Naturally Photogenic

By Heather Joy Roth



7 in 10 women and 3 in 10 men avoid having their picture taken according to the research published by Samsung Cameras in June, 2008. It seems everyone is afraid of how they look in photographs. Some people seem to be born with the gift of being photogenic, but all it takes are some simple tricks of the trade. Anybody can hide flaws, appear slimmer and look naturally radiant when they learn to work with the camera. Try out these tips to look your best in photos -

To Hide A Double Chin

Position yourself so that the camera is a little above your eye level.
This will hide a double chin effectively. You can also rest your tongue against the roof of your mouth. Tilting the head slightly back also makes a nose appear slimmer while reducing double chins. Practice different poses in the mirror until you feel comfortable and confident.

Don't Say "Cheese"

Many people end up looking awkward because they freeze into expressions with "say cheese". Take a breath in and relax. Don't hold your breath, as you will look tense. Photographs that capture people in natural, relaxed and spontaneous poses are far more visually impacting than a frozen smile.

Happy Thoughts

When posing for a photograph, think of a funny moment that will make you laugh or smile. A forced smile looks unrealistic, and a big grin that is posed runs the risk of looking fake.

For Women

If you know you will be photographed, wear colors that complement your hair color and skin tone. Blondes should wear lavender and soft blue, Brunettes shine in camel, gold and dark brown and Redheads look good in peach, golden yellow and golden brown. Do not wear heavy makeup, just enhance natural beauty and make sure to powder the T-Zone (the top of the nose and forehead) as oiliness will show up in pictures.

Posing Techniques

Look slightly above the camera when the picture is taken. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis always applied this technique for photographs. It helps reduce the "red eye" effect.

For a full-length shot, position your body 45 degrees from the camera, then turn your head towards the camera. Stand with one foot crossed in front of the other and put weight on your back leg. This pose is very slimming . Paris Hilton and many top celebrities pose like this to look super slim. Stand up straight. Having a good posture will visually shed ten pounds off your body. Ladies, Stand with your hand on hip, twisting your torso towards the camera lens, this accentuates a slim waist.

Go Digital = Go Green!

Green mentality is taking over, at least at the personal level. Everyone I know favors products packaged in recyclable materials, buys energy-saving electric bulbs and rechargeable batteries, tells ConEdison to switch them to an alternative energy supplier, etc.

I am proud to say that I created paperless work environment for myself five years ago. It took some effort to get into the habit of charting down those notes-to-self on the computer screen instead of paper and saving digital copies of magazine articles, but it was totally worth it: I can always find them. My aspiration was an efficient work environment but, as a side effect, I reduced my carbon footprint too.

This is a logical chain: by being more efficient, you waste less and become greener. Technology makes us more efficient, so technology can make us less wasteful, especially digital technology.

I realize that by saying this I make a lot of enemies among the defenders of analog photography, and you would think that quite familiar with digital post production.

Digital is more efficient, it’s a fact. You can shoot thousands of pictures with no additional expense and then weed out the bad ones, view them on your computer screen in full format without printing and have them retouched right away by yourself or through online service like PhotoHand’s service;-) No emulsion or chemistry, no scanners, enlargers, timers and darkroom supplies, no transporting. You are not only saving your time – you are saving the environment.

Online proofing is another way to save on time, expenses and environmentally. Instead of 400 cheap prints that poorly represent your work, post your photos on the Web in a FREE online storage. Your clients would be able to review the proofs and give you directions before you have invested in post-production. I usually recommend our photographer clients to check out MediaFire.com that offers unlimited storage with up to 100MB per file and image galleries for free. If you know of a comparable service, let us know and we’ll spread the word for the good cause.

Phishing for Photographers

Any photographer would get excited by the chance to buy a camera for a tenth of its regular price. Well, when you see such a deal on eBay, this is most probably a phishing scam. (If you don't know, phishing is a criminal activity with the aim of obtaining people's financial information, social security numbers, credit card info, passwords.) Hacker mobs find ways to hijack legitimate sellers' account, especially if such accounts have been dormant for some time, and post their own ads with lucrative offers. They even provide a contact address that is fake or randomly selected. How to avoid being scammed? The old rule applies - if it's too good to be true, it most probably is.

