Dear APers,

I've recently done a shoot for my sister's roller derby team and it has highlighted that I know next to nothing about posing people (thankfully, there were props to play with and this allowed me to get some fun shots along with my typical natural style of photography). Upon seeing the photos, one of the ladies commented on how it made her "realise how fat she'd become". I want my photography to make people feel good about themselves and not to come away thinking they need to change the way they look. Now, I realise that there will always be people who will never be satisfied with how they appear and thusly, this desire for people to celebrate how they appear in their own skin will never be 100% fulfilled, BUT I'd like still give it the best try I can. I get the photography basics of exposure, depth of field, focussing, etc and my understanding of light conditions and composition is improving, but now I feel I need to better grasp the art of flattering posing. I feel if I can achieve a solid understanding of that, coupled with great lighting, I should be able to get people coming away feeling happy with their appearance.

Can anyone suggest and resources for this? Books? Web pages? YouTube clips? Threads in here? Anything that might help me understanding flattering posing?

Thanks in advance,

Erin.