If you look at the photo above taken on my 49th birthday last week,  you are probably saying to yourself ...

"Well, I already have that skinny arm on the hip trick mastered, is that all you got?"

However, as obvious as this one seems, many women are still not using this pose to their advantage!

I am often asked by magazines for quotes about the tips and tricks of posing for better photos, and there's a lot that goes into getting a perfect photo, the lighting, the makeup, the styling. I'll be doing more televised segments about all these, but yesterday I got the chance to talk about the importance of posing for Arizona Midday - take a look here:

The skinny arm on the hip trick is completely overused on the red carpet because it does incredible things for women ... smaller waist, longer legs and creates curves. It's best if you choose the arm closet to the lens of the camera for this trick and remember to lower your shoulder. However, if you don't want to look like a teapot in all your photos, you can get the same effect if you understand why this pose works.

The basic cheat being used here isn't the hand on the hip, it's the bent elbow and separation of the body and arm, that makes this work. If must have light between or the width of your arms next to your body will make you look bigger than you actually are! You don't have to over-exaggerate it every time to get the benefit of this trick. Simply put a slight bend to your elbow and pull your arms away from your body. Or hold on to something, a purse, a drink, a  pocket .... It will make a massive difference in your pictures.

Placement of the hands is key. A model rarely shows the back of her hands. The reason? They aren't pretty and they look big. The sides are much prettier and dainty. Secondly, never clump your fingers together, instead let fingers relax and be apart.

One of the biggest mistakes women do is place their hands lower than they should when working this pose. If you do, the part of your body you will draw attention to is your hips, the widest area of your body. Instead cheat the hands up a little higher on your waist and this will give you the illusion of longer legs ... Nothing wrong with that!

Most of the time you will want to keep the weight of your body on your back foot, however if you need to fake some curves you can do what I did in the top photo and keep your weight on your front leg instead or try popping your hip toward the camera.

The other important thing to do when standing for a photo is to angle your body to the camera. We must create the angle, because the lens of the camera will flatten you out to a 2D version of yourself and make you look wider than you are if you don't! So angle yourself to the lens of the camera pointed at you. The worst thing you can do is stand front and center to the lens. This is why people say the camera adds 10 pounds. Face the camera and place your hips and feet at a 2 or 10 o'clock position to it. Then create a smaller waistline by turning your face to the lens, twisting yourself without moving your feet. Ahaha - instantly you have created a slimmer waistline too!

Practice. Practice. Practice. The mirror is your best friend and a perfect tool to teach you how to develop your own signature pose. Like I said in this video, if you try to emulate Taylor Swift's cross legged go to pose without checking yourself first, you may just end up taking a photo that looks more like you have to pee your pants instead of a young goddess with long legs.

Finally, with social media and sites like Instagram and Facebook, it's nearly impossible to get out of taking a group shot now and then, assuming you have a life outside of the world wide web. To get your best group shots just keep in mind that anything closest to the camera will look the biggest. If this happens to be you, just take a step back or hide a part of you behind the person next to you. And never get sandwiched between two people and let your arms flatten next to your body. Just remember the tips above and try to work in a slight angle and to keep some space between your body and arm for great pics on girls night out!

So many pictures, so little time ...  Hope this helps!

XO 

Shelley

We have all seen the amazing transformations of frumpy wallflower to skinny bombshell in countless weight loss ads filled with disclaimers like no photoshop, actual client. So how would you like to know the trick to getting the photo without the diet? 

First you need to remember that the camera lens itself can add or subtract pounds depending on the angle. Anything closest to the lens will look larger.

Marilyn Monroe was a classic example of using this distortion to her advantage by leaning forward and crossing her arms to look bodacious … and she became an icon for it. It’s best to have the camera lens positioned at eye level or slightly above, never let someone shoot you from a low vantage point. This angle adds 20 pounds automatically and make even a skinny girl look hippy! 

Andrew Dixon, a personal trainer, gave us a little proof of this instant gratification strategy in his Huffington Post article yesterday where he came clean about his before and after photos ... He admits that they were taken just an hour apart!

"I was feeling particularly bloated on the day, so I asked my girlfriend to take a before shot. I then shaved my head, face and chest and prepared for the after shot, which was about an hour after I took the before shot. I did a few push ups and chin ups, tweaked my bedroom lighting, sucked in, tightened my abs and BOOM! We got our after shot."

ANDREW IS SPOT ON WITH HIS APPROACH - MODELS USE THESE SAME TRICKS ALL THE TIME TO GET THEIR BEST SKINNY PHOTOS. I THINK YOU SHOULD KNOW THEM TOO!

• Engage your muscles for 5 minutes. 

