Posing Error Thick Upper Arms

Posing mistakes: simply avoid thick upper arms in photography

A typical classic from the collection of posing mistakes: visually thick upper arms.

All photographers should be aware that there are clear gender differences when judging a photograph. Men pay attention to visible baldness, a double chin and a tummy bulge. Women, on the other hand, pay attention to ... everything! This is not meant to be malicious or ironic, but rather to encourage male photographers to train their own eye on more than the usual criteria.

This is why targeted posing instructions (only the photographer can see the available light) can prevent thick-looking arms. Let's take a look at the following image examples and how a small change in pose can lead to beautiful photo results.

Example of visually thick upper arms

If the arms are squeezed (as shown here for demonstration purposes), the upper arms will deform significantly.

This can sometimes be the case if you want to show off your muscles, for example, but this is usually not really desirable when posing women.

Many women then perceive their arms as "fat", even if they are not. Perhaps we should talk about "visually fat".

You can also clearly see the pressed arms from the side and the resulting optically wider upper arms. In the photos above, a red bar with a red outline is shown for comparison. This red bar is exactly the same size in both the left and right photos. So we can see directly how visually we are widening the arm by 1/3!

Spread it out and we have super slim arms and the real size!

Even the normal drooping of the arms results in a (completely normal!) bulge between the armpit and the chest. Anatomically speaking, various structures need space, otherwise we wouldn't be able to move our arm

When the arms are spread away from the body (even slightly), we have visually slender upper arms and a beautiful effect in photos.