Lessons

Lesson Info

Day 5: Posing Couples

This is something I have never done before. Today's challenge is all about posing couples. I'm gonna take you through my traditional posing routine with a couple in my studio. I'm gonna map it out for you so that you can learn my basic portrait posing. This is basic couple posing. One on one, it's about simplicity, it's about hands, it's about connecting their bodies properly and it's about body language to each other and it's about variety. Today is a really exciting challenge. A great one to practice and a great folio build for you. First thing I wanna show you is where my clients are in relation to the window. So as you can see, all of my light here, is hitting them perfectly right there. And I'm gonna use this wall to pose a couple. So exactly the same way that I pose a single girl. But this is about adding on the boys. And same way I add on mum but just with different body language which changes significantly when you are photographing lovers instead of brothers and sisters or mot...

her and daughters. It's the way they touch each other and interact that makes it a beautiful shot. So I've gone for the cleanest line possible. I've chosen a white corner. I've got a nice, white diffused light. I have a lot of light in this room so I don't have a reflector here today but if I did it would be right there. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna show you how I'm gonna pose these two and I'm gonna take them through a flow pose of stills just to show you how to keep the body language towards them. Make their bodies look good, their body language towards each other and try and do it as many gorgeous, clean portrait shots as I can. Now this is what I would call a traditional portrait. It's a little bit more funky in the crop than an old-style traditional portrait but it's a little bit more than an art portrait or. This is the shot that you get that's a perfect shot for mum and dad. It's a timeless shot. It's just a beautiful, standard portrait that actually every single one of my clients require. So no matter how arty you're being in your couple shoots, always take that quintessential, traditional shot. Just like when you're at a wedding, and you can be as arty as you want but they always want that full length, full dress, bride and groom shot. This is the same version for the couple in the studio. Let's go. Okay, so from here, Tiff. No differently than when you're posing on your own. I just want you to turn your body away from me that way. Perfect, now I want you to kick your bum back to the wall. That's it, so turn your body 45 degreits. There it is, right there. So Mark, just bring your knee down Tiff. So Mark what I want you to do is put your feet on either side of hers. That's it, exactly right and I want your elbow to go up on the wall behind her. So Tiff I just want you to come a bit lower in your stance and you can do that. That's exactly right. There, perfect. Now I don't want your arm to pop up over the top of her head Mark. So I want it more across the wall and the reason I'm doing that. So just more on an angle up. That's it, is so that you can lean onto her and the wall takes the weight. Okay from here, I want you then to connect your. Okay Tiff, your foot needs to go to the outside of Mark's around the back. 'Cause I need your whole body line to go. That's it, that's it. So as soon as I do that, instantly your bodies match each other. When you were on the inside your body was in front of Mark's and you look bigger than him. So I need you to be the perfect size together. The second thing that everybody does wrong with couples is I often see the guys put their arms around the inside and the girls put their arms around the outside. So just do that. So put your arm around his, her waist. Okay, her arm will always go inside his. The idea there is his arms are bigger and stronger than hers and that the body language is protective and masculine. As opposed to her being over the top of him. So I see a lot of the time women, so do it again Tiff. Put your arm up and around. I don't want her arm to look bigger than his. Also a lot of people do it where they put the arm up and underneath Mark and then her arm squishes down on top of, never, never, women always on the inside. So from here, she can can do two things. Okay, open your shoulder up to me first Tiff. So stay there but just open your shoulder up to me so that you weren't in there. Just your shoulder. So keep your hands through on the inside. Yep, inside. Yeah but then open your shoulder up to me. Stop, okay I want her to open her body language up. From here, I want them to tip their heads onto each other there. And straightaway I can start working my pose from here. Now if that arm bothers me, I can lift it up or take it away. Mark's arm, and if it doesn't I'll leave it there because sometimes it looks really good there and sometimes it doesn't. So you just gotta work it through. I want their faces at the same distance away from me right there and there. Perfect, now two things I wanna look at now. One is, I'm gonna come into frame to do it. One is I wanna make sure that Tiff's dress is not bunched up there 'cause I wanna show that space. And I just wanna make sure that they're relaxed in their positions and arms around there. So stay open there and not too much squashing. And Mark, you're just slightly ahead. So if you go back. That's it, Tiff you come forward and chin forward, Tiff stop. Don't move. Alright, in here I have the sweetheart shape starting to form. So I love it when you open the shoulders up and then they can connect with their cheeks and I like that whole shape through there and I call it the loveheart. So Tiff has fallen down and is pushing her head back. So I need you to pull right up darling and then turn your chin out to me this way. That's the one and now Mark come forward with your face. As soon as I sit them and I think it looks good. Okay, now I don't like Mark's hand there. So if you can hold that position and just bring it down so I can't see it. So you can still use the wall Mark. That's it and try up and over her shoulder. See if that works. And if it doesn't, no it's not working. Then just bring it down. There it is. Okay, now both of you pull back with your shoulders and the top of your heads, that's the one. So I start here always. So nice neutral expression, both of you. Tiny little smile in your eyes. Perfect, don't move. Okay, I'm just gonna reset my exposure on this camera. One second. So you can see the distance that I am away from them. And you can see now, I've just gotta take my ISO down cause it's gotten very bright in here all of a sudden. And that should be perfect. I'll just quickly look at my focus. Done, alright. So Tiff has done it again. I just need you to pull back Tiff and bring your chin