▸ 04AGuide · posing

How to pose for photos

You don’t need a model’s training. A few positions — body angle, camera height, a gap at the arms, a real smile — do most of the work.

Posing advice tends to sound mysterious, but the reliable parts are simple geometry: which way your body faces the lens, where the camera sits relative to your eyes, how far the lens is from your face, and whether your expression is real. Each section below is drawn from camera makers’ guides and reference sources listed at the end.

1. Don’t face the camera square-on

Nikon’s “Take Better Portraits” guide, by photographer Gary Small, calls straight-on, head-on poses unflattering. Its fix:

Angle your body about 45 degrees away from the camera.
Turn your head back toward the lens without moving your shoulders.

Turning the head back keeps eye contact with the lens while the body stays angled. The same guide notes that angled poses — arms crossed is its example — can make a subject look slimmer.

2. Give your arms some air

In its February 2009 release on the Look Good in Pictures series, Nikon listed a tip credited to Carson Kressley: put your hands on your hips or hold them slightly away from your body, leaving space between arms and torso — presented there as a way to look slimmer.

Practical versions that look natural:

One hand lightly on the hip, elbow pointing back rather than out to the side.
Hands loosely clasped in front, elbows slightly away from the waist.
In a seated photo, hands resting on a knee or armrest, not trapped at your sides.

3. Camera height and the double chin

Where the lens sits changes your face. The tip listed in the same 2009 release: have the camera slightly above eye level, and tilt your head a little down and to the side to reduce a double chin. If someone is photographing you from a low angle, it’s fair to ask them to raise the camera a few inches.

4. Distance matters more than you think

A wide-angle lens used close to the face exaggerates whatever is nearest the camera — usually the nose. Wikipedia’s article on perspective distortion describes exactly this: close-range wide-angle portraits make the nose look too large relative to the rest of the face and distort the expression, while a moderate telephoto from farther away gives a more pleasing perspective.

Situation	What to do
Arm’s-length phone selfie	Hold the phone farther away, or use a timer and step back
Phone with a 2x or 3x lens	Use it and step back for portraits
Camera with a zoom	Nikon’s Quick Tips suggest roughly 50–200mm; avoid very wide settings like 17mm
Lens choice on a 35mm-format camera	About 85–135mm is the classic portrait range (Wikipedia)

Nikon’s Quick Tips also warn that very long lenses (its example is 300mm) can flatten a face, and that they force the photographer to stand far away, which makes directing the subject harder.

5. Know your best side

Another tip in Nikon’s 2009 list: look at photos of yourself that you like, notice which side faces the camera, and lead with it. Combined with the 45-degree turn, that means choosing which shoulder goes toward the lens before the photographer starts counting.

6. Practice in a mirror

The same release suggests practicing a pose by copying a favorite photo in front of a mirror. Rehearsing gives you a default position you can drop into quickly when someone says “everyone look here!”

7. A smile that reaches the eyes

A Duchenne smile — named after the 19th-century French neurologist Guillaume Duchenne — engages both the mouth and the eyes. It uses the zygomatic major to lift the corners of the mouth and the orbicularis oculi to lift the cheeks and crinkle the outer corners of the eyes. A non-Duchenne smile uses only the mouth muscle; the eye crinkle is the difference.

Ways to get a genuine one on cue, from the 2009 tips:

Giggle out loud just before the shot.
Act like you want the picture taken — have fun with it.

8. Let the eyes catch the light

Eyes look alive when they hold a catchlight, the small reflection of a light source. Wikipedia’s article notes that eyes without catchlights often look dull or lifeless, which is why portrait lighting is arranged to create them. Google’s Pixel portrait tips suggest facing the light and shooting from slightly higher to create catchlights. In practice: turn toward the window, not away from it. More in best light for portraits.

A 20-second posing routine

Pick your side; turn that shoulder toward the camera about 45 degrees.
Turn your head back to the lens.
Make a small gap between arms and body.
Camera slightly above eye level; head tilted slightly down and to the side.
Face the light.
Laugh, then look at the lens.

For what to wear with these poses, see what to wear in photos; for job photos, the headshot checklist.

Sources

Reviewed October 14, 2026