What is it about Plus/Full Figured Models?

[JerelXTI]

I've notice that there are only a few Photographers that shoot and post photos of plus/full figured models. I'd like to know if it more of a challenge to work with plus size models? Is it that plus size women don't like to be photographed? I'd really like to hear your opinion.

Yes my wife is a plus/full figured woman. This is a question she asked me today while we were looking through the forum.

[Todd Lambert]

I imagine it is because they are not generally in high demand in the modeling world. Everyone seems to want waif 90 pounders instead. ;-)

I guess it's like white guys in basketball, Americans in France, etc..

[JerelXTI]

I imagine it is because they are not generally in high demand in the modeling world. Everyone seems to want waif 90 pounders instead. ;-)

I guess it's like white guys in basketball, Americans in France, etc..

Yea, You know when you take a walk downtown,in a mall nowdays or on the beach you'll see alot of women with curves. Look back at some of the very old Photographs of women modeling for Glamour or Nude photography thier are very curvy women. Guess the modeling world does not see that a sexy anymore.

[hawk911]

let me venture an opinion also. Women tend to have body image issues; of any size. Larger women have to be really comfortable with who they are because photographing them incorrectly can make them appear larger. My sister is a bigger birl, but is very confident in herself and I have no doubt doesn't mind being in front of the camera. My wife, who's not 100 lbs, but is not heavy, has confidence issues like crazy.

And then I've met the 110 lb woman who says she's got to lose 5 lbs before she'd get remotely close to a camera.

Your mileage may vary :)

[JerelXTI]

let me venture an opinion also. Women tend to have body image issues; of any size. Larger women have to be really comfortable with who they are because photographing them incorrectly can make them appear larger. My sister is a bigger birl, but is very confident in herself and I have no doubt doesn't mind being in front of the camera. My wife, who's not 100 lbs, but is not heavy, has confidence issues like crazy.

And then I've met the 110 lb woman who says she's got to lose 5 lbs before she'd get remotely close to a camera.

Your mileage may vary :)

That's what I'm wondering, can it be that most photographers don't know the correct way to photograph a plus size woman?

[hawk911]

well, let's look at it from the woman's point of view for a minute. If's she's not comfortable with a camera, then she's likely not seeking out a photog. No one to shoot means little experience when someone does seek out the photog. A bit of a catch 22 isn't it? And in reality, society pushes the skinny chics down our throats, therefore is we as photogs want to be in step with society we shoot what society wants. It's a big generalization, but I think you get the idea.

[JerelXTI]

well, let's look at it from the woman's point of view for a minute. If's she's not comfortable with a camera, then she's likely not seeking out a photog. No one to shoot means little experience when someone does seek out the photog. A bit of a catch 22 isn't it? And in reality, society pushes the skinny chics down our throats, therefore is we as photogs want to be in step with society we shoot what society wants. It's a big generalization, but I think you get the idea.


Great point Hawk. I see what you mean. I was thinking that alot of Photogs were shying away from plus size models.

[Dennis_Hammer]

I do a decent amount of boudoir photo sessions (usually at least two and in November [second busiest time for it] nine). Personally I will shoot anyone who's check is good. I have shot one ___________ (insert whatever you like to call larger women here) in the last seven years. I bring this up because I don't go out looking for models I only shoot for pay, so there are definitely less looking to be photographed in this style. On a side note I had a woman call to arrange a session and when she showed up and we started talking she had the nerve to say that she didn't think she should pay because she was so beautiful and that I was probably tired of shooting housewives. I told her all their money looked the same to me. Oh yeah and I also told her...good bye.

[charlesu]

I do a decent amount of boudoir photo sessions (usually at least two and in November [second busiest time for it] nine). Personally I will shoot anyone who's check is good. I have shot one ___________ (insert whatever you like to call larger women here) in the last seven years. I bring this up because I don't go out looking for models I only shoot for pay, so there are definitely less looking to be photographed in this style. On a side note I had a woman call to arrange a session and when she showed up and we started talking she had the nerve to say that she didn't think she should pay because she was so beautiful and that I was probably tired of shooting housewives. I told her all their money looked the same to me. Oh yeah and I also told her...good bye.

Love it.

[charlesu]

I'll shoot them but....most dont even think about becoming models. And many who do have ideas about how they want to be shot instead of trusting a professional to make them look good.

[AxxisPhoto]

There is a whole sub-market for "curvy/full figure" models! Search for "urban" models that shoot for King, Smooth, ECM, XXL types of magazine. These types of models are still in demand. :)

[Dennis_Hammer]

I'm not commenting on the niche market for these types of models. I was only addressing the market (type of photography or geographic you pick both apply) that I am in. Larger women need to be one of two things to want to model or be a model in today's society. Either Super confident, or super cocky. Now that being said it's a fine line, I always tell my daughter who is a super competitive softball player playing elite tournaments up and down the east coast. Cocky is living on what you did yesterday and confident is knowing what can you do today. A confident woman will always come across sexier, more approachable and just have an appeal that sometimes can't be put into words. A cocky one well lets just say ..... nothing I'll be nice. By the way this also applies to men I am by no means picking on women.

