How to Look Thin In Photos
1. Use flashes in sunlight. According to Geek Sugar, it's all about the lighting. Flashes are good because they override the shadows that overhead sunlight might cast on your face, making for pronounced under-eye and chin shadows.
2. Lean in towards the camera. Digital Camera Tracker says leaning slightly towards the camera is helpful: "Think of having a long neck like a gazelle, and tilt your chin down just a bit to avoid the appearance of a double chin," the site suggests.
3. Stand like a ballerina. No, we're not kidding. While it stops short of recommending you wear a tutu, the 'Rocky Mountain News' says you need to pose like a ballet dancer: "The most flattering (read slimming) pose: Face front and cross one leg in front of the other, then turn your body at a 45-degree angle away from the camera and turn head and shoulders toward the camera. Place feet in ballet third position (one foot angled in front of the other)."
4. Put your hands on your hips. The 'Rocky Mountain News' says your shoulders might look less rounded this way.
5. Get a shot from below, as if you were on the runway. In Camilla Morton's new advice book for women, 'How to Walk in High Heels,' model Gisele Bundchen (pictured) is interviewed about how to look good, both in front of and away from the camera. For pictures, the runway-veteran agrees that lighting is crucial, but she adds a few tips on angles and poses: "For long legs, point one leg into the center of the frame and get the photographer to shoot looking up your body," says Bundchen. We just hope it's not up your nose, Gisele!
6. Get a shot from above. The best way to hide that double chin is to have someone shoot your face from a few inches above your head. Just find someone who's taller than you. Either you'll look up at them, which makes double chins disappear, or the area below your chin will be in shadow, and won't show up in the picture at all. For a group picture where you want everyone to look good, stand on a chair and have everyone look up at you: We've been using this technique at parties for years. It works!
7. Forget about looking thin and just relax. Not all experts agree with the stand-up-straight, pose-like-a-movie-star advice. We spoke to Edward Keating, a Pulitzer-Prize-winning photographer for the 'New York Times,' who was the principal photographer for the newspaper's 'Vows' column for seven years. He says that the best thing a subject can do to look good in photographs is to be relaxed and happy. "Look at the photographer, not at the camera," says Keating. "If they're connected with me, they're not thinking about the camera and the lens."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
michelle @ Apr 25th 2007 8:29PM
4. Put your hands on your hips. The 'Rocky Mountain News' says your soldiers might look less rounded this way.
REALLY????????? My "SOLDIERS" will look less rounded this way? Maybe we should send this little bit of info to the President and win this war in Iraq.
karen @ Apr 25th 2007 8:44PM
i laughed so hard at that typo. what goofball typed "soldiers"
karen @ Apr 25th 2007 8:45PM
what an idiot. shoulders spelled as "soldiers". LOL.
judy bland @ Apr 25th 2007 8:53PM
this is really funny, because before I read the blog I thought it was a code word for breast.
JO @ Apr 25th 2007 8:55PM
I personally like my "Soldiers" slightly rounded. So there!!!
Susan @ Apr 25th 2007 9:00PM
Typos happen - we knew what they meant. I loved the 10 tips.
Tara @ Apr 25th 2007 9:21PM
This isn't really a mom it is just a kid.... but anyway i just read the comments and hahahahahahah i agree with you michell and i don't particularly
like Goerge Bush either and i am hoping if i follow these 10 tips i will look like the picture above also Tracy so you are not alone. :)
sandy fortner @ Apr 25th 2007 9:25PM
thanks for the tips!
Kimbrell @ Apr 25th 2007 9:26PM
With one of the main topics of decussion being this war, it's no wonder the writer mispelled "shoulders". You never know, they could have a loved one, a soldier, over-seas protecting all of us as we speak. Including those who jump at any chance to criticize ones for making mistakes. I guess you've never mispelled anything before. How smart you must feel.
Kimbrell @ Apr 25th 2007 9:27PM
discussion. See, even I make mistakes.
Katie @ Apr 25th 2007 9:43PM
Wow I hope this will help. I am always
looking for tips like this one.
K-T Cannon
Seta @ Apr 25th 2007 9:48PM
Wow this is a great article, I am trying to become a photographer, well I'm hoping to be when I go to collage. So, you can guess I love to take photos, which I think I'm pretty good. But this will help me out alot! Thanks!
B @ Apr 25th 2007 9:55PM
Lighten up Kimbrell, no one is criticizing the "soldiers" goof. It was just funny..like Chinglish is funny.
muse @ Apr 25th 2007 10:06PM
Egads! That's why my photos have turned out awful. All of them were taken by a midget when I was posed under a tree with my hands to my sides, used no flash, dressed in a tutu, and acting VERY unnaturaly.
PJ @ Apr 25th 2007 10:09PM
Kimbrell, you even misspelled misspell.
Nikki @ Apr 25th 2007 10:16PM
hmm....2 people mention 10 tips, I only got 7. Musta got short-changed, lol! Just kidding, anyways, I use the taller person taking the picture trick a lot to hide my double chin and will use some more of the tricks seeing as I am very unphotogenic and need all the help I can get!
Colletti @ Apr 25th 2007 10:19PM
HEY PEOPLE MAKE MISTAKE K? SO DONT HATE ON THAT PERSON THAT MADE A TYPO.... IM SURE YOU HAVE MADE MISTAKES IN LIFE TOO.. NOTHINGS PERFECT DUH!!!!!!!
Nikki @ Apr 25th 2007 10:21PM
funny muse :)
Colleen @ Apr 25th 2007 10:22PM
I read these tips. But lets face it. If you're overweight, you're overweight. No amount of screwing around with posing is going to hide my fat. That's why I'm working harder than ever to "burn off some butter" now.
lubby @ Apr 25th 2007 10:27PM
wow, does every comment space turn into a who's right about what contest.