coming up. That's it. And then, just come over here a little wee bit. Slide acRuss on the box, that's it. Keep that there. Right elbow right to the edge. That's it. And then, this hand just comes in. That's the one, sitting nice and tall. And just watch that hand doesn't come too close to the front. Long chin towards me Russ, stay there. It's perfect. And just leaning forward onto that knee. Just a little wee bit more. That's great, don't move. Okay and from here, perhaps bring this foot out towards me a little wee bit more. Okay, drop this hand down your thigh. No, not on the inside. Just, uh tops. There. That's it, and lifting up nice and tall. Long chin towards me and just watch that hand doesn't get to rigid, that's the one. So just shake out your hand, just relax it. That's perfect. And chin towards me, push it forward. Nice, just easy smirk. All in the eyes, that's it, perfect. Excellent. Okay from here, I want to go up and even though you're in a suit, let's just perhaps, chin down just a touch. Let's perhaps take your tie off and just do the suit with the white shirt with just an open collar in that sitting position. So it's still really stylie and GQ but it's just a little bit more relaxed. So I'll take that and you can undo your top button. We'll take the white box out Susan and then we'll just sit down on the smaller box. And we'll sit at the back this time. So, actually no, we'll sit right where we were because we're going to repeat all of our positions in this outfit just to show how stylie it is. Okay, so your feet come out just a little bit Russ. That's the one, perfect. Alright, just bring your chin around to me now, this way. So chin down just a touch, so on this 45 this looks great. Alright, tiny little smile. That's perfect. And I'm gonna come around to here. So, you're there. I like that a lot. And then I'm gonna come around to here. And here, and just bring your chin with me nice and long. And down to here. Awesome. And just bring those hands together so I can't see them so, that's it. A bit lower. Long neck sitting up nice and tall pushing you chin forward. This way, that's it, don't move, perfect. (camera shutter) Gotach, done. (laugh) Too easy. Alright so, that's all I want to do with the boys. I just want to show you their flow, I want to show you how easy it is to open up their body language, I want to show you how easy it is to make them look strong, in the shoulders, I want to show you how easy it is to shoot them, and also how easy it is to pose them. So, let them pose themselves, lengthen their legs, open their arms up, roll their shoulders forward and always pushing the chin forward. We always want a strong masculine jaw. Our expression always comes through the eyes and enjoy practicing shooting boys. So now we're going to complete exactly the same posing map for the boys but this time I'm going to shoot lower, I'm gonna shoot on more of a fashion angle. So I'm going to be, instead of sitting right here where I was with Russ. I was sitting right on about Russ's bottom chin height and he was pushing his chin out towards me. With Adam I'm gonna drop down even lower. So I'm going to shoot it low, I'm going to pull back a little bit more. Same rules apply. All body language goes out and all I have to do with Adam is just roll his shoulders forward. So I just have to keep rolling his shoulders forward and making sure his feet are comfortable and I'm gonna talk you through the whole map. This time, I've changed my background again, we're still on the black. So what I've done is I've dropped down my exposure. We have absolutely no reflector coming in this side. So nice strong lines through the face and jaw. And I'm gonna take Adam through the same map that we took Russ but he's in a singlet and jean, he's more casual. It's definitely less formal, less corporate. I'm gonna shoot a little bit lower but follow exactly the same posing map and rules. So here we go from here. And thumbs into your jeans. And you can see, this is my only light source in the room so the whole room is painted white, we've got a black V-flat there that's absorbing lot's of light. This light here is just hitting Adam just here and all I have to do is get him to roll those shoulders forward, that's it. As soon as his shoulders come forward, his jaw line is strong, his shoulders are strong, his arms look strong, and all I have to do is come down here. Now I can just get Adam to push his chin towards me, half an inch towards me, but not so much up, and I've got to make sure I crop to the top and the bottom of the jeans. Sorry that was my bad. Now, I'm shooting one stop below because I'm on the V-flat and the black is telling me that I need to expose higher, he's going to blow out if I don't. So I'm watching the back of the camera, not the meter in the camera. So if I look in the meter in the