dealing with a 'fat face'

[AdrianGB]

I have been asked to shoot a guy who has a fat cheeks and a heavy double chin. He has asked if I can make him look slimmer in that respect. I am going to be using no lights so wiill rely on window lighting and possibly fill flash. Any tips on both the lighting and the posing?

I thought shooting him from above might help but it may also look to contrived. Plus, he is a tall stocky guy and it strikes me as being a feminine pose. Am I wrong on that?

Any tips?

(Make up is not an option on this one)

cheers

 

[Chuck Gardner]

The trick for eliminating double chins is to shoot standing on a chair or ladder with the camera pointing down, with the subject looking up at you. That keeps the camera and face parallel so there is no distortion of the face (it is the same camera / face relationship as an eye level shot) but it tightens the neck and puts the head more over the the top of the body than in a eye level frontal view.

With the head tilt you'll need to shoot from further away than normal (normal for me is 8ft so I mean 12- 15ft to minimize near / far perspective between the face and torso. Some foreshortening is good, too much isn't. You'll need to try different distances and see what looks best to your eye through the lens.

It's a situation where a posing table or something to lean on would be helpful. The more the body leans forward the less the chin need to be raised in relationship to the floor.

A simple way to pose a guy comfortably is to have him face about 45 from camera towards the side the key light is on, then raise his near (shadowside) foot up on the seat of a chair or low stool. Then have him lean forward at the waist and rest one arm on the upraised leg and put the other in the pants pocket.

It gets the shoulders angled, and the upper torso leaning into the photo rather than bolt upright or leaning out. Keep the head tilted relative to the floor but squared off to the shoulder line. You should wind up with something like this:



I'm not sure how well it will work with a heavy set person. It would depend how heavy they are.

CG

 

[Stan-o-Stan]

I've had to shoot the odd 'fat face' and my first thought is lighting, but as thats out for you i'd think about head angles. (more sideways than up and down).

If you can use the window for side or 3/4 lighting it will help for starters, or even back lighting and use the flash for fill in. It's hard to say with lighting without knowing your style or the situation, but I think i'd use the window as I've said side - 3/4 front lighting and let it over expose a touch and use the fill in to expose the face and put a catch light in the eyes, the other side of the face should be moving towrds shadow.

Angles: shoot slightly from above, you can gauge this by looking through the camera as the angle depends on distance and lens, but i'd keep it gentle, just a touch above the eye line. The best 'trick' for you though, I think, is not to shoot straight on but get the subject to turn the head a bit to one side or the other. Also ask the subject to turn thier shoulders about 30 degrees one way or the other, it will help make it feel comfortable.

Another idea is to use the window as a side light and bounce (or use the fill in) for the other side of the face and expose for the shadow (his face - if poss a small flash or reflector to put a catch light in the eyes makes this shot work well but it can work ok with out) it's a more 'arty' way to approach your subject and it depends on the purpose of the portrait. i doubt if a bank manager would like it, but if it's for a magazine it can look great.

I think the point is to use the shadows and highlights to help 'mask' the fatness and bring attention the to eyes and mouth. Hands can be a useful prop but can look naff if you get it wrong...

I hope these ideas help a bit and don't confuse, it's really something that works with experiance.

all the best, good luck
--
Stan-o-Stan

 

[Kent Johnson]

Benji has a nice tutorial for one approach here:
http://www.lumitouch.com/benstudiotutorial/benji5.html
-Kent

 

[AdrianGB]

thanks to all of you.

I will try and shoot down from from a chair with them looking up to camera.

I think I should be able to get the window light at 45 degrees to one side of the face, but the fill will have to come from on camera. I hope this will help to even out the face on both sides although the on camera fill may not be ideal.

And I'll get hm to angle the body so he is looking over the shoulder slightly - but not so much that it looks too posed. (I don't want it to look like he is trying to 'pose'!)

Hopefully it will improve things! Thanks for your time and advice folks.

