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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Beach Photos: Izaak

I love doing photo sessions at travel locations. By that I mean I love getting to take a trip for a photo session or a wedding. One of my favorite places to shoot photos away from my "studio locations" (the areas right outside my studio that I use frequently) is the beach. You cannot beat ocean photos!!

Meet Izaak! He is my nephew. We're not actually related in any way, shape or form, but he is the son of a dear friend of mine. I've known his mama for years!

Izaak has had it pretty rough. He was born really early. The first time I met him, he had casts on his little arms and legs. Since then he's had surgery to correct things. Poor little guy!

Now Izaak is all healed up and having a ball exploring life! He loves his mama very much and always keeps her in his line of vision while exploring and playing.

He's already quite the little ladies man. He can flirt with the best of them. His smile can make anyone melt. He's always so happy, even when he falls down and scares himself. He jumps right back up and keeps playing.

He loves playing peek-a-boo, especially around the pier on the beach! He giggled every time he popped out to see us. He was such a ham with the camera. He always knew exactly where it was and made sure it was always on him, ready to catch his radiant smiles!

Isn't he precious?!?! I have the most handsome nephew! And that ocean view...made for perfect photos! The blue water and tan sand made the colors he was wearing pop so vibrantly. You can't help by fall in love with these photos!

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Did You Know....I Can Rock the Nerd Glasses!!

Many of you know me personally. Many of you have read my bios on my facebook pages (K.M. Robinson Photography, Bridal Bestie, Top If Off! by Dazzling Diamond Designs, etc) and even though I put self portraits up on my pages from time to time, really, how much do you know about me.

I try to keep my brands as personal as possible, and yet I feel like there is always that stupid wall that is a computer screen between us. Due to my busy schedule, most of what I share with you is business related. Well, no more. I am going to do my best to let you in to my life a little bit more, so from time to time I will be posting things about me, my life, what I'm doing, etc. Maybe you'll be interested, maybe you'll be bored. Maybe you'll care and maybe you won't. But it won' be because I'm not trying to connect with you! So.....feel free to comment and interact, I love hearing from you guys...just remember to keep it nice when interacting with other fans and with me! Because I like nice people and I don't like people who aren't nice to each other ; )

To start off...let me tell you a bit about what's going on in my life right now:

I am a photographer. Right now I'm booking a lot of weddings and a lot of high school/college seniors, both of which I love photographing! This upcoming spring and sumer I want to focus a lot on working with stylized sessions. Those are amazingly fun for all involved and I can't wait to start doing more of them...especially with kids, teens and engagements.

I write a blog called Bridal Bestie which is dedicated to helping my brides and brides everywhere plan their wedding to get the best memories possible. I love it, I love my fans and I love the interaction we have as a community. We exchange ideas and support each other's plans and ideas.

For all my wedding work, I should mention that I am not married, nor am I anywhere near getting married. I just happen to love weddings, event planning, and helping people plan for special times in their life. In fact, I am starting a party/cooking blog with my little sister. It's just in the beginning stages so it's not public yet, but we're having fun getting ready for it.

I am also a kids pastor, a substitute teaching, a webdesigner and and I a lot of commercial advertising work. As you can see, I'm crazy busy. Oh, did I forget to mention I'm a crafter as well? Yep, I crochet, I create things out of felt, I sew, I paint, I do all sorts of creative things. I've currently been working on a line of photobooth props (not yet available), mobiles for baby's, and I've been working on a line of crochet designer gloves.

Oh, and of course, taking care of my puppies. Well, they're not puppies anymore...Jayda just turned two years old and Lacey is two and a half.

Here's a fun little thought to leave you on. I said I was making photobooth props...I took them to my kids church on Sunday to use in my lesson and I was using a mustache and a pair of red nerd glasses to represent two different characters in the story. The kids all agreed I looked good in the nerd glasses. Thanks kids!!

<3 Katie

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Different Sizes

Check this out:

Have you ever noticed that when you order prints, not only do they come in different size prints but that they also look slightly different depending on what size you ordered?

That's because the different prints are not the same ratio. Think about...4x6, 5x7, and 8x10...not the same ratio. Which means the photos will be cropped slightly differently depending on what size you order.

Here's how a photo would look if you ordered a 4x6, an 5x7 or an 8x10. You could order the same photo in three different sizes and each would be cropped just a little differently.

So now you know how you photos will look when you order them. Of course, your photographer will go through and center the photos and make sure they are cropped where the photo will look best so you don't have to worry about missing any of the special details!!

Hope this was insightful for you!! Have a great day everyone <3

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Blue Days

Blue is one of my favorite colors to photograph...it looks great on everybody and it photographs stunningly. Don't believe me, check it out for yourself...

See what I mean...stunning. I recommend blue to all of my clients. It's so effortlessly eye catching.

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