In this two-part series we're doing a
crash course on the 'Foundation Posing Framework'.
In other words this is a must
watch for all of you portrait and
wedding photographers.
So feel free to share it,
let's dive in.
My name is Pye and I'm one of the
founders of Lynne and Joseph photography,
and SLRlounge.com.
We're teaming up with Adorama, to bring
you a new series of photography
tutorials called
'Master your craft right here on
Adoramatv, so let's dive in.
Alright guys, so helping me out with this
video I've got Mickey, he's Manning the
camera, we just want to get a nice
standard shot of each of these poses.
We are gonna walk through on this side,
I've got the lovely Jeff and Naomi,
they are an actual real-life couple,
in this video I want to talk about the
Foundation of Posing Framework,
so first what the heck is it?
Well in our studio we shoot a lot of
weddings and portrait sessions, and we
needed a method or a system to train our
photographers, but also to help our
clients to be able to feel comfortable
in front of the camera, because let's be
honest most of our clients don't have
experience in front of a camera, and
they're always going to tell you, I feel
or I look awkward in front of a lens, so we
begin this process at the beginning of
every single shoot, and I'm gonna give
you guys the crash course right now.
So Jeff and Naomi have never done this
before, we're gonna start with the
Foundation Posing Framework, and all this
means - we call it foundation posing,
because it begins from the feet up, and
by the way, first you guys have sides
that you would typically stand on, like
what side you're usually on?
That side, okay, perfect, let's stay there.
So what we're gonna do is, start with the
V up we called the V up because your
shoulders are essentially touching the
back, Jeff your arm is gonna go around to
her hip, and just remember you guys,
before you touch or demonstrate or
anything like that, just be sure to ask,
perfect, Jeff bring your hand back on the hip,
there you go, and then put this hand in
the pocket Naomi, that looks fantastic,
and this is the V up, because your
shoulders are essentially making a V in
the back, your feet are kind of in toward
each other, and we would say, have you
guys look into the camera, lean the
heads together, and this is that first shot.
So you'll notice that this photograph,
that we're about to show is
the typical kind of red, red carpet shot,
and what we would do is, say Jeff don't
lean too much, because it looks like
you're sleeping on her, so just like a
slight tilt, and Naomi, clean up the
hair real quick on each side, and
let's let Mikey grab that shot.
So that's the V up, now from there what
we're trying to do right now is create a
common set of vocabulary, because just
standing across on the other side of the
camera and shouting out direction - it
doesn't really work that well.
If I just say guys look natural, or you know
guys I don't know, hold hands and look at each
other, like there's so many different
interpretations of that.
So we start first with this V up, and this is that
essentially, the red carpet shot.
Why?
Because well, they use it on the red carpet
because it makes both people look good.
It's a couples portrait, you can see both
their outfits, it's that standard shot
that we're gonna base everything off of.
Now from there, this is the next key.
I'm gonna say guys imagine the shoulder
that's touching back there is like the
hinge on a door, okay?
So from that Jeff,
if I were to say open,
what do you think that would mean?
Yes, now if I said I want you
to close, what do you think that means?
Perfect, so again we're creating
relatable terms in a common vocabulary I
can use to now direct, right, so guys if I
were to say go into a closed pose, can
you guess what that would mean?
Yes. So now we call this the closed pose,
this is where their chests are facing each other
directly, so go ahead face each other
directly guys, look right at each other.
We get a profile shot from the camera,
and let's lean back a little bit, you
guys can move the hands around a little
bit, and look right at each other, we call
this the close pose, because their chests
are closed or away from the camera right?
So from this, if I were to say guys go to
an open pose, and hold hands in the
middle, so immediately you, you
understood what open pose meant,
even though I never explained that, right?
Okay so all they're doing now is,
they're opening the chest to the camera,
now you might be wondering
why else are we doing this,
well because when we develop the
system, what I realized in researching
thousands of photographs was, the
majority of couples portraits begins with
these five basic feet positions.
So I named it the Foundation Posing Framework,
because it works from the feet up,
and well those are the feet positions for the majority
of poses, for example I can do a walking
shot from right here right?
So let's just say you guys are kind of
walking to the camera, perfect, now I
could say hug onto his arm while you
walk, there you go,
now look at each other from that side,
perfect, now hold hands in the center,
just like you were, and take a step apart,
let's do something more whimsical, so
take a step a foot apart, and look toward
each other, perfect.
So, so many different shots, so
many different poses begins with these
feet positions, so that was three.
This was now the open pose.
Let's go now to the reverse pose,
So in this one, one of your feet is going
one way, the other person is going
the other way, so Jeff,
I'm gonna say reverse and flip that way,
so now Naomi I'm gonna have you hug onto
his arm right here, and from this shot I
might do like kind of close-up portions
of her, where Jeff is kind of looking
towards her.
Jeff look towards her, right
there, perfect, just like that, it's a
great kind of way to get in close, get in
tight, get implied shots of one person, so
we have reverse, and then finally we have
stacked, so Jeff what you're gonna do for
this fifth and final one is, you're gonna
just basically stack your feet behind her.
Her chest goes into, or her back goes
into your chest, there you go, now to
avoid making this look too odd, you don't
want him to be too far behind her, so
kind of come out a little bit, hold hands
on this side, and now you have a stack
pose, and once again now I just work with
kind of controlling eyes and expressions
and cueing and guiding, right?
But from this, I'm gonna have Jeff bring
the hand back a little bit on the hip.
So it's kind of a little bit more hidden,
you can relax that hand,
and now Naomi you can
look down to this direction.
Jeff you can look at her,
so let's go ahead and get
that same shot right there from our
stack position.
Perfect.
So now what we've done is watch this,
we now have a common
dialogue that we can use to take a
couple that has never stood in front of the
camera, and actually direct them while
shooting, that's the big part here,
because watch what I'm about to do,
all right guys,
I want you guys to go into a V up,
perfect just like that, let's go,
Jeff bring the hand out, so it kind of just,
tuck the thumb in the pocket, let it
relax, there you go, and hide the hand on
her hip, perfect, right there, guys now I
want you to look at each other,
beautiful, now why don't you guys hold
hands, and stand a foot apart, going to an
open pose, perfect, now looking directly
in the camera, we're gonna get kind of
whimsical shot right here, and now look
at each other guys, beautiful, now Jeff I
want you to stack behind Naomi for this
shot, perfect, you're gonna hug her as if
you haven't seen it for a while, now
you're gonna kind of take that embrace,
I want you to look down towards this side.
Jeff you look towards her, and go on three.
One, two, beautiful, and finally guys,
come apart from that,
and go into a closed pose,
what I'd like to do is go in a closed pose,
there you go, hold hands and
take a step one foot away from each
other, and then lean across and go for a
kiss, and then now hug in from that position.
In the next video we're gonna be focusing
on expression and cues as well.
I hope you guys enjoyed this video
and if you did, please comment below,
like and subscribe to the channel,
in addition look we have the best online
education available at - slrloungeworkshops.com
This was just a small glimpse into several
different courses, we have a complete
posing and directing workshop that goes
through every bit of body language,
imposing and cueing and directing,
and all the nuances of posing
single subjects, couples, everything, so be
sure to check that out as well.
You guys can also follow me @PyeJirsa
and I'll see you guys in the next video.
Bye.