A

 

[Stan-o-Stan]

As long as the window light can be about a stop more than the front fill from camera you should be fine.
Maybe try and dial the flash in camera down to -1 ?

If you don't want him to look to posed you should try and get him not to feel posed. Maybe he can lean forward and rest his rists just above his knees and hold his finger tips loosely togetehr or similar. That way he should feel relaxed and normal.

best of luck
--
Stan-o-Stan

 

[Chuck Gardner]

thanks to all of you.

I will try and shoot down from from a chair with them looking up to
camera.

These are a couple shots from an old tutorial of mine which illustrate using one chair to help pose the subject and another as a shooting platform.



The thing to watch for is getting the person to lean towards the light (right side in the photo above) and keeping the shoulder line, head and eye line all tilted at 10-15 degrees relative to the floor. The natural tendency is for people to orient their head vertical like he did here. What you want is more like the other photo I posted previously, taken with the same posing technique.

Note how matching the downward tilt of camera and upward tilt of the face keep that perspective normal while at the same time foreshortening the torso a bit. Shooting from further away will minimize the torso forshortening.

I think I should be able to get the window light at 45 degrees to
one side of the face, but the fill will have to come from on
camera. I hope this will help to even out the face on both sides
although the on camera fill may not be ideal.

Use a north facing window or one with indirect light. Make sure it is clean. A dirty window can cut light by a full stop. So a custom WB since the light will be cooler in tone than daylight because it is being reflected indirectly off the blue sky. Watch out for color casts from curtains, etc.

Align him facing the window at about a 45 degree angle until you see a short lighting pattern on the face.

Add a reflector for fill, keeping it as far forward as possible. I you do use fill flash it should be on a bracket above the lens to avoid sideward shadows. Flash on camera bracket is actually ideal for fill, which should be even as the camera sees it, but a reflector will enable you to better visualize it and adjust while shooting. Keep the reflector as far forward as possible, more so than in the photo above.

Once the face is posed to the light move your position to capture various angles. If you shoot an oblique view it will result in a slimmer appearance, but pay attention to the eye position. You will need to direct the subject where to look so the eyes appear centered in the sockets to avoid a shifty-eyed look. Somewhere about half way between straight ahead relative to his nose and straight at the camera is usually about right.

See http://super.nova.org/DPR/Window/

And I'll get hm to angle the body so he is looking over the
shoulder slightly - but not so much that it looks too posed. (I
don't want it to look like he is trying to 'pose'!)

The foot on chair posing technique is effective for a guy because it is very natural and comfortable.

CG

 

[ca39th]

I am going to be dealing with the same thing. But some of my shots will be more full body shots. Anyway to help there?
--

 

[Roy Bruckno]

Chuck, excellent info as usual.

 

[Chuck Gardner]

I am going to be dealing with the same thing. But some of my shots
will be more full body shots. Anyway to help there?

The effectiveness of any photo is a combination of the pose, lighting, clothing, background, props, etc. Because there are so many variables involved its easy to loose sight of the goals for the photo and the best overall strategy.

The goal, simply put, is to attract the viewer to what you feel is most important. That can be done in a number of ways but the ones which are the most effective are those which create CONTRAST,

Put a person in a white suit on a black background and all you will see is the suit, not the face. Put the same person in a black suit and all you will really notice is the face. So the the best strategy to minimize the size of a large person is to select long sleeve clothing and a background is will blend into rather than contrast against. Once that is done it is simply a matter of picking an effective lighting strategy to match the background tone so the face will contrast well against it.

On a dark background short lighting which puts the highlights on the front of the face making it the brightest area in the photo is the most effective strategy. Where you put the highlights is what will attract the most attention. What you put in the shadows will attract less attention. Light your subject accordingly. Feather the light towards the face and use "flags" to shade areas if necessary. Where you put the shadows and how dark they are determines how much the highlights will contrast and how strong their attraction will be on a dark background. Eliminate any distractions lighter than the face, including other body parts like hands by hiding them or making them darker. You make the other parts darker by posing the person so their face is the closer to the key light than any other body part.

