Do you ever get stuck mid-shoot? You’re not alone and it’s more common than you’d think.
It’s completely natural to run out of posing ideas when the pressure’s on. The client is waiting, they’ve paid good money, and they expect results fast. A lot of photographers (myself included, earlier in my career) end up rushing through shoots because of it. But over the years, I’ve found a couple of simple strategies that get rid of that stuck, rushed feeling for good starting with one of my favourite posing tips for photographers: the 6-Box Trick.
The 6-Box Trick: A Simple Posing Guide You Can Sketch in Minutes
Early in my career, I shot a lot of family portraits as a side hustle. I used to overthink sessions for days beforehand trying to memorise poses, picture the location, and figure out how to use the environment to my advantage.
Instead of endlessly scrolling Pinterest boards, I found something much simpler worked better: grab a sheet of A4 paper, draw six boxes, and sketch out rough compositions for the shoot. Nothing fancy just a head and a triangle for a body, arranged differently in each box. A close-up here, a walking shot there, a hip-carry pose in another box.
Here’s the surprising part: the act of drawing these poses was often enough to lock them into memory. I’d tuck the sheet into my camera bag just in case, but most of the time I never needed to pull it out again. Once you’ve done this enough times, those go-to poses the horizontal close-up, the vertical “facing together,” the walking shot become second nature. That’s your trusted posing formula, built pose by pose.
If sketching isn’t your thing, even jotting down a single line “close-up, mum + baby, dad + baby” can be enough to jog your memory in the moment.
Slow Down by Communicating With Your Client
One of the biggest mistakes photographers make in their early years is feeling pressured to move fast and that pressure leads to mistakes. The fix isn’t complicated: communicate with your client.
If you need a second to check your notes, say so:
“Give me one moment, I just want to check something.”
If the lighting isn’t working, say it:
“The light’s not quite right here let’s move.”
If a group composition isn’t landing, don’t settle for “that’ll do” take a beat, adjust, and explain what you’re doing.
Clients don’t expect perfection on the first try. What they do respond to is confidence and clear communication. When you narrate your process even briefly you give yourself permission to slow down, and you position yourself as the one in control of the shoot, rather than being swept along by it.
Why Communication Is Your Most Valuable Skill as a Photographer
No matter how long you’ve been shooting, communication not just technical ability is what earns five-star reviews, repeat clients, and referrals. When clients don’t feel informed, they don’t feel safe, and they start to question whether they’re in good hands.
One of my own clients put it best in a recent Google review: she said that from the moment she reached out, she felt completely at ease and that feeling never wavered throughout the shoot, because she was never left wondering what was happening or why. That’s not a fluke. It’s what happens when a client feels informed instead of managed.
So next time you feel stuck or rushed on a shoot: sketch your six boxes beforehand, and don’t be afraid to slow down and talk your client through what you’re doing. It’s a small habit that makes a big difference.
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