While having professional images taken can be uncomfortable for both men and women, men tend to find posing properly a bit more challenging. While women have a wide range of tools at their disposal to help them feel more confident and relaxed during a shoot, men don’t always have this same advantage. To help all the gentlemen out with pulling off a successful shoot consider these simple posing tips to guide you along.
5 Posing Tips for Him:
1. What is the goal of your images?
The first thing you want to determine is the kind of look or attitude you want to portray through your images. While you most likely want to look masculine, do you just want to come off as a tough guy? Depending on what you will use your images for you might want to go with a more friendly or relaxed looked. Knowing the goal of your images will make it easier for you and your photographer to come up with the right poses.
2. Hands and arm positioning.
The most common pose men find themselves in is one that crosses the arms in front of them. This pose, however, can often give off an intimidating impression and doesn’t work with all images. An alternative to crossing your arms in front of you could be holding your hands together in a fist by your waist. For a more relaxed look try placing your hands or just the thumbs in your pocket. You can also have one hand in your pocket while the other holds your coat over your shoulder.
3. Body Position.
Most men tend to lean to one side whether standing or sitting. Leaning against a wall or railing or slightly leaning to one side with your hand on a chair or desk can give off a more relaxed and welcoming persona. If you want to stick with a more masculine stance make sure you keep your weight equally distributed on both feet.
4. Face Expression.
According to the first point, you need to determine the kind of look you are looking for, it may help you, determining who is your audience? For most professionals, you want to look approachable, confident and trustworthy. To accomplish this, you need to work on your expressions in front of a mirror, tiny smile, and eyes with a small squinch, forehead forward and a little bit down, this will help you with the jawline and avoid to show double chin.
5. Head position.
For men, it’s better to keep the head as straight as possible, minimal tilting.
Enrique Urdaneta
Headshot & Corporate event Photographer
