I always get bad in the pictures. Why are we bad at photos?

Date: 02.08.2019

More than 150 years ago, on August 19, 1839, the French chemist and inventor Louis Jacques Daguerre made a revolutionary discovery - he received the first ever daguerreotype picture using mercury and several silver-plated metal plates. So in the art world has become one direction more - there was a photograph.

Since then, on August 19, photographers and models, photojournalists and photo artists celebrate their professional holiday - International Photography Day. In honor of this date, the MIR 24 correspondent talked with experienced lens masters and found out what photogenicity is, how to avoid the most common mistakes in the frame and to get pictures well without the help of editors and filters.

*Become beautiful without Photoshop *

“Sometimes I look at photographs with me and I can’t believe it: do I really look so terrible in life? Everything seems to be normal in the mirror, but no matter how you look at the picture, the chin breaks, then the cheeks come from somewhere, then the legs are in different directions, ”the voice from behind sounds indignant, irritated and offended. Immediately clear - pent.

For the sake of interest, I turn around and examine my fellow traveler: a pretty girl with beautiful hair, tanned skin, and regular features. And yes, life is much more attractive than on any of your Instagram photos or videos. This is some kind of wrong magic that photographers call the code word "photogenicity."

“Photogenicity - the ability to make photographs better than in life - is not an innate quality, but a whole set of factors, for example, plasticity of facial features, light staging, confidence and energy with which a person works in front of the camera. Of course, it is easier for photographers, stylists and makeup artists to work with a “sculpted face” - brightly defined cheekbones, even skin without defects, expressive eyes and puffy lips on a thin face, but you can become a “camera favorite” with absolutely any appearance, even one that doesn't fits into the generally accepted framework, ”says professional photographer Anna Potapova.

Before any photo shoot, whether it’s a wedding, beach or work shooting, she advises taking a little time to prepare. The first thing to do is to properly examine your own body and face in front of the mirror.

“The structure of our face is asymmetric in itself, but this asymmetry is different for each person: someone has a disproportionate length of the wings of the nose, someone has an atypical section of the eyes, scars and unusual moles or skin pigmentation. In a personal conversation with a person, we may not catch these details, but the camera will “notice” and emphasize all the features. Almost all of them can be turned into advantages, ”adds Anna.

In front of the camera, try to relax the muscles of the face and not show too active facial expressions. It’s better not to direct your eyes directly at the lens, but look 1-2 centimeters higher, for example, on the photographer’s forehead. It’s best to place your face half-way in relation to the camera, opening a smile no more than 3/4 - in a natural state, we smile that way. When portraying girls, it is good to distinguish the neck - if it is covered by a scarf, magnificent hair or the angle in motion, the figure becomes overweight and loses its visual plasticity.

Removing the "clamps" and working on bugs

Having studied the features of your face, you can begin to practice: pick up and work out the most comfortable, convenient and beneficial angles and poses in front of the mirror. Alisa Zerkalova, a professional photographer, the creator of her own school of photography and the course of photography for plus size models, shows how her pose can correct the figure of her model using her work as an example.

“It often happens that girls who come for the first time to a photo shoot are internally pinched, suddenly they don’t understand how to manage and control their body and what to do with this body. A strong tension of muscles and joints appears, and an inexperienced model thinks that it is not photogenic in itself and does not work well in photography, ”Alice shares.

However, according to the photographer, such a stressful reaction is completely normal for those who are not used to working with the camera: “Just imagine: you constantly live in a relaxed“ unconscious ”state, your body is in autopilot mode, and you, of course, do not watch how your knees move when you sit down, how your hands behave, when you pick up a mug of tea, and you certainly do not notice your facial expressions. In ordinary life, you don’t see it and you can only guess what your face looks like when you are angry, laughing or suddenly thinking. ” Alice advises her models to overcome the “wooden” state by completely relaxing the body so that the hands on the frame do not look like “chicken legs”, and in pursuit of the “model” pose, the legs do not merge with each other:

“It is important to remember that any pose in which there is tension - whether it is widely spread fingers or tightly compressed fingers, too straight back or closed lips - spoils the frame. In life, our hands are free and relaxed (the joints are straight and strained only when we lean on something and bear weights), the shoulders are lowered, the back is slightly rounded. So - calm and lively - your posture in the photograph should also remain, ” advises Alice.

