Jeff Smith's Guide to Head and Shoulders Portrait Photography

Also, If you plan to be in this profession long, you had better consider your
clients’ feelings about their own appearance and be able to create a preview file
that you can show themwithout any retouching or artwork.Photographers are
the worst at time-management skills; instead of learning about corrective tech-
niques to hide a client’s flaws, many use what is called “pre-touching,” which
is a process of simple retouching and correction (for flaws) on every file that was
taken. Who came up with this one? If there was ever a way to make photogra-
phy asunprofitableas possible, this might be it!
Explaining Problems with Tact.If a client decides not to heed your warn-
ings, potential problems need to be addressed at the start of the session. If you
see that your client is a larger woman and you also see sleeveless tops, you need
to explain, “One area that women tend to worry about is their arms. This is why
we suggest wearing long sleeves. Now, you can try one sleeveless top, but most
woman stick to long sleeves just to be safe.” This is a nice way of telling your
client, without embarrassing her, that her arms are too large for that kind of top.

80 JEFF SMITH’S GUIDE TO HEAD AND SHOULDERS PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY

ABOVE AND FACING PAGE—In poses like

these, the neck and chin area is concealed.

This is helpful for hiding the area if it’s a

problem—but the poses also look great for

trim subjects.