Shooting Larger Women (portrature)

[dsze]

Any experienced tips for maximizing the beauty of larger women in portraits? Poses, angles, etc?

-daniel

[roanjohn]

Sigma 12-24 would be a good lens to capture the whole scene.

................joking.............

I would probably do a black on black or white on white. Meaning, matching the outfit with the background.

Also a play with shadows and etc.......

Take some pics and we'll see what needs to be done. yeah??

Ro1

[jojo77]

shoot them from the eyes up. that should work.

[Belmondo]

I don't know anything about portraiture, but I would think that shoulders up and soft folus could be flattering. Also, it might be interesting to have the model wear dark clothing and shoot against a darker background to draw attention to the face and away from everything else.

Just guessing. I'm still trying to take a picture of my own feet with little success. :? :? :lol:

[dsze]

lol....well, that wasn't quite as bad as I was expecting the responses to get...


I hate to post the photos for discussion...for obvious reasons... but for this situation, I have no choice but to get the head to toe shots... at least for some of them... Any other posing or even post-processing techniques? (no, I'm not talking about using the eraser or the healing brush) :)

-daniel

[Vegas Poboy]

Low key lighting is best for people on the heavy side & make sure you have them @ an angle to to make them look slimmer.
Good Luck

[Tom W]

Get up a little above (not much) and have the subject tilt her head just a bit upward. This puts the face just a little closer to the camera than the body. Use lighting to emphasize positive features, and de-emphasize that which she is most self-conscious about. Use props and surroundings - doorways, chairs, or trees might serve to show her in a better light. As Tom said, dark on dark de-emphasizes the body in favor of the head. Light on light works well also.

Oh yeah, you can practice on maniquins, coat racks or other humanoid-looking things.

[dsze]

Good Advice.... thanks,

-daniel

[robertwgross]

It depends on lighting.

Suppose that a person had a head that was six inches across. If you lit it all up evenly, then it will probably look like it is six inches across.

Now, if you get the main light way out to one side, perhaps more than 45 degrees, you can shoot a semi-profile. If you have the light fall off on one side, then only about four or five inches of the width will be illuminated. As a result, the head looks narrower.

You can apply this to a whole person, if you get the angles right.

---Bob Gross---

[cmM]

I'm not sure about this, but.... if you get a little lower than usual (the hips) you will make the subject look taller (decrease the ratio btwn height and "width"). I think that should "theoretically" work.

[Persian-Rice]

This might sound retarded, but have the subject wear something with vertical stripes?

As well, darker clothing gives a slimmer look.

[dsze]

Good advice all...thanks.. The verticle stripes won't be an option though...it'll be a white dress :)

I'm not sure about the whole "retarded" comment either Persian... Not to get anything going here, but please remember that I'm a teacher and I teach several young children with mental retardation. Using the term "retarded" in a derrogatory way is really pretty disrespectful and ignorant and very 80's-ish.... The little kids I have with mental retardation are some of the nicest people you will ever come across...they have a hard enough time dealing with all of the ignorance in their lives...lets not add to it by using the term that we've labeled with in a demeaning fashion. It is the same as if someone used your ethnic label or your name in order to imply that something was stupid; they had absolutely no choice as to the label that we've stuck them with for the rest of their lives. Sorry, thats the last I'll ever say about it, I promise... And I know you weren't trying to be disrespectful, but I felt I had to say something, even though its quite off-topic..

-daniel

[Mike H]

This is a tough one. In about 25 years of shooting people, the only person that didn't like a picture that I made of them (and told me, anyway) was a woman that said I made her look fat. Also, she claimed that I made her sister, sitting next to her in the picture, look thin by comparison. They were in similar poses in the same light wearing similar colors ... :roll:

So what's my point? If she isn't comfortable with her weight, you're really behind the eight ball here and need to be prepared for a negative reaction to the pictures no matter what you do--in other words, don't take it personally if she doesn't like the pics. If it's someone comfortable with her weight, you're a bit safer.

Now for technic (what you asked about). I wouldn't get low and shoot up at her; I like Tom's idea of getting slightly above the person, especially for tight shots. This makes them look slightly up when you shoot, reducing double chins by stretching the skin under the chin. If you're lower, you get the opposite effect. If you're not sure what I mean, go watch yourself in the mirror, raising and lowering your chin, and watching how that affects your appearance. (Of course you'll notice a bigger effect if you are heavy.)

Another traditional thinning technic is to "short light" the person. Turn her face slightly to one side. From your position you'll see more of one side of her face than the other. That side is the broad side; the other is the short side. Light the short side, so that the broad side is in shadow. This slims the face. (Think of the cresent moon, as opposed to the full moon.)

