 What's up guys? I'm Brian Sakawa. You're watching He Spoke Style and today we're talking about how to look good in photos. All right so just right up front I want to say that I do not consider myself an expert on this topic. I am not a model but you know over the years because of He Spoke Style I have had my photo taken kind of a lot and when you're in the habit of being in front of the camera and then seeing what it produces you tend to learn a thing or two. So today I'm going to share five things that I have learned that I hope will help you guys feel more confident when you're getting your photo taken. Number one is to smile. Now my mother always gives me a hard time when she sees photos of me when I'm not smiling those ones where you know I'm trying to look too cool or tough and you know it's funny because when Rob and I go out to shoot photos a lot of times I deliberately try to look serious or intense and what it looks like when I see the photos is that I just look pissed off. So like my mother the photos that I tend to like the most are the ones that I am smiling and they just have a better vibe to them and they just feel more like me. Now having a good smile in a photo is a little bit of an art just giving a big grin can often look a little unnatural. The best smiling photos are typically the ones that look more candid. There are a couple things you can do to create this more natural look. One is to think of a joke or something that always makes you laugh or you could also have your photographer tell a joke or make a funny face or do something to get you to loosen up and make you smile. Next is posture. When you stand up straight you look more confident. Now this is something you don't want to exaggerate to the point that you seem rigid or uncomfortable or unnatural. I think it's as simple as just having an awareness of your posture so you're not slouching and that you're standing up straight. Number three practice. Now unlike what you've been told practice does not make perfect. Practicing allows you to deliver a more consistent result. Now in terms of getting your photo taken practicing means a couple of things. First you kind of need to have a little bit of a repertoire and this is something you develop by looking for inspiration. Look through magazines. Look at Instagram. See how people pose and what looks strong and what also appeals to you. Now once you have that picture in your mind of what you like spend some time in front of the mirror practicing some of these poses and seeing what looks good but most importantly getting comfortable and feeling what it actually feels like to stand a certain way or to look a certain way. You know when you're standing in front of the camera you're not going to have that mirror in front of you so it's important to develop a kind of muscle memory so that you know you are nailing the pose that you are going for. Some things to pay attention to are how far apart your feet are. If you are tilting your head just how far is a little too far and where do you feel most comfortable having your arms. One other thing I want to add is that instead of just doing static poses it can be very helpful to incorporate some movement for a more natural or candid look and that can be as simple as shifting your weight on your feet, taking your hands in and out of your pockets, buttoning and unbuttoning your jacket, looking from side to side. The more you do this the easier it will get and the more comfortable you are going to feel. Next is a big one and that is to take a lot of shots. Photos are very deceiving because when you look at one you're just seeing that one shot and that can lead you to think that you only get one shot to take a good photo. Completely false. The more photos you take the greater the odds of coming up with at least one that makes the cut. Now playing over to the side there we see the sequence of all of the photos that Rob and I took on a recent shoot. We shot about 100 photos to get the five or six images that we ended up using on the blog and on Instagram. And I will tell you if you want to go back and slow it down not all of those shots were very good. My fifth tip applies if you are trying to get a more candid look to your photos and that is do not always look at the camera. You can look off to either side. I personally like to look down into the left for instance because I know that it will show the part in my hair and I tend to like how that looks in photos. If you're out on the street chances are someone is going to say something to you and those reaction shots are always really good and you can always just pick something out to look at in the distance or imagine someone is talking to you. Those are all great ways to create or manufacture a candid moment out of something that is completely not one bonus trick here and that is a way to give yourself a more structured looking jawline. What you can do is if you bite down very gently with your back teeth that will give your jawline a more defined appearance. This is not something that you want to overdo because if you do overdo it or bite down too hard you will see on your cheeks that you are biting down. But if you do it gently it will just help to define your jawline ever so slightly. All right so I hope those tips were helpful. Just to review, smile, stand up straight, practice, take a lot of shots and don't always look at the camera. Remember I am not an expert these are just some things that have worked for me in the past. Leave your comments down below, thumbs up if you like this video and be sure to subscribe to the channel. Thanks for watching and stay tailored.