pose guides
Best friend poses for 2: duo poses grouped by energy
Best friend poses for 2, grouped by energy: hugs, side by side, arms up and lifts. Who stands where, where the phone goes and how to run the timer for two.
how to do it
- Pick a pose from the group that matches your energy today, and agree on who takes which side of the frame.
- Prop the phone vertically at about chest height, 6 to 8 feet (2 to 2.5 m) away, at 1x.
- Lower the overlay's opacity until the ghost is just visible, then have one friend stand in while the other directs them from the screen.
- Mark both spots with something small, like a shoe or a bag strap, so you can walk straight back to them.
- Start the timer with burst on, walk to your marks and close any gap between you.
- Check the shots together and change one thing at a time: distance, height or where you look.
tips
- Stand the same distance from the lens unless you want one of you to look bigger.
- Touch somewhere: shoulder, hip, hand or head. A gap between two people looks wider on camera than it feels.
- If one of you prefers their other side, mirror the pose instead of rebuilding it from memory.
- Agree on one shared cue per burst, like 'look at each other', so nobody is guessing mid-shot.
The easiest best friend poses for two are side by side holding hands, a cheek-to-cheek hug, and one friend hugging the other from the side. When you want more energy, raise your joined hands overhead or try a jumping hug. Prop the phone at chest height, 6 to 8 feet away at 1x, and shoot on a timer with burst.
As of October 2026, Onpose’s with-friends set has 18 poses, and every one is for exactly two people. There are no poses for three or more in the library yet, so for a bigger group, import a group photo you’ve saved and use that as your overlay instead.
Want a short list to start with? 8 easy best friend poses for 2 picks the beginner-friendly ones and covers who holds the phone.
Who stands where
Two people in one frame means four decisions that solo poses never ask you to make. (The basics that apply to everyone, solo or not, are in how to pose for photos.)
Same distance from the lens. Whoever is closer to the phone looks bigger. At 1x, half a step makes a visible difference; at 0.5x, a single step can make one friend look a head taller. For a matched pair, stand on a line that runs parallel to the phone, and check your feet against the overlay, not just your heads.
The overlay decides left and right. The friend on the left of the reference stands on the left of your frame. If one of you strongly prefers a side, or the light comes from the other direction, flip the reference with mirror rather than rearranging the pose by eye.
Height differences go to the back or the outside. In poses where one of you stands behind the other, the taller friend takes the back. In side-by-side poses, the taller friend can widen their stance or soften a knee to bring your heads level, or the shorter friend can stand on a step or a curb. Nobody needs to crouch. Different heights are part of the photo, not something to hide.
Close the gap. Space between two bodies reads wider on camera than it feels when you’re standing there. Almost every pose in this set has a contact point: held hands, a hand on a waist, arms around a neck, heads together. (The kick-and-jump shot is the one exception.) Find yours in the reference before the timer starts.
The set, grouped by energy
Each group lists the library poses, what each person does, and the one camera note that matters most for that pose.
Close and calm
Low effort, high warmth. Start here if either of you feels awkward on camera.
| Pose | Who does what | Camera note |
|---|---|---|
| two hugging front on, tall grass | Turned in to each other: one with arms around the other’s shoulders, the other with arms around her waist, cheek to cheek, both faces to the lens | The reference is framed from the waist up, so come in close and let the grass and trees blur behind you |
| side hug, eyes on each other, leaves | One friend wraps both arms around the other’s waist from the side; the front friend holds those arms, and you look at each other | Come a little closer, about 5 feet (1.5 m), so the eye contact reads |
| arms around the neck of the friend behind | The front friend reaches back with both arms around the neck of the friend standing behind, head tipped back toward the lens | The back friend is farther from the lens, so they’ll look a touch smaller; that’s normal |
| cheek-to-cheek waist hug, night | Turned in to each other, arms wrapped around each other’s waists with forearms crossed in front, cheek to cheek | The reference is lit by flash against a dark background; without flash, stand right beside the brightest light and hold still |
| heads together, arm around waist, indoors | Standing close with heads together, one friend’s arm around the other’s waist and the other holding that arm, both pouting at the lens | The reference is indoors at night, so stand near a lamp where it lights both faces |
| lean in, arms around necks, night monument | Both lean in from the hips toward the middle, each reaching an arm around the other’s neck | Center the monument between your heads and keep both of you clear of the frame edges, especially at 0.5x |
Side by side
Still and easy to repeat, which makes them good for getting the timer rhythm right.
| Pose | Who does what | Camera note |
|---|---|---|
| two standing, hands held low, sundresses | Standing close, one slightly behind the other’s shoulder, holding hands low between you; one friend lifts her free hand behind her head | The reference is in sundresses, framed from the thighs up, but the pose works in anything |
| two side by side, night fireworks | Standing together, facing the same way, arms around each other’s waists, one leaning her head in | Fireworks last a second or two, so keep burst running from launch to fade |
| two facing, holding forearms, night palms | You turn toward each other, hold each other’s forearms and look at each other, so the camera sees you in profile | Leave space above your heads for the trees; step the phone back rather than switching lens |
| one hand to hair, dusk | Side by side and close; one friend lifts a hand into her hair while the other keeps her arms relaxed | Use the outside hand for the hair, so the raised elbow frames you both instead of blocking your friend |
Big and open
Arms up and out. These need room around you, because the arms reach past your bodies.
