Masculine Poses for Inquiring Trans Guys
Having spent my whole life posing to be “pretty” (from family portraits to Porn shoots), I found myself wanting to look more masculine in my personal photos. But how? I looked through Tumblr and all I really found were a bunch of man-butts – which wasn’t terrible, but also wasn’t what I was looking for. So I did my own research and made this post for anyone else who was wondering!
Just an important note: this is not meant in any way to uphold gender roles. I just want to help people out who want to express themselves more masculinely in visual media or who are self-conscious of photos because they don’t want to look like a girl (i.e. me, and probably most pre T boys). Regardless of your sex, gender, race, orientation, origin, or class, you should be allowed to be yourself! I just wanted to point out some rules of conventional photography and posing that allow a person to present in a more “masculine” way :)
So, some things to remember when taking photos that will accentuate your masculinity:
Your eyes should follow the line of your nose.
A lot of photography has men squinting. Not sure why, but maybe they’re on to something?
Closed hands (a.k.a. fists or loose fists) are considered more masculine than open hands in photography. If your hands are open, keep your palms pointed down and try to shoot the tops of your hands. The sides of the hands are considered dainty and womanly.
When posing, try not to raise the shoulder you have pointed at the camera or tilt your head toward a raised shoulder. If you do a head tilt, tilt your shoulders in the same direction as your head. It sounds complicated, but there’s a picture of it below!
IT IS OKAY TO SMILE! If you feel like smiling makes you look too feminine or makes you look silly, try a smirk or a lustful look. Or just look serious I guess. IDK, I’m new to this too so :P In porn there’s this look they have us do called “fashion face.” You literally make no expression, you just stare at the camera like you have resting bitch face. If you’re not one for smiles, try it, you might like it! (I personally make an effort not to look angry or depressed in my photos, and I have always sucked at faces so that’s why I rambled here. Don’t hate me lol).
Try to accentuate your jawline – find a facial pose that makes the jawline look strong and present. Always keep your chin tilted up and toward the camera!
Here are some photos of different poses considered masculine in conventional art and photography (there is one that has more anime-style poses for those of you who like to cosplay or just like to be really cool!):
In the end, it’s important to remember that it will take time to grow into your body, and it will take time to learn how to command it, too. If you’re like me and have to wait a few more years before you can start T, but you still want the world to see you as you are, I’m sure this will help. I’ll be trying out some of these poses and uploading them here, and I’d love to see yours. I know my blog is small, and I’m no expert, but I really hope this reaches anyone who needs it.
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