“I’m ready for my close up” {Milwaukee Wedding Photographer}

I have this conversation or a variation therof  this several times a year.  Usually it’s an out of town  client will say to me ” We had our engagement photos done by a friend with a nice camera and they’re okay.  I mean, there are some that we like.  But the rest are…I don’t know….”

I know immediately what they are. They’re snapshots.  The friend with a good camera has a good camera and nothing more.  They don’t understand lighting, or composition or posing people correctly.  Once in awhile they might get lucky and those are the ones that are deemed “okay”.  Ever hear the phrase “I don’t know anything about art but I know what I like?”

I don’t care if you’re curvy or twiggy, good posing (and lighting) makes a world of difference in the outcome of a photograph.  The camera only adds 10 pounds if you let it, folks. Pro photographers spend years learning not only how to use the camera in certain lighting conditions but learning how to pose people for a more flattering photo.

And here’s where I am going to really bust out a  terribly sexist view:  I see poor posing  most often in male wedding photographers work.  Go ahead, report me.  Here’s a conversation I had with a male photographer friend (and he knows who he is) not too long ago

Mr: “Hey take a look at this awesome bridal portrait.  I’m really proud of it, it’s dead on in the tonality. I am not kidding the histogram is RIGHT ON.  All the detail in the dress is there and the skin tones are dead on and the blacks are like, off the chart good”

Me:  She’s going to hate it.

Mr: WTF are you talking about?

Me: She’s what, a size 6 ? You shot her from below, dude.  I don’t know how you did it but you made her have extra chins.  You cut off her train. I can’t see her left arm so she looks like an amputee.  And there’s a cross growing out of her head on the altar.

*Stunned silence*

We’re still friends, by the way.  And I was right about that portrait, she hated it.

I came across this blog post by a Australian photographer named Sue Bryce that shows beautifully how posing a person makes a world of difference.    Check it out and prepare to be amazed.