Join the club. Lots of guys can’t stand photos of themselves, but socially we’re not allowed the same measure of public vanity as women, so we bitch about it less. That doesn’t mean we wouldn’t mind taking a good shot now and again, one to represent us proudly on social-networking sites or holiday cards. For that, we offer the following four steps on how to look good in photos.
Before we get started, however, let’s be straight about one thing: expectations. Make sure yours are reasonable. 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 behavior 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
In that same Friends episode, during the photo shoot, Chandler is trying to contort his mouth into a presentable grin, causing Monica to shout, “What is wrong with your face?” What’s wrong is that he is trying to smile with his mouth; if he can manage this, he seems to think, the agreeable photo will follow.
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 favors.
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.
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