Skip to main content

Model vs Non-Model Posing Comparison

Lesson 27 from: Modern Women's Portraiture

Sue Bryce, Lou Freeman, Lara Jade, Emily Soto

Model vs Non-Model Posing Comparison

Lesson 27 from: Modern Women's Portraiture

Sue Bryce, Lou Freeman, Lara Jade, Emily Soto

buy this class

$00

$00
Sale Ends Soon!

starting under

$13/month*

Unlock this classplus 2200+ more >

Lesson Info

27. Model vs Non-Model Posing Comparison

Lesson Info

Model vs Non-Model Posing Comparison

The one thing I noticed about laura posing is she never she all she's looking for is the make up the light, the angle, the dress because the models doing everything else right, but when you shoot portrait, you have tio you're only looking at the girl and what flatters her body, and also every single time she went to change, like two full length, she wouldn't shoot this output full length, you know, if she had a bigger gown for link, that changes the way she's posing to sell it, the outfit that she's, um, you know, trying to sell a cz she's trying to sell something, you know, as a fashion model, her client is trying to sell dresses or auras. The portrait is only about the girl I need about the girl ever, and so I kind of thought it would just in terms of models, it would be really good, too. All of my posing that I've learned through my whole career, I've gotten from fashion models, so that's, how I learned had opposed, I would read magazines, look at magazines and think how you feel th...

