Photograph: Roxana Marroquin

Taking a provocative photo
Unless you want your easily identifiable face—grinning above a full-frontal shot—to be forwarded to your mother and coworkers, Taylor and Sharkey propose that you keep your pics anonymous. And save the porn star antics for the bedroom: According to Taylor, sans professional lighting and Annie Leibovitz, “a beaver shot can look really depressing.” Instead, they advise that amateur shutterbugs aim for suggestive images, like lying naked under the covers or a close-up of a favorite body part (partially clothed cleavage or bums—never a guy’s johnson). When snapping yourself, Em & Lo advocate that you turn off the flash, rely on natural lighting and shoot from above since it’s quite likely that people besides your partner will be privy to your photo session. “If you’re worried about running for office some day, don’t do this since the recipient will definitely send this to all of his or her friends,” says Taylor.