 Many fitness models do a pre-shoot pump, so take a cue from them and engage your muscles by doing some curls, chair dips, pushups or squats right before you shoot your photo. Flexing during the photo is good but it takes some practice to keep your face soft and pretty at the same time. Never forget to model with the face and confidence because no matter how hot your body looks, this is what will make your photo sparkle, draw a viewer in, and is the ultimate secret to a beautiful photograph. 

•  Get a faux tan. 

It’s true that a spray tan can be visually slimming in photos. Anything darker recedes. You can fake six pack abs by using a bronzer or second coat of self tanner on the outer sides of your stomach to give the illusion of a narrower waist or along areas where you want to fake some muscle tone like the tricep line. 

• Skinny arm on the hip trick. 

Celebrities on the red carpet have this one covered! Most women complain about their upper arms looking big in photos. When you keep your arms locked next to your body it makes you look wider so to look thinner keep your arms slightly bent and away from your body. Modeling tip: When placing you hand on your waist, cheat it up a little higher to make your legs look longer. 

• Create Vertical lines.

So this is where Andrew might have went wrong, but then again he is a dude ... Longer hair with highlights, can create vertical lines that can help you look slimmer. Big, curly hair can also make your body seem smaller. Wearing v-shaped necklines and monocramatic (dressing in all one color) will elongate your body shape to look thinner.

 You might also like to read how to contour your face the Kim Kardashian way for a slimmer face {CLICK HERE}

Want to look like you have legs for days? 

Wearing heels is an obvious choice, but there are a few other tricks to gaining longer, more enviable legs that you should know about!

A self tanner can sculpt your legs, hide bruises and highlight muscle tone when you apply more to the areas where there is definition. Using a second layer along the sides of your thighs will make your legs look thinner because anything darker recedes and that rule works for legs too!

Using a shimmer stick or highlighter  from your thigh all the way down your shin to your foot is one of the easiest, quickest ways to making your legs look instantly longer and leaner. Why does this work? When you highlight a straight line down your leg the eye is immediately drawn to it and will follow the long line. Instant length via a visual trick, especially when combined with contouring the outer leg.

One of my favorite products to use for this trick is a bronzer, sort of a cross between a self tanner and highlighter:

Nar's Body Glow ($59)

Crossing your legs when seated is a comfortable way to relax but take a tip from celebrities who show off their legs beautifully when they are sitting for an interview. Cross your legs and tuck the top leg slightly behind the calf of the other leg to accentuates the calf muscle.

If your legs are a little bigger than you wish, wear a hem line that ends at the thinnest part of your leg - that way people will just assume that the rest of your leg is thin too, but it's best if the hem hits somewhere just above your knee ... anything longer cuts your legs off and visually shortens your leg.

Wearing the right clothes comes into play so choose pinstriped pants, any vertical lines will make your legs appear longer. Always hem your pants to cover the heel. Again, we want the eye to continue downward as long as we can when someone looks at us which is why the monochromatic way always works - matching your hem line whether it's a pant of skirt to your heel. This is why you see so many celebrities wearing nude colored shoes - matching their skin tone to give the illusion of a longer leg.

Wear pants and shoe in same color - models off duty

I am 5'9", blessed with naturally long legs and I wear heels all the time, but not because I want to be taller! People aren't attracted to you because you are tall, in fact science says men are more attracted to women that look fertile i.e. sexy, not imposingly tall. Heels lengthen the legs for sure, but they also point the toes downward making them look more graceful (think ballerina). Heels force you to use different muscles when you walk, making your butt stick out and arching your back, pushing your chest forward. Yep - pretty darn sexy!  

What type of heel should you choose? Pointed or open toe shoes are best with an open top, otherwise known as a low vamp (cleavage for your feet!), because the goal is to see more of your foot extending the visual length of your leg ... which is why nude or skin colored shoes are best where there is no transition between skin and shoe giving you at least another 5 inches of visual leg. A square or rounded toe will have the opposite effect. If your calves are bigger stay away from spiked thin heels. Towering heels will make you look wobbly and unbalanced drawing attention to your calf. And you should try to avoid wearing anything with an ankle strap as it will make your legs look stubby. When in doubt always go simple. Having alot of straps or embellishments can make your foot look bulky and take away from the illusion of a leaner leg.

You might also like these posts:
Models off duty uniform: Click {HERE}
How to look skinnier in your photos:  Click {HERE}

To learn more model's secrets to looking your best and taking your best photos check out my new book Face This: Real advice from real models, photographers and makeup artists on how to become Picture Perfect! Available for just $7.99 on Kindle, Nook and iTunes. Also as paperback from Amazon.com