How to look good in photos
Make sure you are reasonable in your expectations. Your goal should
be to try project your best appearance, whatever that might be. If you
think you can make a few tweaks to your behaviour prior to the camera’s
click and come out looking like George Clooney, you’re headed for a
little heartbreak.
That being said, here are some tips on how to look good in photos
Know your best smile
While almost every smile starts at the mouth, a genuine smile will
cause a ripple across the face until the eyes convey our feelings to the
lens. If you’re in a bad mood and have no reason to laugh or smile, when
someone points a lens your way, your smile won’t resonate beyond your
mouth. If other people in the picture are genuinely smiling, prepare for
your frozen-faced grin to be immortalized.
So, to look good in photos, look through previous pictures of
yourself and determine what smile works best. Try to remember the
context, and learn how to mimic the smile so you can bust it out every
time a camera appears. You don’t like the exposed gums? Do a
three-quarter smile. You like the one where you’re laughing, oblivious
to the camera? For the next picture, find a reason to laugh. It’s about
embracing your smile and embracing positivity.
Get out of direct light
Evidently, you think you have some flaws best kept out of pictures --
otherwise you wouldn’t loathe getting your picture taken. This step to
look good in photos involves ensuring that you’re not the victim of any
harsh, direct light.
If you think your forehead is too big now, wait until direct light
gets a hold of it. The glare back to the lens will most certainly do you
no favours.
Direct light, especially from the sun, will likely force you into
features and positions you can do without. It might make you squint, and
while we guys do a lot of squinting for many different reasons, doing so
in pictures swallows up your smile, virtually eliminating the chance for
a grin you can live with. Light might also force you to dip your head,
causing you to give birth to a second chin.
Dodging that direct light may just be a matter of shifting a couple
steps one way or the other – positioning yourself so that neither glare,
nor squint, nor double-chin action sabotages another photo.
Don’t look straight at the camera
For some photogenic people, the camera alone is like the Playboy
airbrush, magically retouching their features to emphasize the good and
bury the bad. Other photogenic people, however, have learned how to
manipulate the action of having their photo taken just enough so that
they only give the appearance of being chronically photogenic. Some look
slightly above the lens, while for others the trick is just as simple:
only give up your good side.
If heads and faces were symmetrical, this phenomenon wouldn’t exist,
but perfect symmetry tends not to appear that way in nature. Maybe your
hairline recedes more on one side than the other; maybe your big nose is
grand from one angle, but vulgar from another.
Keep in mind that even though this is your face, your facial hair and
your head, you may not be the most qualified person to determine your
own best side. Come to your own conclusion first, then ask some female
friends the same thing.
Close, then open your eyes
Finally, after determining your most handsome grin, ditching the
direct light and making sure you’re only giving the lens a sidelong
glance, employ an old trick: Right before the camera clicks, blink. Not
only do you avoid getting caught in a blink, but you also dodge getting
caught with your eyelids sagging like you’re beat.
In short, the blink encourages your eyes to be alert and
communicative when the camera snaps the picture.
Picture perfect
There are only a few humans who are gifted with naturally photogenic
faces, and even among them, most are women. That said, a photo album
full of pics to be proud of is within the grasp of every man. Simply
embrace the tips above and your newly found confidence will be
immortalized forever.
- Askmen.com |