The difference angles/posing can make

[stealth_swimmer]

Alrighty, the purpose of this thread is two-fold. To post up some progress pics and to show people what a difference angles and posing can make, along with lighting (didn't do this intentionally, just saw that one of my pics came out noticeable brighter for some reason). A lot of people seem to discount this. Sometimes what even feels like a small change in position can dramatically change the way you look.

For example, when I'm in front of the mirror, I stay more upright or slightly leaned back even....but when I take pics, it looks like I look best when just upright or slightly leaning my upper body forward.

Posing - a lot of people don't post up actual poses, which I think makes it harder to give them pointers since it's hard to assess their physique that way (the body isn't opened up and showcasing the muscle). Case in point with me - I look like a tub of lard when I'm truly relaxed....but when I hit a front relaxed pose, I look like a tub of lard with a little bit of muscle.

As usual, I'm wearing boxer briefs, so I had to hike them up a bit to show the thighs. And before anyone says, Yes, I know my right shoulder is higher up than my left. It naturally sets like that (my mom is the same way). It's most noticeable when I hit a front relaxed, so I know I'm gonna have to work on that. I like practicing posing cus it's fun, but I gotta practice the "relaxed" poses a bit more.


Anyways, without further ado, here are teh pics.









Truly relaxed














Front Relaxed 1














Front Relaxed 2 (brighter pic)

















Also, believe it or not, my feet are at the same angle in all pics. The difference is that in the first one, they're just not flexed.

Why did I not take pics from different angles you might ask? After all, I said one of the points of this thread was to show the difference of angles and posing. Here's the thing - there are two ways to change the angle that you're displayed at - one is to change the camera angle, and the other is to change your own position while keeping the camera the same - in principle, the effects are same or very similar. That's why bodybuilding is a sport of illusion - it's not about who is actually biggest or whatever. It's about who *looks* best, and posing naturally integrates someone's skill at presenting themselves to the best of their ability.


I don't frequent this section of the forum too much, so I don't know how it is here, but I know in the Misc very few people hit actual poses that show their physiques.
Hope this thread was fun and informational, and I hope that in the future more people will post their pics hitting actual poses, as it shows their physiques better and thus also, as mentioned earlier, helps others on the forum provide better/more accurate tips.

edit - and yes I'm sucking in my gut in the relaxed poses, as that's how you properly hit the pose
And if you think I'm standing closer in the pics where I'm hitting the pose, look at my socks. More of my socks are showing in the pics where I'm hitting the pose, which means I'm actually farther away from the camera in them. That means that I would naturally look smaller, so the difference that hitting a proper pose makes is to make one look bigger. In this case, it's enough to where I look bigger even though I'm actually slightly further away. The lesson - we all should practice our posing, folks!

[JohnRainbo]

Hmmmmm

[DjuroV]

I hear you.. still aint getting the point of this thread

Do you want my honest opinion on how you look, or my opinion on lightning? First off when going for a progress picture, i think you should use the same pose. That way it is easier to judge the difference between your gains

I am not sure, but my advise would be to work alot of on your chest! It does look like you have either built up some gyno or lose skin, this can be changed. Overall keep working out

[stealth_swimmer]

I hear you.. still aint getting the point of this thread

Do you want my honest opinion on how you look, or my opinion on lightning? First off when going for a progress picture, i think you should use the same pose. That way it is easier to judge the difference between your gains

I am not sure, but my advise would be to work alot of on your chest! It does look like you have either built up some gyno or lose skin, this can be changed. Overall keep working out

I already said what the point of the thread was.

If you wanna comment on me, that's cool too.

I wasn't sure what section this should be posted in. The point was just a general thread on why folks should hit actual poses in their progress pics. I agree with you that the same pose at different times is also good. However, if you're not hitting an actual pose, my point would be simply that one should start doing so and use a legit pose for every progress pic thereafter. Now that you mention it though, there are also some folks who post pics of them not at the same angle, not even hitting the same pose, etc. So that's more useful things people should consider when taking progress pics.

Maybe the point of the thread should be posting useful hints for progress pics?

[Tulegitimate]

Makes sense...

[stealth_swimmer]

Yeah, I lifted on and off but never really seriously until my junior and senior year of high school. Then on and off another couple years in college, then stopped working out totally for two years, and started back up again. Training almost a year now but had some setbacks (got sick a couple times for a good two weeks, and another time the gym closed down for a month, but is now open so I started going again).

I had gained a lot of fat and lost muscle so I started putting my muscle memory to use and started trying to get my muscle back. Everything is pretty much back except the legs. Anyways, wanna gain some muscle if possible but main thing right now is sticking to losing a pound a week. I know I might not hit that every week, but if I can keep to the trend, that'd be great. 52 weeks in a year, so if I say lose 40 pounds in a year that'll bring me down to 180 at which point I'll reassess if I should continue cutting or start working to put on more size.

[mattwhey]

Awesome pics. Great size. Look thick. Solid. Tight. Keep us all posted on your continued progress with any new progress pics or vid clips. Show us what you got man. Wanna see how freakin' huge, solid, thick and tight you can get. Thanks for the motivation.

[DLEHMA]

You can tell you have a decent amount of muscle in all of them, it's just that proper posing obviously shows it off better. Regardless you're going to have a pretty good physique after you lose the fat.

[Gamblair]

????

[DTVegas85]

thurs some quads in dur somewhurs. i get what your saying bout the lighting, i was trying to take progress pics today and cant figure out wtf i cant get the lighting similar, i must taken at some certain time of the day b/c same spot/conditions bad comparison, just have to take at night w/artificial lighting i think from now on so i can keep them consistent. btw did you just get out of the shower or something? you seem to be rockin some jeri-curl action.

[VirginProtein]

wut