Peoples self image (when selecting portraits) - does it surprise you?

[Wilt]

Originally Posted by kfreels

I run into the same thing with my teen daughters. They love their self-shot big-nosed giant head picniked shots with the blown out yellow face and super-high contrast. But when I shoot something really nice of them they don't really like it. Teen girls make no sense to me. Never did, never will.

Do the adjectives 'irrational' and 'emotionally-driven' strike a chord

[kfreels]

Originally Posted by Wilt

Do the adjectives 'irrational' and 'emotionally-driven' strike a chord

well, I was trying to think of a funny way to respond to this and I just can't. It's a perfect statement.

[Wilt]

Back on topic, back in my film days when I did much more portraiture shooting for clients, I wondered if I flipped the negatives and printed them mirrored, if they would like the photos more (it is the image that everyone is accustomed to seeing in the mirror!) than if they viewed themselves the way the rest of the world sees them.
Now, with digital, that would be very inexpensive and easy to do...alas, most of my portraiture shooting days are past, so I don't get to experiment.

It would be interesting to institute a POTN experiment among a number of shooters taking photos of others, to present both conventional and mirrored portrait previews for selection! If they picked the mirrored shots, that would prove my theory.

[kfreels]

Originally Posted by Wilt

Back on topic, back in my film days when I did much more portraiture shooting for clients, I wondered if I flipped the negatives and printed them mirrored, if they would like the photos more (it is the image that everyone is accustomed to seeing in the mirror!) than if they viewed themselves the way the rest of the world sees them.
Now, with digital, that would be very inexpensive and easy to do...alas, most of my portraiture shooting days are past, so I don't get to experiment.

It would be interesting to institute a POTN experiment among a number of shooters taking photos of others, to present both conventional and mirrored portrait previews for selection! If they picked the mirrored shots, that would prove my theory.

Wow. That is really interesting! I can see how that would be. It's almost the verbal equivalent of hearing yourself on a tape recorder where it is so different from how you hear yourself when you speak. I'm gonna try that on my kids.

[elrey2375]

people are strange

[AntonLargiader]

In defense of the woman with the flat hair and others like her, remember that you have only seen her that one time so you have nothing to compare to. She, on the other hand, may have been working on a new hairstyle for months and can see that it wasn't what she'd been going for. Or she may have been exercising for months and is delighted at the 15 pounds she's lost, but in the photos her arms look too much like they did before. There's a range of things that the subject is in a unique position to judge (if he or she is a stranger to the photographer).

Interestingly enough, it typically works the other way for me. The only non-family I shoot are typically runners that I know, who often don't look that great just because they're sweaty, exhausted, etc. One that I think is horrible, turns out the person loves it because it was the day she PR'd a certain course, or was running again after an injury, or maybe it was just a better pic than the others she'd seen recently.