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Plus size models or subjects
I'm curious as to how long you guys will go out of your way to please a plus size subject. I did two paid photo shoots with two plus size women and it seems like nothing I do satisfies them. I've skin smoothed, spot healed and liquefied them to try and get them looking the best I can without ruining the shots. It really comes down to them not looking the way they look and I try to assure them that they are beautiful the way they are. However some of their complaints are things that are out of my control and then they feel the shoot is useless because of how big they are. I can't just do practice shoots for these ladies just so they can "just see" what they look like in front of the camera. One lady I'm on her third revision and I'm bout to just tell her that's it. take it or leave it. Sep 16 17 04:41 pm Link its a trade shoot...just be done with it Sep 16 17 06:12 pm Link Yosh Studio wrote: 100% Agree! Sep 16 17 06:31 pm Link paid, you are, or they're paying? Sep 16 17 06:34 pm Link It would help if you gave us examples of the type of complaint you are getting. You can pose them in a faltering way. You can provide makeup that is flattering. You can light them in a flattering way and you can photoshop some stuff. If you have controlled what you can control, then they need to understand that they are who they are. I met a 77 year old woman yesterday. We had a long talk about art and biology (her profession). At one point in the conversation, I told her that I had been studying her features and that she is a very attractive woman. She replied that she was an attractive woman when she was young. I told her she was confusing being attractive with youth. She walked away happy. It might be how you are framing your conversation with your clients. Sep 17 17 04:17 am Link I did headshots not long ago for a woman who is absolutely beautiful. If I look half as good as her at 50, I'll be content. She hated how her nose looked - that was in both the raw images, and in the edited ones, where I actually edited the appearance of her nose significantly to give it a more narrow, conventionally "feminine" shape. She still thought it looked bulbous and manly, and there was nothing else I could do short of fucking with the shape of her face in post (nope, not doing that). Finally she just picked a few, and is actively using them - so they couldn't be that unflattering to her nose. She liked everything about them, except her nose. She just didn't like her nose - period - on her face, in photos, whatever. Some people just don't like certain things about themselves and there is a pretty serious limit to what you can reasonably fix in post, without making someone look not-like-themselves, or making them look cartoonish (which I personally hate). I am supposed to shoot some full-length photos of a person who does historical re-enactments soon. Thankfully, those are supposed to be gritty and raw-looking. Sep 17 17 06:32 am Link I had the same thing happen to me on my last shoot. The model showed up weighing at least 50 lbs more than she did in photos taken 2 years previous. She wanted to replicate some boudoir style selfies she had taken a few years back, but of course that wasn't possible. Despite tearing out the fasteners on a corset and being unable to get into half the wardrobe she brought, she wouldn't accept she didn't look like she used to. Clothing that was several sizes too small for her didn't help things. I found a couple poses that were very complimentary that she liked but of course she wanted all the poses she had done years ago to still look great and that simply wasn't happening, not without extreme photoshopping anyway. Some people simply are not going to be accepting or happy. Dwelling on it doesn't accomplish anything. They will run into the same issue over and over. Sep 17 17 07:15 am Link Thank you for your replies Sep 17 17 12:36 pm Link My most upsetting experience was after an erotic couple shoot the went very well. But the man glanced at the proof gallery on his phone from Hong Kong and then called and told me none would be any good to edit, because you could ''get better pictures from a iPhone!'' I had made his wife look'' old and thick'' I hadn't. Nor had he conferred with her. I quote ''My wife had images taken in China 2 years ago and she looked much younger then'' ug. Sep 19 17 11:50 pm Link So Calvin Klein is now heavily into it's new Plus Size Collections... And the most recent demographic data has the current U.S. dress size at 16! Obesity is so totally in now... Along with Type 2 diabetes mellitus a.k.a. hyperglycemia resulting from a resistance to insulin. But wait, a popular held concept is that anorexia nervosa is the result of the fashion industry... However who is responsible for the abuse of "comfort food" and its over-consumption in a somewhat deranged U.S. populace? Best advice? Strong and toned is the new "skinny" Shoot fitness and bring sanity to all this madness... Be the change you wish to see in the world... Enough said... Sep 20 17 05:11 am Link This is unfortunately, an occupational hazard. Some people have body dysmorphic disorder [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_dysmorphic_disorder] where their brains actually scramble or interpret the incoming visual signals of themselves as being distorted or ugly regardless of the objective reality. People with lots of money will often subject themselves to unending bouts of plastic surgery to try and repair what isn't broken to begin with. As a photographer, I've learned to recognize it when I see it but short of taking measures to limit professional damage, I don't quite know what to do... it's as if we're literally seeing two different people in the same image so no amount of posing, lighting, retouching will make the slightest bit of difference. Oct 07 17 07:01 am Link I have to shoot plus sized fashion on a semi-regular basis. I didn't see if the OP said if these were clothed or exposed shots, but for clothed shots, getting the clothes fit well on the body is vital. I don't have specific advice for post processing, but certainly better prep at the shoot saves time in post. I don't consider plus fashion my favorite thing to shoot, not that I actually have a favorite, but I will say that my single most successful stock shoot/series was with a plus model doing basic poses including one that appeared in a national magazine ad. It has outsold my next most successful shoot (a certified pilates instructor) by more than double. I attribute at least part of the success to the fact that far less photographers shoot models of size. I don't have any examples of plus work here, but they do they appear periodically on my instagram. Oct 07 17 08:24 am Link Thomas Van Dyke wrote: Unfortunately, a lot portion of "fitness models" use not-totally-legal "supplements" to get the bodies they have. Normal, healthy body fat percentages for female fitness enthusiasts typically run between about 17-27% body fat. Women who diet to get to the lower levels of fit-leanness will struggle to sustain muscle mass, because one cannot burn fat and build muscle at the same time. You either have to eat to build (excess calories), or eat to lose (less calories). Many Instagram fitness sensations have both extremely lean abs and low body fat percentages, yet bodacious curves in their backsides and breasts. It is nearly impossible to have a body like that through natural means. I work in the Fitness industry, work with 8-12 clients per day, five days per week and have done so, on and off, since 2012. I have learned an incredible amount about what "realistic fitness" looks like - even on women who work very hard, and a lot of the current trending fitness models, especially the young girls who've only been lifting for a year or two... they're doing something else to get those physiques. Human growth hormone is apparently legal and fairly easily attainable, and as someone who sees bodies and muscles and waistlines all day, every day, I'll say with some degree of certainty that "cheating" through use of HGH (or something like that) is absolutely rampant among the younger female fitness models. They exhibit a larger quantity of bulk on the legs and buttocks than what can generally be obtained through just heavy squats, deadlifts and loaded kickbacks, compared to how low their body fat percentages often are. If you actually managed to train enough in two year's time to get that level of development, you'd be very likely to suffer a knee or hip injury, because the muscle would be developing too quickly for the tendons and ligaments to thicken up and support the loads you'd have to be training with - unless you're using drugs. Oct 07 17 09:02 am Link |
