Mastering The Art Of Poses - Tips From Posing Expert Christine Buzan For Confidence In Photographs

For all of us who always wandered how to make the camera like us.

Damjan

• Published in Interesting
• March 28, 2023

In today's digital age, people often form quick judgments about one another based on the photos they share on social networks. However, these images offer a glimpse into a person's life, interests, and personality and can create a lasting impression on those who view them.

Whether it's a professional headshot or a candid snapshot, photos can shape how others perceive us and can influence how we are treated in our personal and professional lives. Posing for a photograph can be a daunting experience, especially for those who feel self-conscious about their appearance.

However, with the help of posing expert Christine Buzan, anyone can learn to feel more confident in front of the camera. Her 'Photogenic Bootcamp' video series on TikTok offers a range of tips and tricks designed to help individuals look their best in photographs.

Some of Christine's most helpful advice includes tips on body positioning, facial expressions, and clothing choices. For instance, she suggests standing at an angle to the camera and placing one foot slightly in front of the other to create a flattering silhouette. A

Additionally, she advises that individuals try to convey a relaxed and natural expression rather than forcing a smile or pout. Christine also emphasizes the importance of dressing appropriately for the occasion, whether a formal event or a casual gathering with friends.

By choosing clothing that fits well and flatters one's body shape, individuals can feel more confident and at ease in front of the camera. Christine's tips and tricks can help anyone improve their photo-taking skills and feel more confident in their appearance.

By incorporating these techniques into their next photoshoot, individuals can create images that capture their best selves and leave a lasting impression.

1. Christine, an expert in posing, assists individuals in feeling more self-assured during their photo sessions.

2. To share some of her top tips with the online community, she launched a TikTok video series named 'Photogenic Bootcamp'.

3. Create the Illusion of a Smaller Waist

"If you want your waist to look more snatched in photos, listen up because this is my number one tip for minimizing the appearance of a larger waist in photos.

4.

"This is for anyone who feels self-conscious about having a double chin in photos. I'm gonna teach you my four foolproof tips for minimizing the appearance of a double chin in pictures.

5. Why Photos Make You Appear Larger and What You Can Do About It

"This is for anyone who feels like they look way larger in photos than they do in real life. First of all, I wanna start off this video by saying you are not going crazy. This is actually a thing, and it is because of your back camera. I'm gonna teach you all why this happens and how to fix it.

Christine Buzan's expertise in posing for photographs has garnered her a substantial online following. With over 166k followers on Instagram and a staggering 1.3 million fans on TikTok, her tips have proven helpful to countless individuals seeking to improve their photo-taking skills. Her work has also been recognized in various news outlets.

By implementing minor changes to one's body positioning, individuals can create vastly different images, subtly altering how others perceive them. For example, it’s safe to assume that most people would prefer to be seen as confident and capable rather than timid and awkward, and Christine's tips can help achieve this.

6. Tips for Correcting an Awkward Mouth in Photographs

7. Fixing Your Selfie Woes: Tips to Avoid Unflattering Facial Shots

"This is for anyone who feels like their face looks really wide and really weird in selfies. If you've ever felt this way, no, you are not going crazy. This is actually a thing, and today I'm gonna teach you all why this happens and two things that you can do to fix it. chat, or Instagram stories to zoom in to make your face look more normal. So there you have it."

8. Pose like a Pro: Simple Tips to Make Your Photos Look More Natural and Less Awkward.

"If you look awkward in photos, it's probably because you're not posing your shoulders. Today, I'm gonna teach you all an easy way to do this so you can look more photogenic in pictures. So you can look your absolute best in front of the camera. Let's go.

We naturally form instant opinions about others, whether we encounter them in person or view their photos online. This instinctual evaluation occurs both consciously and unconsciously and is an inherent aspect of our human nature. However, how we express these judgments may differ from one person to another.

9. How to Pose to Create the Illusion of Slimmer Arms

"I'm gonna share with you all my four foolproof ways to minimize the appearance of larger arms and photos.

Tip number one, keep your arms away from your body. You can see I'm a bigger girl, so there's a lot to work with. The fat kind of squishes out. When I move it away, it becomes smaller.

Tip number two, stand at a 45 degree angle and roll your shoulders back. When I go 45 degrees and I roll my shoulders back, there's a big difference.

10. Tips for Correcting Your Posture

"There's a good chance that your posture is the number one thing that's ruining your photos. So today, I'm gonna teach you an easy hack to get the perfect posture.

