Posing help

[Andrew]

The grand kids are in town for a couple of weeks and on one trip out and about I took them down to the beach where a tree root washed up on the shore a couple of years ago. I'd like some suggestions on posing them. They're here for another week so I can get them down and take some more photo's based on some input for more advanced posing. Thanks in advance.
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[Iguanasan]

I'm not the portrait photographer here, maybe others will have better suggestions but I'll through in what I think will help.

The images you have above are nice, however, they look posed and not as natural and comfortable as you would like.

1) Don't go out at 1:00pm. The harsh light and deep shadows around their eyes is rough. Take them out in the morning or early evening.

2) Don't be afraid to use fill flash. I know it's a bright sunny day but the flash will help hide some of those shadows.

3) Instead of trying to pose them ask them to play and then catch shots of them as they move about. One of my favourite images of my son (below) happened while we were apple picking. He as climbing the tree and I just called his name. He turned around and snap!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2565/3970464440_d980b8fec0_d.jpg

[Marko]

Iggy gives good tips here.
Advanced posing will only show itself off if the lighting (and other things) is good. I agree about getting them to engage in an activity...especially with boys.
In these shots the light is much too harsh, which is why they are squinting and why their eyes have heavy shadows. If the sun is not directly overhead, you can try placing the sun behind the people amd then use fill flash or reflector. If the sun is directly overhead, seek some shade. :twocents:

[Andrew]

Thanks gents,,,I'll head back out later in the day. I did get a few pictures of them playing however because of the shape of the root, nothing on the other side and pretty much verticle on the one you can see, all I got was shots of their backs. I'll try again and move off to a side to perhaps catch some faces. Thanks again.

[Andrew]

On the second trip I couldn't get away from a little posing because when climbing the root their backs are to me. I have a couple but they are just not that appealling. I also couldn't wait until too late in the day and the flash helped quite a bit getting rid the shadows on the eyes. I'll definitely be using it on the rare occassion I photograph people.