A recent survey celebrate the launch of Nikon's new camera asked 500 Irish people which celebrity photos they copy the most.

89% of people admitted to practicing poses in front of the camera to perfect their look.

The most popular male to copy is Simon Cowell, with 40% of men and women saying that they copy his folded arm pose.

Among women, it was Paris Hilton, with her hand-on-hips, side-pose that was most admired, as well as the stance taken by Christina Hendricks from Mad Men.

Not surprisingly, the least popular celerity poses were those made infamous by Ricky Gervais, Bruce Forsyth and Michael Jackson.

37% of people said that they pose in photos to look their best or to look better than others, as well as the knowledge that the pictures will end up on social networking sites such as Facebook. The third most popular reason is the instant gratification of being able to see a picture straight away on a camera.

Leading body language Expert, Judi James, comments: “I’m not surprised to see Simon Cowell and Paris Hilton are the top two pose icons. When we’re in front of a camera we will quite often pose so that we feel less conscious about ourselves."

"People will copy Simon Cowell because he comes across as extremely confident and successful which is seen as sexy. Equally women will try to emulate the sex appeal of Paris Hilton as her flirty stance makes her appear attractive.”

According to James, the Simon arm fold can look submissive or aggressive, depending on whether we self-hug anxiously, using the arms as a body-barrier, or we grab our biceps to register strength and dominance.

If you fold your arms as Simon does and combine it with a laugh or a head-tilt it becomes an attractive blend of charisma and self-effacing humour. Simon’s pose makes him look confident and powerful but hints that he doesn’t take himself too seriously either. The folded arms
look like a challenge but they also hint at a smattering of suppressed shyness too.

Paris Hilton has taken her look from the catwalks, with her iconic arched-back pose that accentuates her curves. It implies a competitive, perfectionist personality with a touch of ruthlessness and ambition.

Christina Hendricks' sexy pose is more old Hollywood sexy than Paris', meaning it blends the kind of old-fashioned sensuality that women admire as much as it attracts men with an iconic essence of classiness. Christina allows her curves to do the talking, just holding her torso in a very elegant way but never trying too hard to get her message across. Posing like this shows you are a subtle, womanly flirt with high levels of emotional intelligence that could mean you’re also a bit manipulative at times.