But besides the tension during the shooting, there are also basic mistakes that should not be made either when you photograph yourself, or when you find yourself in a strange lens:

"She covered her tummy." Many girls, complexing about their weight, like to put their hands to the problematic part of the body, for example, the stomach, as if covering it. At the same time, few people understand that hands are one of the first that the viewer notices in the picture. “This is the basis for advertising any product,” the photographer recalls. “When a girl advertises handbags, perfumes, jewelry or even a stove, she will always drive her hands around the goods, touch it, shift it, stroke it. Now imagine what people will see under your arms on your stomach? It is the problem zone in the figure. ”

"Hands" glued "to the body." Another common mistake that can be seen in all wedding and almost all individual photographs is hands firmly pressed to the body or “glued” by the palms to the hips. In this position, the forearm and axillary zone in women and men does not look very aesthetically pleasing, it is much better to put put your hand in your pocket, lean it against one hip, straighten your hair, put your hands behind your head or pick up an object (bouquet, scarf), lean on the wall, handrail or chair.

Square shoulders. Remember family photos where you are hugged tightly on the shoulders left and right, and you yourself look like a pumped-up athlete? When photographing girls and women (especially with a large bust), it is better to remember that the shoulders cannot be held parallel to the plane of the picture: this way they turn out to be overweight and very heavy on the figure. If your face looks directly into the lens, then it is better to turn your shoulders and hips a little sideways, and put your hands freely along the body. This pose favorably emphasizes the waist, neck and décolleté.

Light and color

Lecturer at the Sony Academy of Photography and Ambassador in Russia Sergey Gavrilov also notes that lighting is an equally important component of a beautiful shot, and not only the photographer, but also the model can control it.

“Hard side light emphasizes the volume and structure of the face - wrinkles, relief and any defects will be visible in the palm of your hand. To emphasize dignity in such coverage is either luck or great professionalism. At the same time, soft diffused lighting from above, for example, under a cloudy sky, highlights the nose, cheekbones, leaving eyes in the shade and creating dark circles under them, ”the photographer shares.

According to the professional, in the ideal version it is better to go on set early in the morning or at sunset, when the sun is low and does not shine from above. In this case, the finished image will have many warm colors, and the model will be in the "winning light".

The main thing is to be in front of the camera as much as possible and get pleasure from the shooting process without worrying that you will be caught somewhere or not standing up too well - that is why not one or two photos are taken, but more than a hundred photos in one session.

In the 21st century, it seems that all possible tools have already been invented for successful photographs: professional cameras, pocket photo editors for phones, selfie sticks, filters that narrow down what needs to be narrowed and expand what one can be proud of, countless programs with cat masks, dogs, bunnies and other fabulous creatures. As a result, the Internet is flooded with selfies of people with perfect facial features and flawless figures.

That is why many photographers consider the study of the basics of photoposition and the rules of the location of the body in front of the camera important for both models and photographers. Compliance with these rules gives freedom of creativity, easy contact of the photographer with the model and a 100% guarantee of obtaining a beautiful frame and positive emotions.

Because you and your photo are two completely different objects.

The fact is that photooptics, due to its natural physical properties, distorts the visible image. The mathematical linear perspective that the lens creates does not match the way we see with our eyes.

Spherical aberration

The spherical aberration (distortion) obtained by the camera matrix after the lenses of the lens is very significant. In fact, if we exaggerate a bit, looking at the photo, we see our reflection on the side of the round Tula samovar.