camera, I'm reading 100 shutter speed, 2.8, I'm at 640 ISO. Now let's see how low I am. I'm shooting right down up to him so it's real fashion. I'm also taking the crop higher than I took Russ's so basically what I'm doing is I'm shooting almost to the top of his head to there in his jeans and I just want that low fashion Calvin Klein look. So I had Russ centered and up, he was in the top two-thirds, his head was in the top third, it was very portrait and very traditional. Exactly the same pose. So from here, 45 degrees, all I'm going to do is get Adam to sit back this way. This does two things, turns his body side on to me and also takes him away, even more from the light source. So have a look how this just picks up the light, it's almost a silhouette, cuz I've got about a meter here about a 1.3. So from here, straight down that line, just rolling your shoulders forward ever-so slightly. Look how low I am, and straight away that shoulder roll makes a significant difference to his shoulder. Let me show you, pull back with your shoulder Adam the way you were standing before just normally. So when he's upright he's here. Remember with the boys we don't connect the front shoulder the way that girls do, this is all about strength and all about making you bigger. So boys just roll their shoulders in, it pulls that chest down. You can see pecs, it looks really good. So just making sure it's a gentle movement. So have a look at the difference, just rolling forward. Now also, you'll notice in a lot of magazines when you see male models, their always using their thumbs into their jeans. You can always see that they're putting pressure into their jean pockets. Because their rolling their arm forward, very slightly, and they're just pushing down on their angle there and it looks really good. So from here, I'm gonna shoot back, I'm gonna go a little bit lower and I'm just gonna get you to bring you chin down ever so slightly there. Now rolling those shoulders forward even more, now Adam that's perfect, right there, and there it is. So I really love that, I think it looks really good with those tattoos. So following our map, he then turns and goes to the back. The whole point of this one is we're shooting square. So from here, you can just roll your shoulders down. That's it. It looks good with his chin up. This would be the very few times that people look good with their chin up. Remember the chin comes up because it's more fashion and it definitely has that strong jaw. I can still get him to push his chin towards me and when I'm in camera, if it's gonna be up that high, I don't want to be too low. So bring your chin down to me now. Because I'm lower, stop, he's still really chin-up to me here. I'm just gonna check the back of the camera, not my meter. So I'll be here. I'm just gonna go up on my meter. Sorry. And from here, already I'm there. I don't want to blow this out so I want it to come out on the camera looking really dark. A lot of these images are gonna be put into that really grungy black and white. So we want them to look really fashion, and really modern and grainy. Sitting nice and low. Now let's try arms folded. So fold your arms Adam, just naturally. Exactly right. And then from there, let this foot come up and over. So exactly the same way we did with Russ. The difference in this pose is, as soon as he puts his foot over there, he instantly drops down one shoulder which looks really good. Rolling those shoulders forward. That's it, instantly put his muscles up though his neck. I'm gonna shoot low, I'm here, I'm there. And just push your chin towards me a tiny touch. And from here just a little smile in your eyes. Not even a, almost a smirk, not quite a smirk. Maybe just a little bit more, little bit more. There it is. Okay, and it's so subtle but it just softens that face. Have a look at this too. You can give him a slight tip this way, stop. Okay, like that, and now just a tiny little smile there. Tiny, tiny, that's the one. Can you see that shift? Did you get that on that view. Okay, you can just soften the boys the same you soften the girls. Okay, it's an expression of being completely blank and then it just lightens up and it's really simple. From here, with Russ, we put the box down. Soon as we put the box down, right foot comes up. And then you can lean your elbows just naturally. That's it. However you come forward. Now straight away, this really is about the arms. So what I'm gonna do is bring the chin down like you're looking out the window. Straight away, and it's there. So I'm just cutting into that knee line. Okay, I've just gotta watch my exposure because I just bounced straight up when he came into that light. Okay, I pull back here. Just chin and eyes to me Adam, that's it. And just bring your chin up to me now. Alright, stay there. Perfect. Okay, I really like