around to me, square. There it is right there. Mark, bring your chin forward now. Chin forward and up. That's it, stay out of her hair. So just, and then come forward. Now go back again. There it is, I can see it now. So from here I start here, tiny little smile guys. And I always sort of take my first shot of my couple or my first shot of my client. I'm not too worried about their expression at this stage. I'm not trying to, I'm just easing them into it. I'm finding how they move together. It's really interesting when you see people touch each other for the first time and how they touch other. Open that shoulder up to me Tiff. Good girl, perfect. Now, relax into each other a little wee bit more with your bodies. No, don't cave in that way Tiff. That's it, so you stay ahead this way, that's a girl and just snuggle in. That's it. Alright, from here, I want you to come down a little bit more, cheek to cheek. So Mark come on this side a bit here. And Tiff, pull back and let Mark come towards you. Okay, so you've come too far, that's it. Now just tip onto her Mark. Okay drop your shoulder Mark in the front. No, stay there. Just drop your shoulder down, that's it. Open it up to me. Good, good stay there. Nice, alright, what I'm gonna do is I'm just gonna come in the front here and I'm gonna take a nice little close shot. So I love this, absolutely beautiful. This is where I wanna be. I'm just checking faces. So Mark, pull back from Tiff. Stop, there it is. Okay both of you, I'm looking at both of your expressions together, relax your faces together. Tiny little smile in the eyes. Just here to say you've got it. That's beautiful. Chin up to me Tiff. Chin this way darling and again, love that. So as you can see from the still this is how close I am. Wow, oh my gosh, okay from here. Chin up Mark. So she's gonna, you're gonna go chin up Mark and she's gonna stay there because the boys have to stay chin up cause it's nice and masculine and it's really strong on the face and it looks great. So, looking good. Seeing here we are don't move. Okay, from there nice and clean. Okay, Chin up Mark a little more. That's the one and Tiff, chin up half an inch. You've got it, right there. Okay, and so quickly I'll just, oh my goodness that's beautiful. So we're gonna go through a couple of really little, quick expressions here. Lift your cheek up to him a little bit more Tiff so, that's it, squishing in both of you. A little bit more friendly that's it. Little bit more of a smile. Okay, big grin go. I love that. Okay, before I move I get up to there. Now that's really beautiful. I wanna show you a few, simple moves that could make this better. Make this better, make this variation. First of all, I want you to put your hand on his chest Tiff and then bring the elbow on inside. So just higher on his shoulder. That's a girl, so out a little wee bit to me and open your body up a little bit more. Don't cave your head in. That's it, so you can bring the hand down now so it's side on to me. So she can hold his chest. She can go up, under his arm like that in the front and hold the back of his shoulder so it's like a love heart. So it's there. Now just open up to me Tiff inside there. I love that. Alright, now if Mark's arm becomes compromised by that we need to shift that up. So Mark, if you turn your hips toward Tiffany more and pull back, then you can put your arm up and under hers as, around hers. So I'm gonna come in close and I'm just gonna get you to hug up. That's it, beautiful. Now this one requires you to pull back with your shoulders Tiff. There, more and then Tiff onto Mark's cheek. That's it, so now I've encircled them. So when I come in close, I can do two things. This is a nice serious shot you two. Alright you've got the woman you love wrapped around you in your arms and we're really nice and close here. And I can shoot it this way too which looks absolutely beautiful. Okay, Tiff turn out to me this way. I'm just gonna get that bit of hair there. So go out to me this way Tiff and come up a little higher so that you're not so low. So lift up a little bit more darling. That's it, now long chin towards me. Chin around, chin around stop. Okay, and forward. Mark go this way with your chin. No, yeah perfect. Okay stay there. Don't move. And I'm going to take quite a close cross section there just of their faces. Alright, back. Alright, beautiful. It's all about those two beautiful faces right there. From here, I can change the hands around but now what I wanna do is put Mark back in that leaning position and I want you to pull, use the wall to pull back away from her Mark. So that there's some distance between you. Now I want you to hold her arm. No, on the outside, always on her outside. That's it, pull back from her a little bit more. Now look at each other this way and you can use the wall this way to interact. So Tiff, you need to turn 45 to me, that's it. So that, and when you go forward with your face towards Mark, that's it. You're not side on to me. So what you're doing is, go lower with your hand Mark and through with your arm Tiff so. Not too far though. That's it, lower with your hand Mark. Around the small of her back. That's it, now I want you to lean towards each other. Right, so that you're almost forehead to forehead and then you can go in here and snuggle in here. So what you can do is Tiff you can look at me. All the way around. Keep going, and Mark you can just lean right into her. Snuggle in. Okay, so what you don't wanna do is do that stare where you're leaning against someone, looking at their face and you're about an inch away. So what I want you to do first is just, both of you, 45 down and just towards each other here. Okay, now just lean in like you normally would. Okay, so cuddle in, beautiful. And as soon as you get to here, I can come up nice and close and I'm gonna talk you through two different things. One of them is, I want you to squeeze each other really tight. Can she smile? Okay, and then I want you both to do a beautiful big smile, looking down this way. So squeeze her, tickle her. Anything you gotta do. Look down, look down, look down, look down. Okay, so here. Right, now from here, pull back Mark a little bit more. Pull back again, use your arm. Push away from her and just like you're gonna give her a kiss on the cheek. So just, eyes down Tiff. So that's the one. So just snuggle in, that's it. But no lips. Just nose, so there. That's the old smell the ear. I learnt (laughs) thinking of Roberta. Roberta would be like, "Oh, smell the ear. "No the bad amigo, that's bad." Okay, from there whatever you gotta do to make them laugh you get in here. And this is where you can get really close expression. Again if that arm is bugging you, you can do two things. Lean back onto it Tiff. Take your weight on your back foot through. That's it, so