Reddit reviews Picture Perfect Practice: A Self-Training Guide to Mastering the Challenges of Taking World-Class Photographs (Voices That Matter)

There are a ton of resources out there, but here are what I consider to be the most important things to remember:

1. Shift the weight to the back leg. This is probably the single most important thing to remember, and any picture of a woman should have this, even if the lower body is cropped out. This instantly makes an s-curve through the body for women, and for men makes them look more relaxed (although guys can sometimes break this rule if you want them to look confrontational).
   
2. Have women lean forward with their chest. This accentuates the bust, slims the waist, and generally stretches the neck which can help with a double chin (although sometimes you'll need other techniques to get rid of it completely).
   
3. Have guys hang the body forward. This makes the chest and shoulders look bigger while slimming the hips, and also makes the subjects look more engaged and adds a hint of motion (kind of like they are about to start walking).
   
4. If it bends, bend it. Once the first 3 are taken care of, the main reason poses can look stiff is that joints are too straight. Elbows, wrists, knees, neck, and everything else should all be at least somewhat bent.
   
5. Head Tilt. Tilting the head towards the higher shoulder looks feminine and tilting towards the lower shoulder looks masculine. Women should usually tilt towards the higher shoulder, but they can get away with the lower one to emphasize strength. Men should never tilt toward the high shoulder (unless you're trying to make them look girly).
   
   Although it takes longer to master, Sue Bryce has an amazing set of rules she uses for photographing women: Chin, Shoulder, Hands, Hourglass, Body Language, Asymmetry, Connection.
   
   Roberto Valenzuela's book (mostly Chapters 16-17) is the best resource I've found for breaking down elusive subtleties of posing down to the elements, especially for couples. He even breaks down things like posing eyes and using awkwardness as a fool-proof way of injecting expression into a photo. Once you know the basics, it's easy to come up with new poses on the fly that will look natural and flattering.
   
   I'm a wedding photographer, and years ago I absolutely hated posing people. I tried to memorize pose after pose, but rigidly trying to get people into a "pose" was a struggle and didn't do anything to bring out the personalities of my couples. But once I figured out how posing works, it became much easier to come up with different poses that looked natural, flattering, and that my couples felt natural doing.
   
   EDIT - sigint_bn makes a very important point, and that is usually the best way to start out a pose. I typically start by having couples just "come together" and then I make minor adjustments following the rules from there (e.g. shift your weight, bend your elbow, tilt your head).

If I were to give you an honest ranking I'd say you're "Below Average" quality.

My biggest critique for you is that all of your photos feel like snap shots. They're all taken from the same angle, they're all kind of flat lighting and editing wise, they're all posed or of nothing of any real importance. The compositions are also very weak - Specifically your backgrounds.

Almost all of the photos look like you just pointed a camera and said "Hell yea" and clicked the button. It doesn't appear like there's a whole lot of thought that went into any thing and the same thought process carried over into your post work.

Your photos are competent (In a technical manner) they just lack any real artistry or intention. One thing I would suggest you do is check out this book which is fucking rock solid for learning some compositional tricks and helping teach yourself to see them on the fly, and work on your post processing technique so that your images stand out a little more.

If you were to ask me what to charge for your wedding photos now, I would say if the middle ground of local photographers is charging ~$2k-2.5k you should be around $1250 for a full day. Maybe after you get a few under your belt around $1500. If you're asking what you should get as a second shooter that depends on who you work for, they usually have set rates for their seconds. I pay $200-300 depending on how much experience they have.

You might want to consider a warmer color treatment:

example

It's always a good idea to add warmth to subjects in the shade, especially if you're wanting to portray something positive.

Also you subjects should be facing the camera to the point where their noses don't protrude from their profile.

The leg should be closer to a 45 degree angle (high or low). This helps lead the eyes to your subject. Currently the leg does not direct your eyes anywhere useful and draws attention to the cross formed with the tree behind the knee.

Ultimately, don't get too discouraged though. There's a lot of complexity with posing subjects and it takes awhile to master. I'd recommend reading Picture Perfect Practice, as it has a lot of great tips on posing and composition.

All right, since you said you do photograph events and weddings:

The Luminous Portrait: Capture the Beauty of Natural Light for Glowing, Flattering Photographs
by Elizabeth Messina et al.
Link: http://amzn.com/0817400125

Picture Perfect Posing: Practicing the Art of Posing for Photographers and Models (Voices That Matter)
by Roberto Valenzuela
Link: http://amzn.com/0321966465

Picture Perfect Practice: A Self-Training Guide to Mastering the Challenges of Taking World-Class Photographs (Voices That Matter)
by Roberto Valenzuela
Link: http://amzn.com/0321803531

These three are from my wishlist. The Valenzuela one on posing comes highly recommended from some of my wedding photographer friends.

If Jose Villa is your thing, he also put out a book:

Fine Art Wedding Photography: How to Capture Images with Style for the Modern Bride
by Jose Villa et al.
Link: http://amzn.com/0817400028

If you might want to expand into boudoir:

The Art of Boudoir Photography: How to Create Stunning Photographs of Women
by Christa Meola
Link: http://amzn.com/0321862708

Portrait photography is about photographing people.

Ok. Let's start from here.

What is often overlook by all the gear heads on the internet is the people part. A great resource on this is Roberto Valenzuela's book Picture Perfect Practice. It's a long book but it provides simple rules of thumb in order to get better at directing people.

Now let's talk about light.

Here is a little secret. You don't need external light to make good portraits. Let me repeat, I'm making a point here. You. Don't. Need. EXTERNAL LIGHTS. To make. GOOD. Portraits.

What you need is a good eye for reading the light in given situations. I assume you are already good at nature photography. Normally you are looking at the same thing in portraits: great tonal range, even light, nice fall-off...
This is something you can achieve in basically any room with a big window on a cloudy day.

A great inspiration regarding that matter are paintings. At least to me. Delacroix, Gericault, Rembrandt... Look at the light. LOOK AT THE LIGHT. I strongly believe that contemporary portrait photography is very strongly influence by some of the painting Masters.

Finally, let's talk about external light. If you are able to make GOOD portraits in natural light. With a fair amount of practice you'll be able to take GREAT portraits using industrial light. But you need to have strong basics. Because a badly lit portraits suck badly while not-so-good portraits in natural light are just bad luck.

External lights helps having consistency and provides control that mother nature doesn't give.

Roberto's book, Picture Perfect Practice: A Self-Training Guide to Mastering the Challenges of Taking World-Class Photographs, really opened new horizons for me, totally recommend it!

A few that I would point out that I have read, loved, and learned a lot from:

• Picture Perfect Posing by Roberto Valenzuela
  
• Picture Perfect Practice by Roberto Valenzuela
  
• More Brides by Mark Condon
  
• The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris

Thank you. I am planning on picking up this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Picture-Perfect-Practice-Self-Training-World-Class/dp/0321803531/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

I'm hoping it will help me learn more.