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Day 21: Posing Mothers & Daughters

Lesson 32 from: 28 Days of Portrait Photography

Sue Bryce

Day 21: Posing Mothers & Daughters

Lesson 32 from: 28 Days of Portrait Photography

Sue Bryce

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Lesson Info

32. Day 21: Posing Mothers & Daughters

Lessons

Class Trailer

Day 1

1

First 2 Years: The Truth

1:23:37
2

Teaching 2 Photographers in 28 Days

1:10:45
3

Rate Your Business

1:05:08
4

Year One in Business

1:00:34

Day 2

5

28 Challenges

1:21:39
6

Fear

1:04:07
7

Price & Value

1:10:17
8

Checklist, Challenges, and Next Steps

26:35

Day 3

9

Day 1: The Natural Light Studio

38:09

Day 4

10

Day 2: Mapping Your Set and Outfits

1:54:32

Day 5

11

Day 3: One Composition - Five Poses

35:49

Day 6

12

Day 4: Flow Posing

49:31

Day 7

13

Day 5: Posing Couples

55:55

Day 8

14

Day 6: Capturing Beautiful Connection & Expression

40:47

Day 9

15

Day 7: The Rules - Chin, Shoulders, Hands

56:24

Day 10

16

First Weekly Q&A Session

1:00:15
17

Day 8: Rules - Hourglass, Body Language, Asymmetry, Connection

28:39

Day 11

18

Day 9: Styling & Wardrobe

40:50

Day 12

19

Day 10: Shooting Curves

48:40

Day 13

20

Day 11: Posing & Shooting - Groups of 2, 3, and 4

28:46

Day 14

21

Day 12: Posing & Shooting Families

28:36

Day 15

22

Day 13: Products & Price List

56:53

Day 16

23

Day 14: Marketing & Shooting the Before & After

41:20

Day 17

24

Day 15: Phone Coaching & Scripting

52:56

Day 18

25

Second Weekly Q&A Session

1:02:21
26

Day 16: Posing Young Teens

43:02

Day 19

27

Day 17: Marketing & Shooting - Family First Demographic

33:14

Day 20

28

Day 18: The Corporate Headshot

1:05:43

Day 21

29

Day 19: Glamour Shoot on Location & Shooting with Flare

53:56
30

Photoshop Video: Glamour Shoot on Location & Shooting with Flare

11:06

Day 22

31

Day 20: Photoshop - Warping & the Two Minute Rule

1:22:22

Day 23

32

Day 21: Posing Mothers & Daughters

42:22

Day 24

33

Third Weekly Q&A Session

1:31:41
34

Day 22: Marketing & Shooting - 50 & Fabulous Demographic

1:04:00

Day 25

35

Day 23: Shooting into the Backlight

58:22
36

Bonus: Shooting into the Backlight

06:52

Day 26

37

Day 24: Marketing & Shooting - Girl Power Demographic (18-30s)

39:17
38

Photoshop Video: Girl Power Demographic (18-30s)

1:07:21

Day 27

39

Day 25: The Beauty Shot

46:32
40

Bonus: Vintage Backdrop

04:54

Day 28

41

Day 26: Marketing & Shooting - Independent Women Demographic

49:40

Day 29

42

Day 27: Sales & Production

54:30

Day 30

43

Day 28: Posing Men

52:19

Day 31

44

Bonus: Pricing

42:32
45

Introduction

11:36
46

Photography, Style, Brand, and Price Part 1

1:06:49
47

Photography, Style, Brand, and Price Part 2

47:24
48

Marketing Part 1

38:01
49

Marketing Part 2

1:12:04
50

Money: What's Blocking You?

49:15
51

Bonus: The Folio Shoot

52:29

Day 32

52

Photo Critiques Images 1 through 10

23:11
53

Photo Critiques Images 11 through 27

25:01
54

Photo Critiques Images 28 through 45

30:19
55

Photo Critiques Images 47 through 67

36:47
56

Photo Critiques Images 68 through 84

23:22
57

Photo Critiques Images 85 through 105

36:01
58

Photo Critiques Images 106 through 130

34:49
59

Photo Critiques Images 131 through 141

13:45
60

Photo Critiques Images 142 through 167

25:27
61

Photo Critiques Images 168 through 197

29:13
62

Photo Critiques Images 198 through 216

25:51

Day 33

63

Identify Your Challenges

35:06
64

Identify Your Strengths

22:16
65

Getting Started Q&A

22:54
66

Rate Your Business

31:29
67

Marketing Vs Pricing

33:26
68

Facing Fear

23:45
69

The 28 Day Study Group

15:02
70

Selling Points

40:35
71

Interview with Susan Stripling

18:03
72

Emotional Honesty

29:09

Day 34

73

Sue's Evolution

18:36
74

28 Days Review

15:14
75

Student Pitches

11:28
76

28 Days Testimonial: Mapuana Reed

09:02
77

How to Pitch: Starting a Conversation

37:28
78

Your Block: Seeing is What You're Being

35:30
79

Your Block: Valuing and Receiving

37:09
80

Building Confidence: Your Own Stories

20:45
81

Building Confidence: Your Self Worth

36:05
82

Pitching An Experience

34:16
83

Pitching An Experience: Your Intentions

18:15
84

Pitching An Experience: Social Media

30:14
85

Final Thoughts

24:35

Lesson Info

Day 21: Posing Mothers & Daughters

Today we're gonna master the mother and daughter shoot. You know, this is one of the biggest shoots in my studio. It's about not only posing Mom and daughter really well, it's about attracting them as clients, it's about building your folio with mother and daughter shoots, and it's about marketing to them as well. So, today I'm gonna take you through those three things. I'm gonna show you how we pose Mom and daughter the best, how we can market to them, and how we can make this the biggest, one of the biggest avenues of getting portrait clients into your studio. It's one of the easiest, easiest demographics to market to. Let's get started. It's all about the Mom and the daughter today. Hi everyone, our challenge today is to do a little map for a mother and daughter shoot. The mother and daughter shoot it the most popular shoot that I have in my studio, and it has been for the last twenty years. So, what I need to do is flow through an hour and a half shoot as efficiently as I can, taki...

