THE ULTIMATE POSING GUIDEFor your engagements and wedding day

Why Close to 40% of Brides Have REGRETS

Imagine that camera aimed right at you. What do you do? Do you smile? Look at your fiancé? How should you stand? What

should you do with your hands? You look at your photographer, but she’s just looking right back at you and waiting.

Scary huh?

Sadly, a lot of photographers don’t understand that it’s not just about the the beautiful compositions, backdrops, and even

moments. Though those are all important, it is an absolute necessity to be a master in the art of posing to ensure the bride

and the groom look absolutely dazzling on the best day of their life and feel comfortable as well.

Here’s some things I’ve heard from unhappy couples…

1. “Our photographer got drunk, and you can see the photos in the gallery getting blurrier and blurrier as you scroll through.”

2. “He just really didn’t seem to know what he was doing! He didn’t guide us during the portrait session and we we’re just standing.

there awkwardly!”

3. “She only captured moments of my husband and I, but not of our close friends and loved ones. That was really disappointing.”

I take pride in my work, and after seeing almost half of brides out there being extremely unhappy with the results they were getting

from other so called professional photographers, I couldn’t help but be extremely proud of what my couples have said about me.

Like Stacey: “We can’t say enough good about Bryan, we LOVED his work!! Bryan’s pictures are amazing of course, but what set

Bryan apart for us was his kind and easy style while the whole time he was working his magic behind the lens.”

It was such an amazing honor to give them and many others this experience.

I’m Bryan Striegler, Award Winning Traveling Wedding Photographer (Local in Arkansas, Missouri, east Texas and Oklahoma).

And in these next few pages, I'm going to share with you as much value in my expertise in posing wedding couples so you can ensure you look your best and have no regrets for your special day.

How to Look Your Best In Your Wedding Portraits

Posing is an ART. But understandably it's an art that a lot of couples are nervous about, and SADLY that a lot of so-called "professional" photographers actually don't know how to direct correctly.

So if you happen to have a photographer who doesn't know how to pose you with expertise and intention, what are a few things you should remember?

Here are a few pointers. I call these THE FOUNDATION of posing:

1. Imaginary String:

First off you want to ensure that your spine is straight, but NOT stiff and unnatural. I often ask my couples to act as if there is a string on the back/top of their head and is being pulled up.

2. Shoulders:

Push your shoulders 1 inch back and make sure one shoulder is higher than the other. This will further bring confidence and beauty in your pose.

3. Weight Distribution:

You want your weight distribution to be uneven or else your pose will look unnatural. There are two ways to do this. Either cross one leg over the other or put more weight on your back leg. Look at the photo to the left. Each of these techniques were used on this photo of Erin.

But what about posing the head, eyes, and hands?Or making sure you portraits look authentic and not "posed" or “cheesy"?

Remember these are just the "foundations". We'll go deeper into more techniques within the next few pages.

How to NOT Have CHEESY and FAKE Wedding Portraits

Even though wedding portraits are posed... no one wants portraits that LOOK posed. The more candid and authentic your portraits look the BETTER.

Now there are tons of ways to ensure this... but just in case you have a photographer who doesn't know what he's doing, here's one of the MAIN things I use.

I call it Distraction Action

Catchy huh?

Let’s look at how I use it to get even the most uncomfortable couples having fun.

Distraction

Being distracted isn’t always a bad thing. When you’re distracted, you can forget about things that are bothering you like a bad day, headache, or being in front of a camera!

I use conversation to distract my couples.

I love learning about people, so I’m always asking questions. I’ll put a couple into a pose, and then I’ll ask a question. They give me an answer, and I’ll respond and snap some shots.

They are so focused on the conversation that they forget about the camera.

Action

Another great way to feel comfortable is giving someone something to do.

Think about it. If I asked your fiancé to go in for a kiss and get as close as possible without actually making contact, what would you be focused on? Probably not the camera.

There are so many different actions out there. Really about anything can do.

You can walk together, sway back and forth, tickle, piggy back rides, twirl, or do what I call the Sexy Whisper.

The Sexy WhisperThis is just one of the techniques I use, but it’s one of the funniest ones and gets a great reaction every time.

It’s a mixture of both Distraction and Action.

I tell them that I’m going to have one of them whisper something in the sexiest way possible.

The real trick is you pick something totally weird or random for them to whisper. I’ve had them say their favorite cereal, baseball team, childhood movie, or non-sexy body part.

The anticipation is what really makes this work. You get great photos right before the whisper, and then a wonderful reaction right after.

Posing Your Hands and Eyes

The most common and funniest line I hear is, “I’m not sure what to do with my hands.” Hands and eyes can be tricky.

But here a few pointers so you'll know what to do on your wedding day or engagement session.

Cigarette Pose

The hands and arms can be used to lead attention to the right places. With this cigarette pose (looks like she's holding a cigarette almost), it leads the viewers attention towards Haylee’s face, but is also very natural and beautiful.

With her other arm we could either make it out of sight behind her, or where it is across her waist also looks very natural or in this case, holding her flowers.

Holding Something

When you hold something it naturally gives your hands something to do, but also brings attention to that object. Here I have Morgan holding her dress, which also is a beautiful way to lead attention and show it off.

In this pose I also had her hold her bouquet, which for this particular case worked out beautifully.

If there is nothing to hold, you can always put a hand on a hip. The one thing you don’t want to do is have both arms squished against the side. This will make you look much larger. Always leave a gap between the arms and body.

The Mind Trick

Have you ever noticed that some people can just turn it on when it comes to photos? They might be hanging out, but as soon as the camera points at them, they pop a smile and you can see the emotion in their eyes.

Some people can naturally do this, but there is a way we can all show those emotions. It’s called the mind trick. Yes, I know what you’re thinking, and it is similar to the Jedi Mind Trick.

The idea is that when an emotion is suggested or put into your head, you’ll start showing that emotion, even if you didn’t feel it before.

The easiest way to do this is to think of an emotion or adjective (excited, thrilled, sassy, seductive, mysterious) in your head. Each word will create a different expression.

***If you can think of a visual as well, it works even better***

Posing the Eyes

So where should you look? 

Where you look can dramatically change the feel of the portrait. There are really two options if you’re not looking at the camera: looking off in the distance or eyes closed.

With looking off in the distance, you want to avoid only seeing the "white" part of your eye. This happens when you look too far to the side. Simply look at something a little closer to the camera.

Closing the eyes gives a completely different feel. It can be candid and intimate or I like to have them close their eyes when they are laughing.

How to Walk in Front of the CameraRemember how I talked about weight distribution for your portraits? It's the same thing for walking. If you walk normally, it's possible your portraits could look like a penguin walking.

So for the camera, what you want to do is walk as if you are walking on a straight line under you. This will change the weight distribution in your hips making it look much more flattering in the portrait. 

Look at the portrait above! That's the exact technique I had Bradford and Lisa do.

PRO TIPBONUS

Want more tips?It’s my goal to help couples have the most wonderful wedding experience possible. I believe an important part of that is how they feel in front of the camera, so I hope you now feel better about posing.

If you need more help or have other questions, I’d love to help!

Feel free to check out all of my wedding tips on the blog or contact me directly.

Bryan Striegler479-530-0445bryan1@strieglerphoto.comwww.strieglerphoto.com