Our face is, as it were, "pouted." These shortcomings are inherent in varying degrees and the simplest and most advanced photographic equipment.

Flat image

We know ourselves as a three-dimensional three-dimensional object. Looking in the mirror, we actually help our senses to “perceive” ourselves as surround. We turn in front of him to appreciate the fullness of the picture, and we are convinced at the same time - yes, we are voluminous! A photograph is a flat, static image obtained by projection through man-made, and therefore imperfect, optics.

Scientists conducted an experiment: representatives of the "wild" tribe were shown photographs of well-known types of terrain and photographs of their fellow tribesmen. The locals and their acquaintances the natives refused to recognize, they learned only some details, refusing to get acquainted with the whole picture. The authors of the experiment came to the conclusion that we are the fruits of the development of European civilization, taught from childhood to identify linear-perspective pictures with the voluminous world known to us. The savage who does not have this skill knows nothing about this binding, and therefore could not correlate the flat picture with the real world.

Static image

In the photo there is no dynamics of our body. These are characteristic movements, facial expressions and other, often hardly perceptible, living parts of a person’s image. You have noticed how much more attractive the actors in the movie or on the TV screen than on the pages of the magazine. Because all the charm of a person is all of it: lively, mobile, which you can touch, hear. All this, unfortunately, does not fit into the photograph.

Natural asymmetry

There is one more point that many people notice when looking at a photograph. The human body is asymmetric. Our halves are not made according to patterns. This is clearly visible, if you look at your own hands, they are completely different. All the same with the halves of the face: eyes, ears, cheeks, etc. do not look like their own pair, and this is absolutely natural. The asymmetry imperceptible in life becomes apparent on the flat surface of the photograph, and this is shocking news for many.

Pay attention to the given example: one and the same person, but with the help of the graphic program in the second photo the face is “mirrored”. These are different people!

Photo for documents

“If you look like a photograph in your passport, you should go on vacation!”
(folk wisdom)

Believe me, there is no global conspiracy of evil photographers who sleep and see how terrible it would be to take you for a pass or passport :)

It’s just that the requirements for such photographs by government bodies are very strict - the complete absence of facial expressions, the view is strictly in the face, certain lighting that does not allow you to hide minor flaws, etc. Many departments of the OVIR require that the ears and line on the photo for the passport Eyebrows were always open - they are not interested in your hairstyle!

The photographs in the documents carry a technical burden - according to them, border guards, customs officers, and employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs should clearly identify you. That is why artistic retouching is forbidden: you cannot finish what is not, or, conversely, remove the "superfluous".

But we will always meet you if you need to remove something “temporary”: a pimple that didn’t jump out on time, a bruise earned yesterday in an honest battle, or the consequences of meeting a wild cat :)

Since then, on August 19, photographers and models, photojournalists and photo artists celebrate their professional holiday. In honor of this date, the MIR 24 correspondent talked with experienced lens masters and found out what photogenicity is, how to avoid the most common mistakes in the frame and to get pictures well without the help of editors and filters.

Become beautiful without Photoshop

“Photogenicity - the ability to make photographs better than in life - is not an innate quality, but a whole set of factors, for example, the setting of light, the confidence and the energy that a person works with in front of the camera. Of course, it is easier for photographers, stylists and makeup artists to work with a “sculpted face” - brightly defined cheekbones, even skin without defects, expressive eyes and puffy lips on a thin face, but you can become a “camera favorite” with absolutely any appearance, even one that doesn't fits into the generally accepted framework, ”says professional photographer Anna Potapova.

Before any photo shoot, whether it’s a wedding, beach or work shooting, she advises taking a little time to prepare. The first thing to do is to properly face the front of the mirror.

