I’ve tried to google how to look better in shots but the advice just doesn’t make sense…chin down, etc…except maybe the 3/4 type angle thing on the body. My SIL always poses with this very odd way of holding her arms that I think she thinks makes her arms look firm and her waist smaller.
psychmomma said:
I totally agree with this one, I think none of us quite appreciate how much better we often have looked than we thought at the time.
Sorority girls always hold their arms a certain way! It makes me chuckle, like they have something to worry about?
I have a long, big NOSE. Seriously something else. I have a relative who is a professional artist. She took one of our wedding photos and did a pastel drawing for us. That would have been nice, but she chose one of DH and me looking at each other. There’s my nose in profile, in all its glory. OMG. We kept it in a back room for awhile, and I finally threw it out. Fortunately, we live so far apart that she will never visit us.
My sister was in theater and adopted a pose that she seems to believe makes her
look good. She pops her eyes wide and puts ine hip forward. Her D does this in all of her pics.
It looks super fake.
I can’t do chin down- then all three of them show! Also, for me, face straight on doesn’t look as good as slightly turned. That arm thing and 3/4 turn - lol. That looks too posed to me, and doesn’t do anything for someone my shape.
I was always family photographer, too, and am missing from most vacation pictures while the kids were growing up. Now I’m sorry I’m not in them - because they would’ve shown how happy I was to be with the kids.
3/4 instead of full facing forward can be more flattering, my MIL had been a model and drilled that into me at a young age, I don’t really even think about it, I just do it. Most people are asymmetrical, figuring out your good side can help. It can help to at least find your “best self” or “least offensive to yourself” angles. There is nothing to be done for the familial big arms!
My DH has been known to comment, why do you crop every single photo just below the bust line, um, I dunno, why do you think? 
I personally hate all the “filters” Come on we all age, let’s be real with each other. And believe me I hate standing next to my sisters…I am the buffoon one. But I do want to remember us in print at this stage in our life.
D21 is sooooooo modest, she is on the extreme. as no and I mean no social media accounts. No pics. She hates it.
No make up, no contacts, (and she is practically blind). No trendy clothes, has never even blown her hair dry in her life.
And she is tiny, almost 5 ft and 80 lbs…what gives?
This thread has made me feel better!
I know that I will be pleasant about pictures at
the wedding but will not enjoy that part of the day.
My D thinks it is silly of me to care. H finally admitted that
I am not photogenic but wishes it did not matter to me.
I am going to do the new make up and teeth whitening.
I do not want my make up done but will deal with it well before the day.
My hair is good but have already arrange for my person to
blow it out and flatiron the morning of.
I took a photography class a few years ago and he said that the chin goes
slightly down. I am going to figure out which side is best. And have been taking
selfies which are quite mind-blowingly bad.
Lay your head back on some decorative pillow for a fake facelift selfie. Hold the camera over your head, slightly above your nose. Wear a good color. Maybe a jacket with the collar popped. Nice jewelry. Take lots of photos at slightly different angles and head adjustments – pros never take just one shot. Edit the picture to crop out anything distracting. (I used to travel more and amused myself at the hotel by doing full makeup and sending DH a nice photo each day while I was away.)
I saw this article on my FB newsfeed today and thought I’d add this to the thread. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/teresa-s-porter/so-youre-feeling-too-fat-to-be-photographed_b_4351360.html?ncid=engmodushpmg00000003
aww that was sweet
I note that she looks very different in her professional headshot…
Huh? I don’t where you’re going there. This is her headshot on her website. Doesn’t look like it’s photoshopped or anything to me. https://myfriendteresa.com/team/ She’s obviously chubby, but she looks nice and happy to me.
That lady looks very pretty!
I don’t mind posed pictures at all. I do hate seeing and hearing myself on video. I make some weird expressions when I talk! I squint one eye and tilt my head a weird way. I also tend to fidget quite a bit on camera. I can’t imagine how much worse it is in real life!
Don’t most of your friends look much better in real life than in photos? That kinda helps me.
Oh, yes, videos are horrible. But my daughter made a video montage for her Dad for father’s day and she closed it with video of him and me slow dancing goofily in our kitchen, and I had awful crazy hair (I had gone to bed with my hair wet the night before) and I looked really fat, but she obviously thought we looked sweet enough to end her video with that final clip. So I think what Ms. Porter said in her article is true, our loved ones don’t think we look atrocious, they think we just look like ourselves.
It’s only recently I have had some misgivings about being in photographs. I think it’s aging-related. My dad took lots and lots of pictures, so I was very used to it. He is gone now but in retirement he digitized thousands of photos and would often give me a CD of “1969” etc. as a Christmas or birthday gift. They are mostly candids of us doing stuff as a family and with friends. (When I would download them, my life would flash before my eyes.). I am so grateful for these collections.
I am very unphotogenic. VERY. Most of my family shares this trait and we have heard" you look so much better in person" many times. For years I did not like having my picture taken.
Then I realized how few photos I had of my parents and siblings. And how few I had of me and H (who hates having his picture taken even though he is very photogenic- go figure). I wanted to have pictures of my parents while I still had that opportunity and I wanted my kids to have pictures of me and H as well as their grandparents.
So you know what? I started taking pictures of my family members and started making sure people took pictures of me. I got over myself. And I am so glad I did that.
Three years ago when S graduated from HS I took photos of him with my parents and H’s parents. The pictures turned out lovely …and they are the last photos of my FIL before he died. My own Dad is gone now too, but we have those pictures (as well as others). I am so glad to have them.
Having my picture taken in general isn’t an issue.
But I don’t want to show up on someone’s Facebook page. As a high school teacher, I’m pretty particular about not having my picture taken with, say, a glass of wine in my hand. I just don’t like the message it sends. My family and friends are all aware-- most of my teacher friends share the sentiment. So it’s really not an issue.
My current facebook profile picture is me dressed up as Rosie the Riveter. I look pretty good in it. Partly because I was hamming up for the camera and it didn’t seem serious, but also I am wearing a lot of make up which normally I never do.
I was never ugly, but I was never one of the pretty ones either. In our freshman mugbook I put in a photo taken by my French “brother”. He took a whole roll of black and white film one day, and was he ever good at what he did. I was quite amused when some would-be boyfriend told me that I’d been picked out by their freshman rooming group as one of the pretty ones.