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Flow Posing: Intimate Shots

Lesson 13 from: Unique Posing for Weddings

Doug Gordon

Flow Posing: Intimate Shots

Lesson 13 from: Unique Posing for Weddings

Doug Gordon

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Lesson Info

13. Flow Posing: Intimate Shots

Next Lesson: Ground Posing

Lesson Info

Flow Posing: Intimate Shots

every couple dreams of the first dance don't they every couple here's the problem with it have you ever gotten a good first dance image you're in a dark reception hall you have your own camera flare should go up to them you interrupt the home and get together like you dancing heads together good look at me the cheeks together look at may I go up to him there trying to dance on mike look here look here cheeks together then I can't focus because the rooms to dog then when I finally get focus got that idiot video guy shining his light behind him then when I get focused sorry boys when I finally get focus again I see the uncle in the background doing one of these or something like this ruins the image or I take the image with my own camera flashing over exposed by what roughly thirty to forty stops who wants to deal with that so what we're gonna do is I'm gonna fake it right now because it's better bring your heads together lean forward cheeks together mean ford now look whether hands are ...

bringing him away from the body why is that guess quickly quickly quickly why use adjust two small good we're going to focus on the hands just I'm disappointed albert I knew it was going to take you a while because you like to be late wear we go looking down good no smile don't move so first when we focus on the hands second one we're going to bring the hands closer to the body we made the hands that bring him all the way in all the way and now looking down lean forward lean forward by self christina eyes down good stay there don't move now take a look watch how easy is this spin your body stay exactly where you are but spin to me look at all the information right here there's a story right here what do I need to meet her and focus on his hands because that's the neutral point so we're going to go right there into his hands and take a look we got the hand with information will I be able to plug these into first stance and nobody's going to know that it's not real they're going to come back with all my might god I can't believe you got this I don't even remember this love story it's amazing and I'm thinking you're a psycho it's didn't really happen because my job is to be a storyteller now what we're going to do is keep them spinning because we want to see the back side we're going to bring his lips too harsh older I'm going to turn her head a ll the way around right and here turn your head beautiful could you imagine me telling her to do this I'd never get what I want ok looking down jess you need to look I'm sorry voice you need to lower yourself a little bit open your legs wider wider wider wider and I'm seeing way too much of your big head guy good turn turn can I twist your head completely offer no good just like that shin down a little bit beautiful remember here's what they're saying at home there's no way my bride would ever do that that's beyond uncomfortable I'm not hear to make them comfortable I'm not a chiropractor I'm here to make them look good if they want an adjustment I'll give them a recommendation but that's not may I'm there to make them look good close your eyes beautiful good stay right there just like that notice showered up the field two hundred two point eight keeps spinning keep spinning keep spinning keep spinning relax look at each other hands together take a look at the hands right there I'm gonna focus on the hands because that's the only thing that matters I'm gonna tilt to him you're doing terrific stay there notice the hands are in focus but I've created an out of focus foreground focusing just there now from here we're going to keep them spinning so what we're going to do here is I want you to hug him put your head up on his shoulder no you're going to shorten yourself downwards give him a hug wrap your arms up around head up worse come down lower a little bit good head on his shoulder beautiful now looking straight out look again at the light we bring the bail this is the dream moment for the first stance the lights right on top you're doing terrific take a look on in order to make this work and really fake it as a first dance what does there need not to be any type of background it's got to be nice and tight looking straight out beautiful you're doing terrific stay there I'll tell you when I'm set you're doing wonderfully could not extra better smile and gorgeous happy teeth don't move keep those eyes open girl stay there you're doing wonderful don't move now watch what we d'oh she's going to turn her head into him put your lips on his cheek stand up a little bit turn your head to me well it's a little bit not lean your bodies to may close your eyes lean back away from him a little bit christine a little bit more now you chin down chin down or stand up good stare it's the key to this image is white making sure that I see both eyes now turn your head to your left beautiful and look down chin down turning head more to your left more eyes down stay right there can anybody tell that's not a real first stance very very simple you're able to get in there and do all these shots how many images do we take there's a lot of images here and I didn't move the body all we done yet knew were going to bring him behind her is the bail and her face is a bad thing no because it's supposed to be that candid soft moment you're going to go behind and I want you to wrap your arms around the top of her chest not the good part hands here going to come up here lean forward now look down turn your head chin out eyes down take a look very very simple are you you're looking at me like you have a question there girl good here we go looking down turn you head to your right beautiful just like that stay there excellent don't move now look at me beautiful chin up a little bit gorgeous chin up chin up chin up good the reason her chin us to come up is to make sure that our eyes are centered eyes right here to make you are doing terrific jess you're seriously why do I call you just watch what is with me and names I see a smile and beautiful wait I just gotta pull the veil right out of our divers turn your head to her a little bit and you're going to bring your hand down so I see it a little bit so we're focussing on half the body right there looking at me beautiful chin down a little bit gorgeous you're smiling happy beautiful there you go don't move now watch how we change it we take a little detail turn your head to your right beautiful just like that we're going to go in tight because we're going to focus on another key moment right there what is that key moment it's going to be the rings on the hands take a look at how beautiful just focusing on the rings and hands there's our image now from here ross turn your head to your right tilt your head to her we're still jem'hadar good chin up voice turn you head to your right cross lean forward a little bit christina ross look at my hand royce turn you head this way christina turn your head to him ross stop acting like you're mad eyes appear ross look at my hand russ rush chin up a little bit good smiling guy's teeth take a look excellent don't move so what cutting and tight were cropping him out but we're not done yet we're going to take them here going to go right in here looking here put his hand here we're going to put her hand on her hip going to take this hand here going to bring it here and then we're going to bring it all the way around look right here now turn your head look down at your hand if I really want to do it right what I'm gonna do