more portrait poses for children

This article is about more portrait poses for children. When you have a cooperative child and he or she is old enough, you can give them directions on what to do and get great portraits.

Instruct your subject
to hold her fingertips together

This standing pose is a great way to show off this young girl's beautiful Christmas dress. You need a good background when your pose is this far distant and you're revealing a lot of space around your subject.

I had this young girl stand close to the tree, but not directly in front of it. We placed the poinsettias behind her on the left to create balance with the tree on the right. Many of the portrait photography tips involve carefully watching the background.

I instructed her to hold her fingertips together. That's much better than letting her arms just dangle at her sides. It's the little attention to details like this that will separate you from being a snapshot photographer and a skilled portrait photographer.

Posing your subject with his or her arms hanging straight down at their sides is not a great way to pose anyone. That's definitely a very common posing mistake.

Arms crossed
Held tilt down and over

This portrait pose on the right is actually one you can use more typically for an adult or a high school senior. Come in close, angle your subject, and have her gently cross her arms.

Her body is aimed to the camera's left, but her head is turned back to the camera's right. Shooting from an angle slightly above her makes her eyes appear big and beautiful.

This photo and the next one below were taken in the foyer of the home, with the front door behind me. The light coming through the glass storm door behind me was the only source of Photography Lighting.

Close-up Pose
Use foreground to frame in

I changed my camera setting to a very high ISO setting to get a good exposure without using a flash and taking advantage of the natural light that existed. I used a large f/stop to get a shallow depth of field so that the background would be intentionally out of focus.

I had my little female model stand on one of the steps leading to the upstairs in the foyer of the home. She was at just the right height to be framed in nicely by the diagonal of the garland traveling up the railing in front of her.

Two of the lights from the Christmas tree on the other side of the steps can be scene in the background. You might think this is a bit distracting. Because it's a holiday photo and her parents had decorated the steps with Christmas lights, I decided not to retouch the lights with software afterwards.

Another portrait photography tip I frequently give is to make sure YOU are having fun while taking your photos. Your subjects will sense your enjoyment and it will be contagious. This is especially true with children who will feed off your emotions, be more relaxed and give you better expressions.

traditional poses for boys and girls

Executive Pose
Fist under cheek

Sweetheart Pose
Hands together touching the ear

The Masculine Pose
Hands on raised knees

Here are a few more portrait poses for preschool aged children that work well for either boys or girls. These are from a preschool shoot, shot with a portable studio background, but the poses will work for you wherever you do your photography.

final comment on more portrait poses

The final tip on portrait poses for children is to be aware of the height of the camera. Lowering or raising the camera creates a completely different perspective of your subject.

In this pose, I lowered my tripod down to her eye level. I had her stand behind a lounge chair and lean onto the arm of the chair. I moved my camera to include a bit of the stocking on the left and the lights on the railing behind her to creative a festive feeling to the portrait.

Look for more articles on more portrait poses for individual adults and groups on the main portrait photography tips page. I usually shoot portrait poses using a wide aperture to intentionally blur the background. For more on blurring the background go to Blur the Background.

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Bruce is the publisher of this website. He is the author of the book "Improve Your Photography Instantly."  Read more on Bruce on his Bio Page. He's been known as The Traveling Photographer ever since 1994. Read more about this website.

View some of Bruce's photos on Instagram.   Visit the Facebook Page. Watch him on YouTube.  Bruce runs photo workshops for kids and adults, and provides one-on-one photography coaching.

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