Many families no longer want a family photo with everyone looking at the camera and smiling. Instead, families are looking for photos that show not just what they look like, but what they feel like when they are together.
Yet, within the artificial confines of a photo session lasting ninety minutes or less, it can be hard to capture these moments happening completely candidly. While it does happen from time to time, most families need a little help with posing and interaction to capture the lifestyle shots the are after.
Lifestyle photographer Elena Blair knows fist hand how important giving clients some direction can be. With the growing popularity of lifestyle photography the word “pose” has become taboo, but, according to Elena, the truth of the matter is that even in lifestyle photography a ton of posing and guiding takes place. Making “posing” a bad word in lifestyle photography is very frustrating to new photographers because they show up at a family session and expect beautiful moments and interactions to unfold in front of them. When this doesn’t happen, both the photographer and the family walk away disappointed. The truth is that in lifestyle photography, interactions have to be posed and directed.
For example, in the above images the scenes look completely candid. However, there was nothing candid about them. Elena completely posed the images.
If posing makes you uncomfortable, consider switching to purely documentary photography where no posing is used at all. However, Elena believes that posing does not have to be scary or complex. In lifestyle photography, subjects are not placed into stiff poses with no room for error. Instead, subjects are directed into place and interactions are guided so that their vision becomes a reality. As a lifestyle photographer, Elena firmly believes that you must know how to pose and direct your subjects into meaningful interactions or they won’t happen. For Elena, posing and guiding is an art form that she believes is essential to lifestyle family photography.
Why does Elena believe these skills are so important? Once she learned how to pose and direct for lifestyle photography, her photos became full of movement, emotion, life, and love because she created the conditions that allowed that to happen. Elena also has found that although clients only want candid moments in their photos, they also expect the photographer to be 100% in control and to direct them into moments that appear candid in photos.
So, how does Elena pose and guide her clients to show their connection and love? She shares some advice below.
1. Let go of Perfection and Focus on Emotion: Get the image of a stiff and uncomfortable family photo out of your mind. That is not what we are talking about here. Instead, think about the emotions you want to evoke with your work and think about how you will pose and direct your subjects into those interactions. It helps to make a list of certain emotions you want to create. For example, in the following image Elena wanted to evoke the deep protection that a mother has over her children. She asked the Mother to scoop up her little one and made sure to direct the Mother to place her child’s tummy so it was touching her own. Then, Elena made sure that the Mother’s arms were wrapped tightly around the baby. Then, she asked the Mother to lean into her little one and snuggle her. It took careful planning to make this “candid” moment happen, yet only a quick few directions to the client were needed.
2. Get Comfortable Touching your Subjects: Elena walks right up to her families and places them exactly how she wants them with my hands. This isn’t always necessary but often it is.
3. Talk to your subjects: Elena gives step by step instructions to her families. She knows exactly what I need to say in order to get them to interact the way I need them to take the pose to the next level. Don’t expect families to know what you want them to do and be very detailed with your instructions.
4. Develop Formulas for Poses you Like: Over time, Elena has developed formulas for poses she likes and likes to use with most of her families. For her formulas, Elena does not simply rely on an image with no explanation, but rather has step-by-step instructions for each member of the family that are easy to remember and easy to follow.
Here is the formula Elena used for the above photo:
1. Ask dad to sit on the ground comfortably.
2. Ask mom to lie down in his lap making sure to fan out her hair. Make sure that you direct her to keep her chin up so that she doesn't get a false double chin.
3. Now ask one of the children to lay down on her, tummy to tummy with his or her legs straddled over mom. Direct him to look at his mama.
4. Direct the other child to sit right next to dad. Ask that child to touch mom's hair or head to add a layer of connection.
5. Ask dad to look at either one of the children or his wife.
Elena has formulas like this for each pose she knows most families want during a photo session. Elena teaches her formulas to other photographers. During Photo Week on CreativeLive running from October 9 - 13, Elena will be teaching many of her formulas, complete with videos of exactly what she says to her families. To learn more about Elena’s resources for photographers, check out her courses here.
Elena wants to debunk the myth that lifestyle photography happens naturally and give photographers the knowledge to execute beautiful lifestyle photography and give families images they will love generations.
Contributor has no interest in anything or anyone mentioned.