In front of the camera, try to relax the muscles of the face and not show too active facial expressions. It’s better not to direct your eyes directly at the lens, but look 1-2 centimeters higher, for example, on the photographer’s forehead. It’s best to place your face half-way in relation to the camera, opening a smile no more than 3/4 - in a natural state, we smile that way. When portraying girls, it is good to distinguish the neck - if it is covered by a scarf, magnificent hair or the angle in motion, the figure becomes overweight and loses its visual plasticity.

Removing the "clamps" and working on bugs

Alice advises her models to overcome the “wooden” state by completely relaxing the body so that the hands on the frame do not look like “chicken legs”, and in pursuit of the “model” pose, the legs do not merge with each other:

“It is important to remember that any pose in which there is tension - whether it is widely spread fingers or tightly compressed fingers, too straight back or closed lips - spoils the frame. In life, our hands are free and relaxed (joints are straight and tense only when we lean on something and bear weights), shoulders are lowered, and the back is slightly rounded. This - calm and lively - should remain your pose in the photograph, ”Alice advises.

But besides the tension during the shooting, there are also basic mistakes that should not be made either when you photograph yourself, or when you find yourself in a strange lens:

"She covered her tummy." Many girls, complexing about their weight, like to put their hands to the problematic part of the body, for example, the stomach, as if covering it. At the same time, few people understand that hands are one of the first that the viewer notices in the picture. “This is the basis for advertising any product,” the photographer recalls. According to her, when a girl advertises handbags, perfumes, jewelry or even a stove, she will always drive her hands around the goods, touch it, shift it, stroke it. Now imagine what people will see under your arms on your stomach? It is the problem area in the figure.
"Hands" glued "to the body."Another common mistake that can be seen in all wedding and almost all individual photographs is hands firmly pressed to the body or “glued” by the palms to the hips. In this position, the forearm and axillary zone in women and men does not look very aesthetically pleasing, it is much better to put put your hand in your pocket, lean it against one hip, straighten your hair, put your hands behind your head or pick up an object (bouquet, scarf), lean on the wall, handrail or chair.
Square shoulders. Remember family photos where you are hugged tightly on the shoulders left and right, and you yourself look like a pumped-up athlete? When photographing girls and women (especially with a large bust), it is better to remember that the shoulders cannot be held parallel to the plane of the picture: this way they turn out to be overweight and very heavy on the figure. If your face looks directly into the lens, then it is better to turn your shoulders and hips a little sideways, and put your hands freely along the body. This pose favorably emphasizes the waist, neck and décolleté.

Light and color

Lecturer at the Academy of Photography and Ambassador of Sony in Russia Sergey Gavrilov also notes that no less important component of a beautiful picture is lighting, and not only the photographer can adjust it, but also.

“Hard side light emphasizes the volume and structure of the face - wrinkles, relief and any defects will be visible in the palm of your hand. To emphasize dignity in such coverage is either luck or great professionalism. At the same time, soft diffused lighting from above, for example, under a cloudy sky, highlights the nose, cheekbones, leaving eyes in the shade and creating dark circles under them, ”the photographer shares.

“Photo hack from the point of view of lighting - point the tip of the nose towards the light source to get rid of unnecessary shadows and relief. From the point of view of the “shooting point”: if you are posing at full height, ask the photographer not to take pictures from eye level. Let him “fall” to his knees - so the figure will be slimmer. But from this angle there is a nuance - a double chin may be noticeable, ”warns Sergey. The main thing is to be in front of the camera as much as possible and get pleasure from the shooting process without worrying that you will be caught somewhere or not standing up too well - that is why not one or two photos are taken, but more than a hundred photos in one session.

But like many years ago, the basis of beautiful photography is not filters and editors, but the right pose of the model and the right angle from the side of the photographer. With this approach, you don’t have to resort to plastic in Photoshop. That is why many photographers consider the study of the basics of photoposition and the rules of the location of the body in front of the camera important for both models and photographers. Compliance with these rules gives freedom of creativity, easy contact of the photographer with the model and a 100% guarantee of obtaining a beautiful frame and positive emotions.

Nadezhda Serezhkina