ng as many matching shots that I can. The idea here is that I create series of images. If I create series of images, I sell series of images. And, also, the flow with which I shoot this is both fast and consistent in terms of producing really beautiful images that match each other, that people wanna buy, both as series to go on the wall, and series that match each other in the folio. So, I'm gonna take you through, right now, a series of four different looks, and every single look that we go through, I'm going to take a picture of the daughter, I'm going to take a picture of the mom, and then I'm going to take a picture, or a quick series, of the mom and daughter together. So, as they flow through different colored backdrops and different outfits, I'm gonna show you my map. And we can create a little shooting map for you, so that you can start looking at it like a posing manual, and shooting your mother and daughters more efficiently. Now, I am gonna hold strictly to my structure of shooting one two three, one two three, one two three. You can, at anytime, freestyle, add in anything that you like, add in anything your style. I'm just going to show you the most basic shooting structure for posing, and then you're going to make it your own. So, from here, this structure is about getting a beautiful shot of each girl, and you can do this with two sisters. Very different for a couple because the body language is different, so I'm going to take you through couple shoots. But for now, mother and daughter. Good shot of the daughter, good shot of Mom, good shot of the girls together. Let's work through this map. So, from here I want you to come towards the, sort of, there. That's a girl. I want you to step away from the wall very slightly and, maybe not so much. And then, just lean back with the back of your arm. That's perfect. Now, this hand just touches down here, and then this one comes up, elbow around your body. And I just want you to put your weight onto this foot, back here, and kick that away. Perfect. Just relax your hand down, and then, chin nice and long to the camera from here. That's a good girl. I'm gonna take a shot. So, right now I am shooting below her eye line, so about here. I'm going to just shoot below the eye line. I'm just gonna get the shape of the body in here. I'm just gonna make sure I get that. Nice, and lean on the wall so you get a slim down on this frontal. Okay, bringing your chin around to me this way. Perfect. From there, just a nice easy little smile. What I want you to do, Tatiana, is lean back a little wee bit more and bring your chin around to me a little wee bit more. Perfect. Okay, from here, nice easy little smile. And beautiful, big, grin, go. Gotcha, love that. Okay, stay here. Now, from here, I want you just to hold your elbows. That's one. And now, I just want you to kick back a little wee bit further. Perfect, bring your chin around to me now. Nice little easy smile. Good girl, that is beautiful. And beautiful, big, grin, go. Love that. Okay, from here I feel like, if you look at these four shots, that I have taken four really gorgeous little shots of her. If I find my client struggling, I'm gonna spend a little bit more time, but, when I feel like I've got four little shots in a sequence, then I'm quite happy to pull her out. So, all I do is, I say, Tatiana, come over here. And I want you to come in, Victoria. So, if you could just come and have a seat over here. I'm just gonna take a shot with Mom. Perfect. Now, what I'm gonna do with you, Mom, is I'm going to shoosh up your hair. Now, I want you almost in the same position, so, take a step back. But, what I'm gonna do differently with you, is I'm gonna get you to take all of your weight on this front foot, that's it. And I'm gonna get you to lean back with your shoulder. Yeah, that's it, perfect. So, this shape here. Now, it's very important, what you're doing right now is you're pushing your upper body toward, your lower body, towards the camera. So, you can watch from the camera. Here, I want you to step out here, this foot, and I want you to take all of your weight on this foot. So, stay where you are on there. Okay, so, this hand goes up and this one goes around. So, what I got you to do right now, I'm gonna show you again, is to bring your chin forward and down to the camera. Now, this hand is here. It is exactly the same as what we did with Tatiana, but it's exaggerated, because I need to put all of her weight on her back foot to give her beautiful body line lots of shape in here. It was exactly the same thing, but the curvier you get the further you drop back. Okay, and then, once it curves, drop back, we want you to still lean on the wall. So, if you find yourself too far away from it, then you're too far away from the wall. Back there. Now, you roll forward, because then we push the arm, there. Now, this here is what everybody does. If you see what Victoria's done, she sitting with her elbow out here. If you let that hand go down and push it back, can you see the difference from the front now? 'Cause, now you're seeing this line here. Now, this one here comes forward and we open it up, and what is most important now, from the front, is that we pull her up nice and tall and then push her chin forward and down, this way, Okay, so, now that we're here, right there, I'm going to take a shot there. So, I can't also see that pose perfectly from the side, so, just bring your chin towards me in the front. Forward and down. Down, down, good girl. So, we're making sure when the forward and down comes, that we get this. Now, tuck your chin in. There you go. Everybody has this, so all I'm trying to do is push it forward and down. So, there we are. Right now, I'm gonna take a shot. Incredible. All right, it's really important now that you see two things, and that's that you can lean with the top of your arm against that wall and just touch down here. That's a girl. Okay, now that you can see where my camera angle is, chin around, with now, chin forward and down. Now, with Tatiana, I was below her eye line. I'm gonna show where I was with Tatiana. Now, with Victoria, I'm going above her eye line. Chin down, just a touch. Now, that is a really subtle move. I want you to see the difference between those two shots. Can you see how, when I go below her eye line, I make her look curvier, and when I go above her eye line, she now fits into proportion, there. So, I really have to make sure she stays pressing against that wall. I know, it feels weird, but you gotta trust me on that one. So, with your shoulder as well. Good girl. And it starts to hurt, right? Mm hmm. 