And the next thing is that people are going to be totally awkward with their hands. (chuckles) And giving them options is always a great way to go. I love photographing people with pockets, because if they're nervous and awkward, that is a great way to get their hands engaged and get their arms and everything just under control.

'Cause people will literally, you'll put them here and they'll be like, okay, but what do I do with my hands? The best thing is you actually are comfs, plus you got pockets. - I do have pockets.

- And pockets are amazing because they allow you to have range to a whole different level of body language, so you can like serve it just a little bit. (funky music) I always pose from the bottom up, because once you have somebody's body language dialed in, then you can address the face, but if you try to adjust the face, then you might be moving them around lower, and you know. It all falls apart real quick.

Now, I will have them put their hips back like this, and then I will say, put your hands in your pockets. When they do that, it's not keeping the elbows wide, it's putting the elbows back. The key to this is having them pull up through the base of the spine, so what I will say is, and I will go like this, pretend there's a string right here, and pull up through the base of your spine.

And then they will go woop! Now, what everybody does is they will lift their shoulders, and you'll say now drop the shoulders, and they'll do that. Put your weight in your back hip, bend this knee, and then put your hands here.

Now, other options with the hands is they can put one here, they can put them here, they can put one here, they can also rest them down. If they rest them down, you don't want toy soldier arms, because this is creating maximum thickness, and maximum awkwardarificness. (bell dings) The key here is to have a slight bend in the elbow.

Once they have that, that's great, and then rolling the shoulders back. That creates a beautiful silhouette. In painting it's called contrapposto, which means there's a little bit of an S curve.

That's really what's flattering for people. The other thing to remember is that anything that's square to the camera is going to be experienced in its full width. With a lot of people, they don't want their full width to be experienced.

(man flutters tongue) So a lot of what you'll be doing is putting them on an axis. So for example, I will say, rotate to the side and I'll say, rotate to this diagonal. Then I'll say, put the weight on the back hip, rotate your front foot out, and then put your hands in your pockets.

And this way, they have a really nice lean way of experiencing their body. However, when you have people do this, a lot of times they'll sink, and they'll start to get really '90s model ghoulish golem world (bell dings) And that's when you go back to, pull up through the base of the spine and drop the shoulders and then put the weight in the back hip there. The other thing that's important to do is a lot of times people will relax their abdominal wall, which looks pretty attractive.

I never say suck in your stomach, because when somebody does that, they go (sucks air) and all of a sudden their breath is gone, there's tension all through here. What you wanna say is, tighten your abdominal wall. Everybody knows that, that's a feeling of doing a crunch.

So it's going from here to totally relaxed to here. Now, when you pair that with pulling up through the base of the spine, now their ribcage is lifted, and this appears to be pretty flat-ish. The other thing to think about is a lot of people have a hard time giving you variations, giving you things to do.

And when you think about what a lot of people want, they will say that they want something that feels effortless, that feels relaxed, and you're like, okay, great, are you gonna give me that? No, I have to get it from you, okay, awesome. (bell dings) The best way I found to do that is to give them a little motion.

Now here's the big mistake. Most people will say, you know, dance, or rock, and then people will get really uncomfortable, and they'll make all these ugly shapes, like if you froze that, ew, if you froze this, ew. And they'll do all this stuff that's not helpful.

The way to get around that is to have them do little motions. A lot of times what I'll say is face this corner and rotate to me. And then I'll have them do that a few times.

And the more they do that, the more relaxed they'll get, right? Or I'll say, you're gonna end up here, but take a step back, and walk through that spot. Called your name, you're like, what?

And then maybe taking a step forward, sort of a thing, - Okay. - so we have a little bit of this like movement in the hips, and kind of stuff. (sexy electronic music) Sometimes I'll do it also with a movement that's a little more creative, for example, this other video right here that I just did for how to photograph somebody with muscles, we wanted to get a lot of that dancer energy.

So then I'll say, what if you do something like this, and I'll motion here. So what I'm doing is having one motion isolated at a time, reset, one motion isolated at a time, reset. The key is to being able to give them one little thing they can focus on doing, so pretty soon their body knows what it's gonna do, and then you can really work on expression.