e frame, how do you get the arms and legs in? And then when I would go to do it with a non model body who isn't lean or is tall or can't move as well I think held away aesthetically create this pose so what I used to do is read magazines and cut out pictures that I really liked and then try and recreate the poses with gills that aren't models and you know you think that what this girl is doing is really sattler and what larry is doing is just so quicken, so subtle, but when you actually see the difference between how normal people move in how our model moves, you'll be really shocked and lauren, I want to talk about expressions because the most incredible thing about fashion models ysl the expressions that they can really do with their face now she's guiding that but it's two job to bring those expressions and I suppose you have really good models that khun d'oh fifty yes, just give you it all at one time yeah and then you have others that are like oh she's not quite as good on do you have to work through it but you would never have a model that can do two expressions and a portrait client can usually do too one is really smiling and the other is terrified so I love that I thought well dio I pose off like we're dio I directed on undirected pose off and then we'll do a directed pose off and we'll see how differently they moved just so that you can really see how incredible these two what these two does is and how bad we are at it. One thing about photographers that always makes me laugh is they want to know hell to pose, but really, they want to know how to direct because she is guiding her client to get lots of different angles because she said, if I take a hundred shots, my client's going to like it least three of them one for an editorial went for a look book one for but that's not what I'm shooting, I'm shooting the one shot my client is going to pay for my client is the girl that I'm shooting, not at director that's sitting, watching so it's totally different that is just absolutely amazing. So we're going to shoot like a sort of posing manual for you today like a catalogue menu that you conceal these poses and then try and recreate them and help people recreate them. So where I learned all my posing was from watching people like this move and I'm going to show you how I do it because I practice posing eso I'll also have a go and I'll pose off with the model, so you know, I'll see what I got a wicked I don't mind embarrassing myself. So what I thought would be really good, but before I bring katie on is I'm going to imagine that we've gone and changed out a model because we heaven, but we're just going to pretend that we have and that she's got a gown or a piece of fabric or something that she can actually move with, and I'll get louder, just director and take a few shots of her how you would post somebody moving with something, and then I'm going to give it to katie and get her to do the same thing that katie's now that watch she's not allowed to watch the model side. Yeah, so the reason I'm doing this is because I feel like if you ask people to pose and you give them something, a model has to work with the dress she had to use your hands to use fabric, however she's kind of move that she's going toe move with this and what with this and on dh, then we'll see what katie does with it. So what, you got to really go? Ashley, wait, yes, you see that shot up there in the middle with the girl with the dress? Um she's not actually moving she steady, clea going like this and we're throwing the dress because she's not a model, and she couldn't do that so I make it look like she's doing it so we'll show you the difference so however you would guide here tio yeah even if you want a protein that it's a dress or kind of hold it around you first yet that's it and then kind of move with it or actually if you put it behind you like a runner like rightists good yeah even if you want to tied around here like like imagine that it's a skit with a bit of movement yeah I'll do the same thing to katie what do you do here all day to katie okay no one's gonna ask what we've done with the lights now we've just turned off the flash and I've put on four modeling light and we're just shooting without flashing strobing the light's pretty simple I know what I want to do with that that's great so I could ship see now yep perfect right how do you how would you move in that what's what we want to see how do you feel as soon as you put that on you teo I'll show you directing, huh? Okay. Yeah all right. So let's try front on kind of movement to the side and just kind of keep moving because that's when we get the best short maybe larry should hear shooting how you normally would and let her move here itself because I'm going to make a thing good just keep okay, so what you're gonna have to do is I'm gonna capture it so you go from that side and just kind of do a quick movement yet that arm is just a little at the end I just had to kind of come down it is trying yes, yes, that movement of the scoff at the bottom straight on like that and just kind of flat this one on like that and just let it go hey, whenever you're ready yeah see, we're a flat drop nephew ready look, if this wouldn't completely destroy our mikes and audio recording I would suggest using a fan for this again I just want to get some more movement in it because it's quite heavy on little oh, that um yes just straight on and this takes a few shots to get right but you gotto quickly do it let it draw you've just got to come straight back to the middle of yep that's it and that hand just have to be there so many things going on at once they have to chain up they don't think about looking at it you just do that and can you hold it and just turn with it like that like hold it out and turn keep pushing it out as you do it from that like hold it out really far and then but move with it to keep them from the side down thanks see what you gotta do is let me show you if this was on me like example like this you just got to kind of like let it kind of full and then you face that way as you do it so just being up here kind of bring it and let's put your hand down really quickly and don't worry about like the movement it gives because it just takes like you know twenty or so shot to get that kind of perfect one this's I hate do movement shoot because it's always that like one in every portrait this is why sometimes my hair stylist have leaf blowers on set because they're there with this leaf blower and just like attacking it with the hair or the movement and actually works really well as well ok that's it that's perfect yep it's gonna put you hand down a little bit quicker love that beautiful tina I mean myself too hey just face me slightly yep cross your leg over whenever you're ready now instead of trying to get one perfect shot I'm directed if you just keep shooting yeah how many different things would you do as a model with that piece of fabric you ok you give it to me or however you would feel yeah okay and try from the other side as well just move around with it as much as you want and I'll just capture it when I feel it's right? Yeah great rachel you could drop it off your shoulders whatever you want to do with that it's great you can put it down here yeah you can just do whatever you want with that yep just put down leave as much as you want beautiful try one from the side as well face in the light that's beautiful that was my like that it's just that moment in time big oh that's beautiful okay you can stop you got at least team cover okay all right katie coming here from okay we're getting kitty told me to find yeah yeah do what you did for what your nine right to come in here the one thing I love about you the one thing I love about you know beautiful girlfriend katie is people will look at katie and you could be a model and what they do because she's beautiful and she's tall and instantly people look at girls and they say you could be a model and there's a lot of girls that think they can be moral and there's a very distinct difference between the sort of commercial model and a pretty girl and you know a model works really hard teo lynn because the one thing you'll notice I won't say anything actually until after I