broken nose portraits

[nswelton]

hm. i'm having lots of trouble here. can anyone help?

 

i am trying to take a portrait of someone with a very crooked nose.

not only is it broken when viewed from the side, with a big bend in

the middle, but it's also broken when viewed from the front. when my

subject broke her nose, it was pushed off to the side, toward her eye.

it never fully returned to the middle of her face. it's not some

henious disfigurement, but she is a little self-conscious of it and so

she's not a big fan of having her picture taken. how can i make such a

nose flatering and not have my lighting set up cast a pointy shadow

(pointy from the point where it's broken) across her face? and which

way should she turn to avoid the off-centeredness of her nose?

 

if anyone has some good examples of portraits of people with broken

noses, i'd be interested in seeing them for some inspiration.

 

thanks

[hsksla_ddygff]

photoshop

[stnoonan]

Nathan,

 

<p>You'll want to light her with nice broad, even lighting to remove the chances of casting a shadow. Use a light on either side of the camera at equal angles and make sure the sources are diffuse.

 

<p>Good luck,

 

<p>Sean

<br><a href="http://www.stnphotography.com">www.stnphotography.com</a>

[beau 1664876222]

I know a guy who has a very asymmetrical face, the nose pointing sideways being only one of his issues. He had a portrait done for a book cover and I thought the photographer did a clever thing: he made every element of the picture really asymmetrical. The friend was framed tightly, but posed so one shoulder was much higher than the other, as if twisting and leaning in toward the camera, his head sort of cocked to one side and down, in a three-quarter view, one eyebrow sort of raised, etc. The overall effect was that your eye didn't have any verticals or horizonals to compare his features with, and the asymmetry of his face was barely noticeable.

[william_hahn1]

I don't know about "good" examples, but you may want to look

at any picture taken of (not by!) Ansel Adams. (Adams had

a broken nose from an early age.) Go to images.google.com

and search for "Ansel Adams" + portrait - to cut down on the

hits on pictures taken by him.

 

In the book "Portraiture" of portraits of Imogen Cunningham,

there is a portrait of Adams...and she was a decent portrait

photographer...

 

Hope this helps,

[william_hahn1]

Sorry, I should have said "Portraiture" was portraits *by* Imogen

Cunningham, not *of*.

[wickedmartini]

Have you considered makeup? It's worked for me in the past. Try contouring the shape of the nose by creating a shadow type effect to redefine the edge of the nose while creating a slight highlight to define the main ridge of the the nose. I hope that helps...

 

Michael D. D'Avignon

[tom_musselman]

In addition to the above recommendations, I suggest some post production. But not entirely straightening or moving the nose, but just a little, maybe half way. A good, experienced post prod person will make it look natural, can help with other features and blemishes, and, most importantly, will know when to stop. The guy I use, who handles Hollywood celebrities, could probably do this rework for under $50.

[EricM]

Set the opacity of your clone tool to 20% and gentley straighten the shadows and highlights.

[grant_.]

whats wrong with crooked noses????? be who u are

[rayn]

Easily fixed in photoshop, if she doesn't mind that. The Liquify filter is your friend.