is now take this light here and set it up is what what type of light with a pig again tone down your excitement it's two days of being overwhelmed by you guys going to make it a profile light looking down lean forward chin up turn look down no smile there we go look at how easy so we're tilting to the right lean forward a little bit beautiful royce turn your head to her good stay right there you're doing wonderful don't move now ross you're going to turn your head to your right a little bit more little bit more looking down stay there just like that now we go from the face we're going to go into the hands turn your head to him beautiful a little bit eyes down now let me see you look straight up turn your head to your right more good right there look straight up bring your eyes a little to your left good perfect keep him open chin down a little bit good notice was I right she closed her eyes it's a matter of paying attention take a look at that image in that light that's not bad is it on dh you got him there now watch what we do here you're going to spin around here okay keep going look over here and bring her hand forward just like this we're going to take her hand here and we're gonna focus again on key elements just like that watch the hand heads together turn your head turn your head lean forward just like that tilting here here now I'm going to turn ahead and all I'm looking for I could move that light but why bother I gotta mean like their turn your head lean forward a little bit now watch where we focus on just like that stay there first we focus on the hands then we focus on the faces looking down look down at their hands lean forward a little bit christina good now go into her neck I want you teo you know go right there good just like that stay there no go behind her a little bit hold it you're doing wonderful lean forward a little bit beautiful turn your head to your left gorgeous more more more you're not gorgeous worth good son excellent on you see what happens I got the reaction I'm looking for from her now watch what we do here this is one of my favorite poses but also my most dangerous for a bad fitting dress okay we're going to bring her hands up so I'm always going to do this with the bailiff I have it I'm going to bring his heart hand here and I'm gonna bring it here why am I bringing this here because I don't want her what are you doing with your hands why were you bring your hands here bring your hands here now I'm always going to come in here and we're gonna push her hip back turn your head to your left beautiful lean forward turn your head looking down turn your head just like that nice and tightly wrapped good looking right there eyes down you are doing terrific sti there wonderful hold it don't move now what I want you to do is lean forward by yourself kristina turn your head to your left now look up chin up sea arise chin up chin up chin up turn your head to your left and lean forward by yourself look out towards the light over there you're doing terrific out of the corner of her eyes which we never want because that's a rule but when we break it look at how great she looks whoops I missed my mark what I had white veil looking now just like that stay there accelerant dont you move beautiful good perfect and then we get what we're looking forward a little seductive look now we're not done yet we're going to bring the hands down watch this step back one step bring your head back to your husband put your arm on her back just to give her a little support no underneath your good head back to him bring your lips to her forehead just press good now bring your hand here bring a veil around now lean and now we're gonna bring the light and just a tad do we want to shoot up her nose no with a ninety degree angle tilting the camera towards take a look close your eyes not done now what we do here is we're going to stop we're getting towards the end here relax I want you to kick this like forward like this from a kick it all the way forward and we're going to show off a beautiful shoes good give me your hand for me worse go right in their own ross push that hip back turn your head go down to host like that eyes there and was shown alike but look at a leg it's a matter of curving it end so she gets a little bit of sexiness going on back there excellent for this one we go full length looking down beautiful lean forward by yourself gorgeous just like that wonderful lean forward beautiful stay there hold on let me get the meeting I'm want good stay there perfect don't move uh almost sat lean forward a little bit I don't like the light on you good just like that beautiful now take a look we're going to go in lean forward now look your eyes out to the left beautiful up towards the light oh look at that he's doing a good job he's no doug but he's getting a job done stayed lean forward a little bit beautiful excellent stay there relax now from here turn your back to me facing the wall beautiful royce going face her bring the bail behind you know bring the bail back to may now wrap your arms up around his shoulder is beautiful you were so confused for us I don't even want to know I'm going to therapy after this kick your left leg in between his legs beautiful push your pelvis in an archer head all the way back I had all the way back all the way back ross go in not like you're breastfeeding relax good just like that go in there excellent head back close your eyes beautiful ross bring your hands up to her shoulders this is kay because it's going to do what then out her shoulders and take a look you just sore over sixty poses that's the beginning of what bridegroom flow posing is that whole process when shooting takes me roughly about five minutes do we have any questions thiss was my way of getting close to them way just give doug around clive didn't e I mean they didn't they were right there sixty poses they were perfect it wasn't made and so is this all for shooting towards an album this is remember that's the biggest problem with photographers today they don't think of it they're all looking at it now saying I don't want to sit there and work that hard well then you don't want to make money my job is to guarantee myself a potential income here's what I can tell you I did a seminar with a very famous photojournalist several years ago and it was a question asked to both of us the question was sir they said to him how many images do you take gonna wedding because I average about four to five thousand how many do you take doug I average about four to five hundred here was the big question and this is not stating that I'm a better photographer what it might be stating is I'm a better business person how many images do you have in your finished album they said to the photojournalist he said average about one hundred my finished album averages about one fifty toe one eighty I'm taking less because I'm taking the things that I know will sell this is a love story so you may be thinking order the people are home maybe they don't all your wedding's look alike well thank you so much for the compliment my question is why don't yours nobody ever came to me that I love your work please make sure my pictures look nothing like that of course they change because every wedding every sitting I change and adjust what idea according to the client according to the size their weight their personalities this is just my traditional they beat the world with it it's just my traditional stuff then I start to have bun which we're going to get a little bit more involved with after the break but it's about simple any questions from you guys is we have a couple minutes yes albert you're not allowed to eat so you would do this after the wedding serum I would do it immediately after it the way my gay goes as I first do the bride's home that I get early to the church to do the groom's guys his family than