Let’s take a classic “girl” photo. Everyone get really close together, place your hand on your side and pop your hip. Bend your leg and show a duck face…OK let’s skip the duck face. But all those girls who snap a stereotypical “girl photo” pose may actually be onto something.
A lot of these poses that are flooding the media during homecoming, prom and graduation are actually inspired by poses that famous photographers in magazines or pictures of celebrities online. This article will cover a few simple poses that can turn your photos from high school to Vogue.
The first aspect that can help enhance any photo is the angle of your body. Taking a photo looking straight at the camera is a force of habit that most people do when a camera is placed in front of them. However comfortable this pose is, it is actually killing any prospect you had of a future in modeling. Facing the camera directly widens your body and flattens your face. As photographers say when taking pictures of people in awkward locations with revealing clothing on and crowds around “channel your inner supermodel, the more awkward the pose the better it looks in photos.” This is one place where feeling awkward doesn’t look so awkward. Turn your body so it is angled at the camera. This elongates your body, shrinks your shoulders and helps you look thinner. This pose is really helpful as a photographer when taking photos of people who are not photogenic, or feel uncomfortable being the only person in front of the camera, such as in senior pictures. This is something that high school girls use even though they don’t know it. Thus making them appear unbelievably skinny while also allowing forty five of them to fit into one photo.
The second pose that changes a photo from drab to fab is changing the angle of your face. Looking straight on at the camera can create a small double chin that you don’t see when looking at someone straight on in real life (so don’t worry, your double chin isn’t showing). Angling your chin down, straightening your shoulders and pressing your tongue to the top of your mouth when smiling eliminates the double chin, elongates your neck, and keeps you from looking like lurch (yes that lurch, The Adams family lurch). It is a supermodel secret that helps them look skinny and tall. Celebrities like Paris Hilton, Blake Lively (my ultimate girl crush) and love them or hate them; the Kardashians have this posing down. Though you probably will not be posing for the paparazzi at the next football game, being able to pull a pose out of your bag of tricks is a lifelong skill that will help you when the photographer at your cousins wedding screams “get together” or your grandma decides to take a picture of you with cake on your face; at least you will know how to look skinny while you are stuffing your face.
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(Photos from Google Images)
The final and probably most helpful pose you can have when taking a group shot at homecoming or after your graduation ceremony is to change it up. Not every person needs to have their arm around one another leaning towards the camera laughing. Although these are cute, changing up your poses so that they are varied is important. This creates individuality and uniqueness within your photos as well as making them more visually interesting.
Whether you are trying to become a pro photographer or a super model, being able to strike a pose that looks flattering and will look eye catching and visually interesting is a talent that can turn your photos from an after graduation snapshot into a photo fit for an exhibit.
