Exercise 8: limbs

The chair's a little high for the Christiner Keeler pose.  The model's fairly relaxed.  The dark trousers vanish against the background, but I rather like the disembodied feet - need to black out the horizontal strut of the chair.  It's an effect I'd like to return to, but not appropriate for most portraits.

Relaxed, chin on wrist.  A useful pose with an older model who may not want her neck exposed.

The chair back's too high for this, forciong the model to tilt back her head.  The hands obscure the face. I think there's scope for making small adjustments to this pose, gradually getting it right.

Better.  The elbow is forward, supported by the upper arm, allowing the head to straighten.  Yet the forearm is closer to the camera and over prominent.  A lower chair back, or a table, would fix this.

Oh, all right.

Seated pose; what do you do with the hands?

Here, they're defensive and seem to be pushing down. It's fairly comfortable for the model, but emphasises their weight.

Her right hand's okay, but the dangling arm looks odd.  It was even worse when she tucked it behind her back.  Limbs have purpose; they do things; they don't just flop.  In the photograph they have much to contribute; they shouldn't be a problem.  Do something positive with them.

Better.  The model looks relaxed and comfortable.  The hands aren't doing much, but their position close the the centre of the body is comforting.

The knee's too high, the left arm looks uncomfortable.  This is not a pose the model would hold for very long; her left elbow isn't supported.

More comfortable.  The arms are forward, which rounds the shoulders, but she's confident, in control, but within herself.  I'm liking the lost edges, the missing legs and trousers, though they're not suitable for this exercise.  Clone out the chair and it's a very odd position!

The hands are prominent here, as is the foot - long lens required, to push them back.  The shoulders are better.   I keep using the word relaxed,but this position is just that - except for that disembodied foot pointing at the camera

A balanced pose and I like it very much as a composition.  There's a diamond shape made by shoulder, arms and shin, and a broad triangle from head to toe to the corner of her jacket.  She looks engaged, yet introspective.

I don't like this final pose so much as a composition, though there's something good going on with the way the viewer's eye flickers between the feet.  I intend to revisit these two in my final shoot for this assignment, tonight.