a ceremony than family pitches than bridal party pitches that bride and groom I do bridegroom last on dh the common question that's asked of me is how much time do you need for pictures my answer is always the same as much as she'll give may I worked with that nose time constraints the difference between me and most people is they want a lot of time I don't want a lot of time do you know during pre show banter with these two wonderful ladies I'm bouncing off the walls because I'm by I'm standing there for ten minutes not doing anything if you watch me I'm pacing around I'm ready to explode I want to get it done so cut the pre show banter down like you got a minute you know I felt I was feeling that I was like really fumbling the showman this isn't working out at all I think it's because doug is over there dancing question justice you normally shoot like that like just one shot for one shot did I have any shots that I missed I knew when she blanked that's going to be in my problem now mind you my lighting's a little inconsistent based on what's going on here but I'll be honest I'm not ultimately paying a lot of tension to it because I want to teach it we already did lighting more focusing on posing at this point but you looked out of work when you see these finished images they all look exactly like lauren I'm sorry justin did you you you you don't shoot like a course on the vertical tight do I change them know why I do it I know what I need to do this is only the beginning this should take me no more than five to seven minutes I want to step right through it and get it done do you usually shoot with just one camera body I shoot with two camera body sometimes but most times they stay with one camera body if I'm in a mood I'll go to an eighty five millimeter one point forward to get in and do some of that stuff but I don't always have the time so again it's about time time is money if it takes may here's what happens and I know we're running close to the break he is the biggest thing years ago I would shoot a wedding if I went to work for someone I'd give me five hundred dollars and after I got the five hundred dollars they would say to me okay you worked ten hours he is your film you're done today I'll probably get paid four hundred dollars I shoot for fifteen hours and I added for twenty are making a dollar fifty an hour so eh question from photo michael says I realized that the time it takes to show us these images is taking a bit longer but rin you're in a real situation how does along to take for the bride and literally takes about five to seven minutes but I'm not sitting there do you see him walking between the camera now I'm sprinting people appreciate it but I will tell you this to the female photographers in the audience if I do it and I'm running around and I'm pushing and I'm getting what I want here's what they say oh my god this guy is awesome he's working hard as a female you're not assertive you're the b word I had I have a young lady in my studio her name is jessie pavlik's cavallo she's one of the best photographers in the world she follows what ideo to it tea and she's taken into levels are never thought imagina lt's only one problem in the beginning as most people would deal strain she did it exactly the same way I did so we would get in complaints they were calling her the photo nazi because she was being so aggressive in what she's doing you have to find a way to make it your own some people think my temperaments too much some people at home become this overconfident zealous jerk who's sitting there and I'm arrogant you hear no that's the complete opposite of what I'm doing when I'm shooting a wedding or when I'm here I'm on stage who I am is different there has to be a stage presence to be a photographer there has to be if there's not you're never going to succeed here here okay michael tolls photography from atlanta a lot of people are asking about your cropping and you're still something of the camera so the question is does your cropping you're cropping is awesome but do you shoot also for the clients I prefer no artistic cropping or tilting pretty cropping and discussed that with them beforehand well here's the thing you have to remember one thing I'm editing and retouching all these images so if you're home watching this they're gonna look nothing like this because I'm going to give you the biggest secret that's going to change your entire business right now this moment right here everybody who's a photographer now shoots and brings it right out of camera without cropping don't because it's easier none of my images looked like this you know why because all of my image is a cropped in either one of two shapes write this down is going to change you there cropped and either squares or extreme panel rectangles why is that it's very very simple there you're doing it don't answer it I know you have the videos okay here they are the reason I cropped them in square rectangles you walk into every studio they all have regular images hang up sixteen by twenty one by fourteen okay can you get a sixteen by twenty an eight by ten and eleven by fourteen to twenty by twenty for your local drug store or any of the major supplies which I don't think I can mention names but you know who I'm talking about the chain stores can you get that pitcher and not frame anywhere guess what can you get a ten by ten and eleven by eleven twenty by twenty twelve by twenty four fifteen thirty at these places can you buy a frame at these places or do you need to go to a custom framing do you think I offer custom framing my goodness I offer custom framing and if you knew the amount of revenue that we draw in from custom framing because people want it to be done if I give them a print without a frame not on liam I delivering it half way but I'm delivering it they're going to go home and I'm never gonna hang up print it's going to take a year to get framed therefore the worst part of the entire thing is they're not going to be displaying my art which means they're not advertising for me so they answer is I don't discuss cropping with my clients they came to me to do the job on like I said or along you were the artist did anybody have a higher picasso where did anybody ever higher ansel adams or annie liebowitz and tell them the way to shoot now I am in no way shape of form comparing myself to these people but like anybody else I'm an artist I want my work to be interpreted the way I want an interpreter that's why I sell images and not files because then people are free to do whatever they want when the files go out looking bad who's it a reflection off it's made I'm a photographer I sell paper can crop the way I want can we talk about your artistic choice of tilting the camera it's very simple my artistic choice of cropping and tilting it's a rule I'm doing it to make people look better by tilting to the groom I always make him more dominant again what people are realizing the united states where I am is a nation of plus size people we have the biggest country in the world literally not by the amount of people by the size of us I am there to make the people look better so can I do that with every subject it's all about the crop my crop and my tilt is to make them look better to make them look younger to make them look then it's a matter of taking the same image and making it look three different way's what do you do when you don't have enough images you learned to crop them and make it one twenty a b c d you cut it up three to four different ways it works better makes it look more interesting and it allows you to think beyond the box because if you don't you're going to stay in that box you're going to get bored and you're gonna keep doing the same thing you've always done on therefore you're going to get the same results you've always gotten which frankly today is not good enough

