On 2-Jan-2001, BY wrote:

I have a problem with female portraits. I tend to make my subjects
look fat. In fact, I'm so good at this that I would bet that I could
photograph a super-model and turn her into Roseanne.

I do use a portrait lens (85mm) and keep a respectable distance from my
subject. Lighting is usually on camera flash or existing light.

Can some one give me some posing tips or any advice in general on how
to slim down my subjects?

I'm no expert, but I do know a couple of tricks.

1) Don't shoot the subject head on. Turn her body at an angle to the camera
(this reduces her width as it appears to the camera).

2) Place the camera above the subject and have her look up at it, this
stretches the skin on the face and neck and puts the body further from the
camera..

3) Have the subject put her chin on her hand with her elbow resting on a
table, this also hides the chin.

4) Get the flash off the camera. Direct flash lighting is usually very
unflattering. If you must use on-camera flash use a big softbox on it.
Actually, use a big softbox anyway, it helps minimize wrinkles.



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