On a white background the tonal balance / attraction is reversed. On white flat or low ratio broad lighting which make the front of the face the warmest most saturated tone in the photo will also make it the most visually compelling one because it will contrast the most with the background. The way to make a portrait very effective on white is to use the hair to frame the face if possible, and then make EVERYTHING besides the face lighter than it is. Anything darker in a photo on white will become a distraction which will pull the viewer off the face.

Beyond that it is a matter of finding poses which turn the body and minimize its size. People come in all shapes and sizes. The only way to figure out what will look best is to look at them from every angle and let your eye tell you which it finds more flattering. Distance controls near / far size distortion. The further away you shoot the less distortion there will be. It is something you need to compare by eye and learn via experience. A comparison test is the best teacher of this. Shoot the person from 4, 6, 8 , 10, 15, and 20 ft then crop all of the shots so they are the same size. Then compare the appearance. Your eye will tell you what is best shooting distance for that face and body.

If this makes sense to you read my tutorials: http://super.nova.org/DPR/

CG

 

[ca39th]

Thanks so much, I am printing this as we speak! Some of these will be outdoors, in particular, with a John Deere tractor! The indoor shot will be with his sports jerseys, football helmet and awards and such hanging and around him. I will have a black background behind this. I will have to tell his mom for him to wear a long sleeved shirt.
THANKS very much for your help!

I am going to be dealing with the same thing. But some of my shots
will be more full body shots. Anyway to help there?

The effectiveness of any photo is a combination of the pose,
lighting, clothing, background, props, etc. Because there are so
many variables involved its easy to loose sight of the goals for
the photo and the best overall strategy.

The goal, simply put, is to attract the viewer to what you feel is
most important. That can be done in a number of ways but the ones
which are the most effective are those which create CONTRAST,

Put a person in a white suit on a black background and all you will
see is the suit, not the face. Put the same person in a black suit
and all you will really notice is the face. So the the best
strategy to minimize the size of a large person is to select long
sleeve clothing and a background is will blend into rather than
contrast against. Once that is done it is simply a matter of
picking an effective lighting strategy to match the background tone
so the face will contrast well against it.

On a dark background short lighting which puts the highlights on
the front of the face making it the brightest area in the photo is
the most effective strategy. Where you put the highlights is what
will attract the most attention. What you put in the shadows will
attract less attention. Light your subject accordingly. Feather
the light towards the face and use "flags" to shade areas if
necessary. Where you put the shadows and how dark they are
determines how much the highlights will contrast and how strong
their attraction will be on a dark background. Eliminate any
distractions lighter than the face, including other body parts like
hands by hiding them or making them darker. You make the other
parts darker by posing the person so their face is the closer to
the key light than any other body part.

On a white background the tonal balance / attraction is reversed.
On white flat or low ratio broad lighting which make the front of
the face the warmest most saturated tone in the photo will also
make it the most visually compelling one because it will contrast
the most with the background. The way to make a portrait very
effective on white is to use the hair to frame the face if
possible, and then make EVERYTHING besides the face lighter than it
is. Anything darker in a photo on white will become a distraction
which will pull the viewer off the face.

Beyond that it is a matter of finding poses which turn the body and
minimize its size. People come in all shapes and sizes. The only
way to figure out what will look best is to look at them from every
angle and let your eye tell you which it finds more flattering.
Distance controls near / far size distortion. The further away you
shoot the less distortion there will be. It is something you need
to compare by eye and learn via experience. A comparison test is
the best teacher of this. Shoot the person from 4, 6, 8 , 10, 15,
and 20 ft then crop all of the shots so they are the same size.
Then compare the appearance. Your eye will tell you what is best
shooting distance for that face and body.

If this makes sense to you read my tutorials:
http://super.nova.org/DPR/

CG

--