Learn how to pose for photos: if you’ve ever wanted to get more photographs of yourself traveling, but struggled with feeling awkward or uncomfortable, then these expert pose tips and easy pose ideas are for you!

Learning how to pose for travel photos was an absolute game changer for me; I went from only ever taking travel landscapes and never photographing myself, to now posing and taking self-portraits in pretty much 90% of my travel photos! And trust me, I started out sooo awkward and uncomfortable too; but I firmly believe that being photogenic is a SKILL just like any other, and you can PRACTICE and IMPROVE your poses!

Having photographs of yourself on your travels is one amazing way to keep your travel memories alive. But taking travel self-portraits that you LOVE is even more incredible, and I want to help YOU learn how to pose with confidence. In this guide, I’ll share my best pose tips alongside some easy travel pose ideas so that you can take stunning travel photos!

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In the first section of this guide, I’m sharing my expert pose tips as a travel photographer who takes self-portraits DAILY! Remember: practice and being kind to yourself is KEY! These tips work for both a photographer / friend / partner taking photos of you, but also work for travel self-portraits. If you’d like to learn how to take photos of yourself, by yourself, I’ve got another helpful photography guide linked below!

Before you head out on a trip, start your posing practice at home. Use a mirror or your phone to take photos and just ease into trying new poses. Put on something you feel COMFORTABLE and CONFIDENT in. Whether that’s a cozy sweater, your favorite makeup, a cute hairdo, or something else!⁠ You can even make a “baddie” playlist and listen to it to get pumped up as you pose!

Head over to Instagram, Pinterest, or Tiktok, and start saving poses that you’d like to try. Put them in a folder or screenshot them – somewhere you can easily find it again! Use these poses to get started, and save extra poses for when you feel stuck and need ideas. Follow creators that make you feel INSPIRED, and save their pose tips and pose ideas.

When you are ready to try out your poses, make sure you start in uncrowded places FIRST. Head out to a location at sunrise, pick a hidden travel gem, or simply walk away from people to try out your poses. Everyone feels awkward at first, so it feels better to try out posing with no one watching. Once you feel more confident, ease into places with more and more people. It might be hard, but try not to care what others think – you’re the one walking away with epic photos!

When you start to pose more and more, you’ll realize you naturally have a few poses you always gravitate towards. Try to nail down 3-5 of these go-to poses that you ALWAYS feel confident doing. When I was learning how to pose, I cycled through 3 favorite poses (I’ll share them in the pose ideas below!) and honestly with different backdrops and outfits, no one could ever tell it was always the same!

If you can, try taking photos with friends – it’s more fun! Plus your friends can help you with pose ideas or just give you helpful encouragement. If you’re both learning how to pose, help each other out, come up with new things to try out, and work on posing together.

One of my top pose tips is to use MOTION in your images! Memorizing your 3-5 go-to poses is great BUT sometimes you’ll catch yourself just standing stiffly and that’s no good! When you feel awkward, use MOTION instead of a saved pose idea to loosen up and come up with more dynamic pose ideas. Try walking, twirling, or even just doing “micro movements” (like turning your head to the side or moving one hand slightly) and adjust one piece of your pose at a time – small changes can make a huge difference!

If you want to improve your poses, analysis and repetition are key. Take a round of photos, and then go back and look through each pose. Could you try it again, but slightly different to improve it? Was your pose ALMOST great but you could stand to try it again? Try repeating the same pose, using micro movements to change it up. Repeat until you get it right – this is the EXACT format I do to take epic travel self-portraits! If you’re taking photos of yourself, you can also use a live view camera app so you can see your poses in real time.

Posing, like photography, is all about continued learning, growing, and improving. CHALLENGE yourself to try out new poses and make yourself UNCOMFORTABLE – this is where the growth happens! You might not love your first shoot and that’s okay. Keep trying, keep experimenting, keep PLAYING until you find your groove!

Posing and getting amazing images of yourself should be enjoyable at the end of the day. Don’t take yourself too seriously – have fun with it and laugh off any “bad” shots! BE KIND TO YOURSELF. You are your own worst critic! Think about how you’d hype your bestie up and bring that energy when it’s time to look at your images. YOU ARE FLAWLESS and beautiful as you are, right now! And try not to compare yourself to anyone else; remember – people only post their HIGHLIGHT reels (guilty! I only save, edit, & post around ONE out of 10+ images)!

In this next section, I’m sharing some easy pose ideas – for travel or just day-to-day photos! I’m sharing three categories of pose ideas to help you break down poses more easily; standing poses, sitting poses, and poses with motion. These are just a few out of many ideas, but remember from my earlier pose tips to save pose ideas to try out – especially for when you feel like you’ve run out of ideas or feel uninspired.

This pose is as easy as can be – just take a step! This is perfect for travel photos literally EVERYWHERE! Variations: take a step towards vs away from the camera, or take a step sideways. Other variations: try one hand in your pocket, or one hand touching your hair/hat/face.

I shared pose tips with my friends and I joked that once they’ve seen this go-to pose of mine they’ll recognize it in SO many of my images! A bonus tip on how to pose: make triangles! This is why this pose of just reaching up to touch your hair or hat works so well – the triangle shape!

For the shy girlies (or boys/enby babies!), you can just face away from the camera and have your hands out – it helps give a sense of wonder or excitement about what you’re looking at – perfect for travel photos.

I learned this pose from a fellow travel photographer & content creator and now it’s my go-to seated pose. Just cross your legs, and put your hands between your legs – done! This is perfect for if you don’t know what to do with your arms – just rest them on your legs! Variations: play with your arm placement, which takes us to the next pose …

With your legs crossed or out in front of you, sit with one arm up – it’s another great pose conveying joy and excitement about your travels. Variation: put both arms up, or touch your hair/hat similar to the standing pose I shared earlier in this guide!

I love a good dress toss – it makes a travel photo SO epic! Plus the motion is so fun and you never quite get the same photo twice! Don’t have a dress or skirt? Toss your hair, play with your outfit – anything to add a bit more motion!

Running is such a JOYFUL and adventurous pose – and it’s so easy! Variations: walking, running toward vs. away from the camera, arm (one or both) up instead of down … play with it! Just make sure you don’t run into anything or trip – check where you’re going first!

There are soo many more easy pose ideas – too many to fit in one blog post! Once you incorporate motion and start to play around, there are truly endless possibilities!

But if you want even more help; I created a FREE 15-page ebook full of even more pose ideas and pose tips, including how EXACTLY to take travel self-portraits. Just drop your name and email below or on this page and I’ll send the guide right to your inbox!

How To Take Self-Portraits for Solo Travel, Couples Photographs, & More!

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