keeping your weight on the back foot but roll towards me. That's it, there. And go back with the arm again Mark so that you can steady yourself. That's it, so come back in. Just watch the hair. And if that arm's getting annoying, just drop it down. So if you can see it, just take it down to there. But you can still use it to take your weight. Okay, so from here, I want you to do the same thing. Go back lower where you were Tiff and just getting people to interact is not an easy thing to do. If you've ever photographed a couple that won't go near each other, everyone knows that. So odd, so all you wanna do is talk to people around their expressions. So if I start here like this, chin towards me Tiff which is where I was. Mark bring your hair, face out of her hair. That's it, now go back. If I start them here and then I work them through. So then I can just roll them towards each other and pull back just a little wee bit. So roll your faces together. So, and then, no. Pull back with your shoulders and roll your foreheads together. Like just a little bit more so halfway. Just towards each other there. And that's where I start but not looking at me, looking down okay. And then I just talk them through as much as I can here. Laughing, I try and get them to laugh. Squish and do as much as I can and what I'm just trying to do is work out where they feel at their most natural together. So you can give her a kiss anywhere on her face. Just give her a kiss on the side of her face. Stay looking at me, eyes down. Tiff big smile, go for it. So I can get them here. I can do it the other way around. So I can get Tiff to pull right back and look up at Mark. So pull back Tiff. That's it, and so, that's beautiful. Okay from here, I love that. Now just tipping towards each other. Foreheads towards each other. That's beautiful. Big smiles you two. Oh you're sickening it's so gorgeous. Get a room. Okay, so this is where I pretty much stay in my traditional portraits. Yes I try and get as much interaction, as much laughing, as much cuteness as I can out of people and you know, sometimes when people are a bit shy to do that in front of you just make them do it. So get them to, just be comfortable in that position. Now, first thing I do then is swap places. Is I'll put Mark on the wall and I put Tiffany here. But I put her on the outside, with her back turned. Okay so straight away, I get Mark to put his arms around her and you can come with your feet apart because I can't see you. So it just drops you down that little bit. Now what I wanna do with both of you is put your arms on the outside of her. 'Cause it's natural isn't it to go up and under her arms. Do that and that's what I don't wanna see. I see this all the time with couples. I see her arm dominating and I see his arm up underneath. 'Cause that's your instinct, to wrap your arms around her body. What I wanna see is stay there Mark and just slip your hand on the inside. Two things happen, one, she gets slimmer. She gets smaller than him. He's protecting her, he looks bigger and stronger. She gets a better shoulder and then she can use this hand to hold his but. She can do a sexy shot like that. Now what I want you to do, Tiff is very gently is to rotate towards me and same with you Mark. You need to open your body up towards me. So they're not side on to me. They're here and here and hold fingers tight 'cause then you haven't got hands on the belly. Now, your weight needs to go on your back foot Tiff. That's a girl and then you need to bring your chin straight up and down and then towards me. Now Mark, you need to let her come forward a little bit. So push, so Mark needs more room. That's it, to bring his arm out. That's the one. Now Mark, tip onto her like this. There, so link fingers you two, tight. So you come around, just hold and bring your elbow back in like, don't hold it. Yeah, just hold it normally. That's it, let's let go of wait a minute. Let's have a look. Just bring your chin back, there it is. Okay, that back hand Mark, put it over her other hand so that yeah, you're holding both hands. Perfect, perfect okay. Now Tiff because I've got you pushed back he's not getting his arms around you. So you need to go straight and then back to him so. Yeah, that looks natural. Now tipping onto her, nice and tall. Exactly the same as the last one but what I'm doing here, Mark, chin that way. This way, that's it. What I'm doing here is I've simply got them 'round the other way. Now I want you to hold that position and just shimmy away from me. So I can get more space, perfect. Alright, now. Tiff, tip forward an inch like this. And Mark, come with her. So come towards me. That's it, not you Tiff, chin up. That's it, stay there. Alright, exactly the same rules apply here. In terms of interaction. You can do two things. She can hold around the back of his jeans but you can bring your arms in, elbow down. That's it, and then I can get Mark's arm down. And you're locking fingers all the way around your body. So little higher, maybe even up to the boobs. That's okay, so maybe try, you hold your hands Mark and then she can hold over your hands. So you link fingers, that's it. So you're over her heart. I open her head up there in the diamond and now pull back Mark and just tip towards her, stop. That's perfect. Alright, from here you can make exactly the came crop line using the wall, using that corner. Beautiful big smile you two. If Tiffany had jeans on, Mark just pretend that you're putting your thumbs in her jeans. So you pretend to put your thumbs in her jeans and you go straight down. You can put your hands, yeah you can put your hands there and that looks really cute. She can lift her shoulder up. You can do that Calvin Klein look with jeans. Turn this way Mark. Okay, that's beautiful. Oh I love this. Alright, now beautiful big smile you two. Nice and friendly right down to the jeans. I love that. Okay, love that right. This time Mark, pull back and then go to give her a kiss here. And Tiffany look down over your shoulder, that's it. Stop there, so just snuggle in Mark. Not so much side on but just like, you're just like, don't like hold there and sort of look there. Like just do it naturally like you're really gonna go in there for a kiss. And that's it, beautiful big smile. Both of you big smile. Oh I love that, I love that. Okay stay there. Perfect, look at that. Oh it's beautiful. It's gorgeous, it's gorgeous. Okay so from here, Tiff you can look over your shoulder with eyes there, Mark you can look over her with eyes down to her boob line. Okay so that connects them. It's kind of weird how that happens. I'm shooting it nice and low. Clean lines, okay no smile Mark. So serious, pull your shoulder back Mark so it's nice and open to me that's it. And I'm here, so they're that's it. Perfect, so you can get up nice and