'Cause you're in an odd position. So, you're in an odd position, and, if you can see on this camera, how odd her position is, but from the front, her focal plane is absolutely perfect. So, I'm just gonna come back to here. I'm just gonna make sure her hair is shooshed up beautifully. Chin around to me this way. I'm slightly on her eye line, and chin down, now. Good girl, more, there it is. That is beautiful, look at that. (camera clicks) Beautiful, big smile, go. Nah, that wasn't a real one. (laughs) Okay, chin this way. Perfect, beautiful big smile. Chin down a bit more, lips together, and just a tiny tickle of a smile. Good girl, there it is, right there. Now, I've just lost a little bit of natural light, so, I'm just gonna put my ISO up to 640, 'cause I was at 320 and it started to get down to a thirtieth of a second, which means I can't hand hold. So, chin down just a touch. There it is, wow. Okay, now, I can move her around now. So, from here, you can stay in this position, if you can, but then, cross your elbows exactly the way Tatiana did. Now, just lean with your shoulder back, yeah. So, don't lean with your elbow back, just hand here and here, that's a girl. Now, turn your hips away from me and bring your chin back forward and down. So, what I'm essentially doing here, now kick your bum back to the wall, that's it, stop. Now, chin down. There it is. So now, I'll crop closer. So, I've got her lower body. Bring your chin back here, stop. There it is. And, this hand here, put it underneath that arm. Good girl, lower. That's it, not holding your tummy, though. That's the one, long chin. Perfect, right there. Chin down a bit more. Beautiful. Okay, and from here, just drop both hands back, straight down, don't move. I really love that. Bring your chin around to me now. I just don't want to see that hand there. Long chin towards me, and down, down, down. Good girl. This is as low as I'm gonna go. Chin down, there it is. Wow, lips together, little wee smirk. Beautiful, easy smile, go. So, the difference between the sequence of shots, and this is really important, Tatiana has already been photographed today, so she's already in warm-up mode, and also she has less curves to deal with. So, whenever I am shaping a body I tend to shoot a few more. Once I get it right, I know when I've nailed it, I'm really happy. So, I'm gonna take you through the sequence and show you which ones I really like and why. And, I'm gonna take the top four and I'm going to put them with Tatiana's top four. Now, just to keep a momentum going with the blue, the powder blue, I'm going to take a shot now of the two girls together. And, the easiest way for me to do that is. just to keep you away from here. Just step forward. Is, I'm gonna bring Tatiana back in. And I'm going to get them to face each other. Okay, so, from the front. Now, I want you to put your arm around each other at the back. That's it. And put your hips together, your right and left hip. That's it, perfect. Now, from here, you're gonna hold your elbows in the front. The most important part about this pose right now, is keeping, I call it the love heart, is when they're open to you in the front. They're open to you. Now, go front onto each other. That looks weird, 'cause even if you turn your face to the side, neither of you have any particular body language. Open your front up, but now, what you do is, you're going to step her foot back here, your back foot out, and scooch all your weight on your back foot. Now, see how instantly she slimmed down in the front? Okay, so, now I can get them to turn their faces to their own shoulder so they're nice and squared to the camera, and then their cheeks go towards each other. Okay, as soon as your cheeks come towards each other, now this is a mistake a lot of people make. Pull back, and tip together with the top of your heads. That does not work, and everybody does that. So, bring your chin to your own shoulder first, and then go towards each other. Look how beautiful this is. Alright, now I'm gonna take a shot of this and I wanna just keep it really simple. Remember, we've got lots more shots to take in this shoot. So, you're there and there, holding your elbows, nice and soft and a little lower than 90 degrees. Perfect. Now, ladies, I would like you to tip back a little wee bit Victoria, on your weight, that's it. Long chin towards me now, chin down. Now, Victoria's weight is further back than Tatiana's, but it's instantly slimmed her down, looking fabulous in the front. When you move, move as a unit. That's it, and go towards each other with your cheek, and then tipping forward, Victoria, but not you, Tatiana, 'cause you're perfect there. Come towards me, but not down. So, straight out. Okay. Now, I'm just gonna take a beautiful shot here, ladies. Okay, Victoria, come forward with your chin more and tip into her a little bit more, Tatiana. That's it. Tip into her at the top, so you're squished together. Okay, nice easy little shot, girls, little smile. Gorgeous, okay, a little bit more teeth. Tatiana, just come up, that's it. Okay, put your back arm all the way around her, Victoria, so you squeeze her in and I can see it. That's beautiful, Tatiana, tip onto Mom a little bit more. That's absolutely gorgeous, girls. Victoria, stand up tall and push your chin forward. That's the one. Don't hide in her hair, Tatiana, just come out a little wee bit more and tip onto her. Chin down a little bit more, Victoria. That's the one. Okay, lips together. I want a little wee tiny smile from both of you. I want a beautiful, big grin, go. Squeeze in tight, lean on each other. Okay, really wrap your arms around each other and squeeze. Beautiful, and we're done. Okay, from here let's get changed. Let's go to another scenario. These are the final shots. I will show you my top four for Tatiana, my top four for Victoria, and then my top four as a sequence. I would probably show my top two or three from each of those, but for posing I want to show you, it's this simple. Now, we're going to change the background corner, change their outfits, and go again with a different pose. So, now we've got a nice, flat dark brown backdrop. I'm gonna shoot straight on. I'm gonna hit just below the eye line. This is my Fashion Quarterly pose, it's one of my repertoire, as you know. I'm gonna show you how to flow into shooting Mom as well. Same backdrop, using a series, nice and quick. We bring this foot around here and I want you to bring this right up onto your toe, so, as high as this knee can go. Then, this foot here, goes down onto there. The idea here is that I try and get a stagger on that knee. I'm just gonna tip this up for you, 'cause you need a little bit more height, and I wanna get this knee as high as I can. This elbow here, goes out to there. Remember, the body is being posed in this direction, side on, so you can actually turn towards me a little bit more. That's it, right up onto that toe. Notice how the legs look longer when the toes are pointed. This hand here goes, slides back, and you can actually just go like this onto the back of your hip. So, it goes around that way. That's a girl. Then your chin goes all the way around to the front. Now, all these subtleties from the front of the camera are very important. It's very important when you have this here, okay, so that there, and then that shoulder can work forward. Now, it's not allowed to go up, okay? 