I’m a Photographer and These Are the 3 Things You Should Avoid Doing in Photos

When I first started my photography education, one of the first things the course instructor told us was that we should never have our subjects lace their fingers together. “They look like slugs!” She practically screamed.

This applies both for solo shots—no Wall Street power-player interlaced fingers—and in couples’ pictures, where interlacing fingers make the fingers look prominently sluggish. There is nothing romantic about that, I assure you.

• What to do instead: Opt for overlapping fingers. (If you’re posing by yourself, this is almost like princess hands, if you will, but more relaxed instead of Caravaggio-esque.) Or better yet, hold something so your hands have a task. Hold your blazer lapel, your skirt, the fence you’re standing next to, your drink, even your kid.

I see this all the time: people “popping” one leg (aka bending one knee) to add the very desirable S-curve to their body shape. They’re on the right track, but often I’ve seen people popping the wrong leg, putting all their weight on the leg that is closer to the camera. This causes the leg to (very naturally and normally) spread to accommodate the weight, thus making it look larger. And again, if we’re playing into the (unfortunate) culture beauty standard of skinny, this is not helping the cause. 

• What to do instead: Reverse the weight—put your weight on your back leg and “pop” the front leg. Relieving the weight will “slim” it out. This also applies when you sit and cross your legs. The leg that is close to the camera should be crossed over the leg that is farther away.

Many of us have a “shrinking” gut reaction when faced with a camera. We acutely feel its gaze and try to contract ourselves like a little snail. This leads to looking tense and squished. One of the ways this usually manifests itself is by pulling our arms to our sides, a logical reaction that makes us feel safe and provides comfort. But when you squish your arms against your sides, they spread and look wider. And I can assure you that no matter how “pretty” someone is, their arm will still look “bad” (according to cultural beauty standards) splayed out and flat like roadkill against their torso.

• What to do instead: I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. The teapot pose may live in Y2K infamy, but it does work if you are bereft of any other ideas. You can level it up with what PureWow beauty director Jenny Jin refers to as the “raptor” pose, or what I like to call “princess” hands. Hold your hands in front of you like you’re holding a purse and pull your elbows out gently away from your torso.