close here. You can do whatever you want in terms of expression. Let's do some quick fire ones so that you can see lots of options. Both of you, big smile now. Okay, both of you like you're gonna get a kiss from behind just a smooch, both of you smooch into each other. Okay, big smile big smile, big smile. Okay back to me, cheek to cheek. Cheek to cheek, looking at me. Face this way Mark, that's it. Okay now squish in big smile. Perfect, perfect. Okay wrap your arms all the way around her and horizontal, that's it, love that shoulder. That's gorgeous pull away from each other just a touch. Nice serious face but just a little wee smile in the mouth. Just a tiny little bit Mark, beautiful. Alright, so I would have a look at how many shots we got here because that's a quickfire round and if this was a portrait shoot I'd quite happy that I got at least five gorgeous shots that I could put in their folio. I wanna move on. I want to get them dressed and take another scenario. And I just wanna make sure I got some real connection between them and yes, if you wanna take more time by all means but we don't often have time. So the idea is that we wanna move, flow through our sequences as quick as we can. Take the best portraits we can. Get them dressed and move on. So the next one is very similar but I'm gonna choose the black V flat and I'm gonna put them in brighter clothes and then I'm gonna take another traditional series but this time using the bar stool. Happy practicing on that wall. As you can see here, all I've done is change the black V flat. So we were on white, now I've popped it into black. And I've changed the clothes to darker and neutral. We're still on traditional portrait. So I have set Tiffany down on the white bar stool and I'm gonna get Mark to come in here and stand behind her. And this way, I can bring him in this side of the shot. And I can get them to interact through the staggered line. So it's easier to pose somebody that's slightly higher than it is to pose people that are exactly the same height and so I'm always buying boxes, bar stools. I prefer the bar stool that goes up and down with no back on it. Because I can adjust Tiffany's height depending on Mark's. Now because I don't have an adjustable bar stool today I'm going to show you how I make do with what I've got. And so I will turn Tiffany 45 degrees to the camera. Not too far, and I'm gonna get Mark to put his feet apart. Now when you put your feet apart, you drop down in height and it makes it a lot easier. So you can go even lower. I can't see the bottoms of your legs. I'm gonna cut you to here. So you can't actually tell to the camera that you've done that. Now what I want you to do, is I want you to put your arms around Tiffany this way. So you've got a couple of choices. You can hold, not on the boob line, so just below it. You can hold just a bit higher. So I don't want him holding your tummy. I want you to pull away from him so slightly. That's a girl, and then I want you to bring your chin back before you two connect again. So you're gonna tip away and Mark you're gonna tip down towards her. So one of the biggest problems everybody does. Chin this way though Mark, looking at that camera up there. So one of the biggest mistakes that people make when they do this pose is your weight is going onto Tiffany and ultimately she starts to sag here. Like relax in your posture and then that happens a lot and I see it all the time. So what I want you to do, and let me take a shot of it 'cause I like to show you what not to do. 'Cause you know, everybody does it including myself. I don't want Tiffany to look like she's getting pushed forward and I don't want it to look like she's falling out of the frame. Another one I don't like is when they turn the top person side on. No so you, stay in there Tiff but you come around to the side. It doesn't look good there. Okay, it's about both of them being on the same angle and remember we're learning about angles now so it's really important that we open this up. It's about Mark being open as well 'cause I want his body to look good. I want hers to look small, his to look manly and big and protective. I want them both to have the same face plane so that I'm shooting at 2.8 and it works out perfectly for both eyes and in order to do that I have to watch where both of their eyes are. So chin this way Mark and face forward Tiffany and then chin down, engaged in here. How, when I get both of their faces right I've gotta make sure both of their faces match each other 'cause there's no point taking a good shot of both of them if neither of them look like they're connected to each other. So I've gotta make sure then, that their body language matches. So fingers are relaxed, holding each other tight. That's beautiful, Mark pull away from Tiffany and then both of you tip towards each other. So maybe not so much from the top of your head. Chin towards me Tiff so don't get too low. That's perfect, I'm gonna shoot this nice and low. Tiffany's eyes are going the color of Mark's shirt. Everything looks good and I want a tiny little smile in both of your eyes. Nicely done, that is a beautiful traditional portrait right there. If I say so myself. I just mean that this is what people come for. They want a beautiful shot the this. I mean, before we take it to the next level this is a gorgeous shot. Just keep those angles right, watch the body language. Make sure her body's on the inside. If she needed more slimming I would just put it right back on her right butcheek so her bum was projected away from me. The shot would look exactly the same but she would just look a lot smaller. So you can slim the girls, you can still do everything we normally do but we're just introducing a couple. Now Mark, pull away from her again. Tiff, open up to him this way. Now push back, that's it. So see how Tiffany opening up, chin up Tiff. Tiffany opening up suddenly made this shot different and I'm gonna shoot this here. I want a beautiful smile from both of you. Mark bring your face forward towards me, that's it. Oh, beautiful shot for Grandma. Okay, this is where I think to myself, great shot, I wanna do all these sequences for my family shots but at the end of the day, I wanna do something that's hot. So, good traditional shot. Let's mix this up. How about, just for a couple, you pull back and then bring your chin, just like we did on the wall shot you bring your chin down and he brings his face down to you like nose to forehead is. And you come together nice and close. Beautiful, but we look like we're very sad the two of us right now. And we're supposed to be happy and in love. And your nose towards him Mark, so squish towards her, that's better. That's gorgeous I like that. Squeeze tight, squeeze tight yay. Okay (laughs). Now from there what I want you to do is you bring