Exploring The Portrait Warm Up Concept

Today’s Post by Joe Farace

People think I can just walk out and shoot 75 without taking a warm-up shot. But believe me, it’s not that easy. — Jim Nantz

When I was a younger, a friend invited me to attend a private workshop at his studio that was being taught by a local photographer who had a reputation for his high-quality portraiture. The purpose of the workshop was ostensibly to teach the attendees about portrait posing and it went something like this:

The presenter was a highly respected gentleman who was well known for his classic portraiture and during the workshop he demonstrated how he poses his portrait clients. He started with showing how to set the height of the posing stool and then moved on to showing how he would place his subject in Pose A, then seamlessly move on to Pose B and finally onto Pose C. After this he invited me to demonstrate to the group what he just showed us and pose the model we were working with using his techniques. I didn’t remember a darn thing and just stood there like the doofus fumbling around. I guess his process contained too much detail for my brain to handle, so I won’t burden you with too much detail about portrait posing either.

If few portrait subjects are perfect, then no pose if perfect either. As you look at the images you see throughout the many pages—there are about 950 posts—on this blog, you will see real-world examples of me photographing real people working toward a single goal, making the best possible portrait, whether traditional, boudoir or glamour. That typically means that some compromises are inevitable and any posing “rules” you hear from anyone, including me, should really be considered suggestions because the art of posing combines reality with what the subject and photographer can physically accomplish on any given day.

Before the shoot: Once a client is happy with their hair and makeup, it’s time to begin shooting but—and this is most important part—I like to give a client time to warm up.

When working with clients who perhaps haven’t had a portrait made since high school, I don’t expect them to walk in front of my camera and move effortlessly from post to pose. So the first shots we make together are designed to have photographer and subject get into sync and during those first moments I’ll start with some simple headshots and then encourage the subject to just pose any way that they want.

Typically I don’t show them these images on the camera’s LCD screen but after a while, they’ll settle down and we can start with a few real poses, until you start to produce results you both like. If there is any secret to posing it’s that the subject must be comfortable in the pose. Contrary to what was emphasized in that workshop that I attended, the best portraits are made when the subject is relaxed.

How I made this portrait: The above portrait of Kim Goetz was made for the model’s portfolio. It was shot in the dining room of my former home using available light coming through the window in the back door with a 32-inch 5-in-1 collapsible reflector at camera left serving as fill. One of the first poses I try as part of any warm up is the “folded arms” pose and because everyone does this differently, it’s a good place to start. This was the pose that Kim threw at me and we explored it using the “shoot through the pose” method I previously wrote about. The camera used was a Canon EOS 50D and EF 85mm f/1.8 USM lens and shot with a exposure of 1/250 sec at f/3.2 and ISO 1000, with a minus one-third stop exposure compensation (for some reason.)