'Cause then you look hunched. It goes down and forward. And then what happens, is the chin comes all the way around to the front, and don't let them tip their head back, 'cause everybody does that. It's natural to throw the head back. What you want is for it to be square, and lift it up nice and tall. So, I always say, lift up right through the back and spine, nice and tall, and just make sure that this is back here. Big mistake that everybody makes is, they wing this forward. Okay, and if you pinch this too hard, this arm bunches and looks bigger than it is, which doesn't look right. The idea is that we create triangles and diamonds and this pose really works beautifully like that. The back of the hand to the camera is a no-no, so we try and tip it this way without bringing this shoulder in too far. So, we just let it fall and really reminding people to come up on their toes and keep lifting through their posture. So, I'm gonna take a little series shot here and what I want you to do is bring your chin long towards me and down. Good girl, that's perfect. Little wee smile there, and there it is, I love that. Work that front shoulder forward a little wee bit more. Take that front shoulder back. And I want you to see this to camera. Now, work this front shoulder forward and nice long chin down towards it. See the body language shift? Really subtle. Have her look still, knees this way, hands this way, this is here, holding that posture nice and tall. Everything's working. What we can do to change this pose is bring it round to the front here and you can just come around to the front of the camera, come right up onto your toes, and then you lean forward and then you bring this hand through or down there so that one can go here and we can mix up this pose here. So, I can take multiple shots of her and I'm gonna take one more from here. This time, watch the subtlety here. I'm gonna drop this hand down and then I'm gonna bring this shoulder and chin together. That's it, so see that body language come in? Beautiful. Remember, the elbows always go towards the waist because if she sits on the outside of her waist, like this, she's gonna look wider than she is. So, the elbows come towards the center, which create an hourglass that one comes there and if the arms are squashing into the boob line you can push back through here, so you can just push back through your chest, that's it. Long chin forward. Let's take a shot. And bring that knee across and nice soft hands. Long chin, down to the shoulder. Good girl, that's beautiful. Little smirk. That's gorgeous. Now, work that shoulder forward. Beautiful big smile. Good girl. Now this here is where we wanna be. Now, all I have to do is bring Mom in. So, Mom, come in. Now, what I'm go with Victoria, is I'm gonna bring Victoria straight into here. She's going to lean straight into her and engage through her back line, and their faces are gonna be the same distance from the camera. So, what I want you to do is just kick forward. That's it. And I want this hand here to find her hand so that you can go elbow back now. Now, as soon as we put her elbow back, they join up here. Then, I don't want her to come in on the side, I want you to come in from kind of behind. So, scooch your bum around, stop, not that far. It's really important she doesn't hide behind her daughter, okay? She's gonna be beside her. Now, the heads tip together so that they're nice there, but it's more of a cheek to cheek, and then together, not just tipping at the top of the head. And, right now, they're in a perfect position, so let me take this shot. Okay, it's really important that Victoria leads to her right shoulder, her leading shoulder, and then goes in, and then tips with the top. You can lean in, no no, with the top of your head to, that's it, not that far. You don't want to look like you're laying on her. So, it's really important that she tips there and then pulls her body back so she can push her chin forward. Okay, nice long chin, 'cause it's slimming and flattering and it looks great. So, from here, I'll take this shot. And, I would love it girls, Victoria, if you'd tip your chin forward and down. In this pose here it looks like Tatiana's falling forward, and I need her to push her Mom up and look like she's holding them up. 'Cause it's a natural instinct for the bottom person to start crouching forwards. So, nice and tall. Then, from the front, pull away from her so that you're not joining here, and just tip down onto her, there. That's it. Long chin forward, Tatiana. That's it. Now, tipping onto her a little more. Tipping onto, that's it. All right, here we go. Victoria, chin this way and down. Eyes to me, girls. Now, join hands. That's it, beautiful. Be connected through your body language, always. So, from here, I want you to now just go there. All right, tipping onto her, Victoria, chin down, pull away from her, and then come down and then in. That's it, you're in there now. Okay, beautiful big smile, ladies. All right, from here, Victoria, put your arms all the way around her, nice and smooth. That's it, perfect. Okay, Tatiana, hold her arm, so there, that's the one. And, tipping towards each other at the top. Okay, Tatiana, hold her up. Pull back. Okay, push the hair through. Now come down with your chin in towards her now. That's it, leaning onto each other. I'm just gonna push that curl through. Because, it looks like it belongs to you, and it belongs to you. (laughs) Pull back, you're too far forward, your whole body. Pull back, that's it, but your chin forward. That's the one. Good girl, Tatiana, push your chin towards me. All right, Victoria, chin down this way. And, nice and close, girls, squeeze in tight. That's beautiful. Big smile, Tatiana, catch up with Mom. She's grinning away. Pull back, Victoria, you're coming forward too far. Pull everything back and then your chin forward and tip to her. There it is. Nice, big smile, go. Okay, hold her arm, so this way, Tatiana. Put your arm, this one here, just engage it. Yeah, that's the one. Okay, squeeze in nice and tight, girls, right there. Now, this works in reverse. Swap over, and I want you to sit down. So, I want you to sit down that way. Yeah. No, this one down, and that one up. Okay, and I want you to do the same thing. So, I want you to put your arms around Mom. Yeah, that works beautifully. So, around the outside of her arm, yeah. Now, you can lock fingers with her and this time I want you to put your other hand over her shoulder and I want you to lock fingers here, because this is a bit younger and you can lean forward onto here, and she can hold hands with you there. Okay, and I'm gonna open you up, and then I want you to lean forward with your chin forward, so that you're the same distance, and then lean onto Mom. And both girls, I want you to work your shoulders forward in the front. That's it, perfect. Don't lead with this hand, just let it comfortably pull back, there. All right, so I'm gonna take this. So, Tatiana, I just need you to come, open your body up to me and come forward with your chin. That's it. And you hold her up, push up. 