your face all the way around. That's exactly right and Mark just squish in nice and low, nice and close, chin up Tiff. That's it, and both of you relax your mouths right there. Love that, stay there. Okay, and this'll also look gorgeous in black and white. So eyes down and relax Mark. Don't just stare at that, that's the one. Okay, now let's try this. How about you swap places. Now how about man sits down and 45 degrees but he's not do anything the girls do. He's gonna be open and wide. Okay, his hands can just stay there. This is where the guy sits up and she drapes. Now when the woman is in the chair the man wraps. When the guy is in the chair, the woman drapes and we've got a few choices here. She can drape her hand across and then put your feet apart so you're nice and low. That's a girl, and then you come into, so your hand's on the back. It's not over here right. We don't want the hand in the front, really important. It's here, and you're gonna bring your chin slightly. But she is coming to you. So this is like, you know, this is my accessory here and then you can go chin this way miss, that way. And tip onto him there. Okay, so let's try a couple of different things here. Let's, he's sitting upright. Very traditional, this is beautiful. But I don't know if I like that hand in the front Tiff. So what I'll get you to do, that's it. Is pop it under there. Right, here we go, back there. Now, Tiff why don't do one where you put your arms all the way around him. That's it, on his chest. So yeah, that's it. Now a bit wider and lower, not so, not so tight. That's the one. And then your chin comes out this way and you lean onto him. That's it, perfect. Just not too much hair. There you go, good girl. Now not too much lean either. So just feet apart, legs apart straight. Good girl, now I don't mind if your but sticks out the back. As long as your face is where I want it. Chin that way. Okay, Mark, sitting tall and proud. That's beautiful. So nice and tall Mark and now I want you to hold her hands. So however you feel comfortable, however you would hold her hands. Like just, cross fingers, wrap them around, pull them down. Where you feel comfortable. So don't place your hands, just you know. If you wanna lock fingers with her, yeah that's exactly right. So just squeeze her in tight but you're not doing any of the girl positions. That's exactly right. Okay from there, that's beautiful. Big smile Mark. Okay, tipping onto him this way. I don't get it, see, when I see hands like that if I don't feel it, move straight away. Like don't try and make people do something. Put your thumbs in your jeans. Guys always look good when they're doing all the traditional poses and it's okay for him to be just sitting and her to be posing on him, 'cause it looks good and I wanna do what looks good. Tip towards him Tiff. That's it, there we are. Right there, love that. Okay, gorgeous, exactly like that. Natural light, I'm at 2.8. I'm making sure their eyes are together. Big, big smile Tiff. Now give me a gorgeous, you're the one snuggling into him now. So just bring your nose towards him. So pull back a little bit and just like you're gonna give him a kiss there. A big smile Mark. Okay, that's perfect. Mark, down this way and snuggle in nice and close both of you. Okay, chin up, hope you don't get too low. That's exactly right. Alright, now, so we've swapped them around. I also have done this. Let's stand up Mark and grab that white box for me. I'm gonna pull this one out. I've got the plain white box, swap over Tiff. Mark, I'm gonna get you to stand and I'm gonna get you to kneel. Now this is an interesting choice 'cause it doesn't change her height but what it does do is it changes her body language quite significantly. Mark, turn this way, turn your body towards him and go towards him yep. So you're just kneeling, bring both knees towards him. So what I do with this is I do two things. Is, all of a sudden now that you are not standing you're on your knees, you can actually lean back. So, I want you to hold her really tight around the waist and you're gonna come up here, so this stays on the inside. That's it, so you can go onto his chest there. That's exactly right. Chin around this way, yep. And nice and tall Mark. So, let me go. Okay, come down, there it is. Nice lean, chin this way and Mark, lean under him there. I'll certainly see if this works. Okay, nope chin forward Mark and chin around to me Tiff a little bit more, more. More, that's it, stay there stay there. It's that working of the shoulder. Now, this works for me when this is lower and because it's not lower I'm just gonna show what normally happens. So I'm just gonna pretend for one minute, let's, this migt be too high but we'll try it 'cause I wanna show you guys something simple that I do. Mark, go above her. Okay, so normally okay. Turn around, mm, no that's too high. Do the same snuggle and let me just take, no, we're out of frame. Jump down. It's not working. You can take it down. Let me try, Tiff take the box out, that white box and let's just try. Just try going lower with your stance so when your feet go apart. No, wide 'cause I can't see them. Yeah, I'm just gonna drop Tiff down because I wanna just show one thing and that is when you do get that stagger, he can really pull her waist in tight. So the idea is that he's creating that shape there. She's using her front shoulder. Chin towards me and now tip towards Mark. Chin this way more and Mark come down to her. Now open up your body to me Mark, stop that's it. Right there beautiful, okay. Take that, Mark come forward with your face. More, okay love that. Tiff put your hand down and up and under his arm or around his waist. Stop, okay Mark chin this way and up. Chin this way Tiff. Stop, serious face Mark. Nice, little wee bit less smile in the eyes. That's the one. Okay, both of you little wee touch of a smile. Little bit more. Chin forward Tiff, don't scooch up and take your weight behind you. So push your bum that way, push your chin towards me. Mark come with her. Sit, create some space, you two are getting too close. Okay, so pull away from each other a little wee bit more. That's it, beautiful big smile there. Gotcha, okay I feel like Tiff you're like this so just come up to me here, that's a girl. Now, do that again and onto her Mark now. So, chin down, that's the one. Stay there, long, chin down. Mark, that's it, stay there. Lips together Tiff. That's it, tiny little smile, no teeth both of you. Ooh, one more smiley mouth. There you go. Beautiful, okay, that concludes where I go with my traditional couples in terms of just taking a traditional couple portrait in the studio. Make sure you work through those different poses. Keep it simple, try and stagger them. Try and keep her lower. If she's taller you can just make her do this. If he's really