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At some point during a photo shoot, whether it's a girl or guy, someone always either seriously tells me or asks me, if I'm going to photoshop this or that. People seem to always want the digital plastic surgery make-over, but I hate wasting my time on things that can be done practically in reality, in camera, without actually changing a thing about yourself. You can look taller and thinner in your photos whether for personal use, professional, or for a fashion blog with a few easy tweaks.
1. Do not squeeze your arms or legs together
Most girls have learned through celeb culture, that you pop that arm out no matter what when you pose for a photo, and they're absoltuely right. Compressing your arms against your body, only causes your flesh to spread out. This simple adjustment does wonders, and creates lovely angles of the body.
The same goes for your legs. Sitting down and pushing ones thighs together creates one big block of color, fabric, and/or skin, especially head on to the camera that creates the same kind of unflattering spread as the arm. Cross your legs and/or angle them for the best look. The additional benefit of shaping the arms like in pic 2, is that, you create interesting AND distracting angles. You aren't just looking at a giant block of body, but it's covering up her stomach (if she had one) and drawing the eye to her face.
2. Work your accessories and your hands for a thinner look
Celebs have been known to hide whole pregnancies for 9 months under strategically placed bags and jackets, and patterns and fabrics of what they are wearing and the same goes for you, even without a bun in the oven. Use your hands to pull in your waist. Cover up the biggest parts of you with a creatively placed hand bag. Cover up your rolls with your hands.
With a slight angle below, and a nipping in of the waist with her hands, the model in the image has created the illusion she has a much smaller waist.
3. Ditch the double chin
NEVER have someone take your photo from underneath your chin, even if you have a singular one. It's just not a good look. Instead, try this simple trick whereby you simply stretch your neck forward a bit to elongate your chins until they look like one. Don't go overboard where it looks like you're straining, just a gentle push will do the trick.
4. Put on some heels
Listen to me very carefully before you start griping about how you either can't walk in them or you refuse to wear them because they are uncomfortable. NO ONE, I repeat, NO ONE can tell whether or not you can or cannot walk in heels...in a photo or how long you have or haven't been wearing them. I always tell girls to bring their heels and a pair of flats to a shoot. The flats are for walking from place a to place b, but the heels are for when my camera starts clicking. Heels elongate the legs, the calves, the body, everything---especially nude heels. Flats, with shorter dresses where the legs are in view, tend to make legs look stumpy and squat, especially the thicker or more square shaped they are. If you have any sort of cankle action, forget about it, they aren't going to do you any good.
5. Look taller when posing with someone taller
This trick won't work if that other someone is feet taller than you (sorry, taller is taller), but if you are posing with family or friends and you don't want to look like the shortest guy or girl in the bunch, you can obviously have the taller people seated, and you stand, but try this more ingenious optical illusion shown by the likes of One Direction in every photo, they've ever taken practically:
Focus down low for a moment at the feet in this photo. You'll notice that these guys aren't all standing side by side in an even line. Guy on the far left who is one of the shortest in the group, is noticeably (now that you're paying attention to it) standing much further forward then the rest of the guys vs. the member on the far right who is near the back closest to the step-and-repeat. By the guy on the far left standing forward, he's reduced the height difference via optical illusion. If you are the short one, step forward a bit in photos with your slightly taller friends and/or have them step back a bit to get a more of an even height photo of all of you together.
And duh, of course, stand up straight. Haven't managed to do that in years? Well, do this simple trick that will even you out every time. Stand upright, of course, and take a deep breath. As you do, roll your shoulders back a bit and lift the chest.
6. Hide everything with props
The number one most important thing in any portrait, or beauty shot, is the eyes and the face. There is no need for people to see your entire body in order to get a great photo. Use nature, use a bench, a chair, another human being, any and everything to cover up anything else you don't particularly like about yourself. Below, most of the women are covered up by various logs and trees, but it could just as easily be part of a wall that covers your hips, or having a boyfriends arms and legs wrap around you.
7. Wear flattering clothing "to lose weight"
You will never look taller or thinner wearing dumpy clothes that don't fit you right. Look at the insane amount of difference, wearing more tailored, proportional, and properly fitting clothes does for the people below. They didn't have to lose a single pound to get this dramatic difference, just change up their wardrobe a bit to find something that was more suitable to their actual frame. And I'll say it once, twice, a million times...baggy saggy oversized clothing will not make someone bigger look smaller. It will only visually add on more pounds that you don't want or need.
8. Know your angles
Posing head on to the camera with arm/leg compression on top of that, is the least flattering thing you can do because you create a block as we saw up above by sitting straight on to the camera. You want to use your arms and legs as creative leading lines of the body. You can draw attention to a nice clavicle, or your face, or to your waist, by the way your place your arms and legs. Pop those arms, pop your hips, turn your head a bit to the side, angle your body to one side or the other towards the camera. Work...it. Don't just stand there like a lump, because your photos will reflect as much. The more spaces and angles you can create by shaping your body, the more interesting and flattering your photos will look.
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