Taking a Good Selfie

Cindy Joseph was a model for over 20 years now, and she learned a trick or two about how to look natural on camera.

She discovered this one secret: Modeling doesn't mean looking perfect.

Learn how to take better photos in this short video clip from one of our favorite Saturday with Cindy posts!

Video Transcript:

Oh, Sandra said, “Modeling tips.” Take a good photo. That is such a fun question. Okay, what I discovered. My ex-husband was teaching himself photography. I was young, between 19 and 25 years old. He would just photograph me and photograph me and photograph me. “Let me try this light. Let me try that light.” And I was like, “Oh, but wait, wait, wait. I want to look really good. And I’d make a certain face, do my hair and makeup a certain way. I was not photogenic at all. I mean, my pictures were bad.

And then after a while, it was like, “Oh, enough already.” So I’d be doing the dishes, I’d just keep doing the dishes. I would look up and say, “What are you doing?” and just start to not care anymore, not try. And, lo and behold, I’d see these pictures and I’d go, “That’s not bad. That’s kind of good.”

So, over the years, seeing hundreds of thousands of models working, good ones, bad ones, photogenic ones, not so photogenic ones, I discovered that if you have no attention on looking a certain way and you’re just yourself, you will start to be photogenic. And your job, or my job as a model, but for you, being in a photograph, is to feel good. What I’m always saying over and over and over. It doesn’t matter what you’re wearing or what hairstyle you have. You’re not going to look good unless you feel good. That is the beginning. That is the essence. That’s where everything blossoms from. If you happen to have a good hair day and the lighting’s particularly great . . .

I mean, lighting is important to have a picture that’s flattering because light from the extreme side, underneath, above, ehhh. We’ve all seen ourselves or our friends in the elevators with the light coming straight down. Not so flattering. What I do is I . . . You make sure the light is coming at you, but not direct sunlight, shaded sunlight. Not under the trees where you’ve got the leaves because then you’ll have black and white spots all over. Open, clear shade with the light in front of you, number one. And then, feel good.

Take a lot of pictures. I mean, when we did covers with Cindy Crawford, we didn’t just take one or two shots. We shot hundreds and hundreds. Hundreds of frames to get one shot of Cindy Crawford, who we think is glorious and beautiful. I’m just using her name because many, many models. And she is gorgeous and lovely and wonderful. The best to Cindy Crawford. Haven’t seen her in a long time.

Alright, does that work? Modeling tips, don’t wear too much makeup. Again, wear clothes you feel like you in. Don’t try to over-style anything and get every little hair in place because then you look like you’re wearing a helmet and you’ll feel stiff and you’ll look stiff. Make faces at the camera. Stick your tongue out, blah. And look away and look back. Hi. Hi. Hi. Quiet happy. Crazy happy! Yes, you can be photogenic, too. Give it a try. Grab a friend, husband, son, daughter, girlfriend and have a photo session. It would be a blast. Put it on your Bucket List.