Good luck. I hope this helps.

Mike H

[dsze]

Yes, that short light tip is a good one...I'll keep that one in mind for sure, as well as reminding myself to not shoot up at her... I typically like to 'shoot up' at subjects, so I'll have to keep it in mind.

If I light the shortside, will I run the risk of getting too much shadowing on the side of the face toward me, for a portrait?

-daniel

[Persian-Rice]

dsze,

Ooh white, white usually makes people look fat :( I would start trying angles and whatnot. I know it might be weird, but wear a white shirt and stuff some cloths under it to simulate the size and practice some poses?
sounds odd, but whatever works..........

BTW

Point taken.....................as you mentioned, there was nothing meant by it..............I have cousin with this condition. I know where you come from.

Unfortunately, I am not known to be "politically correct", which gets me in trouble at times, even though I don't mean anything by it. Besides the fact, I don't see any reason not to use it. I simply called myself "retarded", at the end of a day it's a medical condition, no different then heart disease or even a headache. People seem to blow that out of context sometimes, or they view it differently then myself.

Thats my response, lets not get to far off the road. If you have the need to go on, please pm me or use MSN, I don't see a point though..............

Cheers.

[Mike H]

If I light the shortside, will I run the risk of getting too much shadowing on the side of the face toward me, for a portrait?

-daniel

As long as you don't have a really deep shadow on the broad side you'll be ok. In other words, don't have one side very bright and the other totally dark (though some people like that kind of drama). If you have a hand held light meter, people often describe the differences between the light and dark sides in terms of stops (say, have the bright side 1.5 stops brighter). In my film days I found 1.5 stops difference to be good, but I think with digital you might want to go with less.

Mike H

[SWPhotoImaging]

I find that when shooting large people (men or women), you want to use higher caliber projectiles, with substantial loads. Otherwise they just get p.o.'d and come after you, and that really sucks.

[slejhamer]

I find that when shooting large people (men or women), you want to use higher caliber projectiles, with substantial loads. Otherwise they just get p.o.'d and come after you, and that really sucks.


: GASP ! :

:shock: :shock: :shock:


:lol:

[Digital Prophet]

Here is a link to an article (http://www.popphoto.com/article.asp?section_id=4&article_id=949&page_numbe r=1) that might help you out.

Page four in particular deals with this topic.

- Digital Prophet -

[dsze]

find that when shooting large people (men or women), you want to use higher caliber projectiles, with substantial loads. Otherwise they just get p.o.'d and come after you, and that really sucks.


....uhhh... yeah.. I'm not sure if I should laugh or not. :|



thanks for the link!

-daniel

[John_T]

...nobody is mentioing lenses. That often plays more of a role than anything else. I would suggest 135mm and up, but I am sure there are others here that know better than I.

It is sometimes surprising with lenses. Find a number of barrel-shaped objects, doesn't matter what, and shoot it with all your lenses at different focal lengths and see if you can find a fat sweet spot, as well as finding the opposite to avoid.

The big reason most models are skinny as a rake is because the right lenses fill them out to sexy. You should meet a few, almost shocking, the difference between the flesh and the image.

You've gotta find the opposite.

[Ronin]

as the other guys said...background that allows clothing to blend in. You might also want to light the subject so that shadows hide some of her...

[dsze]

Thanks all. Since she will be in all white, I'm thinking that my best bet will be to manipulate the lighting as much as possible... maybe play with my lenses too.. Why would you suggest 135 and up? Is that because it puts me at a further distance from her with will flatten the perspective slightly?

-daniel

[Tom W]

Thanks all. Since she will be in all white, I'm thinking that my best bet will be to manipulate the lighting as much as possible... maybe play with my lenses too.. Why would you suggest 135 and up? Is that because it puts me at a further distance from her with will flatten the perspective slightly?

-daniel

I think that's the general idea, though 135 on a 10D/DigiReb will put you back pretty far from the subject (not to mention in terms of $$). Perhaps an 85 might be a better choice. The 75 mm end of your 28-75 will certainly give a pretty flat field, considering that you'll be standing at the same place you would with a 120 mm lens on full-frame or film.

[dsze]

Yes, I took several 'practice' shots of her at 75 on my 28-75, and I was pretty pleased with them. The lighting could have been better though. I also took some with my 70-200 in the 130-170 range and those were nice too, but they were just bust shots. So, for a full length I would have been back quite a distance.

-daniel