'Cause now you're doing it. Okay, stay forward. That's it. Now, chin forward. So, like this, come all the way in, more. That's it. So, see how subtle that is? Victoria, pull back with your neck, and forward with your chin. That's the one. Now, bring your chin to the same plane. So, keep coming, keep coming. So, you need to be here. That's a girl. We're right on there. Now, I'm gonna take that. And I just need you to bring that there. All right ladies, beautiful big smile. Nice and close. You got it, okay. I'm not feeling this arm. I feel like it's too dominant. I want you to bring that down. I want you to bring this around. I want you to just tip forward here, that's the one. Nice and tall. Tatiana, come forward with your chin. That's it, beautiful. Right there now, I love that. Now, big smile, big smile. I want you, Tatiana, to wrap your arms all the way around Mom, and I want you to hold her arms. So bring the, that's it. Perfect, lean onto her, darling. So, perfect. Can you hold hands? Hold that one. Hold this one, so that the hands aren't, yeah, wrap them all the way around, and you hold her arm. That's the one. Squeeze in nice and tight. Lean on her, that's it. Victoria, pull back, chin forward. Pull away from her just a little wee bit and just tip onto her, there. I'm just gonna shoosh here, there you go. Perfect. And then we've got a nice, big, cuddle. Gorgeous, girls, big squeeze. Big, big smile, Mom. There you go. Love it. Perfect. All right. You can hop out. Go and jump over this way. There. Okay, from here, I'm gonna get you, actually, I'm gonna get you to stand up. So, I'll just take this out. You stand with that bar stool is, and I want you to put your feet apart like this so you're a nice, solid pose and I want you to go put your hands into the thumbs. Into your, hands into your thumbs. (giggles) I want you to go thumbs into your jeans and then pull your elbows back, okay? Okay not your shoulders, just your elbows. And now, what I want you to do is just kick into one hip, just a little wee bit. So, that's the way. And now it's really important from the front that you keep your chin forward and down, down. Stay there. From here, we're here. Now, chin down to me now, more. Good girl, that's beautiful. Don't move. Okay, lips together and little wee smile, chin down. Okay, from here, you can see I'm at 640 ISO, I am shooting just on her eye line, okay? So, really important, chin down a bit more. I'm nice and close here. Now, give me a nice, cute little smile, there. Gotcha. Okay, lips together, no teeth, just give me a nice, easy smirk. Good girl, that is gorgeous. I love that. Wow. Okay, stand up nice and tall. And, from here, I want you to turn your body this way. Stop. That's it. And, I might just try and open this hair up. Sometimes hair looks really good on the shoulder and sometimes it looks good open, so you decide. I always think, as long as I can see the shoulder, because that there, that shape for me, is what's more important. And now, nice and tall through your neck and shoulders and chin down. Okay, and then we're here. So, I'm just gonna take this shot here. Chin down to your shoulder. Good girl, that's perfect. And a little bit more of a smile. Absolutely gorgeous. Beautiful big grin, go. Okay, from here, chin down a bit more, that's the one. And, I would possibly bring in a fan here. So, what I want to try and do is, with every sequence, I want to try and make sure I get four gorgeous shots of both girls. I can try, but I don't really want to repeat a pose, so maybe sit back down and let's put your left foot up, point that toe. I don't want to repeat the pose, but I want to get close to it. So, let's say we bring this elbow forward, and then this one can go through. That's the one. So remember, we don't want to squish the bust line, so we pull back though here, and then we push forward with the chin. So, it's kind of natural for everybody to do exactly what you just did then when I told you to push back with your torso you push back with your chin as well and you tucked your chin in. So, it's really important to keep that chin forward and down. And watch hands, because as you can see, her hands are going rigid and I can see that. So, I'm always looking for ballet hands. And, I'm always looking to cross that knee in. Remember, we want the arms and the knee to go towards the center of the body, always because it looks good. So, if you don't want to repeat exactly the same pose for both girls. Now, just pull back through your torso a little wee bit more. Take this hand out and let's go in there and let's bring your knees together. That's a girl. And now bend down, tuck in there, that's the one. See, we can just bring this arm inside the body line, brings us into a nice line. Pull back with the shoulders, forward with the chin, forward and down, and we can go into here, chin down now. Good girl, there we are. Beautiful. Beautiful, big smile. Now, just sit up nice and tall. Okay, and bring your body this way a little wee bit. That's the one, stay there. Now, for me, I like just this chin forward all the way to that shoulder, and down. Let's get rid of this hand and just put it down lower, that's it. Long chin towards me, and down, down. Perfect. Beautiful big smile. Beautiful. Beautiful lady, beautiful children. Too easy, just like that. Nice, flowing sequence. Let's have a look at them. So, here we are with Tatiana and the Fashion Quarterly pose, she's rocking that side view, lots of angles lots of quarters, lots of triangles. Then, we can bring Mom in to the back of the bar stool. She leans forward, space was really important. Hands were really important. And then, the placement of the head. Once we got the faces on the same plane they could tip together, but if they were too close, you see, I keep pulling them apart. Both girls have a lot of long hair, so that made a difference. And then, we swapped them over. I didn't like the front hand, so instantly we came back to more of a triangle position, hands around, lots of body language, nice and close, squeezing together, lots of smiles and then a few different shots of Mom. So then, one ten minute sequence we can take a whole sequence that can be used as a triptych or can be used in the folio and they all match each other, nice, easy flow. So, this is my flow for the ottoman. Typical 45 degrees from my back wall, I'm gonna take a shot of both girls lying down