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Classic Poses for Nude Female (contains nudity)

So I'm going to cover these five goto poses that are gonna be a great place to start for any shoot. So Kristy will you come over here, and we're gonna get started. So, five poses. Great, thank you. All right, perfect, and then just come a little bit closer. Right there is great. Our very, very first pose is going to be all about creating curve. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to have my subject stick out one hip, and the hip that's bent, that's stuck out, I'm going to bend that knee over as well, and then turn the shoulders that way. So it just gives me massive curve on that side of the body. So if you'll do that. And it already looks stunning. The bent knee centers the form, and the way that she's leaning her shoulders toward that hip really gives me beautiful curves. So let's start with that first pose. Beautiful. (shutter clicking) All right, now this of course is just a base pose, but from there, the way that she has her hands, I can vary that endlessly. So if you'll do that o...

ne more time. What I'm gonna have her do is, this time can you put your left arm over your head like this? Great, real soft, and the other hand, beautiful, just put it right soft to your face. So there is that same base pose (shutter clicking) with a little bit of variety. If I want, this also looks really nice as a full length shot. If you'll notice, she's up on her toe, and that's gonna be that important part of elongating, and tightening everything. It's gonna make her calf muscles look very tight and very firm. What's nice about this shot too is you can shoot from slightly different angles, and that's going to either give less emphasis to the curve, or more. So let me try one more here. Beautiful. (shutter clicking) And then can you try one with your hand to your side? Real soft there, and then tuck your elbow back. Great. In this case what I've done, is by putting her hand to her side, I've rolled her shoulder back and had her tuck her elbow, and what that'll do is it'll bend the elbow in right at her waist, which even further emphasizes a waist. So if somebody doesn't have much of a waist, this actually gives the impression that there's more there. So, roll that shoulder back, tuck that elbow in, just right there's beautiful. And then pop that elbow out just a little more. Great. (shutter clicking) And then put that hand soft to your chest. Good. (shutter clicking) All right so this would be my first pose. My point of these last ones is not, these would not be the place I would start, but just know that you get that initial hip kicked out, the same hip that's kicked out, that's the knee that you bend in, and then you lean those shoulders towards that same hip. That's the core pose, but you can vary her expression towards the camera, away from the camera, head away from the camera but eyes too, hands to the chest, to the face, to the head, to the shoulders, to the hips. All of that creates variety, but really it's from that base pose. Okay, so let's take a look at our second pose. What I'm gonna have you do is I'm gonna have you turn to the side, slightly away from camera. Great. So this going to be focus a lot more on the curve of her back and her bottom. What I'm gonna have her do is raise the knee closest to camera, which I've said time and time again. It censors but it also is really showing that curve on the lower part of her body. Notice when she does it she goes up on toe, tightens all of the muscles, but also going up on toe allows me to have a little bit more bend to that knee. The next thing that I'm gonna have her do is you can go down on your right foot, good. And then what I'm gonna have her do is I'm gonna have her bend her right elbow up a little bit. So it's gonna do is gonna give me the curve of her lower back. She's already a very experienced model, so she already had that curve. But what I watch for is people that kinda do the lean forward. I make sure they arch their lower back to give me that nice shape. So she already did that, perfect. And then one more thing I'm noticing is the way I have her turned, right? Kinda have her twisted around. Is she's leaning a little bit away from camera. What that's going to do, it's going to make her bottom look bigger, which is fine if that's the emphasis of the photo. But if I want more attention to her chest and her face, can you lean your whole body this way just a little bit? Great. And it brings more attention back to her torso. So again, it's what's the purpose of this photo? Just let me take a couple shots here, and lower that front hand just a little. Great, beautiful. (shutter clicking) I have such gorgeous curves in this shot, of her lower back, her front arm. Notice, the front arm, it's not a right angle, which a little bit abrupt, instead it's a very soft bend to that front arm, and I can see the pinky side of the hand closest to camera, which is the most elegant. Just let me get one more shot of those. Lean your chest forward just a little bit more. Leaning her chest