Posing

November 3, 2025

How to Pose Naturally During Couple’s Portraits

One of the first things we hear from couples is:

“We’re awkward in photos.”

The truth is — almost everyone feels that way at first.

You do not need modeling experience to look incredible in your photos. Our job is to guide you in a way that feels natural, comfortable, and true to who you are together.

The best photos happen when you stop worrying about posing perfectly and start focusing on each other.

Here are a few things tips for our couples on how to approach posing.

Don’t Focus on the Camera the Entire Time

Some of the most beautiful photos happen when you are interacting naturally instead of looking directly at the lens.

Talk to each other. Laugh. Walk together. Hold hands. Pull each other close.

Our aim is to guide the session to feel more like spending time together than standing in a long photoshoot.

Movement Always Looks Better Than Standing Still

If you ever feel awkward, movement helps immediately.

Instead of standing frozen, we may ask you to:

Walk together
Sway slowly
Spin each other around
Pull each other in close
Whisper something funny
Lean into each other while walking

Movement creates natural expressions and helps you relax into the moment.

Small Touches Make a Huge Difference

A gentle hand on the face.
Holding onto a jacket.
Resting your head on each other.
Wrapping your arms together naturally.

These small interactions create intimacy and emotion in photographs without feeling overly posed.

Sometimes the simplest moments end up becoming the favorite images.

Trust the Process

We’re often working with the final image in mind and part of our process is to communicate that so you can understand what we are going for. We also like to show you the result in real time so we can make any adjustments, if needed. For example, if we are trying to incorporate the background with a wide shot, you’ll appear small in the frame so we won’t have to worry about minor gestures. At the same time, we will often go for tighter shots to focus on details, emotion, and you’re connection. In both situations, we want to educate you on the shot so you know what to focus on.

We also like to begin the session with simple, easy poses that you are already accustomed to so we can get the comfortable in front of the camera. After that, we will incorporate layers of direction to get a certain look and build from there. At the end of our sessions, a lot of our couples feel extremely comfortable in front of the camera and are often thinking of different poses themselves! This is the goal – to make you feel elegant and join the creative process.