11. How to achieve a Flawless Closed-Mouth Smile in Photographs

"I'm gonna teach you my three favorite tips for getting a perfect closed-mouth smile in photos every single time.

So the key to getting a perfect closed-mouth smile is making sure that the corners of your mouth are going up instead of out. So what I'm gonna teach you today is three different hacks that you can try that will get those muscles of your mouth to go up, which will make your closed-mouth smile look happy and natural.

Several factors have contributed to the increased importance of first impressions in modern society. One of the significant factors is the rise of industrialization and the resulting migration of people to large cities, where anonymity and a lack of personal connections have become more prevalent. As a result, people often form judgments about others based on their appearance and behavior, as they may need the opportunity to get to know them personally.

Additionally, the advent of technology and social media has made it easier for people to form opinions about others based on their online presence. With the widespread use of social networks and online profiles, people often make snap judgments about someone based on their profile picture, bio, and posts.

12. Do you feel insecure in photographs taken while sitting?

"If you feel insecure about the way that your body looks whenever you take sitting photos, I want you to listen up because today I'm gonna teach you the easiest hack.

A lot of the time when we sit down, we lean against the back of the chair or the couch or whatever it is we're sitting on. And the thing is, while this may be comfortable and there's absolutely nothing wrong with sitting this way in real life, I mean I do it all the time, it doesn't really translate that well in photos. As you can see, my torso has virtually disappeared and my midsection is super compressed, which makes it look even wider than it is.

13. Perfecting Your Facial Pose: Tips and Techniques

"This is for anyone who feels like their face looks awkward in pictures, but can't quite figure out why. Because today I'm gonna teach you my number one hack for instantly making your face look more photogenic.

So the reason why a lot of people don't like the way that their face looks in pictures is because they're not positioning their head properly for photos. Let me show you.

14. Do Your Eyes Appear Smaller?

"This is for anyone who feels insecure about their eyes getting really small when they smile for photos. I'm gonna teach you three easy hacks you can do that will keep your eyes open whenever you smile for photos.

Tip number one: when you're smiling for a photo, instead of looking directly at the camera, I want you to first look up and then look directly at whatever you're looking at.

Tip number two: have your photographer count to three. On one, you're gonna look at your photographer smiling. Two, you're going to look down but keep your smile. And at three, you're going to look back up at your photographer.

Finally, tip number three, and this is actually something that I do every single time I smile. I've kind of retrained my mouth to do this because I am a very happy person who likes to smile really, really big, and that is to create space between your teeth when you smile. You're just gonna drop your jaw a little bit and create a little bit of space.

All these steps aside though, I want you to remember one thing. No matter how you smile, your smile is beautiful because in that moment you're expressing happiness and there's literally nothing more wonderful than that. Posing is a fun tool that allows you to express yourself in different ways, but at the end of the day, however you choose to smile is your signature, and you need to own that with confidence."

Sometimes, despite being competent, fun, and skilled in real-life, one's timid demeanor or goofy photo can misrepresent their true personality. Therefore, it's worth reflecting on how others perceive us, the image we portray, and what changes we could make to align our online persona with our true selves.

By making small changes, such as having a good profile picture or improving the quality of selfies, we can curate a more accurate online representation of ourselves. However, it's crucial to remember that relationships are more important than likes and comments on social media. Therefore, while presenting ourselves positively is necessary, we should focus on nurturing meaningful connections with others rather than obsessing over online validation.

15. Simple Trick to Enhance Your Photogenic Appearance

"If you feel like you're awkward in front of the camera, here's the easiest thing you can do to instantly look more photogenic. This is the one thing I want you to remember.

If you're taking pictures and you have no idea what to do, because it will infinitely make you look better and make you look like you know what you're doing, you need to put your weight on your back leg.

Let me show you, for instance, this is what I look like with my weight evenly distributed between both. And this is what it looks like when I step back with one leg. I can keep my foot flat, I can point it or I can bend it from there. But the key thing is that standing with my weight on both legs makes me look flat, bulkier, boxier. And when I break it up, it instantly becomes more visually appealing and my body looks longer.

So there you have it. It's minimal effort, but it gives a really great result and it's really simple to do. So try it out. Let me know what you think."

16. How to Look Great in Full Body Photos

"This is for anyone who feels like they look really weird in full-body photos. Today I'm gonna show you why this happens and I'm gonna teach you the most flattering camera angle that you can use to get photos of yourself that you actually like.

First, I'm gonna have my photographer take three photos from three different angles. One from a camera angle above my head, the second from a lower camera angle around knee height. And the third from a neutral camera angle about chest height. Here's all three. And as you can see, the proportions of my body look vastly different depending on the camera angle.