forward emphasizes the curve of her back. Lemme show you the difference real quick. (shutter clicking) And now bring your chest back up. Back up is just a little less curve, but, really both are beautiful. A variation of this of course is to modify your camera angle. From here I've got curves of her lower back and her bottom, I can still see her chest, but I can move around to the side if I want a little bit more emphasis on the torso and the chest instead of the bottom. Just depends, but this is the angle that I prefer. Great, lean your chest forward just a little, big arch. Great. (shutter clicking) And also that big arch sticks the butt out, yet another curve. I love that. So those are two goto poses. Honestly, the two that I use over and over and over again. But let's pop on to a third goto pose. This is definitely my goto seated pose. I use it over and over again, and what's great is it looks beautiful being photographed from the front, and from the back. It's focusing on different curves. So I'm going to have her extend, the way she's sitting, the bottom leg, the one underneath, I'm gonna have her extend it out, and then she's going to bend the top leg over so that the knee almost touches the ground. And so what that does, if you notice, is it creates gorgeous curve, because I can follow the line from her foot to her knee, then up to her hip, over to her chest. I mean, it's just so many beautiful lines. Can you unbend your front knee, just put it back? There, I lose the curve, it's not there anymore. I have to tuck that front knee over, almost to the ground, or completely to the ground if they can, to get the curve. How I usually use it is, bottom leg extended out, with the top foot tucked behind the ankle. That's usually how I direct someone. So I'll say, okay great, lay out on one side. Perfect. The bottom leg extended out, bend that top knee over so it touches the ground, and tuck that top foot just behind the ankle, and that's how you get the shape. That's the direction I give. Then from there, that's the base and I can vary the arms in so many different ways, but can you just do that soft arm over, and bring it up just a little bit? The place that I have her put her arm right now, the reason I've selected that is because you can see a little bit of negative space in between her arm and the side of her waist. In the nude form, I wanna see her waist, because it's beautiful and it's another curve. If she brings her arm totally across, can you bring your arm in front of your body? All of a sudden that curve is hidden. So just bringing it out a little bit, I have that curve but I still have the curve of the rest of her leg. The other thing I wanna watch out for is that she doesn't lock out the arm she's putting her weight on, which is kind of hard to do. So you wanna make sure that they're not hyperextending the elbow. Just even a teeny bit of a bend, or look for soft fingers. She, being a model, already has placed her fingers beautifully, but a lotta times, people will actually turn their hand towards camera, and so when they do that, you suffer from something called foreshortening. Any time the finger or the limbs are coming towards camera, they look cut off or they look shortened. So instead it's much more elegant if she turns the hand out to the side, and then just gives a slight bend. Watch for the raised shoulder, 'cause a lotta people will lean out on that shoulder. It raises it up. Usually it gathers the skin a lot here, but it also makes the neck look very short. So I'm just gonna adjust my light while she's seated there, so I can get a better photo of this. Perfect. That's beautiful. (shutter clicking) Great. And another variety of this if you wanted, is a subject can go from leaning on their arm, actually down on to their side. Do you wanna give me a shot of that as well? It's all that same base pose, it's perfect. (shutter clicking) And of course cropping gives you variation to the shot as well. (shutter clicking) All right now what I like about this pose, can you go back up onto your arm one more time? And just scoot that way just a tiny bit. Let me get one more shot, bring that knee over even more. Perfect, can you put your arm out to the side? Your left arm, straight out. 'Kay. So one thing I want to show you, (shutter clicking) is watch this same pose, and bring the arm back over, I'm gonna take one more shot, and then I'm gonna rotate her around. All I'm gonna do is do the same pose where she's facing the opposite direction. So give me a little more space, right there is beautiful. (shutter clicking) 'Kay, dentical pose. Can you face the other direction, do the same thing? This is the pose I see all the time in Renaissance paintings, where they're looking into a mirror, or they're looking away in the distance. And so you've got that beautiful curve to her body, it's very elegant and very soft. Sometimes the elbow will be propped up on a chaise, or on a pillow. Looks beautiful. (shutter clicking) Great. And then can you put that arm back out to the side for one, your left arm. Perfect, and bend it real soft. Good. (shutter