Getting better casual photos

In my 30 or so years of photography, what I’ve learned is that being photogenic has nothing to do with looks. Its all about your attitude.

You’ve probably noticed there are some fashion models who have become very well known despite having ‘non-traditional’ looks compared to what we consider ideal beauty. They’ve learned to relax and make the most of their faces and bodies.

And I’ve seen very attractive people who didn’t photograph very well. What’s up with that?

Again, its all about attitude. Young children aren’t woried about how they look – and it shows in their photos. Somewhere along the way, most people become self-consious and pick up facial and body position habits that don’t photograph well.

My belief is that being ‘non-photogenic’ is a learned habit. If it can be learned – it can be unlearned.

You need to get past the worry about whatever you believe are your flaws – they are unimportant.

Also, if you’re comfortable having your picture taken, your children will probably pick up on that and also stay comfortable when getting their pictures taken. And finally, many years from now, pictures of how you are now will become very prized among your children, grand-children and friends – you can’t come back in time to re-capture today. Whether you’re doing personal portraits, family portraits, maternity photos or even boudoir photography – you can learn to far more confortable and start takinging photos that will get compliments from your friends and family.

Let’s talk about attitude, discovery of who we physically are, and how to make the most of what we have.

First off, learn to accept who you are. When we get photos done, its generally not for ourselves, but for those who love us.

Or, if its for business, for who we hope will “love us” – but its actually not that different. Those who love us see us differently than we see ourselves. I found it quite interesting to see an attractive top model interviewed on TV and she complained about specific features of her face. We all see our own imperfections. Unfortunately, when getting photos done we tend to concentrait on those imperfections (real or not) and put those forward. ‘Your focus determines your reality’ to quote a movie character.

But, you can accept yourself for who you are. There will always be someone skinnier than you, just as there will be someone heavier than you. Someone will be taller than you, and someone will be shorter. Someone will be older than you, and someone will be younger. Some have chisled jaws and some high cheekbones – while others have very round faces. You are who you are – and that’s a very good thing. Those who love you will love you no matter what you think of your looks.

You have flaws, yes. We all do. So concentrait on what is important – your family and friends.

Most of all concentrait on your inner beauty. In my experience, realizing and showing inner beauty beats physical beauty every time.

I’ve personally never seen myself as an amazingly attractive person, and yes I saw lots of flaws I’d like not to show – but I know I have a pretty good smile. I recently decided to put myself forward and have portraits done of myself. So I worked on my poses and found what works best for me and what I might try to avoid. It was an interesting bit of self-discovery. The result – people have commented on how natural and relaxed I look in my own portraits.

So now what do you do?

Here’s an exercise. Get a camera and someone to push the button. Start with your face. Get photos from different angles to see what works best for you.

On an armless chair, sit in profile looking 90 degrees away from the camera so it only sees one eye on your face. Sit up straight in a chair and take a breath in, then let it go, and take a picture. Next, turn a bit, and take another picture. Keep repeating this, turning and taking another picture, until you’ve gotten right around to the other profile.

Review the photos and take note of which angle is most flattering. Probably won’t be the profile or looking straight at the camera. It’ll probably be slightly to one side or the other, but looking at the camera with your eyes. This is because very very few people have perfectly symetrical faces – and so one side or the other may work better for pictures (and don’t forget that perfectly symetrical doesn’t mean photogenic either.) Some people it will be looking straight at the camera.

Take a couple more shots trying to get your face to that angle again and get used to turning your head to that angle.

Lets refine this a little now.

Do some more photos, this time – with your head turned in the direction above – tip your head over towards one shoulder. Not a lot, you’re not trying to place your ear on your shoulder, just a couple of degrees to one side. Take a picture and straighten up just a bit, taking another photo; keep doing this until your head is tilted slightly towards the other shoulder. Typically, guys should tilt their head to which ever shoulder is slightly lower, and women tilt towards the higher shoulder. Again, not a major tipping – just a slight inclination.

When you review the photos you might see that as you tilted your head, the angle towards the camera seems to change – so you may have to do some shots just finding the sweet spot of head tilt and angle direction.

Next exercise. Do the same series of shots as the sitting posoition – but full body.

Once you’ve found the angle that works best for your whole body, lets refine it some more.

You’re probably best turned 20 to 45 degrees from the camera, put your weight on the foot further from the camera. Stand at that angle towards the camera and move your foot that is ‘closer’ to the camera sideways until it is in between your back foot and the camera. This gives a bit more slimming to your body, especially the lower half.

Turn the foot closer to the camera so that your toes are pointed slightly towards the camera. Now shift your weight to the foot that is further from the camera. You’ll feel your hips and shoulders start to tilt a bit, this is good – it creates lines of interest that look more active than standing like a brick.

Practice walking to different parts of the room and getting back into the position we’ve established with these exercises – you want to make it feel natural to hit that pose in front of a camera.

The finishing touch – your smile. Practice smiling in a mirror; first with your eyes, then your whole face.

Remember that a large amount of your smile is in your eyes, so start there. Open them up but practice not opening them so much that you look constantly surprised.

Then work your mouth’s smile. Practice different amounts of smile until you like what you see.

As well, one of the first things I suggested in this article was to take a breath in and let it go. Keep that in mind any time your in front of a camera. The act of deliberately breathing in and letting it go is well known as a way to relax, and being relaxed makes for better pictures.

Now do the smile for the camera, try variations and see what works best for you. Don’t forget to breath.

Relax your hands, they really aren’t as important as we think when getting photographed.

So finally, what to do with your hands. This causes an undue amount of stress for people – hands really aren’t that important. My preference is hands on hips or in pockets. If in pockets, either leave thumbs or fingers out, don’t stuff both thumbs AND fingers in your pockets at once.

I personally don’t mind see hands hanging at the sides, I think it looks better than the ‘fig leaf’ of holding hands in front of your crotch. However, some photographers and people prefer the fig leaf to ‘dead sticks’ hanging at your sides. In the end, either is preferable to doing something really awkward with your hands.

So relax, let your hands do something relaxed and concentrait on your face – which is what anybody looking at your photo will pay attention to. People only notice your hands if they’re doing something odd.

So now, take some more photos putting it all together. By now you’ve become much more failiar with how your body and face looks in photos and you can further refine the pose, if needed.

Lets wrap this up with a review of what to do.

1 – Love you for who you are. As is often said; ‘You are absolutely unique – just like every other person on earth.’ The people who love you, see that love in the pictures of you – not some inconsequential minor flow that only you really care about.

2 – Do a series of shots while you are turning from one side to the other to find out what direction you should face.

3 – Then do a similar series while you tilt your head from one side to the other in small amounts – don’t tilt your head way over so your ear touches your shoulder – its a very minor amount of tilt.

4 – Next, photograph your whole body as you turn from one side to the other to see what is the best angle for your body.

5 – Now, stand at the correct angle for your body, with your head turned to its best angle and tilted right (whatever is right for you.) While doing that, move your foot further from the camera in behind the one that is closer . Put your weight on your ‘back’ foot. Turn the toes of your closer foot towards the camera. Now put your hands somewhere comfortable – in pockets, or on hips , or even just striaght down.

6 – Breath in, the slowly let it go.

Congratulations – once you do these exercises, you’re ready for your photo.

Written by Neil Speers, Speers Commercial Photography and AlbertaPortrait.com
Neil has over 30 years of experience in many types of photography from weddings to commercial shoots.

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Also for your information: albertaportrait.com/getting-prepared-for-your-portrait-session/

Thank you to Gunita for videography and Ashley for modeling for the photos and video.