How to Look Good in Photos: What Professional Photographers Tell Their Clients

August 18, 2026 · Tips · 7 min read

Looking good in photos is a learnable skill, not a talent reserved for models and actors. The photographers in our directory work with everyday clients across thousands of portrait, family, and headshot sessions every year, and they see the same problems repeatedly — and the same solutions work every time. This guide covers what they actually tell clients before and during a session to get consistently strong results.

The Biggest Misconception: It's About the Camera

Most people assume their photos look bad because they're not photogenic — as if photogenicity were a fixed personal attribute. It isn't. The actual culprits are almost always: a lens too wide at too short a distance, flat or harsh lighting from the wrong angle, and body positioning that no one explained before the shutter clicked.

A smartphone camera at arm's length with built-in flash is one of the most unflattering combinations possible for a portrait. The wide lens distorts facial proportions; the close distance exaggerates the parts of your face nearest the camera; the direct flash creates flat, shadowless light that removes the depth that makes faces look three-dimensional. A professional photographer with proper equipment and lighting control eliminates all three problems. But the posing tips in this guide apply regardless of who's behind the camera.

Body Positioning: The Fundamentals

Never Face Directly Toward the Camera

Standing square-on to the camera is the most common posing mistake, and it makes almost everyone look wider than they are. The fix is simple: turn your body 30–45 degrees away from the camera and then turn your head back toward it. This creates a natural S-curve through the torso, reduces perceived width, and gives the image visual depth that a frontal shot can't achieve.

For headshots where you need to face mostly forward, angle your shoulders slightly — one shoulder closer to the camera than the other. Even a subtle shift creates dimension.

Create Space Between Your Arms and Body

When arms rest flat against the sides, they compress and spread out against the torso, which reads as wider in photographs than it actually is in person. Creating a small gap — hands on hips, arms slightly away from the body, or one hand holding something — eliminates this effect entirely. It also communicates a more open, confident posture.

The Chin Forward and Down Move

Pulling your chin slightly forward and angling it slightly down is the single posing tip photographers cite most frequently. It seems counterintuitive — extending your chin feels awkward — but the effect in the image is a defined jawline and reduced underchin. The forward motion tightens the neck; the slight down angle avoids the "looking up the nose" issue that occurs when the chin goes too high.

Practice this in a mirror before your session. The position that feels like you're craning forward uncomfortably is often the one that looks most natural in the photograph.

Weight Distribution

Shift your weight to your back leg and angle slightly toward the camera. This creates a natural curve through the hip and shoulder, avoids the stiff look of standing at rigid attention, and makes the overall posture read as relaxed and confident rather than posed and nervous.

Facial Expression: Beyond "Say Cheese"

The Forced Smile Problem

A genuine smile engages the eyes — the muscles around the eyes contract slightly, creating crow's-feet that communicate authentic emotion. A forced smile activates only the mouth muscles and leaves the eyes flat, which reads as uncomfortable or artificial even to viewers who can't consciously identify what's wrong.

Photographers use several techniques to elicit genuine smiles: telling something funny, asking about something the subject loves, or (counter-intuitively) asking them to stop smiling entirely and then immediately take the shot as the face relaxes into a natural expression. If you're doing your own photography or know what triggers a genuine smile for you, use it.

Micro-Expression Control

The squinch — a technique popularized by photographer Peter Hurley — involves squinting the lower eyelids very slightly without fully squinting the eyes. The result is an expression that reads as confident and self-assured rather than wide-eyed or uncertain. It's subtle enough that it doesn't look like a squint in the photograph, but it eliminates the nervous, deer-in-headlights look that plagues many portraits.

A small, relaxed smile with a slight squinch is a reliable default expression for professional headshots. Save the full genuine laugh for family and lifestyle sessions where authentic emotion reads better than polished poise.

Clothing: The Pre-Session Decision That Matters Most

Fit Over Fashion

Clothes that fit your current body photograph well. Clothes that are too loose bunch and create visual clutter; clothes that are too tight pull and reveal areas you didn't intend to feature. Before your session, try on your planned outfits and sit, stand, and move in them — bunching and pulling that's barely noticeable standing still becomes obvious in photographs.

Color Strategy

Solid colors and subtle patterns photograph most cleanly. Jewel tones (sapphire, emerald, burgundy, amethyst) work across a wide range of skin tones and backgrounds. Navy and deep teal are reliable across almost every context. Avoid:

• Neon or very bright saturated colors — they oversaturate in camera and draw attention away from your face
• Busy patterns (houndstooth, thin stripes, loud florals) — they create optical moiré effects in digital cameras and compete with your expression
• Colors very close to your skin tone — your face blends into your clothes
• All white in outdoor or bright studio conditions — highlights blow out

When in doubt, the most universally flattering on-camera colors are navy, deep burgundy, forest green, and warm gray. These work in virtually every lighting condition, against most backgrounds, and across most skin tones. Our guide on how to prepare for a photo session includes a complete packing checklist — outfit selection is covered in detail alongside what to bring and what to leave home.

Grooming and Preparation

Flyaway hair, shiny skin, and visible lint or pet hair are all things that take time in post-processing. A few minutes of preparation before the session saves your photographer significant editing time and produces images that look cleaner without looking retouched.

• Mattifying powder for T-zone shine reduces specular highlights on skin
• A lint roller removes pet hair and dust that's invisible in normal light but visible under studio lights
• Hairspray controls flyaways that become very visible against light backgrounds
• Arrive without full evening makeup for a daytime session — photographers prefer to work with a clean canvas and have you add makeup incrementally rather than removing it

During the Session: How to Work with Your Photographer

Communicate, Don't Just Comply

If you've seen images you love — a specific lighting style, a posing approach, a particular background type — share them before the session starts. Photographers work faster with a visual reference than with verbal descriptions. Saying "I want warm, natural light with a lifestyle feel" means different things to different photographers; showing two reference images communicates it precisely.

Trust the Awkward Moments

The poses that feel most unnatural in the moment often look the most natural in photographs. Photographers who work with non-model clients know this and will tell you when you're in the right position even if it feels strange. Trust the feedback — your proprioceptive sense of where your body is doesn't match what the camera sees.

Move Between Shots

Holding a perfect pose becomes increasingly forced as the shutter clicks repeatedly. The best technique: reset between shots by looking away, then returning your gaze to the camera. The moment you return is often the best frame — it's the one uncontaminated by the self-consciousness of holding a position.

Walking toward the camera slowly and stopping, or turning around and turning back, captures transitional expressions that look genuine because they are. Many of the best portrait images come from these transition moments rather than held poses.

After the Session: Choosing and Using Your Images

When reviewing your gallery for selects, look at how your eyes read rather than whether your expression is technically perfect. A slightly asymmetric smile with genuinely engaged eyes will always look better than a technically symmetrical smile with flat eyes. The emotional read is what viewers notice; technical imperfections are secondary.

For a full overview of what to look for when hiring a photographer and what to request before your session — from communication timeline to contract terms — our guide on questions to ask before hiring a photographer covers the full pre-booking consultation process. And if you're preparing for a headshot session specifically, our guide on how to prepare for a headshot session covers wardrobe, grooming, and background selection specific to professional portraits.

Browse photographers by city or find photographers near you — our directory includes photographers with verified profile details across portrait, headshot, family, and lifestyle specialties, making it straightforward to find someone whose style matches what you're looking to create.