Photographing women - need your advice

[megapickle1]

Well, I have taken some photographs of a lady and - like the most women - she doesn´t like her appearence. I have to admit that she is a bit fat. And she wants to look slim in the pictures. Oh boy. I know the is a PS feature that makes everything slim, long or fat but I´m not really experienced with PS and I don´t want to use it.
Using a Sinar camera with many facilities for tilt and shift would it be possible to make her slim optically using side tilt of the rear standard. What do you think? Do you know a better way to get fatty slim?

Thank you in advance for your advice.
George

[Vaughn]

In the words (paraphrased) of Peter Britt, the 1800's photographer of Jacksonville, Oregon, upon hearing such a complaint from a customer, "Madam, if you wish a photograph of a beautiful face, you shall have to bring one."

Ah, the joy of being the only photographer in the region! He also took the first photographs of Crater Lake (wet plate), and was "by turns, miner, mule train packer, bee-keeper, financier, property magnate, government meteorologist, first vintner in the Oregon Territory and a father of the region's fruit industry."

[Dennis]

You can use a shorter lens and shoot from above a bit so that the perspective enlarges her eyes. You can also use a smaller light source so the light falls off her body. You can tell her you like to photograph people dressed in plain black.
Dennis

[Mark Sawyer]

Could you concentrate on the head and shoulders, leaving the body out of the equation entirely?

[DrTang]

let shadows be your friend

[E. von Hoegh]

Well, I have taken some photographs of a lady and - like the most women - she doesn´t like her appearence. I have to admit that she is a bit fat. And she wants to look slim in the pictures. Oh boy. I know the is a PS feature that makes everything slim, long or fat but I´m not really experienced with PS and I don´t want to use it.
Using a Sinar camera with many facilities for tilt and shift would it be possible to make her slim optically using side tilt of the rear standard. What do you think? Do you know a better way to get fatty slim?
Thank you in advance for your advice.
George

Proper diet and daily physical activity.

[John Kasaian]

Use skinny film?

Or maybe use an open, moderate wide lens to accentuate the pretty parts and let the rest of her svelte away into infinity?

Flattering clothes and background may help.

Of course, I'm so fat they had to use an aerial camera just so I could be in my high school class photo

[jp]

Thin DOF and clothes that don't contrast with the background. I would think having her provide some photos of her she really likes would be helpful, not to copycat, but to understand her aesthetic interests and do one better.

Mortensen's got a whole checklist of things that make models look thinner or thicker in his "The Model" book. Hairstyles, jewelry, lighting all have substantial impact on how the viewer's eyes look at the portrait and notice shapes (such as body shape).

[Nathan Potter]

To paraphrase; you are in a megapickle. Less than physically perfect women don't want to be reminded of the fact. Kind words can help but it takes a deft touch to allay disappointment.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[Jody_S]

No, far as I know there is no realistic Photoshop or in-camera process to 'make a fat lady look slim'. In fact, there are websites with cult-like followings posting the disasters that ensue when artistic directors order their photographers and graphic artists to do just that: search for "photoshop disasters".

On a personal note, last week-end I had the privilege of photographing 2 sisters-in-law, each with a newborn baby. The skinny one waited til I was in the other room, took the camera (in front of my wife), looked over my pics, and deleted every single pic in which she appeared. Apparently, she "looks like a cow". The fatter s-i-l didn't say anything, she waited until I had done my stuff and sent the edited photos to my wife (a graphic artist), who turned them into a beautiful invitation to the christening of their baby. Yes, she looks a little fat in the photo we used, but... she gave birth just 6 weeks ago, and the baby looks wonderful. The one photo the skinny one left on the camera was of the other baby only, no mother, and the baby was screaming and throwing a tantrum, basically looks like a wrinkled little hellion. There's no moral to this story, just an observation that some women are so vain that nothing else matters, and unless you're a wizard, you won't make them happy. Others are more interested in the subtext of the photo, in meanings and memories.

My wife is friends with the 2nd, fatter sister-in-law. The other one, well, we won't be going back for any more photo shoots. No one deletes photos off my camera without my permission, or should I say no one will ever get a 2nd chance to do so.