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Whether you’re a seasoned senior photographer or just starting out in this niche, there’s always room to improve your skills and make your clients’ senior portrait experience unforgettable. In this post, we’re diving deep into the art of teaching our lovely high school senior clients to shine through posing and expression tips. As senior photographers, our job is not just about capturing great photos. It’s also about making our clients feel confident and beautiful during their senior sessions.  Let’s dive into teaching seniors to shine: posing and expression tips!

Teaching Seniors to Shine: Posing and Expression Tips

Posing Tip #1: Pre-Session Consultation

Now if you’ve listened to a few podcast episodes in the past, you know how much I love a pre-session consultation! My first tip for you is to make sure you always have a pre-session consultation with every client. This is the perfect time to get to know them, their style, and what makes them comfortable. Having this time to connect and learn about each other will help you choose the right poses that suit their personality and preferences. 

We want to be prepped and prepared as much as possible before stepping to a shoot, and part of that is having some poses already planned out in our head to suggest to our client! Without knowing your client’s personality, it can be hard to know what poses are going to come naturally for them, and what ones will end up looking a little too stiff or uncomfortable. If you aren’t already setting up pre-session consultations, this is your friendly reminder to set one up for your next client ASAP! I promise you will thank me later.

Posing Tip #2: Practice Posing Yourself

As a photographer, you should feel comfortable demonstrating poses. My next tip is to practice posing yourself! You might think this is a little silly or not necessary, but it’s your job to be comfortable and confident in your posing suggestions, and be able to show your clients how to do them confidently! Practice your go-to poses in front of a mirror,  or even with a fellow photographer. Sometimes it’s best to see the poses from a camera to really see how they are translating and what angle is best to shoot from! Don’t be afraid to ask for help, or even get your family involved! I know I have used my kids as guinea pigs a time or two over the years. Nailing down your own poses will make it easier for your clients to understand what you are looking for, and replicate for their own shots! 

Posing Tip #3: Start with Easy Poses

My third posing tip for you is to start out your sessions with easy poses! Getting your clients comfortable in front of the camera with easy, relaxed poses is the perfect way to start off your session. Often times we have clients who are a little camera shy, so we don’t want to throw any crazy poses at them first thing! As your clients start to get more and more comfortable, gradually start introducing more complex, or fun and creative poses! Always remember to gauge where your client is at as well, and notice their comfort level! You never want to push them too far where they start to look and feel uncomfortable. Trust your instincts, and follow the lead of your client! 

Expression Tip #1: Build Rapport

Now, let’s talk about expression tips. Capturing genuine emotions is key to creating memorable senior portraits. Building a strong rapport with your client is crucial to getting those genuine emotions! Make them feel comfortable, crack jokes, and engage in conversations with them. 

This will help them relax and show their true personalities. This is also another reason why pre-session consultations are so great! When you know who your client is and what their personality/interests are, it is so much easier for you to strike up a conversation during the shoot.

Expression Tip #2: Encourage Movement

Instead of static poses, encourage movement! This next tip is so important to capturing real expression in our clients. Have your senior clients walk, twirl, or interact with their surroundings. They might feel a little bit uncomfortable at the beginning, but after a few takes, they will start to find their rhythm, and you will start grabbing some natural shots! 

Movement is so powerful in photography. It allows us to capture genuine moments and reactions, whereas static poses can sometimes feel too…posed. The last thing we want is stiff photos! If you feel like your client needs some help relaxing and expressing themselves at their shoot, try incorporating some movement and see what happens.

Expression Tip #3: Capture Candid Moments

My last tip for you is this: capture the candid moments! Sometimes, the most authentic expressions come from the moments we least expect them to. Keep your camera ready at all times during your shoots to capture those spontaneous smiles, laughs, and interactions! 

Maybe it’s a family member or a friend jumping in, or a laugh from a joke you shared. Whatever it is, always be ready to snap a shot! 

Posing Prompts to Try at Your Next Session

Now here are a few pose prompts to help you get natural expressions from your seniors…

Pose Prompt #1: Say hey to your crush! Ask your senior to pretend their current crush is at the shoot (this can be a celebrity if they don’t have a current crush) and say hey to them out loud!  This will definitely get some possible weird looks but when they do it, you will get some giggles and a flirty look to capture!

Pose Prompt #2: Let’s Laugh Out Loud! Tell your clients to laugh out loud.  It will start off completely fake and end up being a real genuine laugh that you can capture! I usually fake laugh with them to get them started so they don’t have to do it alone! 

Pose Prompt #3: Walk away and call their name! Have your clients walk away from the camera and then call their name so they look back over their shoulder at you giving you a genuine expression to capture!  

If you need more pose prompts or a complete posing formula to follow so you get a ton of variety at every senior photoshoot including genuine expressions and can create amazing jaw-dropping images that your clients can’t wait to share with their family and friends and get you tons of referrals to book senior clients on repeat, The Senior Posing Academy is on sale now for just $97!!  This course includes everything you need to pose your senior clients in a way that produces natural photos and helps your seniors feel confident during their photoshoots!  Visit www.seniorologie.com/posingacademy for more info and to enroll today!

If you need more help with growing your senior photography business, making 4 -figures per senior session, and becoming the go-to senior photographer in your area, The Seniorologie Semester is for you! You can learn more about it by visiting www.seniorologie.com/semester.