Another perspective...

[cliff_henry]

Yesterday Steve Levine posted a Perspective Example in which he

demonstrated a technique for photographing a larger sized subject. I

find this type of post to be very helpful and informative. It is this

type of post that keeps me coming back to PN everyday!

 

I just reviewed my proofs from last weeks wedding and I found

something I did wrong and will correct in the future - kind of "on

the job training". Maybe other photog will also benefit.

 

The groom and his mother were very short and a little heavy. When

doing their full length shots, separately and together, I held camera

at my normal height - I'm 6'. I was using a 28-70 lens and it was

close to the wide end. The perspective is wrong in these shots. I

should have lowered camera, as I do when shooting children.

 

I know a picture is worth more than all these words but I shoot for a

studio and once I turn the exposed film in I no longer have access to

it - sorry I can't post the example.

 

Anyone have a standard rule for the camera height to keep corrective

correct?

 

Thanks,

 

Cliff

[cliff_henry]

Oops! Should read ...to keep perspective correct?

 

 

Cliff

[steve_levine]

Shooting large people from slightly higher is common practice,and many wedding shooters haul along small step ladders for this purpose.The higher camera,has the psychological and perspective effect of making things appear smaller.A step ladder,and a short telefoto lens can work wonders!It also reduces double chins.Most portrait shooters keep their cameras chest high,and vertically parallel to the subject's back bone for averaged sized people.This means your 6' eye level,will all most never be the correct camera position for anything(Im 6'3").There are a lot of other tricks to make short brides look taller,and tall brides look shorter,wide brides look narrower,and vice versa.Arm bends,camera angle,lens choice,flower placement,and many subtle changes,can dramatically shape the way a bride appears in prints.

[cliff_henry]

Steve,

 

I really wish I could post a picture of the perspective I got by shooting these short, heavy subjects from a high angle and a WA lens.

 

You wrote: "High camera has perspective effect of making things look smaller."

 

That is just what happened on the pictures that I said had the wrong perspective! Both subjects, being short and heavy, and the lady having on a straight hanging, floor length dress, looked to have very strange shapes, i.e., heavy, full shoulders and mid-sections and very small legs and feet. Lady's shape was most obvious because her dress was no longer straight but tapered down and her feet and dress bottom were way to small for the rest of her.

 

I think I should have lowered my camera to about their chest lever and used a longer lens. Normally I would have use the longer end of the 28-70 by I was blocked and could only get 8x10 framing with 28mm.

 

You stated there are many other tricks! Can you recommend any books that deal with lens perspective?

 

Thanks.

 

Cliff

[dave_nelson___atlanta__ga]

My favorite trick is to ask the person to place one leg forward and lean back slightly. It creates a line making them look taller and, depending upon clothes, slimmer. With a straight or billowy dress or shirt odd shapes can always happen but if you are posing the shot you may use bulldog clips to tighten it up.

[picturesque]

I believe the rule of thumb for full length shots is to use the "normal" (50mm for 35mm camera) lens and a height of about waistlevel on the subject(s). A wide angle distorts, so if you were really forced to use the wide angle, lowering the camera to her waist level would have been the thing to do. Unfortunately, on heavy people, you are now looking up at double chins, etc. I would avoid using a wide angle at all.

 

Getting up high and shooting down on heavier people is for half lengths and close-ups, where you can crop into the body/shoulders so you don't see the distorted legs and feet.

[fotografz]

Nadine is exactly right. The use of a moderate W/A shooting a bit higher is for portrait

type shots of heavier subjects ... not full length ones. Full length shots of anyone using a

W/A close to them produces a comic effect often used in advertising for impact or humor.

An effect you can clearly see in the viewfinder.

 

I've frequently used a 50 or 35mm on a heavy subject during portraits which emphasizes

their eyes and diminishes their thick neck and hides a double chin.

 

Here are a few examples from a contact sheet that illustrates how selection of lens draw,

and/or how high you place the camera, can dramatically alter a portrait of anyone ... heavy

or not: (in each case I selected an initial shot from the sheet where I was setting up the

shot, and then one as the session progressed. These aren't specifically the ones finally

selected, but were chosen to make the point. In the case of the lower study, we selected

something in-between the two shown here).<div></div>

[fotografz]

Oh, BTW, I killed the hair light in the lower example for the final chosen frame that was

printed.

[steve_levine]

Id have to agree the WA lens was your killer.I shoot a lot with a 35mm lens,on a 35mm camera at weddings and I have to watch the VF like a hawk!You have to always be aware of the width of the frame,and how wide the lens is making the people appear.A wide bride can be made to look like the QE2 steaming out of Liverpool harbor,if you arent carefull.The bulging perspective of a "too close" WA lens,is made much worse when the subject occupies too much of the frame.Trouble starts,when you have two complete opposites in body types.For example the groom weighs 250lbs and is 5' tall,the bride weighs 120lbs and is 5'10" tall!Anything you do to make him appear taller & narrower,will make her look taller & narrower too!This is when you find a row of columns somewhere and place one of them in the background slightly.Using diminishing perspective,its easy to "shrink" someone down.Of course I realize that always idealizing subjects isnt truthfull.And that some big people are proud etc.I just think that photographically,things appear better balanced if the two subjects compliment each other in the frame spacially.

[cliff_henry]

Thanks to Steve, Nadine, and Marc - great info. Thanks for the images Marc, these really help.

 

Marc, I agree that using a W/A in close on a person can give a comic effect and that is exactly what I got of the groom and mother. Unfortunately, that's not the effect I was going for and I don't think the mother will find it funny. ;>(

 

So, from this leason I gleaned the following tips to add to my bag of tricks:

 

1) For full length shots use normal to short tele lens positioned at

waist level.

 

2) If forced to use W/A, keep camera at waist level to avoid

distortion.

 

3) Use high camera angle and normal to moderate W/A lens for portrait

shots on heavy subjects.

 

4) Don't fill frame with heavy subject.

 

5) Use "diminishing perspective" to adjust for height differences.

 

Thanks again to all for help.

 

Cliff