Picture this (pun intented, lol)
You have been asked to update your work profile with a photo of yourself, and you start scrolling for a photo in your phone that you love enough to share with your colleagues, and you are struggling to find the “perfect” photo.
First, you aren’t alone in the epic quest for a photo of yourself that you love and can’t wait to share on social media and on your profile photos. It’s easy to be critical of ourselves in photos. We see things that our friends, family and strangers don’t.
I’m certain these 3 tips, if you practice them, will help you turn the corner on picking yourself apart in photos to being loving and forgiving when you see yourself in photos.
3 Tips to boost your confidence in photos
Embrace good hair days
If you are having a good hair day, for the love of all things good, take photos! If you are a makeup wearer, this is the day to ramp up your attention to your eyeliner and smudged mascara and compliment your awesome hair day. Heck, if the mood strikes you…throw on some lashes for some extra va va va voom. Trust me. Look good…feel good.
Wear clothes that fit and flatter
Stop wearing baggy clothes that don’t fit or flatter your shape. If you were blessed with awesome curves, own them! It’s time to go through your closet (right down to your underwear drawer), and donate everything that doesn’t fit, flatter or fill your happy cup when you wear it. It’s ok that you spent your hard earned money on those clothes. Hanging onto them and never wearing them isn’t how you justify what you bought.
It’s time to let go of the “maybe I’ll wear it one day”, or “it might fit again if I lose 20 pounds”. Girl! If you lose 20 pounds, go buy new clothes that will fit your new curves perfectly.
When it comes to photos, wearing oversize clothes just adds more bulk to your shape. The goal in photos is to look like our natural and authentic self in the best light and flattering poses and natural expression.
No where does the “perfect” recipe for a photo call for hiding your shape and curves. Flaunt them, every time! The goal is wear clothes that fit and flatter your body.
Posing and angles make all the difference
Posing matters. The biggest tip when it comes to posing is to remember one thing. What is closest to the camera will appear to be the largest. Cameras don’t adjust for proportion, so posing needs to compensate for that. For example…if you are sitting on a chair with your knees front and centre pointing directly to the camera, your legs and knees will own the spotlight and become the feature of the photo.
If you study photos of the Royal Family (as a random example), the ladies are often photographed sitting on a chair. Notice how they are sitting. Knees are not straight to camera. They are mostly off to one side with ankles tucked neatly to the opposite side and ankles crossed. All of these details create beautiful angles, and curves with a feminine touch. You will also notice they sit on the edge of the chair, with their butt resting on the very edge, to not put too much pressure on thighs making them appear bigger than they are.
Although the photo below isn’t sitting on a chair, it demonstrates the same concept of no thigh squishing and not having feet straight to camera.
There are so many tips to capturing your most beautiful and authentic self in photos. These 3 tips are a great place to start in developing confidence to feel your best in photos. It takes time, practice, patience, self love, and grace to love seeing yourself in photos.
If you have a photographer taking your photo, it’s their job to create beautiful images of you. That’s worth repeating. If you have hired a photographer, you should rely on THEM for posing, angles, expression, lighting and composition.
If you are taking your own self portraits (I like to call them Professional Selfies), and you want more tips and tricks, comment below or send me a PM on Instagram. I will share the details with you directly for how you can be a part of my kick off crew of Professional Selfie Masters.
Pretty excited for all that is to come in 2024.
Living and leading with Gumption 🙂
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