that. I think strong arms look amazing. It's an easy pose to get into and we tried this one. Put this hand into your jeans and leave that one there. Alright, if you're going to do that you need to roll your shoulders out. That's it and then keep this one here, nice and wide. Remember our elbows always go outside the body, girls come inside the body. So keep it wide, keep it strong. Push the chin forward to me a little wee bit more. I'm just going to drop my exposure down so like it subtle wee, I like that a lot. Perfect, now, bring your chin straight down again and just look about just eye level. That's it, don't move. (camera shutter) Alright, there it is. Love that. As you know, wherever I shoot, my client is usually sitting at exactly the same eye line. So when they sit down, I sit down. What I've done here is exactly what I did with Russ. But what I'm gonna get you to do Adam is come towards me so your backs on this wall. That's it, come towards me a little bit more. And sit with your feet apart just a little bit more. That's it, so that you arms come up. This is where we're at here. Remember with Russ, I did a 90 degree angle turn around him for his casual shot. This is exactly the same thing, but what I'm trying to do is something a little bit more fashion. So I'm gonna have to go a little bit lower. So from here, I'm going to be here and I'm just gonna come in and I want to be about here in my low. Alright, so I'm gonna start off in my horizontal and then I'm gonna come up to a very cool shot. So here, I'm there. And I like that but I need to come back a little wee bit more, so sorry. No stay there, I'll come back to you. Alright, that's it. So I really like this angle here, nice and low. Just gotta make sure my exposure is on. I'm still at 2.8 of course because you know that's where I like to shoot. And if I'm gonna shoot this vertically then I want to come up to here. So if you want to bring the arms down you just need to slide the feet forward. So come forward, stop. And then his shoulders roll forward. And that all comes into play nicely. So, I'm gonna start coming around and I want to be here. Alright, just when you drop forward, I can now see both arms, both tattoos, which looks good. I'm just gonna come back. I'm gonna shoot that a little wider. I'm on the 50 mil so, I'm not as close as I normally am with the 35. You know, the 35 I get up close and personal. And the 50 a get a little bit of space. I'm gonna come around to here. And remember I just follow this all the way around. I absolutely love this. I'm just watching the exposure here, right now, and I think what I'll do Susan is, if you are able to, just come and bounce your reflector and form a, the reason I'm going to put this reflector in, I'm gonna get Susan to hold this here, is because there's a lot of white black going on. So I'm just going to put it there for one minute and I know that we're gonna block, there ya go, that's perfect. And then I don't get too much contrast. I don't want too much contrast in there like I was getting, or maybe I do. Alright, we'll try. So we'll just leave it there on the floor and see if it bounces up. And as I come around one more time, I'm to here. I can use this on my knee anyway. I really like this light coming in through here. So two things are gonna happen here. Just watching that his forearms are dominating towards the front of the camera. So, that's my focal point. But because of the tattoos, I think it's absolutely perfect. I'm gonna put this up there and I'm just going to take another one. So this time, Adam just let your hands go, so don't hold them, that's it. That looks cool, from there, and chin up half an inch, that's it. Alright, so if I'm going to keep it looking really Calvin Klein, I've gotta keep asking him for those expressions. I've gotta keep getting that chin up. Let's try this way. Alright, what I like about this now is I've got a pretty strong silhouette. I'm gonna shoot on the asymmetry so I'm pulling off this way. If I feel like that arms dominating, I'll tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm just gonna come up on my tilt. So, if I'm down here and his arm is dominating the camera then the first thing I'm gonna do is just come up and tilt into him. But I don't want to lose that fashion style. So, if I tilt up like this. So see I was here and I'm just coming up in my tilt. Then I'm more focused on his face and his arms are coming down in the center. Let's see if that works. And if that starts to look like I'm shooting down on him, I'm just gonna get him to lift his chin up to me half an inch. That's it, perfect, don't move. Amazing, this is my favorite shot so far. Okay from here, because we have this really cool light, I'm gonna do exactly the same rotation but you're gonna come back to this side. So if you just sit there, now you look