and I do sometimes turn the ottoman on the other so that I've got Mom facing in the other direction, or if I have two sisters, facing in the other direction. So, I'm gonna show you how this works and I'm gonna show why, because the ottoman is one of my most purchased shots. So, if I can flow through this, I get a good shot of Mom, I get a good shot of daughter, and a good shot of them together lying down. So, this is how I go. I'm gonna pretty much set her up exactly at 45 degrees from the back corner. We're good to go, from the front, all I have to do is put this hand straight ahead and this hand away from the camera. No, elbow stays back in, that's a girl. Now, really, really important that you make sure that you check this angle. A lot of people want their hands towards the camera, that way. So, I'm always directly straight ahead from her shoulder, and then this hand goes across here. And the reason I do that is, from the front, I get that beautiful arm line and I can get her to move her shoulder. So, I'm gonna take the shot from here and I'm gonna get you to drop your feet back down, good girl. Sitting up nice and tall, bringing your chin towards me and then down, that's the one. Stay right there. So, from here, I'm gonna take this gorgeous shot. Can you work your shoulder towards me a little wee bit? Good, that's perfect, perfect, perfect. Now, because she's young and gorgeous, I want to make this a really nice, cute shot. Elbow comes out, fingertips go into the hair, that's it. Leaning forward. And chin towards me a little wee bit more, and down, so work that shoulder forward. Love that. And beautiful, big smile right here. Too easy. Okay, absolutely perfect. Easy, easy to do, love how it looks. So now, what I want you to do is jump up, and Mom, I want you to come in and I'm gonna change this. So, can you just help me push that around, Victoria? So it's 45 degrees the other way, and I'm gonna get you to come and lie down exactly as she did, with your feet right in that corner. So now, we're 45 degrees back on this angle and I'm gonna get you to come around towards me. Now, again, what I just did with Tatiana I'm gonna do in the reverse. Most people sit like this, with their elbows out, okay? So, the elbows are out and I think it looks a little bit too wingy out here, so, I'm gonna get you to bring your elbows in and then this hand goes straight ahead from the shoulder, and then this one goes across here, like this. So, sitting up nice and tall, really tall through your neck and shoulders, good girl. And I'm gonna bring a bit of hair forward, and then chin comes down. Only your chin. So, I want you to cross your ankles, that's it, and put your feet down now. And that's perfect. Now, because we want to give Mom a little bit more booty I'm going to get her to roll up very gently here and bring this knee forward. Now, come back down onto your tummy, and don't have this arm too tight. Bring it back, there, nice and tall, sitting, chin forward, and just your chin forward. So, stay up tall, good girl. It's a bit of an ab workout. (laughs) Then we take this shot, here. And what I'm gonna do is shoot just below the eye line, just like I did with Tatiana. Same angle, chin towards me, that's it, and down. That's it. So, keep your chin and your shoulder working together. That's the one. Pushing your chin down now, and it's right there. Absolutely perfect. Beautiful, big smile. Love that, good girl. Now, this elbow goes out and fingertips go behind, that's the one. And just bring your chin, I'm just gonna open this up a little bit more. Sitting up nice and tall. So, just your fingertips behind your hair, so I can't see your hand. That's it, chin towards me. Chin down this way, that's it. There it is. And from there, just drop that heel down, I can see it, that's a girl, it's in my frame. Chin down towards me, beautiful big smile, go. So, straight away I love both of those, sitting up nice and tall, I just want one nice and tall. Give me a little tip, chin down now, there you go. Nice, big smile there. Okay, real smile this time. (laughs) Nice try. When you do a big smile, Victoria, don't push your chin back, so push it forward and down. That's a girl, perfect. Now, what I wanna do here is take a shot that I can flow in the sequence where I can put Tatiana in there as well. So, what I'm gonna do now, is I'm gonna bring this around here, and I'm actually going to get you to shimmy over, yeah, exactly right. And, Tatiana, I'm gonna get you to come and lie beside her. Now, I don't really care where the feet are at this point. What I'm gonna do is just take a really neat lying down casual shot. Now, the smallest person crosses over in the front, so Victoria, I want you to pull your arm and put it around her waist. Now you are going to come inside here by bringing the elbow in there. That's exactly right. Now, you're gonna put your arm around her waist, but you need to stay really tall. Both of you need to join fingers. Okay, and both of you need to put your elbows out. This elbow goes out. Okay, so nice and tall. So, what you're gonna do is, she's going to put her knee across you, and it makes it easier for her to steady herself if she puts her leg over the back, so I can't see it from the front, and you're gonna hold her up. Okay, and then you're both gonna tip towards each other, that's the one, perfect. Now, ladies, from here, I just want you to tip towards each other. That's it, and I'm gonna shoot that right there. Now, I'm just off my backdrop, so I'm gonna bring you around here. I'm gonna bring you around to the front a little bit more, you just keep your feet on the wall, and I'm gonna shoot this from the front. So, nice and tall to the camera, okay? And you can see the chin comes forward. You can see their heads tipping towards each other this way, so come back to this angle, Tatiana, chin this way and you're looking through this camera, nice and tall, tipping together now. And I just want you now a little higher than her, if you can, so if you can come up and tip onto her, that's it. A little bit of asymmetry there. Let me shoot that. (camera clicks) Okay, from there, can you come towards me at all? 