photographed katie so I'm not going to give you too much direction exactly what should do with right where you can put that over your shoulders you can move around with it, but what if it just comes naturally? I want you just to stop doing it and I'm going to stop photographing yeah, yeah and so I just want you to sort of just do what even move from side to side and use the fabric and I'm going to start shooting you and I'll give you some direction can you can do what you like you can what did you say larry can showed and yet everyone side eva you can tune a little bit away towards the light katie this what you see? What else did you say? Let's go throw it over the back and let it kind of come up with a side you know what the most incredible part about this is that a bit now I have to go and this is what I would teach this is what I would teach my client now what rachel was doing was no matter what she was doing with his body, did you notice every single time her face was on that camera her expression was on their camera. Katie was getting movement, but she wasn't once engaged to the camera, not with her chin, not with your face, not with your expression so she was standing to move and get the movement but not once has any of this on and yet rachel was on like she was on every single time even when the fabric didn't fall she was still her face was modeled and it was posed perfectly for the camera and that's what made who hit rate so much higher? And so I find that all of a sudden you have this prop or all of a sudden you're freestyling this this is what I call freestyling when you don't have a chair to sit on aura walt alina and free styling is the hardest posing you can teach anybody because they have to do something with their arms something with the league's something with their hands the body language they have to move the hips, the shoulders and the whole time they're faith has to be giving face they have to be giving face so that they get this beautiful shot every single time so I know that a real woman even katie's a dancer but a dancer is not a poser. There is no such thing as a dancer being so natural in front of the camera they have to lin so if somebody was going to freestyle I would be posing them tow a point we are like lara was doing when larry first header here in laura was actually making her do that, you know, just a simple movement we she could get that beautiful staff to fly I would be posing katie right down to the last little I left katie come back in so what I would do is I wouldn't even leave katie on her own the way we lived rachel on her own and I mean her face so what I'll do is I'll stand here like this and I will guide here like they're so I want you to turn your body this way in case a mirror me that's it I want you to bring your arms back like this and open your shoulders up to may there it is now rachel did this automatically the staff was hanging here and you saw this beautiful shape between your hip and her arm she just said that so automatically and that's what we're trying to create we're trying to create something aesthetic that looks really beautiful and then I say to katie, push your chin forward that's it and then down this way so I'm guiding every part of her we she's looking where she's moving and if katie can't flip the the scarf up you see I'll get them to do that little flip and I'll get him to do up fifty times and it won't work. I'll get nicky in here like this and I'll say to nikki but you hold the pose lots of shape through your waist and shoulders long chin down, relax your mouth and go and that tell I'll take that one shot and yet we would have got ten amazing shots from rachel without having to come up and do any of this, and I just I know that she cannot move the way she moves and, you know, if it was a beautiful gown that this since you have more of a mood to the shot, it would make more sense than what we're making her do. And like felix said, yes, put a fan in there straightaway, so if I'm going to do a skirt throwing shot, so just tune your body towards me and we'll just pretend that we've got a skirt on and I'm just gonna tie this scar if we were doing something with a skirt and we're just trying to get some movement so I would do something like if you hold the skin and did it and she's going to do a half too, like then okay, so straight away, this is katie's movement. This is her range of motion. I'm going to look at a range of motion click and then I have to re engage her face. So then I go with that shoulder. Katie that's it every time I come around, then I finally get the moved down and then I'm like, keep going, katie, push it towards me. Lot to shape in your body working your shoulder good gil keep it going keep it going don't stop I'm gonna hot cougar that lot to shake so when you go it stretch back good going their election mouth now look down look down good girl keep going keep going relax your arms keep pushing your shoulders forward lock to shape in this good push it out push it out meanwhile I've taken sixteen, twenty, thirty five shots just waiting for that perfect moment where I get the hips the shoulders, the chin in the movement with the skirt on the fly and that shot up there one of the staff pieces on the right is a complicit because I did not nail that perfect throw so I nailed a perfect throw on the left side of perfect around the right side and then I put them together and it's just so aesthetic and so different opposing between the two of them it's really quite incredible. So if I take this away now katie's got nothingto hold but there's absolutely nothing here for her to hold now her hands opposing on their own and that's even harder. So katie go on that side and rachel come back on this side and if laura was standing here with rachel just shooting a mid portrait pose she would say, just pretend you've got a camera yeah and we're just going to say to the girls I'm going to just keep taking photographs and what I want you to do is just nice and slowly change up your pose if we say you know click and you just see how many you khun turn but you know allowed to move off the spot you could bring your hands up you can hold your body you can do whatever you like but you're not allowed to move from the spot so you can look back at may you can do anything you want this is the only guidance I'll give them let's see how many poses they can both do with that amount of direction a case that actually we probably shouldn't stand here feel like you're going to shoot by them so they can't see each other if I get you guys in now we don't need to be in that we're not directing them you're going to shoot it so killed when you hear the click of felix is camera I want you to change your post don't move from your spot and you can move around and you can bring your arms up and do what ever you like you can bring your arms over your here you can hold your body and go with you and stay looking at his camera why don't I put on a tripod because when we have it really I just told you go away lady e I need you okay being right there we go all right girls work it one more step okay just gotta focus right here there you go. All right. That's a good idea lovely. All right are we doing a rhythm here when they hear your clique that yeah okay, good hearing it doing good in there. Hee hee keep anything I want keep going all right all right. You're not think they are doing here and click there moving on their own you don't go you don't base doing great. I want to see more hands from both of you and more turning away from both of you are just so many ok? Yeah that's right, that is just start I'm gonna have a garden all right, no pressure go that's all right, we'll take the transfer can you tell to stop this before sews too far for this camera? I want him out just give it a go with that taking my car okay right. The one thing about rachel obviously is here movement is more subtle she's going from here to here to here to here cause she's used to a photographer that's going keep giving the angles keep living the angles I'm going posed pose pose you notice what katy did katy repeated herself she went this way she went flat feet she went flat hands each time and then she started to repeat her poses you know, so