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How to be Photogenic

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Haylie G. Levin Student Contributor, University of Arizona
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Yael Schusterman Student Contributor, University of Arizona
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Arizona chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

A camera can be your best friend and your worst enemy.  You can take 20 pictures of yourself at a party and manage to look red, sweaty, and double-chinned in 18 of them.  But there is always those one or two accidental pictures in the group that you look like you just hopped out of a magazine.  Follow this guide to a good picture, and you will never have a shortage of facebook profile pictures again.  

1) Make like Paris Hilton, and strike a pose- You’d be surprised what the perfect alignment of your body can do for a picture.  With the right hand placement, head angle and positioning, you can look red carpet ready even in sweats. If your not careful you can end up looking like a slumped over mess.  First thing you want to do is angle your body three quarters towards the camera, with one shoulder closer to the camera and lean back on your foot.  This sounds awkward, but most girls actually do this naturally.  This pose will make you look slimmer, while making your legs look longer.  Another thing to remember if you want to slim down your arms is to put the hand of the arm that is facing the camera on your hips, diva style.  

2) Slim that double chin- You could be doing everything right below the neck, and still end up looking like miss piggy in your pictures.  There is nothing more embarrassing than having 15 chins in your photos.  Lucky for you, there is an easy fix to that.  Make sure the camera is above you or at eyelevel.  You could also slightly tilt your head, or rest your tongue against the roof of your mouth.  I kid you not, it works. 

3) Fix your tomato face- When your having fun, your endorphins and adrenalin spike, leaving you with a shiny red face in your pictures.  An easy fix for this is cosmetics. Makeup goes a long way in fixing even the worst blemishes.  Before you leave, make sure to evenly apply some full coverage foundation to your face, and finish it with a matte powder.  This will keep your face from looking too red.  As for the shininess, throw the powder in your purse and apply it a couple times throughout the night.  There is nothing worse then feeling like people can see a reflection of themselves in your skin. 

4) Relax- A lot of people tend to freeze up in front of a camera.  This is the reason why so many pictures end up looking like a stiff 6th grade school picture.  You want to look like your having fun, not like someone is holding a gun to your back forcing you to smile.  So take a deep breath to relieve all of your tension, and as you exhale think happy thoughts, and smile.  This will result in you looking relaxed, happy, and photogenic. 

5) Smize!- Tyra Banks taught us all that if there is no warmth in your eyes, your picture will come out flat and boring.  The trick is to smile with your eyes or Smize.  Relax your forehead, lower your chin, pick a point of focus, and-this is the tricky part- squint and then un-squint maybe 95 percent.  You should have the slightest angle in your eyes.  This is a hard step to get and practice makes perfect.  Before you go out, sit in front of the mirror and Smize till you can’t Smize no more.  Once you get it, this step can make even the flattest of pictures pop.

Follow all of these steps and you will be guaranteed ultimate fierceness in all of your pictures. 

Yael Schusterman is a journalism senior at the University of Arizona. She has freelanced for half a dozen publications and is ready to transition from a print to an online focus. She maintains a permanent residence in New Jersey and her goal is to live in Manhattan. The AP wire has picked up one of her stories, "Theft at gallery yields sale to help artists," as member enterprise while working for The Arizona Daily Star in Tucson. She looks forward to working with the Her Campus Team and spreading awareness on the UA campus.