Posing 101

A few people have mentioned lately how well my poses compliment my outfits and I thank them for the observation. I try.

I have a huge collection of poses that spans almost three years. And, I  currently receive review copies from several pose makers; happy girl here. For me, poses are just as important to the photo as the locale and the outfit. Can that be? I think so. Poses, just like Windlight, set the mood. Without mood there is no interest and without interest, you often have a fairly boring "vendor photo" (no offense meant with that comment, there are a few fantastic vendor photographers out there, but I expect you get my point).

So as I was going through several new pose release folders, I thought it might be helpful to a few of the newer folks to know just what I do with those thousands (I haven't counted but there are tons) of poses. How I find the right one for the outfit, for the mood.

So this is a simple screenshot of my process. Poses on the right, pose folders on the left. I have devised a set of categories that work for me. There are sometimes subcategories within folders, the largest list being for stands.

I am not a person who keeps everything. I faithfully (sometimes a bit tardily depending how busy I am) go through each pose given to me.  I deprim before testing as it would be unfair to judge a pose solely on how it worked with a particular outfit. I check first to see if it fits me, no hands going into other body parts for example. I check to see if it looks natural, no odd joints being cut off at the pivot points. I then think back to make sure I don't already have a pose or two very similar (this is sometimes tricky but does keep the brain cells at peak performance). If the pose is mod, I often add notes to myself about what the pose might be good for.

Nowadays I keep only my favorites, having a large collection of previous favorites which, unlike clothes, do not go out of style.  I am very happy to say that I still get new and exciting poses to add to my collection!

That's my process. Now I am going back to it.

Click on any photo for a high rez version. You may need to enlarge further with the zoom tool.

Pose by aDORKable. See previous posts for styling