Learning to pose - really necessary?

If you ask me, the answer is yes.

Many cosplayers want their costumes to be photoshooted at some point. They don't only want to look like the character, they want to act and be like the character they're cosplaying.
At this point I'd like to say that this is just my opinion from the subjective point of view, not the absolute truth. I'm not a professional model either, just someone who has posed for the camera quite many times.

Believe me or not, at some point I hated to be photographed. When I saw a camera I practically ran away, I really didn't want to be photographed. Actually I was afraid of it on some level - probably because I thought that if I'm in the picture, it can't turn out to be good.
Basic teenage angst, I could say.
Then I got into cosplaying, saw others take cool pictures and was like "Hey, if they can do it, I can do it too, right? It can't be that hard!"

Boy, I was wrong.

Compare these two pictures.

2013

Pic © Gure.

This was basically my first cosplay photoshoot ever. That's my own character, Walter McRavenhill (version 1, I've cosplayed the improved version of him too). As you can see, back then I had no idea from which angles the photos would look good. I didn't want to show my face to the camera - back then I truly hated my face.
(And when I looked at the camera I had basically no idea what kind of facial expressions I should make.)
There's not much point in this pose. I'm not looking at the camera - I'm looking at the ground - yet mostly my body is turned towards the camera. I'm also kneeling on the ground but there's no reason why I'm actually doing so. There's nothing else in the ground, no reason to kneel down. Ainakaan se ei ole slaavikyykky.
This just doesn't work well in my opinion. It just looks like I have no idea what I'm doing.

2017

Pic © Shiro Samurai.

Yes, I still look a bit shy - this time it was intended though, Japan is a quiet and polite character who seems to be quite shy.

But can you see the difference?

This time I'm actually looking towards the camera/photographer. My facial expression is a lot more open, and my body isn't that stiff - really, in 2013 it looked like I had been made of stone! The angle is much better, it brings out "the good side" of my face.

When I learnt how to control my facial expressions, posing for the camera became a lot more easier. That doesn't mean that learning the controlling would've been an easy task to do. I don't have any big secrets behind the learning - just the basic " 'glue' your tongue to your palate to avoid the double chin" etc.
But boy, learning them was - for some reason - pretty difficult for me.

Let's take a look at my trademark cosplay - Ayame Sohma.

The first time I cosplayed him in 2013. Back then I had quite recently gotten into cosplaying and hadn't had many photoshoots - actually just two, one of them being more like "let's take proof pictures that I actually had a cosplay on", and viral contest pictures of my Sasuke Uchiha cosplay but at this point that doesn't count.
Anyway, the first picture is from 2013, the latter one is from 2016.

Picture © Asuka.

Picture © Shiro Samurai.

I'm smiling in both pictures but just compare them - the pictures are taken from different angles. In 2013 I didn't know about "the bad side" and "the good side" of my face, I just wanted to get pictures taken!
In 2016 I was, obviously, paying more attention to this.

In the upper picture I look... Pretty awkward, I have to say. I think that I was trying to cover my chin with my hand and didn't pay attention on my facial expression in general. My smile also looks a bit derp, in my opinion it's too wide. Back then I didn't even smile that often so I guess that I didn't even know how to smile... x__x

In the latter picture my facial expression is more controlled and my smile doesn't try to reach China - which means that it was easier to control my face. My eyes are also a bit more open so it looks like I actually have eyes, not just dots in where they're supposed to be.
I'm leaning on my hands and the branch, looking a lot more relaxed.

Do you see the difference? In my opinion it's quite noticeable - I grew over my fear for the camera and at some point actually begun to enjoy photoshoots!
I wouldn't have been able to learn as effectively as I did if my photographers didn't give me advice how to pose, where I should look (straight to the camera/to the sky/to the ground) etc. I owe them a big thank you. <3
I know that I still have a lot to learn - by far I've made quite controlled poses and not that much action poses. I think that it might be my next step to take.

So, my tips: practice in front of the mirror, ask for advice if you need some and listen to your photographer. The ones behind the camera see what you're actually doing and they can tell if it looks good or not.

A couple of full body pictures of my Itachi Uchiha cosplay (I'm still practicing his poses though). The upper one was taken in 2014, the latter one in 2015.

© Judzle.

© Shiro Samurai (yes, he's one of my trusted photographers, if you haven't noticed it by far :'D)

Just compare them. I won't write a comparison about these pictures - if you want to write a comment about what differences you see in these two pictures, feel free to do so!

So, yes - learning to pose is quite necessary, if you ask me.

Maybe this post explained, why that's my opinion.

Happy Easter everyone! ^__^

-Firith

(Oh, btw - I know that these pictures are also technically very different. I will write more about photographing etc. in a separate post in the future. Even though I'm not a professional photographer either, I know some little things too.)