Good morning/evening/night everybody! And welcome to another photography tutorial by your friend Nebula. Today we’re gonna put ourselves in front of the camera and do some posing.
I’m an awful model. I don’t know how to pose and I usually have a hard time when experienced photographers ask me to be spontaneous. The most that I can do is putting my hands on the hips and giving a facial expression that makes me look like a sentient being. I’ve been making costumes for 8 years and I still find posing really difficult.
And the thing is: I’m a costume maker, not an actress!!! Comes out I put on the things I make, but that doesn’t mean I’m a model.
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| This is my style. |
But I’m really interested in looking decent in cosplay pictures, I like to look cool during the milliseconds the lights are flashing the heck of my person and, to achieve that I’ve learnt some tricks and resources that help me giving my best look.
– Character reference Images.
Yes, it’s so obvious I feel a little embarrased I’m telling this to you but it’s necessary. I always take with me pictures of the characters in different poses, characteristic gestures and game scenes to take them as a refference during the photo shooting. This helps me a lot and helps the photographer too to know what I want. It’s much easier to bring pictures than to explain it with words.
Reference poses.
As I kind of crash everytime someone asks me for posing, I try to look for posing references that match my character. I always end up scrolling trough Senshistock in Deviantart, that is our possing lord and saviour. They have a little of everything: posing with weapons, sitting, lying, jumping, flying, with musical instruments, making magic, pin up style, alone, in pairs… It’s amazing! Everytime I have a photo shoot I look there for ideas.
– Facial expression.
This is the hardest part for me. Posing with my body is complicated enough and then the face comes. Time ago I watched this video that is super good and explanatory on looking like a confident human being by squinching.
Back then I used to think that opening my eyes a lot, like defying the flashlight, was cool but it made me look like a scarred little bunny. Squinching changed my life, my dear friends: I got a job, I got a boyfriend and I started cooking better.
And this video by Elite Cosplay is also really reccommendable for you, guys, to learn how to look decent. They have several videos on this subject in their channel.
– Rely on your photographer.
If you photographer is a good director, listen to him. Misteriously I don’t know how to pose but my models have told me I know how to direct. Ok.
It has happened to me that the photographer asked me for a pose I didnt think it fitted the character but it looks amazing in pictures and I ended up being pretty happy with the result. You won’t always get a good result, but don’t be closed and try it. Maybe we as cosplayers know a lot about our characters than the photographers, but they know how to take pictures!! We lose nothing by trying.
– The pooping pose.
Just don’t do it. Don’t squat. You think you look cool and sexy, but it looks like you’re pooping. Try to avoid that pose unless the character asks clearly for it or is famous for their pooping abilities.
– Trigger Discipline
I already dedicated a full entry about this subject. There are a few things you need to know to pose with guns correctly and look like a pro. You can read about it here.
And that’s all! Hope my wisdom inspired you somehow.
