All pictures in and text in this tutorial are copyrighted to Ben from SonShine Studio.

Common mistake in portrait pictures
I frequently see portrait images breaking the 1-2-3 rule regarding the body, head and eye placement.
In portraiture you can guarantee your subject a very boring and static image by having the body in the # 1 position, the face in the # 1 position and the eyes also in the # 1 position, that means all three pointing in the exact same direction.
Add a to this setup a straight up and down pose where the subject is seated squarely on his or her buns or standing with their weight equally distributed on both feet, add no leaning of the body and I can guarantee you, you will have a REAL BIG ho hum image.

Understanding the 1-2-3 positions

In this image, the young lady is seated with most of her weight on her right hip which leans her body away from the camera, and she is turned 45 degrees away from the camera also.
Her body in this image is in the #1 position. This will also tilt her shoulders so they are not straight across.
There is NO weight on her right arm/shoulder as this will cause the muscles in her upper arm to tense up and bulge out. Her head is turned to the #3 position (which is at about the same angle as her left leg is in) then her eyes are turned to the #2 position which is about 1/2 way between her body position and her head position. This will get the eyes off center a bit.
The shot was also taken from a slightly elevated position so her eyes are looking up. Short light it and make the capture.

In summary
So to start with seat the female at a 45 degree angle to the camera, have her place most of her weight on the rear hip, have her turn her head WAY back beyond straight on, to the camera, and then have her bring eyes back to you.
This WILL feel strange to her and it WILL FEEL UNNATURAL to her. She may even say it feels strange and unnatural and attempt to ¡®unpose¡¯ herself.
If she wins, you both lose. If you win you both win.
If you are shooting digital pose her as stated above then show her the resulting image on the back of the camera. This will immediately build her confidence in your skills at posing her and will prove to her that she doesn¡¯t look strange in your poses.

Here is another picture of the same model but standing up.

Note about couples and group photography
With couples or groups try to keep in mind that if the pose looks good on an individual picture, it will almost always also look good in a group. However you may need to fudge on the pose a little.

For couples the ideal is for the eyes of the shorter person (usually the female) to be at the same height as the mouth of the taller person. If you have to raise the shorter person up do it (use a taller posing stool, or have them stand on a small wooden riser if they are standing.)

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