Looking Good in Photos

I'm not generally one to be camera shy.

I also think I don't know how to have my picture taken.  I'm just... me.  Which is fine.

But a few things have stood out to me lately.

Someone met me in person after only knowing me online and remarked that I'm prettier in person.

I went to Disney and used Photopass so we had many posed family pics taken.

I went to Disney and discovered that a certain Belle knew how to hold her face so you could really "see" her in the photo.

And between those 2 things, I was very intrigued.

When we were at Disney, we loved our experience at Belle's Enchancted Tales.  At the end of the story, all the kids are invited to parade around the room and then get a one on one picture taken with Belle.  As the Photopass photographer was clicking away, I noticed that the woman playing Belle would always have her princess face on but would strike a specific face pose when the camera was going to click.  I pointed it out to Jeff - the fixed smile and this head tilt/eye pop thing.

I happened to see someone else's picture of Belle from their own trip - a different actress portraying her.  And the difference was stunning.  The head tilt, smile, eye pop thing... while forced and staged... totally works.  Especially for a real person portraying an animated character.

The Belle we experienced.

The other Belle

See?  The Other Belle is very pretty.  Wonderful smile.  But you can't see her eyes.

I looked at some of our family photos from Disney - where I just stood still and tried to smile.  (Forgive the quality - these are just preview shots)

I lose my eyes, my smile is forced, that extra chin shows up.

Anyway - it got me to thinking.  How do some people know how to hold their face to look good in pictures?

I remember a few years back when Tyra Banks had a talk show and did a show about having a good picture taken.  But I couldn't remember the substance of the episode.

So off to Google I went.

And I found this article from Reader's Digest.  So I decided to play around a bit with some of the tips.  I picked 1,2, and 7 since I think I can most easily remember and practice these steps.

So now I have this perfect opportunity to take a bunch of selfies!  I've certainly taken many selfies over the past few years...

So what would happen if I started utilizing these new steps?

I tilted my head forward and lowered my chin and put my tongue behind my teeth and angled my body and stared just above the lens and...

And then I laughed at myself.

And when I looked at the pic I snapped while laughing at myself... I saw my uneven eyes and my extra chin and a lot of gums.  So I tried again.

Not bad, eh?

Now, my standard will still be that I far prefer natural moments simply captured with a camera.  It's how I take pictures - I rarely ask people to stand still and smile and say cheese.  But when the opportunities come up where I need to stand still, smile, and say cheese... I have some techniques in my back pocket to use and have a picture turn up that might look more like myself.