I think you have to understand that the way rachel is moving is just in such a model way she's moving so gradually every single time and katie was just lost after you know, one rotation this way and one rotation that way so I feel like in the opposing manual today the difference between laura and I really comes down to this girl is has a professional posing body she's made to be a model she's made to pose she can but the way she works here faith to me it is the end ofthe everything like regardless that katie's tourney in lane it's what she is giving in her facial expression it's the way that your face is engaged in an angular way and every single photograph, no matter what her pose is she is on. So if we talk about expressions and look at expression so if you shoot close up andi, you have a look at the expressions I want to show you this if rachel and katie stand side by side and we shoot nice and close and you just shoot there just looking straight in the camera and you just look at their expressions, watch this because this is what makes here a model I want you both to just do like a beauty just straight like you were doing before into the camera so you just look into the camera and felix kind of take a series of shots and I want you to change your expression it many times as you can so you khun dio sort of change the angle of your face changed the way you look with your eyes in usual mouth and if he clicks away this change he was interesting with rachel like her lips kind good will reopen it kind of more like subtle hints that you wouldn't so it's micro expression it's it's the way she lifted her ten up it's the way she changed her mouth it was that, like katie's changing the angle of her face but she's not once changing the tension in her mouth and you watch models you watch how they pose in the first thing that they all do is they when they relax him mouth and then they got about eight different mouth ranges where they can do like a little half smile where it looks like a like this, you know? And they go and they just do that little weak tweak and the eyes light up and then they look in their intense and then the bottom lip drops and when you ask and a real girl to drop her bottom lip nineteen, nineteen at the time drop you but I'm not kidding they do this, they just looked like that they do not know you know they do not know most of them don't know and I see this all the time with young girls they think the mouth really open is a post right there on that's not oppose that I'm about to eat something and so the difference was in there was song satya like all of a sudden katie's moving here here this way but rachel's already opened him out instead of to use her mouth with expression and I feel like a good model should have a huge range I think tyra banks talks about that a lot, she says the rain you know, like they get these model's tio these up and coming models and they're like you didn't change your faith and I always feel really sorry for them because I think you know, he was directing them but the professional models they're supposed to have this locked down so what I practice when I started leaning to shoot non models we won't say we're women because they're both real women they're both really gorgeous women is that rachel knows how to work her mouth in her eyes in her chin and katie different but katie's not even practice do you practice that? Is that something you practice? You just you just start moving and you feel like you know and you're moving your angles and you're just looking straight into the camera so you know it's I feel like it's just such a neat thing toe loon and how many of you are teaching this in your posing? You can get fundamentally wrong posing in your body you can get club hands, you can cut off a hand, you know you can not bring the shoulder and engage it probably, but if you don't have that connection that look in the camera that chin forward, that mouth and if it doesn't look real and like body language, you you haven't now that and I think what makes my portrait's really good is that I get the connection every single time. So remembering when you're posing, you're going to see we pose a whole lot of non models next, we're going to concentrate on getting the connection out of their face they're getting their bodies to look good in getting the kick connection out of their face because I think that's really important question one of the hardest things I have is smile eyes, you know, how do you get them to smile through their eyes? I just simply say it like this, so I'll do it with both of them because if it was even if I was photographing rachel, I would be directing here in my way anyway because I wouldn't know how to direct here like a commission, what also I would director in my way a photo that were in front of me and I had my camera I would say okay I to the camera both ofyou and completely relax your mouth so er elective open that's it and I want you just to push your chin ford a little wee bit more and then a tiny little smile in your eyes really light up your eyes good girl there it is and both of them are locked in there like katie's already locked in so she's looking she's relaxed him out and then I got out there so both of you chin for katie that's it and I want your election mouth and then a little smile in your eyes lips together just very dealing and just a tiny bring it to this vacated tiny tiny little smith like ever so slightly a little bit more a little authority in the eyes, isn't it? I like that kind of like a cleveland micro expression it's when the mouth slightly moved in the eyes slightly moved and it's so tiny that you don't actually need to be like this because it's the mouth smiles without the eyes it looked like this and its eyes trying to smile without the mouth you look like this here's a crazy thing to look at the person that you look them directly in the eye directly in the eye, the person next to you and smile at them okay, never once do you look down at the mouth correct? You stay looking at their eyes so the eyes smiling you can see the mouth of smiling but the eyes are smiling back at you and that's what you're trying to get so I do it lots of different ways because non models let's let's just look at rachel on dh just say rate will just give us a few different types dedicating let's give us a few weeks you both do it go straight next to it look at felix and I just want you every time you hear a click given a different little type of smile right up to really smiley go for it she just gave like tin smiles and katie gave us one that it was one cute smile but I just took ten shots of here and she's only gonna buy one right? So that's the whole point of being a portrait photographers like now I have to talk her through that. So what if I talk katie through it like right how rachel's doing? What if I go out there? Okay, stay there, katie. Bring your chin down attach a little bit more of a smirk a little bit more good girl that's cute never next your mouth and lift your chin up now give me a little smoke mouth open good killed ex knives a little bit more of a smile beautiful, big green lit it, guys. Good girls. Night. Not so big that okay, so I can keep talking her through there, but we don't need to talk rachel through there. The answer to a beautiful portrait or directing is talking. And the answer to a beautiful portrait is full connection in the face. Okay, the answer. Toa larry's posing. Is she selling the government? Not the girl that never once this morning did she take a photo of rachel? She took a photo of a model in a beautiful outfit. She worked her body. She photographed background. She photographed the movement, the connection that angles and the lighting. You guys ask more lighting questions than posing questions. You know what I mean? So she is guiding the entire look of the photograph. And all I care about is getting katie because katie's, mom and katie's boyfriend not gonna buy the shop and that face that model face, you know, when they're just so beautiful mouth open, locked into the camera. They don't buy that. The girls like it. But the boys by the smile, the real connection, the twinkle. And so I just wanted you to see the transition from model into non model.

