Obese brides...

Tell them you charge $20/lb they want PS'd out of the picture. Per shot. Potentially a $10,000 gig.

CMfromIL wrote in post #14057039
Tell them you charge $20/lb they want PS'd out of the picture. Per shot. Potentially a $10,000 gig.

I thought maybe we might have a serious conversation about this subject. Might help some people

This kind of dehumanizing humor stinks.

CMfromIL wrote in post #14057039
Tell them you charge $20/lb they want PS'd out of the picture. Per shot. Potentially a $10,000 gig.

I've recently moved into engagement and wedding photography and have experienced this problem. I find it especially hard to mask people's weight in engagement shoots because I like to capture candid moments that aren't particularly posed. Thin couples have loved my photos of them, but the overweight ones think they look fat, and they always assume it's my fault. I recently ran a promotion for a free engagement session to expand my portfolio and one woman asked me to photoshop out all her belly rolls, as well as make her thinning hair look fuller.

I love overweight people. They are usually quite happy on average. I have a couple of tricks I use to help conceal their weight, but for the most part, they know they're fat and accept it.

The ones who are insecure would make bad clients. I don't like to book insecure people because they may never be satisfied. I had one insecure client who basically stiffed me on post-work. Never again on both counts.

If anyone asked me I'd tell them I'd do my best, use long lens, not shoot from below them, that sort of thing, but the camera doesn't lie. I'd offer to outsource the retouching for cost plus an hourly rate for my admin time, which costs $5-$10 per image from retouchup.com.

rick_reno wrote in post #14054119
Sounds like you're between a rock and a hard place

I think more like between a rock and a soft place

I hope someday, for society's sake more women will realize that there is zero correlation between her dress size and how attractive she is.

PMCphotography wrote in post #14122654
I hope someday, for society's sake more women will realize that there is zero correlation between her dress size and how attractive she is.

This is entirely personal taste, and it isn't an appropriate topic for the forum.

tim wrote in post #14122701
This is entirely personal taste, and it isn't an appropriate topic for the forum.

What? It's the entire root of the issue we're talking about. Brides are beautiful. It doesn't matter if they are a size 2 or a size 32. And she'll probably never look more beautiful than she does on her wedding day. If more brides realized it, then togs like the OP wouldn't get requests from brides to do extensive retouching for nothing.

Have big brides in your portfolio. Let other big brides see that a good photographer can make big brides look great without having to resort to photoshop.

Fat people look fat, and every single fat person would look better and more attractive slimmer. It's one of the biggest health epidemics of our time. We're photographers not magicians, we can minimise bad angles, use long lenses, and do our best, but we can't work miracles.

I suspect this thread will get closed if we talk about things other than photographic techniques.

PMCphotography wrote in post #14122791
What? It's the entire root of the issue we're talking about. Brides are beautiful. It doesn't matter if they are a size 2 or a size 32. And she'll probably never look more beautiful than she does on her wedding day. If more brides realized it, then togs like the OP wouldn't get requests from brides to do extensive retouching for nothing.

Have big brides in your portfolio. Let other big brides see that a good photographer can make big brides look great without having to resort to photoshop.

You both have good points...
Psychology and positive attitudes is not really a photography subject unless related to sessions, and making them flow better.

On the other hand, everyone has good and bad traits, and it is the responsibility of the photographer to take advantage of the good and diminish the bad. When it comes to weight, it should be done by light, angles, composition and other known 'photographic' techniques. We should know how to make the subject look their best without relying on altering the image by Photoshop techniques.

If the bride insists that this be done, then time should be charged since it is not considered normal retouching and it does add processing time. Extra time should be spent during the actual image capture, and this is expected. Sometimes during a ceremony this may be impossible, but the photographer should still take precautions in capturing subjects at their best. To just say "They are fat", and do nothing since it's not your fault is not good photography.

Most people can look good, maybe not looking like models, but they can look their best and usually weddings they have gone through the steps to do so.

I once had a subject who took all directions from me, and this was in the film days in which no retouching was done, and the print shop did not recognize her from her shots. She insisted in one pose that I discouraged even though she was persistent, so I took it. She ended up crying because she now felt fat and not pretty after seeing that pose. Seems like all those beautiful shots were ruined by that one bad!

It's unrelated, unless it isn't.

Making your subjects comfortable should be the first thing you master as a wedding/portrait phitographer. If your idea is that fat=ugly, unless you're a talented actor it's going to rub off on your client. Unconfortable client= not as great of photos for your portfolio or them, no matter how good you at lighting or calculating DOF.

RandyMN wrote in post #14122901
You both have good points...
Psychology and positive attitudes is not really a photography subject unless related to sessions, and making them flow better.

On the other hand, everyone has good and bad traits, and it is the responsibility of the photographer to take advantage of the good and diminish the bad. When it comes to weight, it should be done by light, angles, composition and other known 'photographic' techniques. We should know how to make the subject look their best without relying on altering the image by Photoshop techniques.

If the bride insists that this be done, then time should be charged since it is not considered normal retouching and it does add processing time. Extra time should be spent during the actual image capture, and this is expected. Sometimes during a ceremony this may be impossible, but the photographer should still take precautions in capturing subjects at their best. To just say "They are fat", and do nothing since it's not your fault is not good photography.

Most people can look good, maybe not looking like models, but they can look their best and usually weddings they have gone through the steps to do so.

I once had a subject who took all directions from me, and this was in the film days in which no retouching was done, and the print shop did not recognize her from her shots. She insisted in one pose that I discouraged even though she was persistent, so I took it. She ended up crying because she now felt fat and not pretty after seeing that pose. Seems like all those beautiful shots were ruined by that one bad!

PMCphotography wrote in post #14122654
I hope someday, for society's sake more women will realize that there is zero correlation between her dress size and how attractive she is.

My comment is specifically related to this post. It's says nothing about making subjects feel comfortable during a session.

PMC

I agree with your comments. There are things you can do to help a client look slimmer with photography techniques. There are things you can do in post to make them look slimmer. It totally your call as a photographer as to what you will or wont do.

I had a client that wanted me to do some slimming with photoshop for her final selections for her album. She is not fat but she is not the 120lb little bridal package either. I liquified her chin, cheeks and arms, tucked the back and tummy and i was done. Took me less than 5 mins per photo to adjust the photos(12) she wanted adjusted. I didnt charge her a dime. My job is to satisfy my client. Thats really the bottom line for all of us.

She ordered 10 extra spreads on her album ( which i made a nice profit on ) and she raves to all her friends about what a great photographer I am. (her words not mine ).

The point I'm making. Its all about the experience for anyone. If you go the extra mile, make them comfortable, and treat everyone like they are the most important client you have, It doesnt matter if the are heavy or slim. Ultimately the service and the experience you provide gets the recognition and the referrals for future clients.