tall, you can make him do that. If they're really odd heights you can put one of them on the bar stool and put the bar stool up and down and use their heights. As much interaction as you can together. And nice, traditional rules. Watch where their hands go, watch, make sure hers go on the inside of his. His go on the out, you know, up on the inside. His go on the outside. Make sure their shoulders are working. All the same girl rules apply. Weight on the back foot. Pulling away, if they get too close and it's starting to look like they're out of structure pull them away and then refit them. Constantly talk to both of them about the distance of their face to you. If you're shooting in natural light and you're at an open depth of field 'cause you don't wanna get one out of focus. And then just keep talking to them. The more you talk to people, the more they find their own groove. Happy practicing that. Often I have ideas for poses or I have ideas for shots and I never know if they're gonna work. I used to rip the pages out of magazines. Now I have an iPhone. So I take photos of just about everything I see. And I always think I'm gonna replicate this one day and I wait until I either get a couple that can do it or look like it or I practice it until it becomes part of my repertoire. So simple things like this. I saw this in a magazine and it was actually a fashion shot of just a girl and she was squatting down. So if you squat straight down there Mark, right where you are, that's it perfect. So it was girl squatting side on to the camera and I really loved the look and when I saw the shot I kept it on my iPhone, I thought, wouldn't it be cool, if I did this with Tiff and Mark and just curled her up inside his legs. So I want you to curl up but I want you to bring your elbow, yeah. So he's gonna have to take the weight of you leaning but that's okay because he's in a squat but we'll try not to hold him there for too long. Push your body away from him Tiff so that you've got some space and your head away from him so that he can now lean down onto you. And I just wanna shoot that, curled up like this. So point your toes Tiff and I just kinda work the pose now so I love it. If I didn't like it, I would change it out now. I just go and have a look. I'm really liking what I see, I love that he's in a squat and that I can see that both of the backdrop and I love that I can see his shoes. So let's have a look here. Both of you, this is quite a dark, sort of film noir. A sort of darker shot. I'm gonna keep it in color and sort of, I'm thinking, I'm trying to channel my Annie Leibovitz here. So nice strong, chin up to me Tiff. Chin up to me a little bit more Mark. Oh you've got the perfect expressions right now. So let me shoot that. I love that, let me go again. And I'm just trying to create something that's very traditional portraits but that's also very pop right now. Very pop culture in terms of it being funky. I love Mark's shoes. I love that you can see the bottom of that backdrop on the wooden floor, that's all very cool. So, there there. I like that. And okay, so for the next one Tiff, what I'd like you to do is bring your chin that way a little bit more, good girl. So chin around, and more supermodel. Lift up tall, go back to Mark. Straighten your head up though. That's a girl, there it is. Right there, perfect you two. Wow, all you need is a little puppy sitting on your knee and it'd just be perfect family portrait right now. Okay, from there, love that. Okay, soften it up you two. Little tiny, baby smile, gorgeous love that. Perfect, perfect. Okay, from here I want you to maybe go lower. Tiff pull your body away from Mark. Mark are you okay in that pose? Yeah okay, so you're actually holding it really well. So just lean onto him more. Elbow through, actually do that but bring your out arm on the inside of his arm. That's it, that's it. Up onto his leg. I don't mind seeing it and pull away with your body now Tiff. That's the one, now Mark just turn the chin. That's the one and come down to meet her a little bit more. So, you can cave in your posture a little bit 'cause you've got such good posture. Alright, there it is. Right there, I love this. Okay, Tiff you need to bring your chin towards me and that way and not so starey. Just bring your mouth up, that's a girl. Perfect, oh wow. That's so incredible guys. It's just like, beautiful. Alright, so now what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna change this up. So I'll let you stand up and we'll do something more traditional in that standing pose. So how about you go around the back of Tiffany and Tiff, this time I want you to stay exactly there. 45 to me, so turn that way. Go a bit lower 'cause I want Mark to be above you and Mark, I just you to wrap your jacket around her like she's wrapped up in there and then put your arm around her this way. That's it, and you're just going to keep this shoulder nice and sort of, in there. That's it, stop. Okay, and from here, now I'm posing you from the side so when I get to in front of you I might just bring you around a little bit. So Mark, open up to me a little bit more. That's it, stay there. So what I'm gonna do now is I like how this is all working. I'm gonna stand in front of your camera. I'm just gonna come to here. Okay, I'm gonna take a nice, wide okay. So if I'm gonna shoot this Annie Leibovitz style, so really contemporary Mark you need to pull away from me here. Chin goes that way, that's it. And then, Tiff go back to him. I'm shooting it nice and low. See where I am in relation to them. Okay, now love that. What I'm gonna do is just pop this jacket back on the inside so it's not about that and then you can bring your arms back over hers. Nice shape in your shoulder Tiff. Pull away from him a little bit with your face. That's it, now bring your chin back to me. Now open your body up to Mark. Now Mark come forwards, stop. Don't hide in her hair though. Come forward Mark and there it is, perfect. Okay, love that, very traditional but still really funky, really gorgeous. Right, one more shot there. Yeah, alright from here now I want to, let's swap over. So Mark come forward and Tiff you can go behind him. And very similar to what we were doing on the bar stool. I want you to come down a little bit lower Mark. Thumbs into your jeans. So just a relaxed position and I want you to lie onto the back of his shoulder and his arms. So you can put this arm up under here, that's it. And just turn your, okay. So the same pose, just come around to me this way don't move, perfect. Okay, chin this way Tiff so that you're that's it. Chin this way Tiff. That's the one, stay there. And Mark, around to her with your face. Oh, I love this a lot. So I need to, no it's alright. I'm gonna come around the back of you. Just 'cause I want more space around them 