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21 Sample Poses to Get You Started with Photographing Women – Part II

This article is a sequel to the previous article about posing women. If you haven’t read it, I would kindly recommend you to start with 21 Sample Poses for Photographing Women – Part I, as basic principles why and how to use these samples remains the same.

OK, let’s continue.

1. Good starting pose. And very nice way to make the model slimmer. The model should push her chin forward and tilt it slightly down while at the same time the shoulder up, but not too much! There should definitely be a little gap between chin and shoulder.

2. Most often the best poses are the simplest ones. For female models supporting body on just one leg and curving the body in an S shape is a simple starting rule.

3. Very beautiful way to utilize a wall or some object for a portrait pose. Model should gently touch a vertical surface with her hands.

4. If your model has long falling hair, try showing them in motion. Ask her to quickly spin her head to a desired position allowing the hair to continue the movement. You might want to experiment with different shutter speeds to either capture or avoid a motion blur. These are usually very positive and rewarding shots.

5. Suitable for sitting on a couch or in bed. In order to add some thematic depth, the model could hold a coffee cup in her hands, maybe implying that she is warming her fingers.

6. A nice and cozy pose, very suitable for indoors with the model sitting on a couch.

7. Another variation for a model sitting on a couch.

8. Very nice looking casual pose for a model sitting on the ground. Try different shooting angles, for example, move gradually around the model or change the shooting point’s height.

9. Sitting positions are not limited to casual shots. Don’t be afraid to try some sitting poses also for more formal shots.

10. According to some popular and commonly exploited body language rules, crossing arms and legs means putting up some barriers etc. Even if such beliefs are widespread, it doesn’t mean they are correct. In pictures crossed arms on the chest don’t send any subconscious signs or warnings at all! Crossing arms and legs in all different ways is absolutely fine for people photography.

11. Not always your model needs to “place” hands somewhere specifically. It is absolutely fine to leave them loosely by the sides. The same goes for legs, no exaggerations – one leg supports the weight, that’s the only rule you need.

12. Just another sample for a full height shot you can use as a starting point. Thumbs or hands partly in side pockets also work fine.

13. A very nice pose for summertime. Let her lose her shoes and ask her to walk slowly. Walk and take your shots slightly from behind.

14. Hands behind the back, unusual but very open gesture. She might as well stand and support herself against a wall.

15. Very easy and beautiful pose for a formal portrait. Model should turn a little bit sideways, head turned slightly down and towards the camera.

16. Placing both hands on the waist is also a very photogenic pose. Works well both for half and full height shots.

17. If available, some higher furniture or interior object might be helpful to place an arm on and slightly support the body. This will create a formal but at the same time an open and positive posture.

18. Partly sitting on some object is another very nice pose. Works well indoors as well outdoors in a city.

19. An example of a feminine and fashionable pose for a full height picture.

20. Demanding pose, because indicating model’s movement is not easy. However, if done right, very rewarding for trendy fashion or very elegant full height shots.

21. Lovely looking pose for the appropriate settings – the model is supporting herself against some fence or bridge railing or some similar object. Shooting from a side with a large aperture provides good opportunities for a shallow depth of field with a nicely blurred background.

Interesting Case Study.!!. Samosa Vendor-India!!

The Samosa Vendor
White Collar Vs. Blue Collar

A short, but, a real story!
Today in India its unbelievable .......
The numbers are a little difficult to
swallow, ......  But interesting nevertheless.
It was my regular train journey home from
work. I boarded the 18:50pm train at from Paranur. When the train was about
to leave Guduvanchery, a samosa vendor with an empty basket got on and
took the seat next to me. As the compartment was sparsely occupied and
my destination was still far away, I got into a conversation with him.
Me: "Seems like you've sold all your
samosas today."
Vendor (smiling): "Yes. By God's grace,
full sales today."
Me: "I really feel sorry for you people.
Don't you get tired doing this tiresome job the whole day?"
Vendor: "What to do, sir? Only by selling
samosas like this every day do we get a commission of 75 paise for each
samosa that we sell."
Me: "Oh, is that so ? How many samosas
do do sell on an average each day?"
Vendor: "On peak days, we sell 3,000
to 3,500 samosas per person. On dull days, we can't even move 1,000 samosas
a day. On an average, we sell about 2,000 samosas a day."
I was speechless.....for a few seconds.
The guy says he sells 2,000 samosas a day; at .75 paise each, he makes
about 1,500 rupees daily, or 45,000 rupees a month. That's Rs. 45,000 a
month. OMG. I intensified my questioning and this time it was not for time
pass.
Me: "Do you make the samosas yourself?"
Vendor: "No Sir. Our proprietor gets
the samosas through a samosa manufacturer and we just sell them. After
selling we give him the money and gives us 75 paise for each samosa that
we sell."
I was unable to speak a single word more
but the vendor continued...but one thing...most of our earnings are spent
on living expenses. Only with the remaining money are we able to take care
of other business.
Me: "Other business? What is that?"
Vendor: "It is a land business. In
2007 I bought 1.5 acres in Urupakkam for 3 lakh rupees and I sold it a
few months back for 15 lakhs. Now I have bought land in Uthiramerur for
5 lakh rupees."
Me: "What did you do with the remaining
amount?'
Vendor: "Of the remaining amount, I
have set aside 6 lakhs for my daughter's wedding. I have deposited the
other 4 lakhs in the bank."
Me: "How much schooling have you had?"
Vendor: "I studied up to third standard;
I stopped my studies when I was in the 4th standard. But I know how to
read and write. Sir, there are many people like yourself, who dress well,
wear a tie, wear shoes, speak English fluently and work in air-conditioned
rooms. But I don't think you guys earn as much as we do wearing dirty clothes
and selling samosas."
At this point, what could I reply. After
all, I was talking to a millionaire! The train chugged into Chromepet station
and the samosa vendor got up from his seat.
Vendor: "Sir, this is my station...have
a good day."
Me: "Take care."
What more is there to say...!