Class Materials

bonus material

Day 1 Slides
Flow Posing Guide
Bonus Video: Workflow: Doug Gordon Photoshop A
Bonus Video: Workflow: Doug Gordon Photoshop B
Bonus Video: Workflow: Doug Gordon Photoshop C
Bonus Video: Workflow: Doug Gordon Photoshop D

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student
 

I loved every minute of it! I watched and re-watched the Live show 3 times and now have the video version to burn into my mind. I don't get sick of watching it, I learn something new with each viewing. I have notes upon notes, inspirational quotes and I was truly inspired. I saw you live at your workshop and I wish we would of covered the business section a bit more in depthly because after watching you here on creativeLive I was floored! I can't wait to attend another one of your workshops because you are a wealth of knowledge, energetic and you inspire me to be better! I'm so glad I wasn't afraid to try even though I was terrified at first. Thank you, thank you, thank you for being such an amazing mentor!

a Creativelive Student
 

Doug is AMAZING! The way he teaches makes it fun and easy to understand. The way he poses his couples are so fast and easy to learn, I have taken my photography from mediocre, to world-class. I would love to meet him and thank him personally one day. Thank you Creativelive for introducing me to Doug, and thank you, Doug, for introducing me to CreativeLive! The best community for learning!!!

Adrian Farr
 

Doug has so much enthusiasm, it is beyond measurable. He is truly a fantastic motivator. He helps you understand the best ways to work with the light you have and shows you some very simple yet effective posing techniques. I highly recommend watching and buying this course if you want some great advice on improving your photography.

Student Work

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