Outdoor Portrait Posing Cheat Sheet

If you have ever wondered how to pose your subject for headshots but are stumped at the first hurdle or perhaps you're photographing someone who is not used to being in front of the camera, then these handy techniques will improve your outdoor portraits.

Using only natural light, Jessica Kobeissi shows you how to make the most of an outdoor portrait shoot. She demonstrates the best go-to poses for your subject in any situation. Sometimes, when working with shy subjects, it's harder to get natural-looking standing shots because they're not sure what to do with their hands. This is where Kobeissi's tips really come into their own, as she offers advice on how to capture more informal portraits so you can avoid your portraits looking rigid and stagnant. 

Kobeissi teaches you how important the position of the arms is in portraits, even for headshots that only include the head and shoulders. Rather than having the arms dangling at the subject's sides, Kobeissi points out that it's key to think about the angles of their shoulders and how to create flattering lines with their body. Within just a few moments, you pick up a handful of simple and easy-to-implement posing ideas that work with anyone, whether pro, model or family and friends.

It's great to see Kobeissi's workflow from posture changes to exposure preferences; we see her approach to shooting portraits outdoors, which provides a little inspiration for those wanting to experiment.

Jason Parnell-Brookes's picture

Jason is an internationally award-winning photographer with more than 10 years of experience. A qualified teacher and Master’s graduate, he has been widely published in both print and online. He won Gold in the Nikon Photo Contest 2018/19 and was named Digital Photographer of the Year in 2014.

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2 Comments

Apauling, portraiture starts with lighting long before you get to posing. I would be embarassed to show those to a client.

1,5 min of video before getting to the point. The photographer only focused on the model, without paying any attention to lighting and background. Yes, she asked the model to change her position several time, without noticing that there is a "tree growing out" of the model's head. It is not just the pose. It is lighting, background, composition, pose...Even the way the photographer is holding a camera does not look right or professional - no support is given to the camera body by holding the lens from the top....No flash used - the model's eyes look dead without catch lights. And one of the most important things - she only gives direction to the model, she does not talk to the model while shooting. As a result, the model's face expression is the same on most photos. Speak to the model to create variety of photos, to show that you are interested in getting to know her personality, to make her feel more comfortable and to prevent her getting bored after 5 min. If this video is for beginners, I would consider not showing it to them as it would guide them on how to make mistakes rather than teaching them the best practice.