The article does reference research demonstrating that men often are completely incorrect about the preferences of women. While "the lighting and pose are what does it" is nowhere near the "women are lying" stuff that the article is talking about, I really think that the starting point should be taking opinions like these at face value.

Notably, men significantly preferred the photo on the right. If the issue were lighting and pose making him look smaller on the right, why don't we see this same effect in the responses from men?