| Pose | Who does what | Camera note |
|---|---|---|
| joined hands raised, beach dusk | Standing slightly staggered, you each raise one arm and join hands overhead, with your other hands clasped low | Hold the phone a little below chest height so your arms meet the sky, not the sea |
| one arm up, golden hour trees | One friend throws one arm up, the other stands just behind with a hand on her shoulder, heads close | Shoot toward the low sun through the branches; burst catches the frame where the light breaks through |
| two dabbing, hillside | Both dab: face tucked into one bent elbow, the other arm thrown out wide and up | Leave room on both sides for the outstretched arms; the reference uses a grassy bank as a plain backdrop |
Lifts, carries and jumps
The fun ones, and the ones that need practice. Try them on grass first, lift with your legs, and stop if anything hurts.
| Pose | Who does what | Camera note |
|---|---|---|
| kick and jump, rooftop | No lift at all: one friend throws a high kick while the other leaps back through the air as if hit. You never touch | Burst is essential, and leave extra headroom for the jump; rehearse until the kick and the leap peak together |
| one carried on the hip, doorway | A front carry: one friend jumps up and wraps her legs around the other’s waist from the side, arms around her neck, heads pressed together | Line up the carried friend’s head first, then the carrier’s feet |
| over-the-shoulder carry, palm street | An over-the-shoulder carry: the carried friend folds over one of the carrier’s shoulders, legs in front, head and arms hanging down behind, while the carrier holds her thighs | Shoot right after the lift, before arms tire, and rest between bursts |
| jumping hug, beach sunset | A jumping hug: you face each other and hug tight while one friend kicks a foot up behind, both faces turned to the lens | Keep burst running through the jump; the reference has the low sun to one side in the frame |
On the ground
| Pose | Who does what | Camera note |
|---|---|---|
| one seated, one lying, field | One lies on her front, propped on an elbow with her chin in her hand; the other sits just behind her with her feet resting on her friend’s back, elbow on knee and chin in hand | Bring the phone down to about the seated friend’s shoulder height, so both faces are at a similar size |
How to set the timer for two
The hard part of shooting as a pair is that whoever starts the timer also has to be in the photo. This order cuts out most of the running back and forth.
- Pick the phone’s spot first. You want it at about chest height on something stable: a wall, a café table with a bag behind the phone, a bench, or a small tripod. Vertical for stories and posts.
- Load the pose and do a stand-in. One friend walks to where the ghost is. The other watches the screen and directs them left, right, closer or farther until their feet and head sit on the overlay.
- Mark both spots. A shoe, a bag strap, a leaf, a line in the paving. Now you both know exactly where to go.
- The shorter walk presses the button. Whoever’s mark is nearer the phone starts the timer, while the friend with farther to go is already standing in place.
- Run burst through small changes. Look at each other, look at the lens, laugh at a word one of you says. Burst catches the in-between frames, which are usually the best ones.
- Review together and change one thing. Too small in the frame? Move the phone closer. One of you looks bigger? Fix your distance from the lens before anything else.
You can browse every pose in the set and line up with the overlay for free. Taking and saving the photo needs Onpose Pro.
If you’d rather someone else held the phone, the easy best friend poses guide has the three sentences to tell them, and how to teach someone to take good pictures of you has the longer script. For shooting without any help at all, see how to take pictures of yourself.
Light for two faces
One light has to reach two people. If the sun is on your left, the friend on the left gets it and the one on the right ends up in their shadow. Either turn so the light falls across you both from the front at an angle, or put it fully behind you and accept softer, darker faces with a bright outline. More than a third of the set’s references are at sunset or after dark, so for those poses, stand as close to the brightest light as you can and hold the pose a beat longer than feels natural.
Common mistakes
- A gap between you. It reads as if you’ve just met. Fix: find the contact point in the reference and copy it exactly.
- One friend closer to the lens. One of you looks bigger, and it’s the first thing anyone notices. Fix: stand on the same line, checked against the overlay’s feet.
- Both staring at the lens, waiting. Two frozen smiles. Fix: give yourselves one shared action per burst, like turning to each other on a count of three.
FAQ
What are good poses for 2 best friends?
Start with side by side holding hands, a cheek-to-cheek hug, and one friend hugging the other from the side. They need no practice and work in any outfit. Once you’re warmed up, try joined hands raised overhead or a jumping hug.
How do you take pictures with your best friend without a third person?
Prop the phone at chest height, line up with a stand-in, mark your spots, then shoot on a timer with burst. The full order is in the timer section above.
Does Onpose have poses for three or more friends?
Not as of October 2026: every pose in the with-friends set is for two. For a bigger group, import a saved group photo as your reference.
duo pose In Onpose, find poses like this under with friends in the library, or import your own reference photo and line up with it over the camera.
