Wondering how to make your photography client feel at home in front of the camera? Not everyone is going to feel comfortable striking a pose, and it’s up to you as the photographer to guide them through motions, movements, and postures that help them look and feel their best. This task takes research, practice, and skill and is something that improves with the more photoshoots you do.

But don’t worry— you’re not in this alone. Trust the process and check out my photography resources for a ton of free photography posing tips. I’m here to help you every step of the way.

Some of the biggest posing mistakes I’ve seen happen when a model is wearing a dress or a skirt. In today’s blog post, I am going to walk you through exactly how to pose your clients in a way that flatters and elongates their figure so that they will love their photos.

No more stiff, static, and awkward client poses. It’s time to make the switch to natural, promoted, and candid— and I’m going to help you get there.

Let’s get into it.

1) How to Pose a Client in a Dress

Here’s how to pose your client if they’re wearing a dress.

Instead of telling your client to add movement by picking up their dress and playing with it, tell them to puff up the dress from the back with their fingertips. If that is still looking stiff, tell them to move their hips side to side while flexing the dress. This subtle change will give your photos a more natural look and help you avoid making the dress look tight or droopy.

The great news is that this photography prompt works for all dress styles!

If you still want your client to hold their dress, just be mindful that they're not holding it too far or too tight and avoid an awkward drape.

2) How to Pose a Client in a Fitted Dress or Skirt

Here’s how to pose a photography client if they are wearing a form-fitting dress or skirt.

Instead of telling your client to put their hand on their hip and then look at you and smile, we’re going to take this one step further. While the hand-on-hip pose is fine, it’s not gonna make anyone pass out on the street, which is, of course, the goal.

Try creating a beautiful shape by telling your client to step a foot back and put all of their weight on that back leg. Naturally, your client is going to want to bring that right foot forward but tell them to keep leaning into that back leg and bring their hands to their hips but flip them down. Viola!

3) How to Prompt a Client to Walk in a Dress or Skirt

When it comes to wearing a dress or skirt, emphasizing and creating curves is going to be our goal. One of the best ways to do this is by taking photos of your client walking.

Step #1: Tell your client to cross her legs over each other.

Step #2: Have her flip her dress if you want to add that extra movement.

Step #3: When it comes time to cull your images, make sure to select images where both feet are on the ground. Cull images where the front heel is lifted up, as it doesn’t elongate the leg.

If you can combine all three of these steps (changing the movement of the legs, fluffing and adding a bit of interest to the dress, and selecting the right shot), you will capture a beautiful walking photo.

Thanks for reading, photographer! Let me know which other photography posing tips you would like in the comments below.

Resources:

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