10 Things You Need To Know About Your Job Interviewer

Ever wonder what's going through the mind of the person sitting across from you at your job interview? Here are 10 things that you might not realize about your job interviewer.

1. We want to find the best person for the job. Because interviews are stressful, it's easy for a job candidate to start feeling like the interviewer is an adversary, but it's really the opposite—interviewers go into every interview hoping you'll be the right candidate. After all, we have a vacancy on our team, and we're highly motivated to find someone who's a great fit to fill it. We don't want to put you in a job you won't excel in.

2. We're busy. Interviewers don't always have time to respond to follow-up emails or calls to check the status of your application. Considerate interviewers will eventually get back to anyone who invested time in interviewing, but it might take longer than you'd like. And time constraints and higher priorities mean that your attempts to check in after your interview but before a decision has been made might go unanswered. You shouldn't take it personally. 

3. We might have our hands tied by human resources. If you've ever encountered an interviewer who doesn't deviate from a set list of questions, or who won't give you any feedback, or who refuses to commit to a timeline for next steps, the problem might be HR. In some companies, HR issues unreasonable rules that restrict how candid hiring managers can be. 

4. We're afraid of making the wrong hire. The costs of hiring the wrong person are high—work not being done properly, disruption to our team, potentially months of counseling and warnings, and the awfulness of having to fire someone. We're scrutinizing you to make sure that hiring you won't be a mistake.

5. We want to hire someone we get along with. Hiring isn't just about who has the best skills to do the job; it's also about who will fit in best with the workplace. Interviewers think about the fact that we're going to be around whoever we hire quite a bit, and no matter how skilled you are, we're not going to want to hire you if you're arrogant or whiny or otherwise unpleasant.

6. We're trying to figure out what you'll be like to manage. Smart hiring managers probe for insights into what you'll be like to manage: Will you require detailed reasoning for every little request or just get it done? Will you be a yes-man who never reveals what you really think, or a straight shooter we can count on for the truth? Will you require hand-holding, sulk when you get feedback, or complain about petty problems with your co-workers? We're on the lookout for signs of all of this.

7. We want you to help us figure out why we should hire you. Interviewing people is hard work. It's even harder if you have to drag answers and relevant information out of a candidate. You can help us see that you're right for the job by coming prepared with real-life examples of how you've excelled in the areas the job requires.

8. We won't always tell you what we really think. We might nod encouragingly while you badmouth your last boss, but we're really noting that you're willing to trash talk your employers. Or you might give an answer that's an instant deal-breaker, but you probably won't hear that on the spot—or even be able to tell. Part of interviewing is encouraging people to reveal themselves, which often means not showing any judgment during the meeting.

9. We're wondering what you're not telling us. We know candidates aren't always completely candid in interviews, and we're wondering what you are revealing. Is it something minor, like the fact that you really left your last job because your boss was a tyrant, or major, like the embezzling charge you narrowly avoided last year?

10. We hate rejecting people. In fact, some interviewers hate it so much that they don't do it, which is rude and unfair to candidates. But the rest of us do it, knowing all the while that you might have really wanted this job, even have been counting on it, and we hate it. We do know that our decisions have big impacts on other people's lives.

 

Taken from: US News & World Report.

What to do if you can’t stop preparing for job interviews….

Top job interview tips from around the globe

Two days ago I wrote a blog post about a dilemma I had with a client.  He was a highly intelligent job seeker who came to me for interview training – trouble was he’d done too much already, and was way too over prepared. The more I worked with him, the more I compounded the problem, as he seemed to want to memorise each tip I gave him. I thought I’d use social media to help me help him. I reached out to several people around the globe who write on careers and whose views I greatly respect.

Here’s a summary of the amazing interviewing advice they gave me about helping my client.

Melissa Cooley who blogs at The Job Quest wrote:

“Perhaps taking a notepad with him to the interview would help. If he writes down a few notes on what they are saying, it could slow his mind down just a bit and be easier to blend what he already knows into an answer that will be more what the interviewers would be looking for. Another thing is to remind him that pauses after a question aren’t necessarily bad. Though they may seem like an eternity from the candidate’s end, they convey to the interviewers an ability to be thoughtful and to weigh the choices, not just have a knee-jerk reaction.”