'cause I love it and I think it looks really gorgeous. Chin around to me now Tiff. Okay, Tiff, chin around a bit more. That's the one, bit more. That's it, stay there, stay there. Okay, so from here, now what I want you to do Tiff is pull back and lie on her shoulder a little wee bit more. So if you pull back and then lie like it. That's it, stay there but don't squish your chin on his shoulder. Chin towards me Mark, nice and long don't move. Okay, from there that's good. Stay there, one more. Okay, Tiff what I want you to do now is, bring your chin around to me even more. So go around behind, go around behind him. That's it, okay there you go. Now, bring your chin up to him. Alright, I love this. Let me stay there. And let's pull away from him even more. Tiff and then lie on his shoulder. So come around, with your face. No, no, no, not your body. Just your face, this way first and then lie on his shoulder. That's it, stay there. Alright, Mark bring your face back to her like you're looking back over your shoulder and just tuck that arm in Tiff in the front. It's sticking right out to me, that front arm. So it's out like this. So just either it bring it forward, that's it. Perfect, alright now both of you eyes to me now. Love that, stay there. Little wee smile, tiny. Chin up just a touch Mark, that's it, that's it. There it is, right there. Less smile Mark, stay there Tiff. That's gorgeous, okay Tiff bring your cheek out right up to him nice and close. That's the one. Eyes down Tiff. Eyes down Mark. Okay, squish into each other with your face. Just fawn onto each other. No, lean into each other, nice, yeah that's it. Just nice and smooth, gorgeous with beautiful big smiles you two. And then towards each other with your faces more. So that's it, eyes down. Just snuggle in, love that big smile. Gotcha, okay from here let's go to, okay maybe we can bring in. Actually wanna do a really cool lying down pose. So, I feel like now would be a really good time to start doing some, just a little bit more funky shots. It's about probably creating a little bit more faces and things like that. So if Mark turns around and faces Tiffany. I know that we did something similar in the white but this has got a whole different feel to it. Face each other, arms around each other, bring your chin straight back to the camera this way so that you are directly just cheek to cheek. I wanna just get, that's it. Now, do not tip back though Tiff. So, what I wanna do is try and open you up in the front a little bit more. So I call that the loveheart when you open up the front. And then chin around and then straight. Okay, in order to get a really good, front on, straight kind of fashion shot of a couple you've gotta them exactly the same angle. So Tiff needs to go that way, stop. And there you are there nice and tall Mark, stay there. Okay and I'll see how close I can get to their face here. Okay, Mark bring your chin towards me. Now both of you go like this. This, that, that way. Tiff, that's it, stay there. Mark, forward and down don't move. Alright, there it is there. So let's see if I can get, that's a really tight shot here. Love that, okay and a bit more. Sorry I'm in front of everybody's camera but you get the idea. Push your chin towards me Mark and both of you, give me a little softer in the eyes, more soft to that. Okay, and one this way. Okay this is all about the face here and I'll show you the prop that I've chosen. So that you can understand why and then I'm gonna pull right back to here. And I'm just gonna drop that down. I'm shooting this nice and low. 2.8 still, alright perfect for what I want. Now, this is where I can create quite arty shapes because I've got a nice dark mood going on now. So I've got this really cool shot. I haven't done it in years and years. So let me get the box for you and I'm gonna put it in. So, Mark you just open your hand up to me and towards me a little bit more. Perfect, so Tiff turn your head up to me. Perfect, that's exactly right guys. Now what I want you to do is both of you relax your eyes there and Mark come towards me a little wee bit more. Don't move, Tiff don't squash your face and Mark bring your thumb down a little lower. No, like that's it. Now up to her now, that's right. So it looks like you're cradling her head. That's perfect, let me take the shot, eyes to me. Perfect, that's gorgeous and a little bit closer. I come up, actually no I can crop in nice and tight. So, Mark come lower and towards me a little bit more and that way with your head. So move your whole body back. That's it, now that's it right on her there. Okay, from here, what I want you to do Mark is stand up a little bit so that I can show everybody how I got you into this pose and then Tiff stay there and then Tiff you can lean up. So what we did first was we put Tiff's left hand there. On the box and then we put her right hand up and under Mark's shoulder and then, Mark cradled her face. So if you go down, that's exactly right. And just holding her face there, beautiful. But don't squish your face on his hand. And then Mark leans up and over and then lies on her shoulder. Okay, that's absolutely perfect right there and then we took this shot. So we just arranged the hair. Tiff, bring your arm up and over his shoulder a little bit more if you can extend out. That's exactly right and Mark come towards me so that you're not so far back. Now Tiff, turn your hand away from the camera so it goes up. This takes quite a lot of setting to do but once you get it right, it's absolutely beautiful. I think about lots of different poses I can do like this. So from this position, stand up and I'm gonna reset my camera. I'm gonna come up a little higher and I want you Mark, to sit up on that box. Actually, no what I'm gonna do is get you to sit on the bar stool. So anything where I can, no no no keep it there. Tiff's gonna go in between your legs. So anything I can do here. Do you wanna reset that Susan while I'm just doing this. I'll show ya, Mark I want you up on here. I want your foot up there, your left foot. So sit, bum there. Yep and then come over nice and over here. So what Tiff's gonna do is she's gonna sit up into this box, very similar to what you were doing on the floor with you feet up behind you if you can. So tuck right up onto this box. And any position where I curl her up inside his arms, I'm gonna take it. So any chance that I can get her back as far as possible. So what I need to do is pull Tiffany away from Mark. So I need to scooch her to the edge of the box and then get Mark to come forward to her. That's it, okay. Now, as soon as I get them in this position here, their faces come together I wanna create some space between you. So the first thing everybody does is they glue themselves to each other and you can't move the body language when they're stuck