'Cause you're just back a little wee bit. Perfect. Right, now tip onto her and, Tatiana, slide back. You just slide everything back, good girl. And now, both of you together. Okay, Tatiana, turn your chin back to the camera. Good girl, stay there. And, Victoria, tip onto her. There you go. Okay, beautiful, big smiles, girls, nice and easy. Love that, perfect Now, both of you, slide your bodies back and your arms forward so you're lying down more. That's it, there you go. I like that a lot. Okay, cross fingers, tip towards each other. (camera clicking) Beautiful, big smile, lean on each other there. Nice, nicely done. Perfect, and, that's my series. So, from here, I just want to make sure that they're doing a little lie down shot. The lie down ottoman shot works for everybody, always looks good, looks really good with Mom and little kids, too. So, a really good way to flow on the ottoman. So, let's get you into your last outfit and your last outfit's gonna be your red dresses, and we're gonna do a beauty shot, singles and together. This is quite typical of a beauty shot, for me, as you know. It's about coming up onto you elbows and then having your shoulders over your elbows. So, one of the biggest mistakes everybody makes here is they have their bum up in the air, and really this is about hovering nice and low, but just having your shoulders over your elbows. So, this is a pose that I do all the time, and it's one that I can get a really beautiful beauty shot. So, maybe bring your elbow in, hand up around your face, so in here. And I can do a whole series of really simple beauty shots here. So, what I do is, I take a beauty shot of daughter, and we're gonna do a lot of beauty shots over this whole program. So, what I'm gonna do is show you how I include Mom in this. So, what I do is, I push you to the very outside of the box and I bring the box this way, and then I get Mom to come and join us as well on her knees. So, Victoria, you come in, and exactly the same as the ottoman shot, you're gonna put your right arm around her waist. So, what that does is, notice a lot of people try this. Come back and put both elbows down on the box. You can't fit side by side and have your heads together because there's two shoulders in the way. So, I want this arm to go around the back, and to join them, I bring Tatiana's arm into Victoria's body line because then she's come into her space and that makes a huge difference. Also, they are able to connect their hands and fingers there and straight away their body language is now connected together. Both of them are hovering on their thighs, but up and over, and nice and tall, so, sitting as tall as you can to the camera. Now, this elbow comes back down, Tatiana, this arm comes down and you can join under here. So, there's lots of ways to bring their body language together, and I can even create asymmetry in Tatiana's arm by bringing hers in, and then I've got two little heart shapes there. If I can lift Victoria higher than Tatiana and get you to push back with your shoulders and forward with your chin and then down, and as long as their faces are on the same plane, so at the moment, Victoria's sitting a little bit closer to the camera, so if you pull back and then you touch down here together at the top, so you're leaning towards each other, then right now they're sitting perfect. So, I make sure I open this up with hair, Shoosh here nice and big, and make sure there's not too much hair between them and I can take a few shots here. Now, this is always shot horizontally for me, in landscape, because I want that nice view through here. So, it is very similar to how they were lying down. It starts to hurt the legs, doesn't it girls? (laughs) It is very similar to how they were lying down in the ottoman shot in terms of how it is from front on, so I'm just gonna make sure I make it nice and symmetrical. Watch the backs of the hands, and make sure, and then I can change these arms up. So, let's have a look at a couple of different scenarios so that I can shoot here. And so, just tipping together ladies, sitting nice and tall is really important. Also, this shot here looks really beautiful on the backlight. So, if we happen to be shooting straight into the curtain that looks gorgeous as well. Tipping with the top of your head, sitting up nice and tall. So, the thing that this does, this shot here is a little bit better than the ottoman in the sense that you can see a little bit more dress. Little bit more smile, Mom. That's it, tip together. Again. Beautiful. Okay, both of you. This one can you bring your hand down a little bit, Tatiana, so mirror me. That's it, good girl. Now, sitting up nice and tall through your neck and shoulders, both of you, chin forward and down. Absolutely beautiful. Beautiful little smirk here. No teeth, ladies, just, there you go. Now, beautiful, big smile, go. So, I love this shot with one, I love this shot with two, and I really love this shot with three. The whole idea of this shot is that you just get all these arms entwined, you get soft fingers, you can join the body language and that they're sitting up nice and tall. Now, I want both of you to stay in this position, but drop down comfortably. This is the mistake everybody's making with this shot. Come together with the top of your head. Everybody's too low, down here. This shot here is not designed to be down this low. This shot is designed to be nice and tall and high, and the shoulders are designed to be up and over. So, I think it's really important that you're not out here, with nice short arms, okay? I think it's important that you're lifting up, nice and tall, that you're coming up, you're coming over there, and that's where that shot exists for me. Okay, so lots of practice with this one. Well worth it. Flow with one beauty shot, flow with Mom on the white, and then flow with a nice together beauty shot. Sit back down again, ladies. Okay. So, move this camera. This one? Thank you, Susan. All right. So, to conclude my one two three, one two three, one two three, it's always about taking a gorgeous shot of Mom, it's always about taking a gorgeous shot of the daughter, and then a flow together, because then you're creating a series, correct? I want you to think about when we went back to these poses here in the powder blue where they're standing up against the wall. I could repeat that entire sequence in this red dress, back lit on the white. I could repeat the entire beauty series in a beautiful, dark dress, on the black background and I would still have a completely different look. So, the structure of the pose is the same, I just want you to mix it up with background colors, outfits, and just change up maybe the feel of the image. So, if they're in jeans you can have them more casually laughing, squeezing each other tight. If they're in ball gowns they can be glamorous and beautiful, but you're talking about the same structure of poses. Remember then, this is my basic structure, put your own spin on it. You can have them dancing in individual outfits and create a beautiful shoot that has just lots of them and personality in it, but the structure of these poses start with this, and you can't go wrong. You'll be creating a beautiful folio everyone buys, and, lets talk on the marketing about selling this to Mom and daughter. So, I do a two package for one that's only $500 more and then they both get a beautiful box, a folio box, each, instead of having to share one. So, it's a really neat upgrade. Best demographic to market to, mother and daughter, because they're the best demographics to shoot.

