How to pose a bride and groom dipping, what are your other go to favorite poses for bridal portraits

[fuccisphotos]

<p>So some of my favorite shots from my own personal wedding were of my husband dipping me. Yes it's a little cliche, but I love them. </p>

<p>When I have lots of time for bridal portraits, I don't have to do nearly as much posing with couples, but when time is short, having a few set poses in my back pocket has been helpful. </p>

<p>So in my own photography business I often suggest a similar dipping pose, but I've found many of my clients don't know how to get into a dip position without making the bride's back hurt. So I went to my dance instructor and found out the culprit. Most of the time, the bride is arching her back, backwards. That's not the way to go unless you want her to get hurt. Rather the groom should be doing a lunge and supporting her upper back, and her back should be nice and straight. Since this is something many of my clients want to be able to do correctly I video taped the session with my instructor and put it up on my blog. The link is on my photo.net profile if you want to watch it.</p>

<p>Other go tos I often use are the forehead to forehead, forehead kiss, laying head on his shoulder, etc. I'm always looking out for new ones though. What are your favorites? and how do you set them up? Where do you get your inspiration. I tend to comb through fashion mags lately to try to find some new innovative poses.</p>

[picturesque]

<p>Excellent video, Vail. I personally demonstrate to the groom with an 'air' bride, and most of them get it right away. The biggest thing is getting them to understand where to 'point' the bride's head. This is so that their bodies are in the right position relative to each other and to the desired background. Most of the time they point the bride behind them.</p>

<p>By the way, post the link to the video directly in this thread--I'll make an exception for you...</p>

[fuccisphotos]

<p>As per nadine's suggestion here's the link to the video directly on youtube:

[Dave Gardner]

<p>Way cool........thanks Vail.</p>

[fotografz]

<p>Excellent instructional!</p>

<p>I don't have the Groom dip the Bride very far for posed formals ... just a slight bend with one hand on the hip pulling her into him ... which is kinda sexy. Also try to use the venue location as much as possible since this shot often gets printed larger.</p><div></div>

[fotografz]

<p>As to new poses, I always try something different at every wedding ... I don't do a lot of posed shots, so I try to at least get a few that are less expected. This is one of my favorites from last year ...</p>

<p> </p><div></div>

[sravan]

<p>thanks.That was great.</p>

[fuccisphotos]

Marc, I used to have them do that slight bend with him pulling her into him, but that was sometimes resulting in sore

backs. I very much like the look of your shots though!

[wedding-photography-denver]

<p>Great video Vail. Mind if I link to it from my blog?</p>

<p>On the dip… I typically have to show the groom where to hold the bride as they do go for the waist area most times. Once that part is dealt with, the other thing they have to understand is the spread of their feet. For some reason us guys don't want to put our feet too far apart: ??</p>

<p>Thanks for the great instructions.</p>

[fuccisphotos]

<p>No problem David, or anyone else who would like to link to it as well.</p>

<p>Also on a totally unrelated note, it's funny what photo.net chooses at the bottom to randomly come up. From us it picked 3 naturally lit shots of little girls. How fun!</p>

<p><img src="http://www.Fuccisphotos.com/images/photonet/littlerandomgirls.png" alt="" /></p>

[wedding-photography-denver]

<p>Haha,<br>

and in a thread about wedding dancing… ??</p>

<p>Actually, mine is a "painting" of my daughter.</p>

[the_mongrel_cat]

<p>great post vail!</p>

<p>i hope this thread is still running when i get back to proper internet land, because it could become a valuable resource for everyone. </p>

<p>my new years resolution is to contribute to this thread :)</p>

<p>merry xmas</p>

<p>ps - i know this is a pointless post, but i just wanted to say it was a great thread!</p>

[fuccisphotos]

<p>Thanks Iorek!</p>

[sherijohnson]

<p>What an awesome video, I look forward to watching more of your videos, this is very helpful stuff.</p>

[david_rosenthal1]

<p>This and every other pose starts with proper feet position. Dipping needs to "look real" and so the bride isn't in pain. If she's in pain, she'll be a typical woman (can't help it) and remember the pain instead of enjoying the image for what it is! It's just human--they can't help it! And she won't order the image either! No matter how great it looks!</p>

<p>So unless the couple has had dance instruction, you need to show them what to do so they enjoy the experience without causing the bride back pain! Flow posing them looking at each other, kissing, and the groom kissing the bide's neck during the formals (and sometimes while being "dipped") always results in a fun experience that's easier to sell an entire series of images of, since FUN was had during the session. Keep it fun and make more money!</p>

[david_schilling___chicago_]

<p>The easiest way to mess up on a dip pose is to get a poor angle from the camera's point of view or to miss keeping a nice profile on the faces. The free leg of the bride may be lifted rather high or kept low. The bouquet may be held close to the body or may dangle. Key is to take your time and don't rush the shot. Trying to get a nice spontaneous dip shot at the end of their first dance can be tricky establishing an angle and whirling around the couple without being a major distraction to the moment.</p><div></div>

[krisheylen]

<p>Those are really nice videos, Vail! I hope you put up some more of this helpful stuff. Congratulations.</p>

[Uhooru]

<p>Thanks for the video and the nice examples with it. Really useful both aesthetically and I can see you could really hurt a back if it's not properly supported..Wow....thanks.</p>