together. What I wanna do is pull her away and then, then bring their faces back to each other first. Now, I connect their hands. So just remember, always making sure she's in the most perfect position. If her legs don't look good and her body doesn't look good she's not gonna buy the photograph 'cause that's just how it works. The girls can always tell us what they like and what they don't like. Now I want her arm to look good. So in the front I'm gonna get her to put her arm straight through there and that's gonna slim down her arm, make it look good. I need you Tiff, to maybe scooch to the end of the box a little bit more. That's it, so and away. Yep, so scooch that way, good girl perfect and then Mark can come forward. Now when she leans forward, no come forward. And turn this way, no, there you go. Okay now stop. Now Mark, you come towards her. Makes a big difference. Now you can lean up onto here. Mark, you come chin around this way. Alright, now let's get this hand in. Mark come down onto her thigh with that hand so it's not just sitting up, hanging up. Like bring it down a little bit more. I know your knee's there isn't it? Or, lock fingers this way. There you go, perfect. Lock fingers now. Wherever you go, make sure you're connected with the hands. So see this hand in the front, it's just sitting there idle. Both of them have got an idle hand in the front. We've gotta make sure that that is connected. So Tiff needs to put her elbow through there and then they can lock fingers. As soon as they lock fingers, see they look connected. Mark, you're gonna go chin this way. That's exactly right. Both of you are gonna relax your expression here and we're right on, I love that don't move. Nice, let's take a still of that and move around this pose and see what we get. So when I pose people now I always make sure I'm not gonna move around the pose. I'm gonna try and see how many different angles that I can see in there. I think, ooh, I like this right here. So I'm on the 45, I can just have their chin follow me all the way around because then they look flat to the camera. I can go in and take some nice portrait style shots. Nice and close. Tiff lean forward, tip your head that way. Mark come down to her, bring your face back to him darling. That's it, so your faces are more engaged. I can come lower. I can change their expressions, tiny smile. Okay, bring those hands up and around each other guys and just snuggle in. Love that, love that. Big smile, just pull back Mark, pull back from her and go down like lower your face towards her, that's it, that's it. Beautiful big smile, both of you. Love that, eyes down. Okay, perfect. Now if I'm thinking film noir here, I'm gonna shoot this really, a little bit under. I'm thinking nice and dark, eyes down, nice and moody, no smiling and I'm gonna come into here and do some slices. So I wanna do some nice little slices. Mark, don't stare at the ground, go down her body line. So always looking at her. And there, perfect. Beautiful, okay pull away a little bit more Tiff. Like you're gonna kiss, that's it. Perfect, perfect, pull away Tiff not so, don't throw your head back. That's it and look down, don't look at his face. That's a girl, beautiful drop that bottom lip. I love that, okay. Mark bring your nose towards her more. And chin up a little wee bit more. Gorgeous, okay I'm just taking little close slices now and I'm gonna try something very controversial. I'm going to go to my film. I'm going to take it down to and I'm gonna drop my ISO right down to 160. I'm at 1.2 so I'm at a really shallow depth of field. I'm gonna manually focus and I'm just gonna push and pull. Just gonna get my manual focus at 1.2 and I'm gonna go through all of these expressions and then I'm gonna show you something. There, eyes down you two. Beautiful big smiles, go. Okay, move around a bit more Mark so this is not static. That's it, perfect. Okay, cheek to cheek. That's great, eyes to me. Perfect, looking down. Gorgeous big smile, go. You wanna do a Creative Live laugh (laughs)? I'm shooting this at 1.2 I'm filming it. I'm pushing and pulling my focus in and out. I'm trying to get as much movement both with them and me as I can because what I'm then gonna do will be forever immortalized, you know that people still laugh about it. What I'm trying to do is just get that perfect moment in that movement, pull back from each other and just bring your foreheads together now. That's it, okay and beautiful big smile and then what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna pull the frame from Photoshop, I'm gonna pull it and drop it in dark and vintage. And so I've done that on purpose. So now I'm gonna stop that. I'm gonna go back to autofocus, and turn off live view 'cause I'm gonna fade them back too. I want you to do exactly the same thing that you just did with me here. And what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna take 20 shots, I'm at 1.2 moving, okay eyes to each other. And I'm just gonna move around them like that and just take some random moving shots. Oops, sorry just hit the camera. And I'm right on, I'm at 1.2, shutter speed is at 50, nice and close, cheeks, laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing and I'm just moving quickly and I'm moving it, that was it, I got it. And the reason I did that was it's really easy to add blur but you can never add motion. And sometimes those shots, when they're dropped into a dark film noir with lots of gray, you can just ace that perfect expression. When they turn and they're laughing and it's got true glide and I love that movement. It's just something I've always done at the end. I kind of shoot it with my eyes closed. I'm just like bang, bang, bang. I'm looking for that moment where I just think that they both look incredible and I'm just trying to get the laugh and that perfect movement. So I can't, I can show you the what I got off the back of the camera but when I pull it, I'm going to have a look at what I got. It's supposed to be soft, it's supposed to have lots of movement and it's supposed to be dark and gutsy. So those are my three couple sequences that I do. I did the light background, the black background, more traditional, I came down to the brown. I made sure I mixed out the outfits. White on white, blue on black. I made sure I coordinated them, black on brown. I never shoot black on white, and I never shoot white on black. So I try and tone my images all the way through. Let's have a look at our final sequence and then I'm going to show you everything I took and then I'm going to show you the 25 images that I'm gonna present to them as a couple. Happy practicing, this is such a great genre to shoot. Remember we get the girls in all the time. Hands down, the girls always wanna be photographed. But when the boys come in, we double the sale.