Once you’ve got the basics of posing and prompting under your belt, it’s time to up your game and take more professional photos. Fine-tune your photos by paying attention to the details during a photoshoot. There are lot of little things you can look for and adjust before it’s too late, to save yourself time in Photoshop afterwards.

Of course, it’s not always possible to run in and adjust someone’s hair or tweak a tie back into place. And we wouldn’t always want to, especially when candid and real emotion is the goal. However, it’s also not ideal to leave everything to chance, when you do have the opportunity to adjust small details and take a more professional photo.

Take more professional photos by checking the details in every photo

This is a fundamental skill that you’ll develop over time. It’s most useful when you are working on the posed side of the continuum. Posed to documentary photography is a spectrum, and sometimes we are more on one side than the other (see more about that here).

These tips are perfect for taking more formal portraits: think the family photos phase of the wedding day, graduation family portraits, and so on. Anytime you’re capturing a bunch of people together, paying attention to the details goes a long way to ensuring a clean and beautiful photo that will be treasured for generations.

This prompt works great with the rest of the fundamentals in Individuals and Couples Essentials, especially Sit Stylish and Posing Individuals.

How to use this photo pose prompt

Train yourself to pay attention to the little details in a photo until it comes to be second nature. You’ll be able to take more professional photos when you can integrate these quick checks into your routine. Get people ready, double check, then click away.

Idea 1: Check the people details

• Check hair: watch out for frizz or fly-aways on top of head, fringes and side curls separating from styled hair, wind blowing things the wrong way. Ask before diving in to grab someone’s hair! Help to pin it back (have a comb and bobby pins on hand in your kit; a small can of hairspray is useful for weddings) or guide them to do it themselves.
• Check for cut off limbs: hands don’t go fully into pockets – either thumbs in only, or fingers in only. It can look like hands are amputated at the wrist if fully in pockets. Arms around each other’s back hugging can also make it look like the person has no arms.
• Check hand positioning: fingers and hands lead the eye, so where are they leading the eye to? Make sure it’s what you want! For more on hands, read the prompt Use Hands.
• Check glasses: sunglasses removed entirely, and placed out of shot (not on the top of the head or in pockets where they’ll cause bumps and lumps). Corrective glasses that people don’t want to remove: check reflections and if you are getting bounced light off the glasses, have the person angle the glasses downwards by sliding the earpieces higher on the head, instead of resting on top of ears. This will cut out any flash bouncing on the glass.
• Check for dirty faces or food on faces: have a pack of wipes on hand to help. This isn’t just for kids… wedding guests eating those hors d’oeuvres, we’re looking at you.
• Check for hats: consider having clients remove hats, especially caps, during the photoshoot. Hats cast shadows that make it difficult to get even lighting on faces, especially in harsh light like direct afternoon sun.
• Think school photos when posing large group (e.g. family formal photos at a wedding). Have everyone stand in a line. Now have everyone turn on the spot slightly, so they’re angled in towards the middle. Standing at an angle to the camera is much more flattering than front-on, and you’ll fit everyone in closer together. Finally, have everyone tuck their back shoulder behind the front shoulder of the person next to them: layer in like sardines.
• If you have control over this (e.g. in planning a family photoshoot with a client), suggest that they avoid clothes with iconography and text. These date quickly and don’t lend themselves to timeless, generational photos.

Idea 2: Check the setting details

• Check what’s behind heads: are there trees, branches, lampposts or buildings growing out of people’s heads? Change your angle if so.
• Check what’s around the people: are you accidentally right next to a rubbish bin? Is there a half-naked sunbather back over there in the not-so-distant-distance? Is there a dog relieving itself off to the side? Train yourself to check for things like this and avoid epic photo fails.
• Check your angle: have you chosen the best position for the setting behind the people? Can you frame them better by moving left or right? Do they stand out from the background or blend in?
• Check your horizon: horizons that aren’t horizontal drive me nuts! (Just me??!) Try to get it as close to horizontal as you can in camera. (And please, please correct it in post if you don’t, for my sake.)

Take more professional photos ideas: Creative extension

• For wedding clients, remind them of the BLOW ME acronym to check the details for their wedding day photos. This acronym stands for the following.

B: Bouquet. Take the bouquet out of water an hour before the ceremony. Let it dry so it doesn’t leave wet marks on the dress.

L: Low. Hold the bouquet lady garden low (it’s instinctive to hold it higher, but this looks awkward in photos).

O: One hour. Be ready at least one hour before the ceremony, to make sure you get all the portrait photos done and to allow for any last minute contingencies.

W: Wrists and ankles. Check for hair ties, scrunchies, watches, anklets, etc: anything that shouldn’t be there. Good one to remind groomsmen and bridesmaids about too.

M: Move. Move your engagement ring to the other hand before the ceremony. This is so the wedding band goes on, then you move the engagement ring back on top of it.

E: Energy. Make it the job of your bridesmaids and groomsmen to set the energy for the day! Bring the good vibes and help everyone relax and have a great time.

Check out this article I wrote for ShootProof on more tips for preparing for the wedding day.