3 Basic Tips For Shooting Stunning
Glamour Poses

Glamour poses should not be feared. They are quite different from everyday shots that you may take for most clients, but they can be great adventures that stretch your creativity and make you a better photographer.

The key to feeling comfortable on a set taking glamour shots is to know the human body well and pay attention to all the finer details.

Apart from the three useful tips I am going to share with you below, the best way to learn about posing the human body is by reading Malcolm Boone's Posing Secrets.

He goes into full detail on the theory and practice of posing each part of the body. For example, he explains how to pose legs when standing, sitting, crossed, slightly bent or straight and whether to have feet pointed or curved. You won't need any other books about posing after this one. He really does explain in full detail how to pose every inch of the human body.

Tip 1: Why Finding The Right Location Is Important

Determining where to shoot glamour photos is very important. You may already have a general location but finding the exact spot at that location should be given serious consideration.

If you just select a bush or a pretty plant and shoot there you may find that the bush or plant becomes more of a focus for the photo than just a background.

The trick is to move your camera or your subject until you find the perfect spot for your model to pose. You want to make your subject the clear focus of the picture while allowing other things to back them up for a well rounded, beautiful photo.

As you can see from the glamour model laying on the beach. She is the most important part of the composition, but the background adds some extra creativity and flavor to the shot. Also notice how her feet and hands are positioned. I will share more on this type of posing in Tip 3.

Move Your Body Around To Create The Artistic Detail

There is a reason professional models move around a photo shoot so much. They aren't just trying to give the photographer a variety of pictures to select from. They understand that a straight body standing in a straight line doesn't look good on film.

When you are creating exciting glamour poses you have to think of your subject's body in terms of the lines created from the edges of their body.

Preferably, the lines of the body will appear diagonal in the photo, meaning, at least part of the body has moved from the center so they are no longer in one straight line.

It's a matter of filling up the full frame. You don't want the entire body to be in one spot with a lot of background hanging out. That may work for some creative or avante garde type of photography, but it won't work for glamour photography.

As you see from the model below, her head is tilted and her hands are up. As she is moving about the photographer is shooting away. This produces creative looking shots that are exciting and interesting to look at.

Which Body Parts Do You Show?

When it comes to creating superb glamour or boudoir poses, it does matter whether your subject looks away or directly into the camera.

Whether their toes are pointed or flexed matters as well; just as a thousand other tiny details matter. While keeping your mind on the larger picture being taken, you have to focus in on the finer details of how the model is positioned.

Make sure the hands have something useful to do in the photo and make sure the tilt of the head is just right. Pay attention to how the hair is lying against the face or falling across the top of the shoulders. All of these small details matter when you are taking glamour photos.


Of course, you also want to pay attention to all the basic elements of lighting to ensure your glamour poses look as good as possible in the end. You don't want to be snapping excellent pictures only to find later on that the lighting took away from the overall effect.

Before you start shooting glamour poses professionally, get some willing subjects to let you practice with them. Study up on the human body and learn as much as you possibly can about glamour posing and positioning the human body in general, then put that knowledge to work with actual subjects.

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