How To

Looking Good In Pictures

This Time On How To

I'm Jamie, and I'll be taking over How To for a while. Last time, Maddie asked for some tips on looking good in photographs, and I'm more than happy to oblige! Some people have the seemingly natural ability to look amazing in every picture they're in - whether it's a formal occasion with a professional photographer, or a quick snapshot thirty seconds after hopping out of bed. For the rest of us, this update will feature some tips on looking good in pictures, whatever the occasion.

Formal Pictures

This site features some advice for having your picture taken formally - as in, by a professional photographer, like for a class photo.

• Look at yourself. This may seem obvious, but it is important. Make sure that your face is clean, your make-up is still intact, and that your hair doesn't look like it's inhabited by a squirrel. It'll cut down on the number of times that you pay thirty dollars for a set of pictures, later realizing that your friends had drawn funny (to them) cartoons all over your face when you fell asleep in math class.
• Do not look directly at the camera. It tends to come out looking really strange - plus, you end up squinting or blinking more when the flash goes off if you were looking straight at it! Instead, look slightly above the camera; it looks more natural.
• Don't fake a smile. Let's face it - a lot of the time, if you're having your picture taken for a specific purpose, it's at the end of a very long day, or at least a very long line. People are generally really good at instinctively telling a fake smile from a natural one, and fake smiles look cheesy and uncomfortable. If you really want to have a smile, put one on naturally: think about something that makes you happy. It probably won't be a super big smile, but it'll look better than a forced expression. And really, there's nothing wrong with not smiling - though if you look too down, it'll definitely show.
• Relax. Yes, pictures are forever. Yes, people will probably want to see copies. But really? Stiffness shows, and it looks unnatural - and the key to looking good in a picture is looking natural.

Casual Pictures

There are many sites online offering tips and hints for looking better in pictures; a lot of them are repeated, so I've compiled the few most common pieces of advice that I found on the internet. Also keep in mind that most of the advice for taking formal pictures can be applied in this section - though you may not have enough time to really put it to use!

• Don't look at the camera head-on. It looks better - more natural - if you're turned slightly to the side. Similarly, it's advised to tilt your head a bit.
• Keep your arms by your sides. Reader's Digest also advises putting a little distance between your arms and the rest of your body - so they don't look glued down.
• Relax. Again, this is probably the most important piece of advice I can give you. Especially in a casual setting, nobody's going to be judging you based on your photographs, so take in a deep breath, count to three, and have fun!
• Be comfortable. It sounds like the same thing as 'relax', but I think it deserves its own bullet point. How many pictures of people have you seen where their face is covered by their hands or a book or whatever else was nearby? It looks kind of silly, and not very flattering. The same goes for pictures where the subject is obviously not happy about being photographed (like the surprise shots you sometimes manage to take, right before the subject jumps up and tries to take the camera from you). Don't feel like you have to pose for every picture someone wants to take, but it's generally better to just let them at it; at least the pictures will turn out better!

  Tags: pictures, photographs, looking good

  Published on September 3, 2009 by JamieG | Read all recent How To articles.