So a lot of people, women especially, will take photos from a higher camera angle because they like the way that it minimizes the appearance of their double chin. And while it does do this, it also gives the illusion of broader shoulders and a shorter, more compact torso in legs. So basically it makes you look shorter and wider.

By the same token, taking photos from a lower camera angle can make your legs and your torso look longer. But if you tend to carry weight in your thighs or lower belly, that can look larger from this angle. This is because whatever's closest to the camera looks largest, and whatever is furthest away looks smallest. And in this case, your hips and your thighs are what is the closest to the camera lens.

And if you want your photos to look closest to how you look in real life, I recommend having your photographer hold the camera anywhere between your belly button and your chest.

But as always, with taking photos, there is no one size fits all. The key to taking photos is knowing your body and knowing your goals. You have to know what you wanna maximize and what you want to minimize about your body, and then move your camera accordingly. But if you're a beginner who just wants your body's proportions to look as close to real life as possible, it's safe to have your photographer put the camera lens somewhere between your belly button and your chest."

17. How to Find Your Most Flattering Facial Pose

"I'm gonna teach you a super easy hack for finding your face's best angle, so you can look more photogenic.

I'm gonna teach y'all an exercise that you can do. And all you need is your phone, somebody to take your photo, and a sheet of paper.

So to do the paper exercise, you're gonna have someone else take your picture using the back camera. So not the forward-facing camera that you use to take selfies, but the other camera that's on the back of your phone that other people use to take your photo. You're then gonna make sure that whoever's taking your picture has the camera lens at about eye or eyebrow level to you, so it's not too high or not too low. You also wanna make sure that they're holding the camera straight. They're not tilting it toward you or away from you because that distorts the way that your face looks.

And after you have the camera set up, you're going to grab your piece of paper and you're going to cover one side of your face and have them take your photo like this. Then you're gonna repeat this process by covering the other side of your face and have them take your photo. From there, you can look at the photos objectively and you can decide which side of your face you like the most."

18. How to Fix Asymmetrical Eyes in Photographs

"If you're someone who feels like one eye is significantly smaller than the other whenever you smile for photos, I want you to listen up. First of all, you're not alone. This is something that's really common. All of us have different levels of asymmetry in our faces, and we tend to notice it more when we smile for photos. So today I'm gonna teach you the three common reasons why this happens and what you can do to make it less visible.

So the first reason why one of your eyes could be smaller in photos is actually the most common, and that's because of the muscles that are stronger on that side, and for a lot of us, this tends to be our dominant eye. Think of when you're lying in bed, reading something in the dark you'll close one eye and look with the other eye. The eye that you're looking with tends to be the one that's stronger for most people.

The second reason why this happens is due to ptosis or drooping of the eyelid. Many of us don't realize that one of our eyelids slightly droops more than the other one until we take photos. And this becomes really apparent when we're smiling and one eye becomes more engaged than the other.

Finally, the third reason is because of lens compression. Our phone's cameras are absolutely terrible.

So let's go back to reasons one and two, and I'm gonna teach you how to make it less visible in photography. Whatever's closest to the camera looks largest, and whatever is farthest away look smallest. To trick the viewer into thinking that your smaller eye is larger, you are going to angle your face toward the camera with the smallest eye closest to the lens.

And the truth of all of this is that nobody is really as focused on your eye size as you are. Most people just see you, they see a beautiful photo and then they move on. So really don't stress out about it too much. Just enjoy taking the photo and have fun."

19. What to Do with Your Hands

"If you feel like you're super awkward and have no idea what to do with your hands, whenever you take photos, this is for you. Today, I'm gonna teach you one easy hack so you'll always know what to do with your hands whenever the camera comes out.

When it comes to posing your hands for photos, everybody and their mother is going to be talking about creating triangles. Basically create triangles within your pose. And while this is really great for adding visual interest to your pose, it can look a little stiff horse and boring.

So here's the trick to posing your hands to make your photos look more natural. Always give your hands something to do. The first way to do this is by evaluating your outfit. What can my hands do with my outfit? I can put one hand in my pocket. I can put my fingers through my belt loop. I can adjust my collar either with one hand or using both hands. I could pull my pants up if I wanted, so put my hands here. Since I have long hair, I can adjust my hair. If I had a watch, I could adjust my watch. I could be playing with the cuff of my shirt or adjusting my cuff links. So essentially the first thing you need to do is evaluate your outfit and see how your hands can play with whatever it is you're wearing.

