Learning how to pose your bride on the wedding day is a crucial skill for any wedding photographer. After all, she has probably put a lot of thought into her dress, the shoes, the veil, the makeup, and pretty much everything! And even if she didn’t meticulously plan every detail of her look, as is mostly the case, every bride desires to look stunning on her special day! And as a wedding photographer, creating images that showcase the bride at her best is one of your obvious goals. There are many ways to achieve that - however, in this blog, we shed light on the 5 bride poses ideas that help you capture better images.
Posing Your Bride: 5 Tips For Wedding Photographers
1. DETERMINE NECK AND SHOULDER PLACEMENT
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Pay attention to posture! It can make or break the client’s wedding photographs. Whatever be your client’s height, shape, or size, maintaining a good posture while posing can help them look their best. On the contrary, posing in an awkward posture can easily mar even the best of setups. Remember this simple trick - during your shoot, if the bride’s chin is pointed upward, her neck may look unnaturally long. If she looks down too far, she might have the tendency to create a double chin or no chin at all in the image. You can advise your clients to put their chin out and slightly down to create a definition in the face and neck.
The bride’s shoulders can be a challenging aspect to photograph if the right poses are not in place. Have your bride push back her shoulders to change her posture and create better body language for the image. If your client has larger or broad shoulders, turn them slightly away from the camera - you want to make sure that she looks gorgeous.
2. USE FLATTERING POSITIONS FOR ELBOWS AND ARMS
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Where some brides might be alright with whatever you work with, some might request you to photograph their arms in a manner that creates a flattering effect. So it is important to keep in mind the placement of the arms and elbows in every pose you put her in. Moreover, try bridal portrait poses that use her arms to mimic the shape of her body - this prevents her arm from looking larger in the shot. You could also ask her to pull her arms slightly away from her body to achieve the desired look.
Another important aspect to keep in mind is to avoid cutting off the arm in the image. If only the bride’s shoulder is visible in the image, it could create confusion and may not be as strong. The arms can create interest and will provide lines that accentuate the bride’s body shape.
Related Read: 10 Tips To Nail The Engagement Session With Better Photo Poses
3. GIVE HER HANDS SOMETHING TO DO
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It can be challenging to know how to properly place wrists and hands when it comes to posing. Positioning the bride’s hands in the wrong spot could cause an unflattering image. You could opt to change the position of the hands so that they are not the center of the image. Guide your bride to relax her hands and fingers while posing. Try wedding poses for the bride that gives her something to do with her hands. Provide her with a prop such as the bridal bouquet or have her hold the sides of her wedding dress. When the hands are doing something, they will assist in creating an interesting pose.
Related Read: Wedding Photography Tips: 3 Tricks To Better Bridesmaid Poses
4. POSITION HER WAIST AND HIPS
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It is easy to tell a bride to place her hands on her hips, but did you know that there is a better place to tell her to position her hands to accentuate that flattering effect if that’s what you are planning to achieve? Rather than the hips, have her raise her hands up to her waist - this will help highlight her physique. Angles can be really important when it comes to bride poses, so it is essential to be mindful of how you frame your scene. For instance, to accentuate her curves, you could position the bride’s hips in a particular manner; or you could have her push her hips away from the camera to make them look smaller - and to define her stomach and lengthen her torso. Keep in mind that as she pushes her hips back, also have her raise her chin to keep her body in proportion.
5. Embrace Her Individuality
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“A woman should be two things: who and what she wants.” This strong and very aptly put notion of Coco Chanel, a French fashion designer, on individuality - clearly put into words how to embrace yourself and your uniqueness. Every bride has their own individuality, her own persona, and wedding photography isn’t a mold to shape every image alike! Rather it’s a skill inhibited to capture the art of differences and union in an event of celebration. So instead of making your bride look and pose like someone who they are not, respect them for who they are and try to build confidence in them to reflect who they are! Pose them in a way that brings out their inner self and beauty.
Further Read: A Guide To Wedding Photography Poses
When you understand the rules of posing, you become comfortable in assisting your bride to look her best in every image. To gain more knowledge on posing your clients for the wedding day, you can take a look at our Wedding Poses blog page. We hope you found the aforementioned tips on bride poses helpful!
Here at ShootDotEdit, we love bringing you resourceful tips and information that help you grow your wedding photography business to its true potential! We also love editing and aim to help you lessen your post-production workflow by taking editing off your plate! To check out our wedding photo editing services, take a look at our pricing plans.
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