Class Materials

bonus material

Photoshop: Alison Action
Mentoring With Sue Bryce
Photoshop: Victoria Action
Pola Negatives
Emily Soto Posing Guide
Lara Jade Posing Guide
Lou Freeman Posing Guide
Sue Bryce Posing Guide

Ratings and Reviews

william mazdra
 

Occasionally, things fall into place, and you end up with the kind of event that we just watched. It was marvelous to see these four amazing individuals contribute their own perspectives and content and to see them interact with one another. It was honest, brilliant and a must have to view many times over. One of the best courses on Creative Live and further evidence that Creative Live is going from strength, to strength and is worth every bit of our investment and time.

a Creativelive Student
 

This was such a great 3 days! Each one of those women are so inspiring in a different way. Sue Bryce is my absolute role model and it was a great experience to get to watch and listen to her. She makes her lessons relatable and very easy to understand and remember. So many small tips and tricks that will make a big impact on how I shoot as well as how I market! Thank you Sue. I had never heard of Lara Jade and Emily Soto before this started and I can say thank you to creativeLive for the opportunity to be inspired by two other amazing women in the photography business. The unique style and confidence they displayed was great to watch. I don't shoot fashion, but I was able to take good bits and pieces from it all. I am stepping out of my box... starting today! Thanks again to each of the women and cL for putting this all together. Kristin Campbell Journey Images, Alberta, Canada

Kim Sleno
 

As a participant in the live audience, this is a fabulous course, from Sue Bryce's honesty in helping a person to look within themselves to find your own motivation, her wonderful real examples of posing women, to Lou Freeman's posing for boudoir this is a course that will help a person learn a craft and where they might want to go. I loved Lara Jade's vision of fashion and how she has arrived at such an early age. Emily Soto brings a different dimension to fashion photography that is inspiring, from her use of vintage cameras to her editing skills. This is a course for anyone wanting to learn about photographing women. I highly recommend. Thanks CreativeLive !!

Student Work

RELATED ARTICLES

RELATED ARTICLES