Switched - Gadgets, Gizmos, Reviews and Downloads

by S.E. Kramer on May 12, 2008 at 04:47 PM

It's spring. And if you're like us, the results of your swimsuit diet aren't quite showing yet. If you've got any graduations or weddings coming up in the warmer months ahead, you're likely to get your picture taken. If the thought of a photographer makes you want to run, relax: We've found a few tips -- online, in books, from experts -- on looking thinner in pictures.

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."

Just Tell Me What to Get: A Sub-$200 Cam

by S.E. Kramer on June 15, 2007 at 08:10 AM

A reader writes: I'm in the market for a new digital camera, but I don't want to spend more than $200. I don't care much about fancy add-ons like video -- I just want something that takes great pictures. And, it would be great if the camera fit in my pocket, too. Just tell me what to get!

Hey reader: Just about every major brand sells a camera for under $200, though none of the ones we tested were perfect. Our favorite is the Sony Cybershot DSCW55, which retails in most places for around $190. It's a compact, attractive, 7.2-megapixel camera with a 2.5-inch LCD, which is fairly generous at this price point. The camera turns on and off quickly and didn't bother us with long shutter lag. The DSCW55 also has an optical viewfinder, something that's difficult to find on cameras of this size -- even the more expensive ones. The viewfinder is priceless on very bright days when it's impossible to make out the image on an LCD -- we were grateful to have it on a trip to the beach -- and turning off the LCD conserves battery power if you don't want to re-charge on a week long vacation.

Most importantly, the DSCW55's images were among the best of the cameras we tried. Like all digital cameras these days, the DSCW55 comes with a lot of modes: for nighttime shooting, landscapes, portraits, video with sound, even snowy weather. But at this price range, cameras work best when you don't ask them to work too hard: The camera is at its most reliable in point-and-shoot mode, both with and without flash.

That's not to say that this is a perfect camera. All the cameras we tried were in the 7- to 8-megapixel range, but we found that you probably won't want to zoom in on their images like you might with 7-megapixel images from a pro-grade digital SLR, or even a point-and-shoot with a larger lens. Though our images were in focus, none were quite as sharp as we'd like. And though we felt that this Sony model led the pack, we wouldn't bring it on safari to Africa (especially since it only has a 3x optical zoom) or rely on it for those very special occasions where we're trying to get an image large enough to hang above the fireplace. For everything else, the Sony DSCW55 is more than serviceable: It's what we'd get if you gave us $200 to spend on a digital camera.

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