Such scams have been known for a while. Now, just yesterday we received a phishing sample that is quite new to us but it does remind so-called "Nigerian letters" that say you have won an international lottery or asks you to help release a large sum of money inherited by someone and a percentage in return. This is an ancient form of phishing that pre-dates the Internet.

Scams like this target everyone. But there seem to be customized versions of such scams targeting particular groups of people. There are postings on business forums where multiple victims complain they have paid thousands of dollars for submitting an application to receive financing from VC firms.

The letter that we received targets photographers. Being a photography post production company, we were not familiar with this new scam genre and forwarded the email to one of our old clients, who replied that she has been receiving such emails for a while. We decided to post the entire letter so that you would recognize a phishing "inquiry" if you get one. There are at least six distinctive markings of a scam here: it’s too good to be true, it’s too wordy and has too much personal detail aimed at establishing credibility, "I am looking for the BEST" – an old-time classic to flatter you, name-dropping by specifying a modeling agency that exists, a hazy excuse "I could have making this a phone order but", plenty of errors. See for yourself:

My name is Laura Baldwin a model with UK Model Management Company But Presently am in Essex,North London on a modeling contract which i hope to be back home soon to join my fiance which lives in LA.My Husband's name's Bruce and I are planning to have our wedding on Sept. 27th,2008 @
Millennium Biltmore Hotel 506 South Grand Avenue LA,I am looking for the best Photographer who will come and photo shot on the D-day and when i came across your advert i was impressed.

Let me know your price charges for your required services if you are to give me the below packages on that day with full coverage of both the church and reception and of both the bride and the bridegroom,their parents,the officiating ministers and our guests:

1 CD with all your edited photos, High Resolution (100-400 Images)
1 16X20
1 DVD Slide show, 50 photos
1 12X18 Leather or Suede Coffee Table Album (24 sides)
2 5X7 Leather or Suede Coffee Table Albums (24 sides)

We will want you to work for at least 6 Hours at both occasion and if you are out of party venue,we will pay the transportation charges to and from the party venue .Also,we will have the videos at the wedding forwarded to the Publisher of a celebrity magazine here in Essex,UK so they could feature it in their celebrity weekly Mag.

I could have making this a phone order but there is a little problem with the network of the state so bear with me in a couple of days.

Expected guest count: ~105.
Ceremony start time: ~10:00am, And you could probably leave after cocktail hour, which would probably end around 4:00pm .

Thanks and hope to hear from you soon.

B.Rgds.

Laura Baldwin.

What to do if you receive such a letter? Ignore and delete. Or, if you are not lazy, report it to the US federal cybercrime site at http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/ or to the Anti-Phishing Working Group - http://www.antiphishing.org.

Doctored Photos Can Alter Memories

Doctored photos can easily change viewers' recollections of significant historic events, shows a study of 299 subjects aged 19 to 84. Researchers at the University of California, Irvine and the University of Padua in Italy showed study participants pictures of either the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest or a 2003 anti-war protest in Rome. Some of the pictures were genuine, while others had been digitally altered. After viewing the photos, participants answered questions about the events pictured.

Researchers found that when photos of the anti-war protest were altered to look more violent than in real life, participants recalled more physical confrontation, injuries and property damage. They also reported feeling less inclined to participate in future protests. When the famous photo of a lone protestor standing before advancing tanks during the Tiananmen Square protests was altered to include crowds of people on either side, study participants likewise recalled many more people having been in proximity to the tanks.

In a related study published in the same journal, researchers showed that accompanying photos can alter readers' understanding of a news story. In this case, participants edited a news study about a hurricane-affected region accompanied by a photo of the village before or after the hurricane. Although the article made no mention of injury or death, 32 percent of participants who viewed "after" photos recalled having read information about death and injury, compared to just nine percent of those who saw a "before" photo.