Headshot Posing Tips for Everyone
The following are just some tips and tricks I’ve picked up along the way. They’re meant to just be guidelines, not every trick is meant for or will work with every person, but they’re all worth checking out.
And for everything…
PRACTICE IN THE MIRROR!!!
JAWLINE - “OUT AND DOWN”
Peter Hurley has some of the best advice on how to pose during a headshot. The basic notion here is that you want to push your forehead and jaw slightly towards the camera in order to create a strong jawline. People have an unconscious tendency to lean away from the camera, especially when they smile. This is meant to counteract that.
EYES - THE “SQUINCH”
Confidence comes from the eyes… and so does fear. Peter Hurley again, with advice on what to do with your eyes. NOT SQUINTING, instead just try to bring your lower eyelids up. Really, just pretend your looking at something in the distance, that makes your face looks like it’s engaged, and subconsciously the person looking at your photo will feel more like you’re looking at them.
MAKING YOUR ARMS LOOK SLIMMER -
“HOLDING THE SUB”
Self conscious about your arms? This one’s for you. It works mostly when we’re just shooting mid chest up, but it’s definitely worth a look.
BONUS TIP: MEWING
Mewing is a meant to be a long term solution for better face posture, but can be used in the short term as a quick way to make the jaw and throat look better in photos.
This guy demonstrates “mewing” which has to do with tongue posture specifically, pushing the tip of the tongue in to the area just below your bottom front teeth and the back of the tongue up to the roof of the mouth:
COMPLETE GUIDE on How to Mew (Perfect your Tongue Posture!)
Mewing mistakes:
This one is long, just more of interest for the real keeners out there: