1. Don’t make too much of a big deal about it! Limit photos to a maximum of four angles
- Take one photo with the camera facing directly front on
- Take one photo with the camera facing directly back on
- Take one photo with the camera facing directly side on (any side)
- Take one photo with the camera facing you at a 45 degree angle (half way between a front-on and side-on photo but favoring the front-on)
You do not need any more angles than above and if you don’t want to take as many as 4 photos, just simply take a front on photo (or possibly a 45 degree angle photo). In my opinion the 45 degree angle photos are the most flattering.
2. Take progress photos along the way but not too frequently (think once a month)
If you’re taking progress photos once a week you will end up seeing a lot of fluctuations which are irrelevant to the overall progress you are making. Once a month (at the same time of the month) is best. That is, unless your aiming to achieve your goal in 10 days or something crazy like that!
3. Take the the before photos, progress photos and after photos at the same time of the day (and ideally the same day of the week/month)
Don’t take your ‘after’ photos just before going to bed if you took your ‘before’ photos just after waking up. They will look different but not for the reasons you want them to look different. In order for any type of tracking to be reliable you need to do the measuring (which in this case is taking photos) at standard times when there is least likely to be fluctuations caused by stress or tiredness.
4. Use basic digital photography techniques.
Find a very plain background (ideally white) and avoid including anything that will bring clutter into the photo such as pot plants, furniture, posters on the wall and so on.
If you want your photos to look professional then it’s best to ensure the photo doesn’t look like it was taken in your lounge (even if it was taken in your lounge)!
5. Wear a bathing suit or fitness clothing - don’t wear anything overly flash (or weird) though
Don’t wear a Borat suit, and guys, don’t wear hot pink shorts. Just wear an ordinary bathing suit. And make sure you wear that same clothing (and do your hair the same way) for each photo thereafter.
6. Don’t worry about how unflattering your ‘before’ photos are - they’re your before photos.
There reason you are taking these photos is to track the progress you will make. Don’t try and make the ‘before’ photos look good! Instead, take an accurate representation of how you look, and then wait till the ‘after’ photos for giving your best, photogenic smile.
Note: Holding up the front page of a newspaper has been said to be an effective way to ‘time stamp’ a photo. The arguement is that if the date is not matching the newspaper date then the newspaper will be old and yellow. This is actually flawed in the days of Photoshop and personally I think the ‘holding up newspaper’ photos can lack class, but that’s up to you.
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