How to become photogenic

“In my opinion, on the covers of magazines I am very ugly,” actress Charlotte Gainsbourg admitted in an interview with Psychologies. “I don’t consider myself photogenic, I prefer to see myself in motion, in films or on video.”

Even stars who are accustomed to professional shooting and tricks (from makeup to retouching) to “enhance” the image do not always like themselves on glossy paper. “I’m not very photogenic” is a phrase that photographers hear from celebrities at the beginning of almost every photo shoot. In blogs and on Internet forums, they also do not stop discussing photogenicity and ways to “turn out well in a photo.”

This topic may seem empty and banal, but in a hypernarcissistic society, where a person exists only through his appearance, his image, it is of decisive importance.

“We live in the times of social networks, and in them the role of the image is increasing, because there is only what is visible,” explains psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Vannina Micheli-Rechtman.

pitiless gaze

Each of us has experienced this strange feeling when looking at our own frozen image – as if you hear your voice in an answering machine. Many try to attribute their frustration and discomfort to a lack of photogenicity.

Non-photogenicity is not as painful as physical defects, it is softer than clumsiness – a small defect that justifies our unwillingness to see our true portrait. The truth that our frozen face in the photograph reveals to us takes us by surprise, because it shows a motionless, irregular, “foreign” face.

“Our internal self-image tends to be younger than the face in the photograph,” says psychoanalyst Alberto Eiger, author of Narcissistic Perversion and Its Accomplice. “That’s why the image seems alien and puzzling.”

We look at ourselves without condescension, examine every feature with passion, pursue the slightest flaw, subject the slightest embarrassment to vicious criticism, and our harsh sentence is not subject to appeal.

Those who are petrified in front of the lens or avoid it, in fact, are afraid of the eyes of others. Maybe because in childhood they were not looked at enough and they were little loved, or maybe because they expect others to have the same lack of condescension and the same severity with which they evaluate themselves.

Let yourself relax

Lighting, angle of view, pose – the look and skill of a professional can bring out our individuality on film. Some photographers are famous for their ability to reveal hitherto unknown aspects of the human personality – almost like psychoanalysts.

But in order for a miracle to happen, a balance is needed between self-awareness, self-respect of the model and respect for others, in this case, the photographer.

For professional photographer William Muro, all people, without exception, are photogenic.

“Of course, some faces are easier to photograph than others, but our job is to see and play with the features of each,” he says. — I remember once asking my friend, who was terrified of the camera lens, to come to me for a photo shoot. At first we chatted for a long time, she told me what she didn’t like about herself: her nose, extra pounds, wrinkles under her chin.

At the beginning of the shooting, she was tense, nervous, doing everything to ruin the photo. It took an hour for her to finally relax. For a good portrait, time is the determining factor. When I showed her the resulting photos on the big screen, she cried – because for the first time she saw herself beautiful. She never thought she could be like this.”

Are we all photogenic? “The answer is definitely yes, but only if you agree to trust the photographer,” says Pierre-Anthony Allard. “If you relax and let the photographer guide you, he can capture your beauty, that subtle moment when your inner light meets the outer light, when something unpredictable and exciting shines through the skin, read in the eyes.”

A short course in photogenicity from Pierre-Anthony Allard, photographer:

1. Look at yourself in the mirror, study your face, its expressions, while talking to yourself, as if you were playing the role of yourself. Play in front of the lens – thanks to this game, actresses often turn out better in photos than models.

2. Find your best three-quarter angle.

3. An exercise to relax your mouth muscles before taking a picture: Move your lips silently so they are in the perfect position.

4. Forget about the long list of your flaws: if we try to hide them during the shooting, the result is unnatural. On the contrary, look at them as unique advantages.

5. Don’t be afraid to give free rein to your emotions – film loves them very much.

6. Open your eyes – this is the main secret of photogenicity. The photograph is silent, and the one who is depicted in it can express his desire only in a glance. The gaze should be directed into the eyes of the photographer, that is, into the camera.

7. Trust the photographer, do not avoid the lens even mentally, otherwise the shooting will look like a hunt.

…and from Vannina Micheli-Rechtman, psychoanalyst:

1. Determine for yourself what your dissatisfaction with yourself is rooted in: self-image, self-esteem, beauty?

2. Look at yourself in the mirror and answer the questions: what do I see? what worries me? why?

3. Come to terms with the idea that there is a gap between what we see and what we show, and this difference is the same for everyone.

4. Don’t forget to remind yourself that other people don’t see us the way we see ourselves, and they certainly don’t notice the little details that make us so upset.

5. Train yourself to calmly meet the eyes of other people – this will allow you to relax and not strain your face.