Everything You Need to Know About Outdoor Portrait Poses

If you offer portrait photography as a service, you will most likely find yourself outside for a photoshoot. There are tons of pros to shooting outside such as natural light, interesting landscapes, and more! So, what are the best outdoor portrait poses? Here are a few of our favorites and what you should know for posing your models outdoors!

Editing your photos is incredibly important, and Perfectly Clear can do it quickly! After putting some of these outdoor portrait poses to use, our incredible batch processing will come in handy. Try it for free on Perfectly Clear Cloud, our online automatic editor.

5 Tips for Outdoor Portrait Poses

1. Begin with the Basics

Start with some foundation poses. Don’t worry about getting creative as soon as you start. Not only will you get a feel for the area, you can also get comfortable with your model. Modeling doesn’t come easy for some people, and this might be their first shoot! Have your client stand still, put their arms on their hips, etc. From there, you can see what looks good and start have them moving a little more.

2. Pay Attention to the Hands

Whether you are photographing inside or outside, a lot of clients don’t know what to do with their hands. As the photographer, it’s your job to pose them! Don’t let your client feel awkward about not knowing where to put their hands. Outside, you have access to tons of natural props and things to lean against. Try out some different poses and shoot away!

3. Get Moving 

Movement can add a lot to a photo, and it is important to take advantage of all that open space outside! Shots of your client doing things like walking, running, and spinning can get you the shot you need. Plus, it lets the client be comfortable and look natural. For example, a family walking the beach will be a great shot that looks completely un-staged.

4. Take Advantage of the Light

Yay, natural light! Getting the perfect lighting is a photographer’s dream. Be aware of what time you make your appointments due to the sun’s location in the sky. Shadows casted can even be a great addition to the photo if you plan it right. Consider a Gold Reflector to get perfect lighting every time!

5. Angles Are You Friend

Everyone has a good side and a bad side. Ask your client theirs before you start to shoot, then give little reminders to keep tilting that way when you pose them. A client facing square in the camera is not their best angle 99.9% of the time, and they most likely will not like the way their entire face fills the frame. Make sure to remind them to turn their head and tuck their chin for the most flattering shot.

Time to Edit!

After trying tons of outdoor portrait poses and having an incredibly successful shoot, it’s time to get to editing. We know that editing can get tedious; going through and touching up every single portrait can take hours. Perfectly Clear’s batch processing is here to help! Our automatic photo editing technology intelligently reads the contents of the image and applies corrections depending on what your image needs. Try it out with our web app, Perfectly Clear Cloud!