at this, this is real cool. Now very few people can do this. So you have to look always at your client. Look at your client and ask what they can do. So see if Adam, you can bring your left hand, just bring it up, I don't want it to, yeah it can't hold like a girl. So it can't be on the back of his head because guys don't do that. If it's gonna do anything, he's gonna have to do it naturally. Now remember, men are natural posers. They're really, really good at it. So let them find their own groove. This makes a huge difference. As soon as he brings a hand up, if it looks like it belongs, I'm gonna shoot it. If it doesn't, I won't. When the forearms are leading like that and they're out of the shot, I love that. I feel like if I did that to a woman, she would say, "I hate my arms." I feel like with guys, they like their arms. And I think they look strong. Just slide this foot out towards me, that's it. That way, a little lower. As soon as I drop that down, I can just take that forearm out. Now what I got is a really cool back line. So I'm gonna come into here. And just go from there to there. Alright now, just let that hand go back to the front. Now this time, let one hand. Oh okay, you're already doing it, I'll come around. Now, I've got a totally different light because now he's on my light source. I know you're behind me so you can see it and I'm just gonna come around this way and see what I get. What I like is that black V-flat is now picking up a blue-gray, which is awesome because it's gonna pick up and throw those jeans. Really cool. And totally different look here. So, totally different process. See how I cut his hand off at the wrist. I'm gonna go a bit lower so don't. I don't want to cut him off at the wrist, I want to cut him off at the top of the hand. Which is right there, that's amazing. Perfect, and I can just keep going, all the way around, again. So from here, the next one I'm gonna do, is I'm gonna put him up on this white box. The reason I'm gonna do the white box is because I can get a whole different shape in his body. So, we'll put that against there and I just want you, bum on the edge. And then I want your right foot up. Now we put the right foot up, so he can go there. Elbow, just bring your heel here. That's perfect, mate. Okay, now, from here, in this pose here, I'm back to that exactly the same, elbows down. But have a look at this. This is a really great way to drop the from shoulder, so I'm just gonna bring this back in so that you can see it, from front camera. From here, something that looks really, really good, is I sometimes to get the guys to just like that, almost reaching down to the ground. So it's like there. And I shoot that quite square. What this does, is it drops that front shoulder down. And it just gives the arms something different to do. So I'll take the shot so you can see it. And I just think that sometimes when you drop that shoulder down, it gives it a whole different look. I'm pulling back to here. And just dropping my exposure because I've change my light. And just bring your chin this way. And that's it, don't move. Perfect, Adam. And I'm gonna come back a bit more. And I'm gonna be on the horizontal. Eyes to me. Alright, so just dropping the arm straight up out of frame. Bring it back up again. And from here, then I would probably just sit forward a little bit more. So, that's it. Just about, and roll in. So don't sit up right, roll in. Just bring your chin to me ever so slightly. That's the one, and I can come into here, nice and close. And there. And then there. Absolutely perfect. So, there was my map. The only thing I did differently with Russ than I did with Adam, was I mapped exactly the same, except that I came back on the on the 90 degrees and changed his wall side. I followed exactly the same poses and staggers and hands, I just shot lower. I shot a little bit lower, and more fashion. So tighter cropped at the top at the head and showing the bottom of the jeans. With Russ, I shot right down to the bottom of his jacket but I was focused more on his head and shoulders so it was more traditional portrait. And with Adam, we just funked it up by just dropping down our composition. I kept me shooting angle lower and more fashion and I worked exactly through the same map. So enjoy practicing that. Alright, what we're gonna do now is, I'm gonna show you how to shoot in the silhouette. I have blocked my entire light source off with black V-flat and now what I'm gonna do is take a photo of Adam in this light. I have allowed this much light, it's my hand-width, just to come through and it's just gonna brush over him. This is gonna be a dark grungy series. I've taken Adam's shirt off and now we're gonna shoot it low, we're gonna shoot it fashion. It's gonna be that dark grungy black and white or really high contrast color. So this is how we do it. We knock it right back. When I get a reading on him, I'm still at 2.8, I'm right down to a 60th, I'm shooting at about a stop and a half underexposed. Because my meter is reading all the black in the image and it's saying to put my exposure up. If I do that, his body is just gonna go bright light. Instead I'm gonna bring it right down so he's in that really dark silhouette. So when I shoot in the back light, I shoot at about a stop and a half over, even though it's metering for the face and it's telling me to put my exposure down, I push the exposure up because I'm watching the LCD, not the meter in the camera, okay. So here we go. As soon as I start shooting here, I'm going to get Adam in position. So I'm going to get him to lean back on his shoulders. And he's projecting with his hips forward which is something I would never do with a female pose. And the reason I'm doing that is because this is where his body line looks the strongest and most masculine. Now I'm just gonna get him to push his thumbs down and roll his shoulders forward to bring that body line forward. His chin goes forward and up just ever so slightly. He's got this silhouette just touching his body. And what I'm doing is I'm exposing for the mid-tone. So I'm not looking at the highlight cuz there is none. I'm just letting the camera pick up, I'm still one and a half stops underexposed. I'm 60 at 2.8 and as you can see, it's looking really fashion, really grungy. Push your chin forward to me a little bit more Adam, that's perfect don't move, there. So from this position here, I love it. I just want a little bit more light on that backdrop so I've got two choices, I can come up that one stop and just he'll get brighter. Or I can dodge back that highlight when I'm in Photoshop. From here what I want you to do is just put your hand on your heart. So just bring your hand up, that's it. And long chin down, rolling those shoulders forward, perfect, and then stay there, stay there. I'm coming in a little bit closer to here and I love that. That's so Calvin Klein, you look like a rockstar. Just make sure you get the jeans pushing that crop down, that fashion crop down, so he fills the frame. And from here, just bring your chin down that way. That's it, follow that line. That's perfect and I'm gonna let him look into the frame, instead of out. So from there, stand up tall and just take one step towards me 45 degrees angles. So what I like now is this side of his tattoos which we didn't get last time. I want you to crunch down, first before you crunch down with your abs, I want you to lean back with your shoulders. Then you crunch down and forward. Perfect. Now, just let this elbow come back a little bit more so I can see that tattoo. So roll your shoulder forward again. That's it, great position, look how low I am. I'm shooting down this slow. I've got to make sure my exposure is one and half under what it's metering because I want that dark, grungy rockstar look. And there it is right there. It's at one and a half exactly. So I'm gonna get Adam to lean back a little bit more, rolling your shoulders forward. This back line looks really cool, I'm gonna come into here. And I really love how his shoulder is open. So we would never photograph girls this way. I'm gonna take that from the top right down to the bottom of the jeans, where the hands are, because the look really good in the pockets. From here I'm gonna get you to turn this way. I want you to put your back there. That's exactly right. Leaning back and then the space we've created now is about having his shoulders back and then you can crunch down with your abs and bring your shoulders forward. And then just bring your chin down this way. And I'm gonna hit this low into the side here. Now I love the amount of silhouette light that's just coming off that backdrop, so it's here and here. I'm gonna pull right back in low and chin up a little wee bit. And then eyes to me Adam, that's perfect. Chin up a little we bit more. That's it, that's it. You can see that line coming straight away when he hits that sort of model line. It's really perfect, I'm gonna come down a bit lower and I just want to cut down some light. So that silhouette, as he's gotten closer, he's pushed this back and that's why he's getting more light. So I'm gonna push this back to block it, see that? Instantly the light's gone off him again. So I'm gonna go back and take that shot again and we'll see which looks better. The one with light or the one without. Holy moly! The one without looks incredible. That's it, don't move, don't move. Absolutely perfect. There it is right there, done. Okay so. We're back, we're there, we're side, we're hand on the heart, we're 45. Exactly the same mapping, just using silhouetted light. So cutting it right down and this finish will be all about the processing.