[RDKirk]

There is only a very small "catalog" market in the mainstream commercial world for larger models--and I'm talking size 6-8 here. Size 10 is the new "plus." Every two or three years, one of the fashion mags makes a statement about plus being positive, but that commitment does not last beyond that particular issue of the magazine.

The traditional "American" physical ideal through the 20th century until quite recently, had mostly been the "athletic" type. The details of the "athletic look" have changed over the years, but it at least had been an "athletic look" rather than a "heroin chic" or "waif look." Yes, there was Twiggy in the 60s, but the look that sold products best in the US was always an adult woman who looked imminently healthy (at least "healthy" by the contemporary standards)...because a healthy look in the US was a wealthy look. In the latter part of the 20th century, models like Cindy Crawford exemplified that look.

But in the real streets of the US, sizes have been creeping up. Size 8 was average 30 years ago--I believe it's actually size 12 now. My daughter--now 23--was caught up for years in a media-induced psychological blindness of thinking that most women are size zero. A few years ago, I had to sit her down in the local mall for an entire morning taking a visual poll of every female who passed by to convince her that the proportion of skinny models she saw in the media was nowhere near reality.

Personally, I love the ripped fitness model look, but I'm quirky like that.

The commercial world is currently committed to giving us a size-zero image, so that's what most photographers are going to show. One has to wonder what's the hidden agenda when women who look like emaciated pre-adolescents are presented to society as ideals of desire.

But any woman with a 1:0.75:1 bust:waist:hip ratio up to size 10 should be a snap for a good photographer to show very glamourously just from straight lighting and posing techniques. A woman with that body ratio up to size 12 or 14 shouldn't take more than a bit more inventiveness. Photoshop Liquify can help, but it shouldn't take more than slightly tucking in a bulge here and there to make all the difference. For me, typically, it takes little more than slimming bare upper arms a bit.

Beyond size 12 or lacking those body proportions takes more work in what Russians call "maskirovka": Camouflage, concealment, and deception. And don't forget that "glamour" does not require nudity.

[JerelXTI]

There is only a very small "catalog" market in the mainstream commercial world for larger models--and I'm talking size 6-8 here. Size 10 is the new "plus." Every two or three years, one of the fashion mags makes a statement about plus being positive, but that commitment does not last beyond that particular issue of the magazine.

The traditional "American" physical ideal through the 20th century until quite recently, had mostly been the "athletic" type. The details of the "athletic look" have changed over the years, but it at least had been an "athletic look" rather than a "heroin chic" or "waif look." Yes, there was Twiggy in the 60s, but the look that sold products best in the US was always an adult woman who looked imminently healthy (at least "healthy" by the contemporary standards)...because a healthy look in the US was a wealthy look. In the latter part of the 20th century, models like Cindy Crawford exemplified that look.

But in the real streets of the US, sizes have been creeping up. Size 8 was average 30 years ago--I believe it's actually size 12 now. My daughter--now 23--was caught up for years in a media-induced psychological blindness of thinking that most women are size zero. A few years ago, I had to sit her down in the local mall for an entire morning taking a visual poll of every female who passed by to convince her that the proportion of skinny models she saw in the media was nowhere near reality.

Personally, I love the ripped fitness model look, but I'm quirky like that.

The commercial world is currently committed to giving us a size-zero image, so that's what most photographers are going to show. One has to wonder what's the hidden agenda when women who look like emaciated pre-adolescents are presented to society as ideals of desire.

But any woman with a 1:0.75:1 bust:waist:hip ratio up to size 10 should be a snap for a good photographer to show very glamourously just from straight lighting and posing techniques. A woman with that body ratio up to size 12 or 14 shouldn't take more than a bit more inventiveness. Photoshop Liquify can help, but it shouldn't take more than slightly tucking in a bulge here and there to make all the difference. For me, typically, it takes little more than slimming bare upper arms a bit.

Beyond size 12 or lacking those body proportions takes more work in what Russians call "maskirovka": Camouflage, concealment, and deception. And don't forget that "glamour" does not require nudity.

RDKirk great point.

I highlighted something you said. Now that being the case, knowing that most people know a size 0 is not what you'll see in
on a normal bases in Society, why don’t we see more photographers displaying images of women with curves? I know it’s been said that a lot of these women are not comfortable in their skin, so that’s why they don’t come into the studio or look for photographers to photograph them. I believe it has something to do with what they see when they look at a magazine or turn on the TV.
I think if curvy women see other women that look like them in magazines or on display they will be more inclined to seek out photographers for shoots. What say you?

[hawk911]

Jerel, you've hit the nail right on the head, but the people that make the decisions about the marketing spin don't buy into your thoughts. There's a huge awareness about how young girls feel about themselves based on how "thin is in" damages self esteem. But the movement has thin marketing idea has momentum and it will take years to turn it. It's funny how you hear about obesity at it's all time high in the US, yet the designers and marketers still forcefeed thin models.

We all know that the size zero is not reality, but we also know how hard it is to change someones inner thoughts and beliefs.

[mckinleypics]

I think all women should look like Salma Hayek did in Dusk Till Dawn. Is that so much to ask?

[Chasmo]

My wife is full figured...I love shooting her!

[JerelXTI]

My wife is full figured...I love shooting her!

Yea same here Chasmo, My wife is full figured and I love shooting her. We're both learning together.