Posing

Posing is a library of ideas for relaxed, natural photos: poses to set up, and prompts, which are things to say that get people moving and laughing. It also keeps shot lists for your shoots, shares a mood board with your client, and tells you when the light is good.

Posing has its own place in the menu, with four pages: Library, Saved shoots, Sun times and Camera. The same four are tabs along the top of each Posing page.

Posing is part of the Studio plan. On the free plan, Posing is in the menu but opens a page saying what it does, with See the plans. On the Sites plan it is not available. See plans.

Finding ideas

The Library starts with over 1,000 poses and prompts we wrote, and grows as other photographers share theirs.

• Everything, Poses or Prompts shows one kind or both.
• All sessions, or one type of session: Weddings, Couples, Families, Maternity, Newborn, Kids, Portraits, Groups, Pets or Branding.
• Type a word in the search box (for example "walking", "laugh" or "veil") and press Search. It looks in the name and the note.
• Yours shows only what you have added or shared.

Each card shows the pose's name, or the prompt in quote marks, a short note on how to direct it, and the sessions it suits. Most of our poses and prompts have a photograph from Pexels, a free photo library; the rest show a simple card (a prompt's line on a dark card) until we add one. On a prompt's card, the line to say sits over the photograph. Each photograph is credited with the photographer's name, linked to more of their work. The same credit shows on the mood board, and every photographer is listed on the Photo credits page of the Meridian site. A pose shared by another studio says Shared by and their studio name, or **Shared by a fellow photographer** if they asked not to be named.

The library shows 24 at a time. Press More at the bottom for the next page.

Favourites

Press the heart on any card to keep it. Press Favourites at the top to see only the ones you have hearted. Press the heart again to take one out.

Your favourites are yours alone. Somebody else on your team has their own.

Adding your own

Press Add your own next to the search box.

1. Choose Pose or Prompt (something to say).
2. Type the Name, or the line to say.
3. Add How to direct it if you like.
4. Tick at least one session under Good for.
5. For a pose, add a Photo if you like: a JPEG, PNG or WebP, up to 15 MB.
6. To offer it to every studio, tick Share with every studio (see below).
7. Press Save.

Without the share tick it goes into your library straight away, marked Private, and you see Saved to your library. Only your studio can see it. Find it under Yours, and press Edit to change it or Delete it.

About photos:

• We keep a resized copy, and the location and camera details are removed, so a photo taken at somebody's house does not carry its address.
• Your private pose photos count towards your studio's storage, like any other photograph.

Sharing it with every studio

You can offer one of your own to be featured in every studio's library, when you add it or later with Edit. Only an owner or manager sees this choice.

1. Tick Share with every studio.
2. Tick **I took any photo here, and the people in it are happy for it to be

shared publicly.** You cannot send it without this tick.

1. Tick Don't show my studio's name with it if you would rather not be

credited.

1. Press Save. You see Saved and sent for approval.

It now says Waiting for approval. We look at every one before it goes in the shared library, and we may tidy the words or the session types first. Until it is approved, nobody else can see it, and it cannot be changed.

We tell you what happened in your bell, under news:

• Your pose is featured. It is in every studio's library, credited **Shared by** your studio name, or to "a fellow photographer" if you asked not to be named. Your studio sees it as Shared by you.
• Not featured this time, with our reason. It stays in your own library as Private, and the reason shows on its card. You can change it and send it again.

Once featured, the photo is kept by us and no longer counts towards your storage.

Sharing is only for studios hosted with us. Other studios see **Sharing with every studio needs a Meridian-hosted studio.** instead of the tick. You can send up to 20 a day; if you go over, your item is still saved, privately, and the message starts Saved, but not sent.

Taking it back

• While it is Waiting for approval, press Take back on its card.
• Once it is featured, press Stop sharing on its card and confirm. It is taken out of every studio's library straight away.

Either way you keep your own private copy. A featured one cannot be edited or deleted until you stop sharing it.

If your studio ever closes, poses you shared stay in the library, because they were given for everyone to use, but your name is no longer shown with them. They show as Shared by a fellow photographer.

Saved shoots and printing

A saved shoot is a shot list of ideas for one shoot.

1. Open Saved shoots.
2. Under Start a shoot, give it a Name. Pick a Booking or a

Client if you like (picking a booking fills in its client).

1. Press Save shoot.

Now go back to the Library. Each card has a list of your shoots and an Add button. Choose the shoot and press Add.

On the shoot itself:

• Use the up and down arrows to change the order, and Remove to take one off.
• Under Details, change the name, booking or client, and add **Notes for the day**.
• Press Print shot list for a clean page to take with you: your studio name at the top, then each idea with a box to tick, and no photos or buttons.
• Delete shoot removes it, and its mood board link stops working.

A shoot keeps its own copy of the words, so a shot list reads the same on the day even if a shared pose is changed or taken out of the library. If that happens, the photo is no longer shown.

Sharing a mood board with your client

1. On the shoot, under Mood board, press Make a mood board link.
2. Copy the Link to send and send it to your client.

Your client opens it without signing in. They see:

• the shoot's name (so choose one you are happy for them to read)
• each pose with its photo, name and note, and each prompt as "a moment"
• a Love this button on each one
• Add a note on each one, for a short note up to 300 characters

They do not see your Notes for the day, your other shoots, or anything else in your studio.

What they love and write shows on the shoot, against each idea: **Your client loves this, and their note. The Saved shoots** list counts how many ideas they have reacted to. You also get a note in your bell, at most once a day for each mood board.

Anyone with the link can see the mood board. To stop it, press Stop sharing and confirm. If you share it again later, it gets a new link, and the old one stays dead.

On your phone

The Meridian Photographers phone app for photographers has a Posing tab, with Library, Shoots, Sun and Camera. Open it once with a signal and it is kept on your phone, so it works at a venue with none: the library with its photographs, search, favourites, your saved shoots and their shot lists, sun times, and the camera settings. Under the screen it says **Saved for offline · updated** and when.

On the day, tick off each shot as you get it. Hearts and ticks made with no signal show straight away and are sent when the phone is back online; until then it says how many changes are waiting to send.

Adding to a shoot and sharing a mood board need a signal.

The app is not in the app stores yet.

Sun times

Sun times shows sunrise, sunset, the morning and evening golden hour, and the morning and evening blue hour, for any day and place.

1. Choose the Date.
2. Choose a city from Place. There are cities in Australia, New Zealand,

the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States and Canada. It starts on your own city if your time zone names one.

1. Or press Use my location under the place list, or open **Somewhere

else and type the Latitude and Longitude and choose the Time zone**.

1. Press Show the light.

Times are local to the place. Hills and buildings bring sunset earlier than the figure shown. Your location is used for that one look and not stored.

For the day of a booked shoot, the plan for the day also works out sunset for you.

Camera settings

Camera has settings to start from for bright sun, open shade, golden hour, window light, a dim reception, a sparkler exit, kids on the move and groups: aperture, shutter, ISO and a tip for each. They are for a full-frame camera; on a smaller sensor, close down a stop. Check the back of the camera and adjust.

The featured contributor badge

Once one of your poses is featured, a Featured contributor box appears at the bottom of the Library, with a small badge you can add to your own website. Click in the box to select the code, copy it, and paste it into your website builder where it accepts HTML. It is plain text and styling, with nothing that runs on your site.

The box is there while at least one of your poses is featured.

Who on your team can do what

Picking a booking for a shoot needs a role that can see the diary, and picking a client needs one that can see clients. See your team.