Jorgen Sundberg who set up The Undercover Recruiter said:

“If I were the interviewer in this situation I would want to find ‘human’ candidates. I would expect they get lots of clever clogs and professor types, which is great but they will want to pick someone that can work with a team and well with patients. Everyone that gets picked to the interview has the potential of doing this but it will come down to personal traits methinks. So my advice for him would be to do a check of how he likes to help people, what he is passionate about, what he does in his spare time, family stuff etc and then project that in the interview. If he still doesn’t get the gig, forgetta bout it as I wouldn’t want it in that case!”

Hannah Morgan aka  The Career Sherpa suggested:

“I’ve seen this happen before as well. I think there are several things you may want to suggest your client try. First, I agree with Jorgen’s point about focusing on the interpersonal skills and highlighting his passion. That’s hard to practice with someone you know. Perhaps having him practice the relationship building skills of asking questions about the interviewer would be a good tactic. Also, I am sure you’ve coached him to use STAR/PAR/accomplishment stories when he answers question. When he tells these stories, you should see his “eyes twinkle” and he should be smiling from pride or self-worth. If that’s not happening, could it be he doesn’t love what he does? Second, you want him to use spoken language, not resume-ese. Ask him to re-script his answers using the spoken language. And third, if he has over practiced, then changing up his scripting might make him sound less stale. You might ask him to tell totally different stories, use a different introduction, and have different answers to the typical questions.”

Steven Solodky a career coach in Melbourne and Founder of Career Muk said:

“He could be projecting what he thinks the interviewer wants to hear. I work on challenging this assumption by discussing what is actually assessed. I want to know what you really think and feel, not what you think I want to hear. It could also be a cover for nerves. I point out that nervousness is normal and that I become concerned if a candidate is not nervous, as it could point to a lack of self awareness or an underlying personality distortion such as inflated confidence, lack of empathy or aggression. I then would work on how to express nervousness in an interview and how this is very normal and nothing that requires a great deal of attention – who wouldn’t be nervous and it only shows how much you care about the role. Nerves pass in their own time and they arise as a normal human function when one is exposed to a new situation. I encourage the client to bring awareness to their thoughts and feelings. What are you thinking right now? What feelings are arising right now? I ask them to bring in a job they want to apply for and go through the same process – what do you think about this role? What do you feel about it? It’s subtle, but hopefully they start to relax by this point and can talk more openly by by-passing conceptual thought. I will also challenge if needed – you say this, but what do you really think? That’s funny, the last candidate told me that, give me something new? That’s nice, tell me something that I don’t know etc (supportive of course). Who is talking now, you or your mind again?”

This suggestion comes from Deborah Barit of Impressive Interviews:

“I would suggest your client takes a step back and considers the following: If he was on the interview panel what would he want the candidate to say for the panel to go YES and formulate the answers accordingly. This is not a competition.  He needs to focus on their qualifications, experience and personal attributes which makes him stand out in the crowd. The most important part of preparing is to focus only on what he has to offer. It is essential not to memorise answers but focus on the key points for each answer and prepare examples from experience to demonstrate the point.

Expect the unexpected and hence stop worrying about it.”

Mary Goldsmith, Founder of Career Sheila recommends:

“Is your candidate already using a formula such as CAR or STAR to present examples of his best achievements during the interview? Has he seen a recording of himself in action? If not, that may be a wake up call!”

Phyllis Mufson found at Phyllis Mufson wrote:

“Just jotting down a few notes of what has helped clients who don’t sound like themselves – they come across overscripted, or sounding like a role rather than a person, too authoritarian or conversely sounding like a scared rabbit, to name a few. The person is usually scared. So start out what they’re afraid of and address that. The goal here is to get them to the point where they are willing to be authentic even if nervous. Point out that the purpose of rehearsal is to make sure that if they are nervous at the interview they will still remember some of their points, and not to sound like a TV newscaster (unless that’s the job they are interviewing for. Focus prep on choosing their strongest points and illustrating their points with stories – more memorable than a string of facts. Record them answering questions and give feedback. They can hear the difference between an over-scripted (or whatever the initial problem was) manner and being genuine. They have much more impact when they are being themselves and telling compelling stories.

Give them the assignment that first priority in the interview is to connect with the interviewer.”

Tim Tyrell Smith from Tim’s Strategy suggested:

“In the end, I think it is about learning to relax and be yourself. I think if you can do those two things, the fit (or non-fit) will become obvious. It allows you as the candidate to be more conscious in the conversation. And you’ll get more of Hannah’s “eye-twinkling” (great phrase). As an interviewer, I always liked to watch someone think – to pause before an answer. Too quick and it feels rehearsed (like you mentioned). Too long and it seems selfish. My advice is to prepare as best you can then relax and let go. Give short/crisp answers and be ready with longer, more interesting ones as interest from the interviewer is apparent. Focus on a more conversational interview. An exchange of ideas . . .”

le moment volé

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