Guy's Week: Make Sure You Smile

Dudes, seriously, we know you want to look all cool and everything, but try smiling in a few photos.

No seriously. We know you feel weird about getting in front of the camera and being professionally photographed but we are here to make you look good.

Yes, we will get the cool not smiling shots. Yes we will get the moody, brooding shots. Yes you will look like a rockstar.

But we also want to see you smile.

Here’s the deal. Women are more drawn to photos of a guy smiling than a guy not smiling. Women connect better to happy people.

I promise, we’re going to get you some awesome smiling shots and some awesome brooding shots. You will be happy you smiled in some of them. And if you’re not, you don’t have to buy them. It doesn’t hurt to take them while you’re going. If you don’t like them, your friends and family don’t have to see them.

Smile!!

Guy's Week: How to Pose In Photos

All last week we talked about the ladies. Now it’s your turn guys! This week we have five articles on how dudes should work it in photos!

Guy posing tips are very different than girl posing tips. Girls want to look tiny and feminine. Guys want to be strong, masculine and cool. Here’s how to do that:

Rule 1.) Stand straight on to the camera. This is very masculine. You take up more space and that is exactly what we want. We want you to dominate the photo. A straight on photo makes you look physically stronger.

Rule 2.) No angles. We tell girls to creating angles with their bodies to make them look more like a model. But with guys, if you want to look like you belong on a magazine cover, you need to take up space in the photo.

Keep your arms close to your body. Now don’t super glue your elbows to your sides…that wouldn’t look good, but definitely keep it close to your body. The closer you keep your arms, the more masculine you look.

Rule 3.) Feet apart. Keep your feet about shoulder width apart. This takes up more space in the photo and makes your like more like a dude.

Rule 4.)Relax, you just have to be yourself. We see how you look and we promise we will only ask you to pose in ways that will show off your coolness. Trust us, we know what we’re doing.

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Girls Week: Hair Styling Tips

So often our hair is thought of as our crowning glory. Which is why we put so much effort into every single day. We curl, we straighten, we force it into updos, we color it, we highlight it, we show it off and work it to our advantage. So of course when it comes to our photo shoot we want our hair to look perfect.

Rule 1.) Always leave part of your hair down. Otherwise you will look like a guy. Don’t look like a guy.

This means if you put it in a bun or ponytail, be sure to leave a few pieces down to frame you face. Otherwise it will look like you have no hair.

Rule 2.) If you have a lot of hair, make sure it’s pulled away from your face so its not falling in your eyes.

I have a lot of hair. I mean Rapunzel-a lot-of-hair. It’s long and thick and always in the way. So I get this one. When I take photos I’m constantly brushing my hair away from my face because it likes to fall in the way.

Use bobbypins to pull a little bit of it back. Or pull it all over one shoulder. This lets your beautiful face shine despite of your gorgeous hair!

Rule 3.) Hair spray. More likely than not we will be outside. Use hairspray, even on an everyday hair style, to hold it where you want it because the wind will mess with you.

Rule 4.) Life can be kind of static-y. And this is okay because have I got a fix for you. When your hair decides its time to stand up on end, we can fix it. This often happens in the winter when you’re taking coats on and off. It’s not a problem. Thanks to a wonderful friend, I carry a dryer sheet in my purse with me at all times. When my hair isn’t cooperating, I run the dryer sheet over my mane and tame it real quick.

Honestly, this works like magic. You should see little kids faces in school when I show them that trick (I’m a substitute teacher too)—priceless.

Rule 5.) Don’t do something you’re not comfortable with. Make sure you’ve tried the hair style about before, you know how to move with it, you know it won’t give you a headache, you like the way it looks and it makes you feel pretty. If you are uncomfortable with it, it WILL show in your photos.

Okay, I lied. One more……Rule 6.) Make sure you have fun with it and don’t stress if it isn’t perfect. You will look stunning, I promise. I will make it happen!

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Girl Week: Make Your Outfit Work For You

I have learned something very important from looking at photos of myself: not all clothing looks good in photos and the outfits I can rock in everyday life don’t necessarily translate to superstar in photos. (please note, I'm not showing bad photos of me on my blog haha)

Here’s why:

This past fall I went to the ocean. I was going to get some stunning photos of myself. I got dressed in one of my fav outfits, one that I always got comments on. I wore jeans, a purple shirt with a long brown jacket thing over it. It was fitted in the back so it gave me a nice shape when I walked.

