Posing Tips for your First Photoshoot! | Oregon Boudoir Photography

Posing Tips for your First Photoshoot

Posing is hard. But it doesn’t have to be!

What feels normal might not look great, but what looks great might feel weird! My name's Caleb Thomas and I'm a Boudoir Photographer based in Bend, Oregon. A lot of my clients have no idea what to do to pose, so I took my friend Treicia who is a professional model out to the Oregon Badlands and we filmed 4 tips on how to pose for complete newbies! 

Here are those 4 tips once again:

1) Triangles.

Looking boxy is one of the least flattering poses, so create some space around your body by thinking in triangles. Don’t be afraid to experiment! Keeping space around your body is the goal, so experiment and see what looks good!

2) Posing with your face.

Smiles are very important! But they also can look really fake. In order to avoid an awkward cheesy smile, do a quiet, fake laugh to yourself, and the smile will come and look way more natural!

For a more sultry look (which is important for boudoir photos) relaxing your features is important. Don’t purse your lips, don’t furrow your brow, don’t clench your jaw, but try this: close your eyes, count to 3, and slowly open your eyes and ever so slightly relax your lips.

Eye contact is also super important in photos. It might feel awkward initially, but look straight into the center of the lens as if it is an eye you’re looking directly into. (A cheesy quote that I really like and I think can help remind you to look into the camera better instead of looking at your photographer is: “I am an ‘eye’ not an ‘I’”)

If you’re trying a pose where you are looking off into the distance, don’t look too far off, or there will be too much white in your eye, but rather just look over the photographer’s shoulder. That’s enough looking away to get that whimsical off in the distance look, but close enough not to make your eyes look less than flattering.

3) But what do I do with my hands?

We don’t tend to think about our hands on a regular basis, so when you become aware that you should be doing something with them, we tend to clench or ball our fists, tighten our fingers, and just get some super unnatural looking shots.

So the best thing to do with your hands is to just relax them. Shake your hands out, then consciously relax them. You don’t want your fingers too close together, but you also don’t want to turn them into Jazz hands! (Unless that’s the shot you’re going for!)

Props also help! Often times when I’m shooting a video interview and the subject feels awkward about their hands, I’ll have them hold a tissue in their hands and pretend it’s a moth or butterfly or something tender. This keeps their hands relaxed and occupied.

The same principle applies to photos as well! If you have something in your hands, you’re much less likely to feel awkward or too focused on them.

4) Have Fun and Ask Questions!

Look, when you book a shoot with me I know you aren’t a professional. You don’t have to worry about feeling like you need to be either. This shoot is all about celebrating you and if we aren’t celebrating you, then what’s the point! So relax, have fun, ask me if what you’re trying looks right, and we’ll work together! Also, feel free to practice in the mirror before your shoot! It’s a pretty good way to try things out and see if you like how they make your body look!

This is all about you. So don’t worry!

At the end of the day, a boudoir photoshoot is all about making you feel like a goddess, like a badass, like the queen you are. And we’re gonna make sure you get those shots! I promise you! I will always help you find the right poses, and I’ll even model some for you! This is a collaboration, and a low pressure environment! So relax, take a deep breath, and know that we’re gonna get some amazing photos!