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> The next time you pose for a photo, keep in mind that we pose for photos because the speed of an exposure used to be so long that if you didn’t pose, the phot

> The next time you pose for a photo, keep in mind that we pose for photos because the speed of an exposure used to be so long that if you didn’t pose, the photo was blurred. We changed the tech, but baked in the cultural expectation. Interresting insight

tedunangst 4y ago
Maybe people just prefer faces to backs of heads.
cratermoon 4y ago
Interesting but not true. We pose because we want to look a certain way - a harmless vanity of smiling, presenting what we think is our best put-together appearance. Portrait and fashion photographers choreograph the poses of their subjects as well, as part of the process of creating an image that meets the expectations and needs of the audience. There's also the need to light the subject according to aesthetics, and because the lights don't move with the subject, we hold the subject still in relationship to the light. Another aesthetic choice relates to depth-of-field and the in-focus/out-of-focus planes, and again that's something that's easier done with the subject is still. One could argue that certain static portrait poses are distantly derived from the look of portraits produced in the early days of photography, and that look is a cultural expectation. There's plenty of portrait photography that does not replicate 19th century stylistic elements.
- majormajor 4y ago
  There's also portrait painting which predates any kind of photography by a LONG time and didn't have the necessary technological limitations to be frozen beyond "just let me look at you from a consistent angle again" periodically, yet still has "poses" for the sake of style/messaging/whatever.
  - cratermoon 4y ago
    That's a good point. Early photography absolutely copied the aesthetics of painting, to the point where painters like Édouard Manet decided maybe realism wasn't all that.
- qup 4y ago
  As a photo viewer, I for sure want the people posed for most group photos. I want to see their full faces. That doesn't happen for candid group shots.
jabroni_salad 4y ago
If the flash isn't on you can't really tell when the photographer actually takes a photo. I kinda miss that little light point & shoots would have.
lsy 4y ago
It's not really a cultural expectation, it takes some time for the photographer to actually hit the shutter so people who know they are about to be photographed freeze themselves to allow the photographer to get a "good" shot. It's not like if photographs were always instantaneous, there would only be candid shots of people not posing…

tedunangst 4y ago

Maybe people just prefer faces to backs of heads.

cratermoon 4y ago

Interesting but not true. We pose because we want to look a certain way - a harmless vanity of smiling, presenting what we think is our best put-together appearance. Portrait and fashion photographers choreograph the poses of their subjects as well, as part of the process of creating an image that meets the expectations and needs of the audience. There's also the need to light the subject according to aesthetics, and because the lights don't move with the subject, we hold the subject still in relationship to the light. Another aesthetic choice relates to depth-of-field and the in-focus/out-of-focus planes, and again that's something that's easier done with the subject is still. One could argue that certain static portrait poses are distantly derived from the look of portraits produced in the early days of photography, and that look is a cultural expectation. There's plenty of portrait photography that does not replicate 19th century stylistic elements.

majormajor 4y ago
There's also portrait painting which predates any kind of photography by a LONG time and didn't have the necessary technological limitations to be frozen beyond "just let me look at you from a consistent angle again" periodically, yet still has "poses" for the sake of style/messaging/whatever.
- cratermoon 4y ago
  That's a good point. Early photography absolutely copied the aesthetics of painting, to the point where painters like Édouard Manet decided maybe realism wasn't all that.
qup 4y ago
As a photo viewer, I for sure want the people posed for most group photos. I want to see their full faces. That doesn't happen for candid group shots.

jabroni_salad 4y ago

If the flash isn't on you can't really tell when the photographer actually takes a photo. I kinda miss that little light point & shoots would have.

lsy 4y ago

It's not really a cultural expectation, it takes some time for the photographer to actually hit the shutter so people who know they are about to be photographed freeze themselves to allow the photographer to get a "good" shot. It's not like if photographs were always instantaneous, there would only be candid shots of people not posing…