Portrait Photography How To

One of the things beginning portrait photographers often have difficulty with is getting their subjects to pose for photographs in a way that shows them in their best light. This is the very essence of portrait photography and posing can really make or break an image.

Professional portrait photographer Miguel Quiles has some advice: don't stress out about explaining hundreds of poses to the person you are photographing. Just get them to believe in themselves with one simple trick.

"One of the most common things I hear from photographers is that they struggle with how to pose their subjects," Quiles says. "Often times they resort to posing guides or some other resource to force people into poses that just aren't comfortable for them, which reflects in the final images. I've learned that one of the easiest and best ways to pose people and get great expressions without making it look like they are posing is to use the method I describe in this video."

He adds that he learned this portrait photography trick a long time ago and has been using it ever since to great success. So, what's the trick? Well, you have to watch the video to find out because Quiles has a great story about how it came to him. Believe it or not but it all relates to a classic movie about dinosaurs – yeah, most of you can probably guess what it is – and getting your subjects to think of themselves as characters in movies.

"It's one thing to learn 500 different poses, to pose men and to pose women," Quiles explains. "Those are great, those come in handy, however what has really helped me and has revolutionized my ability to pose and work with people is to get them to play a character and to get them to recreate a mood and a feel rather than tell them: 'Hey, stand like this, turn your shoulder this way, kick your hip out this way."

Watch his tutorial where he demonstrates his method during an actual photo shoot to show you how it works. Then go visit his channel and hit subscribe to learn all of Quiles' secrets about portrait photography.