Portrait photography tip: Put your weight on your back foot

Sunday 23 October 2022, 13:31 by Elja Trum | 3,576 views | 2 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Ask someone to stand somewhere and there is a good chance they will simply stand straight in front of you with both feet next to each other. In that pose, however, your stomach sticks out, which is generally not the most flattering pose.

Anke - f/10, 1/160s, 100 ISO @ 58mm
This is easy to solve by asking your model to put one foot forward and place their weight on the back foot. This immediately improves the pose. Instead of the stomach, the chest now comes forward, which looks much better.

A small adjustment that makes the pose much more active and also immediately gives your model the feeling that something is actually happening, instead of simply standing in front of the camera doing nothing.

By asking your subject to do something, they feel less uncomfortable in front of the camera. That also helps you take a better photo.

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About the author

Elja Trum is the founder of Photofacts and online photography course website Photofacts Academy. He has been writing about photography since 2006. Elja is also the author of (Dutch) books on composition, black-and-white photography, flash photography and portrait photography.

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2 comments

martinphili wrote on Sunday 23 October 2022 at 19:51 | reply
High heels are also one of those things. Even for a close-up portrait I asked the models to wear high heels. This immediately gives the model a powerful pose.
Translated from Dutch.

frank wrote on Tuesday 25 October 2022 at 14:39 | reply
EDUCATIONAL THANK YOU
Translated from Dutch.

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