Helpful Tips for Posing and Photographing Men

Posing can be one of the trickiest aspects of photography for many people and takes a lot of work to truly master and feel confident at. If posing is something you personally struggle with, this helpful video will give you lots of tips and examples specifically for working with men.

Coming to you from Samuel Elkins, this excellent video will show you some great poses and tips for photographing men. Personally, posing has always been the part of my photography in which I have the least confidence, and I know a fair amount of other photographers struggle with it too. I think the problem is that posing differs in a fundamental way from many other aspects of photography: it is not something that is readily codified into objective quantities and thus requires a different manner of thinking than many other things, making it difficult for a lot of photographers to wrap their heads around. I found it helped me quite a bit to know a few surefire poses that I could fall back on if I was having trouble on a specific shoot; knowing I had the safety net made me much more confident in trying to direct my subjects. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Elkins.

If you find yourself particularly intrigued by posing and wanting to improve, be sure to check out "Fashion and Editorial Portrait Photography: Lighting, Retouching, and Shooting for Magazines With Clay Cook!"

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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2 Comments

I was taught the difference between masculine and feminine head tilt, ie leaning back more assertive or forward more engaging.

Thanks for the guide! A lot of information describing female posing and almost zero of how to work with male models. Thanks!