I don’t consider myself a photogenic person. I don’t particularly like looking at pictures of myself. Every once in a while, there will be a picture I find acceptable, but most pictures of me I’d rather ignore. Despite how I see myself, I do have friends and those people look at me every day. They don’t seem to mind what I look like. However, my friends don’t really take a lot of pictures in general, so there is a dearth of pictures of me. I wouldn’t have thought it was such a bad thing, but I’ve recently felt a need to change that.
At one end of the spectrum, you have people that love to see themselves, love to take pictures of themselves, and love to have other people see them. We all know someone like this and usually they fit a certain personality stereotype. It’s not necessarily a bad stereotype, but one nonetheless. At the other end of the spectrum is where I was – no pictures to speak of, and the ones I had didn’t really show me as I wanted to be seen. This lends itself to a different personality stereotype, mostly a negative one. You can say “I’m just private”, but the actual message is “I don’t do anything worth sharing with anyone.” That needs to change.
Just to be clear, the only people I will show my face is to trusted people – that means only my selected friends on Facebook. I’ve made the mistake once of showing myself to the Internet and it didn’t end well. So, by choosing the audience, there’s a certain level of acceptance already. The next thing to do is to get some good pictures.
The secret to getting a good picture? Get a couple dozen bad pictures. Seriously. For every picture I post, I toss at least ten that don’t look the way I want. That’s what the pros do; why shouldn’t I do the same? I’ve discarded every picture from a shoot because I didn’t like any of them. When you take a picture, don’t take a picture, take a dozen. Move slightly in each one; different expressions; angles; hand positions. As ridiculous as it may seem, you have to learn to be a model.
As you build these mountains of photos, you may initially hate all of them. Then you may see one that catches your eye and makes you stop. That is your new base standard. Now you don’t have to waste any time on anything that doesn’t look as attractive at that one photo. Things then get a little harder from a composition standpoint, but easier from a review standpoint. And as you do this exercise more and more, you will begin to notice the features that are unique to you and what makes you attractive – because everyone is attractive in some way, otherwise, you wouldn’t have any friends.
And here’s the number one secret for photos if you are self-conscience: couple shots, and to a slightly lesser degree, group shots. Let’s say you and/or your significant other hate having your picture taken, but at the same time, you find your partner very attractive and would love to have his or her picture. You simply take a couple shot. Upon viewing, each of you will only look at the other person, because that is where your attraction is. Don’t have a significant other? Get in a group. And look like you’re having fun, even if you’re faking it.
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