Actually, for me the title should be how NOT to look BIG in photos. UGH. For Father’s Day, my husband received a beautifully framed large family picture from my lovely stepdaughter. Everyone in the picture looks great, except me. And believe me, this is not false modesty. What a nice gift though, but I wish I could photo shop another me in the picture.
While thinking about this and looking through the beinggirl.com website, I found an article titled, How to Look Good in Pictures. I hadn’t seen it before, but wish I had read it previously so I could have applied some of the suggestions to recent family photo taking.
The beinggirl.com article includes tips on how to stand and what to wear. For example, avoid bright white clothing, as it will wash you out. The article also advised on how to hold your chin, to avoid circles under your eyes.
My very favorite tip is about how to look slimmer: “For those who want to look thinner in photos, position yourself at a 45-degree angle to the camera. Don’t press your arms against your sides. Keep them slightly away from your body to make them look svelter. Angling one hip toward the camera can make you shed pounds visually. To make your waist appear smaller, put your hands on your hips with thumbs pointed down in and you’ll always look good in pictures!”
Would you believe that I have been practicing the “how to look slimmer when being photographed” tip for those moments of spontaneous picture taking. This is the pose that I see celebrities taking when being shot on the red-carpet during awards shows, movie premiers and while shopping in the grocery and being caught by the paparazzi. While I don’t have people following me to take my picture, it is just as important to me to look good in family and friend pictures that will be visible to me, and others, for decades. Since I am uncoordinated and can’t even repeat Pilate’s exercises that I have done for years without looking at the instructor, it is important that I practice, practice and practice posing when ever I think about it. I posed recently in a department store parking lot and people nearby (that I hadn’t noticed before beginning) looked around to see who I was smiling at, then looked at me funny and walked further to the entrance to avoid me. Oh well!
While I am focusing on how to pose (since I am somewhat vain and controlling) the article also advises that you should try to “look natural”. The reason for that is you don’t want to loose the emotion that is present in spontaneous picture taking. I am all for that too. But believe me, emotion is something that I don’t have to practice! While I say that I would rather look bland than big, I do like the natural looks of joy in others that sometimes is evident when photos are taken. In fact, I agree with beinggirl, emotion can be the true essence of the photo when there are people present.
I posted a link below to the article. I would love to hear other suggestions anyone may have on how to look great when pictures are being taken. Hopefully they won’t require rehearsing!
http://www.beinggirl.com/article/look-good-in-pictures/?utm_source=wordpress&utm_medium=NursePlummer&utm_content=link20110628&utm_campaign=comm_mgr
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