A lesson for passersby-gone-photographers

It’s every girl’s worst nightmare.

You’re in a unique photographable moment — your friends are all reunited, you happened to bump into Mayor Emanuel on the street, you’re wearing the same outfit as your boss — so you hand the camera to a stranger to take your picture. He takes the camera, and before you have time to react — he’s crouching down to take your picture at just the right angle.

It might have been better if the stranger just stole your camera.

Strangers of the world — if you take nothing away from my blog except one thing, let it be this: Taking a picture of a person from a low angle is the equivalent of feeding her six bacon cheeseburgers for the amount of chins you’re adding to her face.

With the assistance of my lovely models, Karli, Alyssa, and Daniel, I now present to you…

How To and How Not To Take a Photo of a Person

Bad:

When Daniel has to crouch down to the floor to take a photo, you know you’re in trouble.

The result is a distorted view of my beautiful friends:

Big big big no-no.

Better:

You might think, okay, if a low angle is bad, then a high angle must be great. Good thing Daniel is the tallest human being I know.

The result is better, but still not ideal.

The girls look much better, and for some people, sometimes this angle looks the best.

Best:

But in real life, you look at people from eye level. That’s how you should take your photos.

And the result is as beautiful as Karli and Alyssa are.

So, in case you need another visual to drive the point home…

Thanks for listening, future passersby-gone-photographers. The next time you happen to be around when I need my picture taken, I will appreciate it.

About these ads