The next thing you can do is think about incorporating props. For instance, I can pose with a drink in my hand. Or I can incorporate my bag and pose by holding it in front of me, swinging it back and forth, or even wearing it. And if you have sunglasses, you can put them on your head and hold them. You can hold them with one hand or you can adjust them on your face. The options are really endless, but the secret is giving your hands something to do so you look more natural."

20. How to pose for Photos and Make Your Eyes Look More Vibrant

"If you're someone who feels like your eyes look crazy in photos, whether you get completely dead eyes or you get a deer-in-the-headlights expression, I want you to listen up because today I'm gonna teach you the easiest way to get a perfect smize in photos every single time. And in case for some reason you don't know what smize means, it's a term that Tyra Banks came up with in the early 2000s. That means smile with your eyes. Basically, it's the thing that makes your smile look happy instead of creepy.

First of all, getting the perfect smize is challenging and is going to take a lot of practice because everyone's face is different and controlling the muscles on your face is a really hard thing to learn how to do. You're going to have to try it a couple of times before you get the hang of it.

So I know that this is gonna sound a little bit crazy, but I found that the key to getting the perfect smize is to pretend that you're at the grocery store, scanning an aisle for the kind of cereal that you want. So you know you're looking through the aisle, you're trying to find the cereal that you want. You're not looking like you forgot your contact lenses or your readers at home. But instead, you're just kind of focusing. You're looking with great intensity.

So then if you're finding that your eyes look too intense or they're too closed, you can focus, look up, then look directly at your subject. And that's gonna give you that same kind of warmth and smize without having your eyes closed.

I know that this is a little bit of an abstract lesson, and I'm not an oculist, a kinesiologist or a physiologist, so it's a little bit challenging to describe the motions that go on within the muscles that surround the eye."

21. Capturing the Perfect Smile in Photos

"You feel like your smile looks bad in photos? I'm gonna teach you how to get a perfect smile in photos every single time.

First of all, if you grew up in the United States like I did, you were probably taught to say cheese whenever the camera came out. But here's the thing, the movement that your mouth makes when you say the word cheese makes your smile go out instead of up, which makes it look awkward and strained instead of happy and natural. So I'm gonna teach you three different words that you can say instead of cheese to get a picture-perfect smile.

So the first word that you can use to get a picture-perfect smile is actually my personal favorite. I found it works best for me as well as most of the students that I coach. And that is saying the word money.

The second word you can say, instead of cheese is allegedly Oprah's favorite, and that's saying the word 'Yay'.

Finally, the third word you can try out is the word yoga.

So to figure out which word works best for you, I want you to record yourself saying them, and then when you play them back, I really want you to pay attention to the way that your mouth muscles move. When you say those words, once you decide which one you like the most, you can then practice it so that way the next time the camera comes out, you'll be ready with a perfect smile."

22. How to Stop Squinting in Photos

"This is for anyone who feels like their eyes are always closed in pictures. I'm gonna teach y'all why this happens and two things you can do to fix it.

First, let's talk about why this is happening. If your eyes are always closed in photos, there's a good chance that your eyes are bracing for light, whether that's through natural light, you're taking photos during midday and there's a bunch of sunlight, or because you're taking photos with flash so your eyes are squinting and bracing for that light to hit them.

So here are two tips to help you fix it for the next time you take photos. Tip number one: So you're gonna have your photographer count to three. You're gonna have your eyes open on one, you're gonna blink them on two, and you're gonna open them back up on three. This tip works really well for a lot of people, but if it doesn't work for you, you can always try tip number two, which works especially if you're taking photos with a flash.

So for tip number two, what you're going to do is instead of looking at the camera lens, you are gonna look at your photographer's forehead. So you're gonna look a little bit higher than the camera lens and the flash. This will make your eyes bigger, so if you do squint, it won't be as noticeable. And also the flash won't get in your eyes as much and you won't get red eyes in your photos. Also, psychologically, it's a lot less intimidating for people to look at another person than it is to look at a camera, so it just kind of works out a little bit better. So try it out."

23. Here's how some individuals perceived Christine's guidance.

24. Great tips

25. People love her energy

A beautiful photo can make a positive first impression and enhance self-esteem and confidence. In contrast, an unflattering photo can negatively affect one's image and confidence.

Therefore, taking the time to curate a visually appealing photo can have a significant impact on one's personal and professional life. However, it's important to remember that building genuine relationships with others should remain a top priority.

Damjan