Class Materials

bonus material

Business Checklist
Keynote Part 1
Keynote Part 2
Posing Guide: Set Map and Outfit
Posing Guide: Flow Posing
Posing Guide: Couples Posing
Posing Guide: Curves
Posing Guide: Teen Posing
Posing Guide: Family Posing
Posing Guide: Over 50 Demographic
Posing Guide: Beauty Shot
Posing Guide: Posing Men
Workbook
How It Works
Styling and Wardrobe

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student
 

I have purchased four of Sue's courses and love them all. I have learned so much. I found the lesson on connecting with people thru their eyes has made a huge difference in my photos already. Her before and after's made me cry. I want to be able to take these kinds of photos for my family and friends. I just love what she does. She is such a great teacher. I learn much better seeing things done, so this was the perfect choice for me to learn. I love Sue's humor, her honesty, her detailed teaching and sweet and wonderful personality. Her sessions will or should not disappoint anyone. It is the best money I have ever spent on self-help teaching. Thanks a million creative live. You GOTTA LOVE SUE!

katie
 

Pure gold. Sue Bryce is likable, talented, funny, and an amazing teacher. She calls you on your BS (your excuses for why you aren't succeeding), gives you business, posing, marketing, pricing and LIFE advice. The class is 58 hours long - and you spend the majority of it looking right over her shoulder, through her lens and watch her walk through many, many photoshoots. She verbally and clearly repeats several critical formulas for success so it's imprinted in your mind. Her advice is crystal clear and your photography will dramatically improve after this class. Before Creative Live, you'd NEVER have had the opportunity to shadow a photographer of her quality... hands down the best photography class I've ever taken.

JRomkee
 

I have just began this course and I am excited to see how following her model will help me to improve and get my business started. I have been through the first two days and there is lots of information to absorb and things to get in order before I begin the actual challenges. I am thankful that there are photographers out there who are will to reveal there secrets ad are truly invested in others improving themselves in all aspects of their life and not just their photography skills. Thanks Sue Bryce for your passion for empowering woman and your knowledge of creating and sustaining a business by being true to who you and commitment to the improvement of others! I am excited to grow myself and my business, I am confident this will be worth every penny! Were the templates for the email PDF included in this course

Student Work

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