How to Pose Naturally During Your Cape Cod Engagement Session
Sometimes feeling comfortable in front of the camera takes a little bit of work and an engagement session can be a great way to break that ice.
The eternal question of getting your picture taken – just what do you do with your hands? The biggest myth about engagement sessions is that you must know how to pose. You don’t. A big part of why I set up Boston engagement sessions with my couples is to give you the tools that will take the pressure to perform off your wedding day (at least as much as we can).
A big part of your session is going to be a very quick modeling bootcamp where we’ll go through some of the basics of posing with purpose like what we’ll do on the wedding day. It’s a great time to build up that rapport and learn to understand each other a bit better. The most valuable lesson is probably that it’s okay to feel a little silly and cringe, we can always forget the photos that didn’t quite work out.
So how do you look great on camera a little more naturally? To get this less posed look during your engagement session, I typically go for two methods: prompts and activities.
Prompts: Prompts are quick little actions or questions that get you interacting with each other instead of focusing on the camera. They are meant to take your head out of “posing” and into “oh, this is my person” mode and that’s why they work well.
Some common prompts are about creating conversations or moments between the two of you. Sometimes I’ll have a couple walk together (toward and away from me) while they’re talking about a happy memory or planning their next date night. Another is to lean into one another and whisper a secret (or say something silly/absurd).
Prompts can start feeling a little forced, but they bring out authenticity because you’re no longer paying attention to performing and posing, you’re reacting. My hope is to capture the genuine moments that come out of that.
Activities: There are couples that feel instantly comfortable on camera and others who are low-key terrified (and those are my people). Centering the session around an activity, doing something, together can be a great way to create a context and tell a story.
This can be simple like browsing through a used bookstore or sharing pastry. Or they can be something that’s a little more unique to the two of you like playing a round of your favorite board game, interacting with your pets, or cooking something together.
An activity really helps you focus on the moment in a much broader and more natural way than prompts. The downside, as a photographer, is that there’s a little less control over what’s happening from moment to moment (and that some activities require a little more planning to photography well, apartment kitchens don’t always work well for cooking together for example).
At its core, posing naturally is just about helping you feel like yourselves. That’s why engagement sessions are so valuable: you get to practice, loosen up, get comfortable with me behind the camera, and discover the kinds of movement that feel most authentic for you. By the time your wedding day arrives, you’ll know exactly what to expect.
Planning your engagement session? Let’s build something that feels absolutely you.
Ryan Richardson is a wedding and engagement photographer serving Boston and beyond; including Cape Cod Weddings, New England Weddings, Massachusetts Weddings and Rhode Island Weddings
Summary:
Natural posing during your engagement session isn’t about memorizing stiff poses or acting like models. A Boston engagement photographer explains how prompts and simple activities help couples look relaxed, connected, and authentic on camera. Focusing on interactions will help your New England engagement session will become less like a photoshoot and more like a montage of moments and learning these before the wedding will build confidence for the big day.
Q&A:
Q. How do you pose naturally for Boston engagement photos?
A. The best way to be natural in front of the camera is to forget about posing and focus on your interactions. Your photographer can help you with some prompts to help get you out of your heads and into the moment, so you don’t feel so awkward about how you’re standing or silly about dancing in the middle of the street (well, maybe less silly).
Q. What are the best candid engagement photo ideas?
A. In my years as a photographer in New England, I’ve seen the best moments come from two people playing off each other, reacting to silliness or sentiment. One frame for getting good moments is prompting, where the photographer gives you an action or topic and lets the moment unfold.
Q. What do photographers tell couples to do during sessions?
A. Different Massachusetts engagement photographers have different styles of choreographing their couples, which is why setting up a session ahead of your wedding can be so helpful. I take a mixed approach, blending careful posing with different prompts to provoke something a little more spontaneous and authentic. So we might interrupt a sweet moment by having your future wife whisper a dirty joke in your ear, or have you thumb wrestle behind your backs.