- [Instructor] In this movie, I want to show you some examples
of how shifting weight onto one leg can be really helpful.
And I also want to end with a very important reminder.
So wait for it, it's coming.
Alright, well, here are a couple examples.
Here's one standing.
You can see, with Beth on the left there,
she clearly has more weight in that back leg,
and the front leg is almost just sort of hanging there.
And it creates this feeling like, oh,
she's not rushing off to get anywhere.
In the image on the right with Johnny,
one foot is, boom, flat on the ground, right?
And then the other one's sort of tilted a little bit.
Again, he's like, yeah, I'm here.
Like, let's go. Like, let's happening?
Let's talk, let's do something.
So that slight weight on another leg,
what it does is it sort of creates this presence.
And as we know, the gift of our presence
is one of the greatest gifts that we can give other people.
Sometimes we can create portraits
where it looks like the person
just really wants to get out of there,
because often they do,
because it's hard to have your portrait made.
But if we can employ this where we say, like, yeah,
you know, like, let's be anchored,
lean on the skateboard, she's an artist,
she makes art out of old skateboards.
And then kick that leg over the other one.
Put your hand on the hip.
In this case, a little bit more fashion portrait over there.
You can see how she has more weight on the back leg,
a little bit less on the front,
and it just creates sort of a mood or a vibe.
Or maybe, in this case, same thing over there,
friend Ralph Clevenger, amazing photographer,
again, more weight on the back leg,
anchored on the wall,
one hand on the camera,
hands are really light and soft, not clenched.
And you're like, yeah, this guy's like here with me.
Like, we are connecting.
Or even Kelly there on the ladder,
more weight on one leg.
When you have equal amount of weight on your legs,
it creates some intensity, which can be amazing.
And that's what I do with the eye-to-eye.
But other times you're just like, hey,
let's take a little bit off the gas pedal here, right?
Like, let's slow it down a little bit.
Let's have some fun on the left.
Or create a mood or a vibe on the right.
Even with our surfer guy Jeff there,
more weight on one leg than the other.
With our poet, Young Pueblo, same thing.
Or maybe looping all the way back around
are one with a guy leaning against the car.
There's more weight on one leg than the other.
And sometimes this shows up
just sort of in really subtle ways.
And other times, like with the ballerina,
it's incredibly dramatic.
And I'm kind of including that one
just 'cause it's sort of fun.
But I wanted to illustrate
that there's a lot of variation
in how much weight is put on one leg.
Sometimes it's just like this little crossover,
kind of kickover.
And what it can do is, I don't know,
just create a vibe, a mood, a sense of presence.
So as we're looking at all of this stuff,
and at this stage in this course,
I want to provide the reminder now
that there is not such thing as like a good or a bad pose.
Rather, the pose depends upon the story you want to tell.
What is your intention?
How are you composing the frame?
Because some poses do not work with some composition.
Some poses don't work with certain locations
or certain kind of light.
And sometimes,
when it comes down to posing,
the best pose includes none of this (laughs).
Let me explain.
Here's a photograph of my family that a friend captured.
Now, we are not putting more weight on one leg than another.
We are not doing eye to eye.
We are not doing anything except just enjoying each other
on one of our all-time favorite beaches
with our wonderful family dog.
And I love this photograph.
So with all of the things that we're learning,
keep in mind that there are times with these principles
that you're going to abandon them,
and you are going to find another way to create an image.
So I like to think of these not like rules but like guides.
Guides that you can use in different moments
to help you create different kinds of portraits.