clicking) And now bend it up to your arm. Perfect. (shutter clicking) And do one more, bend your knee way over to the ground. Great. And then put your hand back in front of you, so just a little bit of negative space, bring it out just a little. Great, right there, beautiful! (shutter clicking) Great. And so I'll do a shot like that, where I crop in close because it creates really beautiful, soft lines, but an emphasis on the bottom. It's the same pose, looks great from many different angles. So we've got our seated pose, but let me do one more while she's seated. One of the things that you may want to do, is you may have a subject that doesn't necessarily want a completely nude shot. They want something that's perhaps a little bit more censored. And so I have a small list of poses that I do over and over again where the subject's nude, but it's an implied nude, not everything is showing. And what that has to do with it's the way you cross the legs, the way you position the arms, and its also a combination with the light. Sometimes where you place the light can cast parts of the body into shadow, and so, for some models, they might not want to have the nude, or subjects may not want to have the nude photos on their portfolio, but something that's an implied nude shows their physique, and it's something that can be a little bit classier. Sometimes less can be more. All right, so I'm gonna have you turn to me and cross that top knee up. Great, just like that. So the way that I have her posed here, and then can you cross one arm over, just like that? I can crop in a way, if I want, that nothing's showing. I can cross the arms over, I can have her hold around her knee, and so it's the placement of her feet and her legs, it's a very wholesome look to it even though it's a nude. So let me take a shot, that's beautiful. (shutter clicking) That's beautiful shot. (shutter clicking) And arch your back just a little bit more. Beautiful. (shutter clicking) And I'm gonna have you hide your right arm. Just tuck it behind, keep goin', a little bit further behind you. Just that way just a little bit. Right there, great. (shutter clicking) Perfect. So I would recommend that if you're photographing a subject that hasn't been photographed nude before, or they're not comfortable with it, I would recommend having a list of these implied nude shots, because it's beautiful and it's elegant, I don't need to show everything. So let me show you this one last goto pose, and she's going to be reclined on her back. This is the shot, I'm gonna have you put your head that way, lay on your back. This is the shot where I cause my subjects the most pain, and I mean that in a very real sense, because I'm going to bend and arch, and I'm going to push things to an extreme. Usually when you lay on your back, you lay out flat. But that doesn't photograph well. I need a major arch to the back, where she's balanced on her shoulder blades, and on her bottom. With a huge space in her lower back there, and I'm gonna have her bend a knee, 'cause it gives me beautiful lines to follow. This is something that I generally wouldn't photograph just on a studio floor, it would be something, looks nice on a beautiful location, or a chaise, or a bed or something to that extent. All right, so, notice she's bending her front knee up, and then give me that major arch. And she does it too in extreme, so notice, here, front leg is bent up, gorgeous curve to her thigh and her bottom, amazing curve to her lower back, and then look, pinky side of the hand towards camera. Everything that we've talked about. This is something that takes practice, but it is uncomfortable, which is why I'm gonna shoot it right now. (shutter clicking) And then can you bring that right hand up a little bit higher for a couple? Beautiful. (shutter clicking) Great. I mean, I love that shot. I'm gonna have you relax. So she doesn't even look like it bothers her. I've tried that pose before and it's more challenging. So instead of resting on your back, you're almost putting all the pressure on the top of your shoulders, with a major arch. But what you wanna watch out for is the subject shouldn't be sticking their stomach out. It's more of an arch and an extension than a pop in the midsection out. So you'll be able to see when you're watching the subject, basically, where is she putting the weight on her back and her shoulders? It'll make a difference to the final shape of the form. But I'm looking at this shot, and I love it. It looks beautiful. And it looks like you would see her reclining in a beautiful chaise, and a Renaissance painting in the background. It's beautiful. So, what I have there, are some standing poses, some emphasizing the chest and the curve. Also some emphasizing more of the curve of her lower back and bottom. I also have poses that are more of an implied nude, as well as seated and lying on the back. So all of these are going to give you a variety that regardless of the location you're at, or the set you're at, or the subject, you'll definitely have some shots that are going to look beautiful for anyone.