The other secret to body language that I will show you is connecting the chin to the shoulder. Now this really comes into play when you're dealing with moments in here, right? You're dealing with a tighter frame.

The key to that is not only dialing in the upper body and the lower body, but it's also curling yourself up. But, the first thing we do is we get those hips in position, so I'll say, put your weight on your back hip, then they're there. The next thing that I'll do is I will dial in their hands.

Now, some people are gonna look better here, some people are gonna look better here, some people here, you just kind of have to feel it out, depending on how big their hands are, depending on the proportions, you just need to feel it out, especially if it's really about this moment here. Now, when you have somebody get here, and let's say they're here, you've told them to pull up through the base of the spine and drop the shoulders, and you say look to me, they'll go like this. Now, this is like the owl that looks really awkward, right?

(owl hooting) It's kind of like you're giving yourself a hug, and kind of like, (giggles). And then connecting your chin there. - Yeah, it's like a strain.

- Obvs, obvs. - But like, I'll get it once you-- - Yeah, but it's help if you tilt there, see? - Mm-hmm.

- Okay. Good, tilting the head this way just a little bit. And so you can even have them rotate more over their shoulder, or less, but every time the chin is connecting to the shoulder.

The other trick that I just love, love, love, is how to accentuate a curve in somebody's hip, and really make the eye go where you want. And this is (chuckles) a little trick with the arm, when you bring the arm straight down, it's adding width, right? When you bend at the elbow and take that elbow back, it leads your eye along these curves in a really beautiful and flattering way.

This can also happen when you put the hand in the pocket, which is why a lot of times, I'll have people do this, and then roll this shoulder back, and it gives a really lovely option that accentuates the curve, which leads the eye along the beautiful places of the curve without adding width. The last thing to know about posing people, which is one of the most powerful things, is when it comes to negative space. Now, again, going to this principle about maximum width, if I have my body standing like this with my hips pitched forward, which is honestly how most people will usually (chuckles) stand in front of you, I have this full width across that we're seeing.

Now, one of the things that tells us how wide or how narrow a shape is, is when we see those boundaries. So if I turn to the side, for example, what you're gonna see is this full width across here. The way to counterbalance that is by adding negative space.

When you see that negative space, you know the end of that shape. And if you look at a lot of magazines, a lot of imagery, really, triangles are the type of negative space that are more aesthetically appealing. So trying to think about how you can create triangles for the people that you're photographing and how to make sure that negative space exists there.

The important thing to know is that a lot of times with garments, you won't get maximum negative space, because the garment will be, you know, filling in that negative space. So that's when we clamp it, to give them that negative space there. Also pay attention to my rotation, right?

If I'm here versus here versus here, there are moments where you experience more of the negative space or by your angle, you are not seeing it anymore. So what you wanna try to do with your subject is give them negative space, give them triangles, and give them options so that they really are having the most flattering body languages. So here are some quick examples.

Okay, I say come here with your legs. I can say put your weight on this hip and kick this one out. I can say bring your hands here, rest down here, so we have negative space here and negative space here.

Thinking about different ways you can add negative space to their posing equation that will optimize their body language. Congratulations, you made it this far, which means you are on your way to being able to pose anybody that crosses your path. If you liked this video, give it a thumbs-up.

It means a lot to me to know that you are digging this content, and take a second and comment, because I would love to know your thoughts. Was there one posing tip that really was amazing to you? Or are there things that you're excited to use in the future?

Or, maybe something you want more information about, let me know, let me know! All right, I'll see you next week for a brand new video. Bye!

(upbeat party music) We are digging into posing. So that they look amazing, love you forever, and give you all the money, 'kay? Can we go again?

All about taking you, my fellow photographer, from pretty good to pro. What I have, so what I was gonna say, hold on, 'cause those are two different things. So it all falls apart, it all, it all falls apart.

Why can't I say that? Can you zoom in a little bit more? Oh no, let's zoom back out!

(hands clap) The, mm. Something like, or wait, it's so weird being on this side of it. We can do the outro, (hands clap) right?