I went outside, gave my sister my camera, and we took photos of me (and I took photos of her, it wasn’t all about me) Then I checked her work to make sure I got some I liked. Well I was horrified. Not at her work, but the way I looked. I looked huge. I had a photo from the day before and unless I had gained 40lbs over night something was wrong.

It was my sweater jacket thing of course. Even though it was fitted in the back, it hung open in the front. It often fell open, puffed out, moved, and dangled weird in the photos. In fact there wasn’t a single photo I was happy with.

I should have chosen an outfit that closed in the front. It should have been buttoned up, belted, tied, whatever. The closer at outfit wraps around you the smaller you will look. If it is a loose outfit it will look even more baggy in photos.

Now of course I’m not saying to wear tight clothing. If you were things that are too tight it all of your flaws WILL show up and WILL look even worse. You should be wearing fitted cloth that accentuate your waist line and fit well. Nothing baggy, nothing loose, and nothing open in the front. If there’s a jacket you love like mine, belt it. Big belt, tiny belt…match it to the outfit.

I’m sad I didn’t have a belt with me. I could have saved all those photos by simply adding an accessory.

Keep your clothes close to your body to show off just how cute you are and make sure it fits well to hide any flaws. You’ll be modeling in no time!

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Girl's Week: Pose with Angles

If you look, in most pictures you will find me angled to the side, face tilted toward the camera, and I will have one (or occasionally both) hand on my hip. It’s not that I’m pretending I’m a model, it’s not that I’m trying to look “glamourous,” I just know that when I create angles I look better.

When I turn my body away from the camera and look back, I am making myself look more slender. If I stood straight in front of the camera it would be capturing my widest parts and would make me look bigger. When I turn, I control how much mass the camera sees. People are look wider if we measure from the left side to the right side then they are if we measure from belly button to center of back. Show the small angle to the camera and you’ll look tinier.

Then there’s the arm. If I left my arm straight down it becomes part of my body and makes it look wider. It’s like an extension of my waist. No woman wants to look bigger than she is. So I take one hand and put it on my hip. This creates space between my waist, and elbow. There’s that triangle of nothing in between my arms and side. This makes my waist look smaller. It defines the same of my waist and because my elbow and arm is out, it makes my waist look small. I usually hide my other arm behind my body because I’m at an angle toward the camera, but if I’m straight on to the camera, I can put both hands on my hip.

Any time you can create angles with your body the better off you’ll be. That means turning at an angle, turning your head slightly in the opposite direction, creating angles with your arms and even creating angles with your legs if you are sitting or kneeling down.

Go stand in front of your full length mirror and practice you angles. You’ll end up finding some great ones that work for you and you’ll find some that you should definitely never do again! Now you’ll know for you’re next photo session! AND you can rock the shot the next time you and your girl friends are hanging out snapping some new facebook pics!

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Girl's Week: Look Instantly Thinner

The most embarrassing thing about a photo, bar none, is when a woman sees a photo of herself and she has a thick neck or a double chin. It’s a horrifying experience for any woman. She doesn’t look like that in everyday life, but suddenly when it comes to photos it keeps happening.

Don’t worry ladies, there’s a simple fix for that!

Now listen carefully, this will sound weird and feel weird, but I promise it will work. Keep you body straight and stick your head forward, then tilt your head down slightly. That’s right, you should lean your head forward, it will feel very strange, but it works. You will feel like you look ridiculous, and if someone saw you doing it in everyday life, you would look ridiculous sticking your head out that far. But it photos, it stretches out your skin and gets your chin away from your neck.

Most people have a tendency to pull their heads back when taking a photo. This causes the skin to bunch up and give you that double chin, even though you’re super skinny.

If you stick you head out toward the camera it stretches out the skin and prevents it from doubling. This makes your entire face look skinnier.

Then simply tip you chin down a little (so we’re not staring at the broadside of your throat) and you’re good to go. You’ll look fabulous in every photo from now on if you remember to lean your head out and away from your body and tip you chin down a tiny bit.

Hello, supermodel!

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