By referring to other clients and not specifically to her, you save her feelings
and the final sale.
Common Problems and Solutions.While there are many problems to cor-
rect, even in a head and shoulders style portrait, the following are the major
ones. Basically, you’ll need to adapt your poses to cover, disguise, or cast a
shadow on the areas of the body and face that are problems. You will find that
many of the more relaxed poses already hide some of the most annoying prob-
lems your clients have.
Double Chin.A double chin (or the entire neck area) is easily hidden by rest-
ing the chin on the hands, arms, or shoulders (see the photographic examples
shown here and on page 65). Be careful that the subject barely touches his or
her chin down on the supporting element. Resting on it too heavily will alter
the jawline.
Another way to make a double chin and loose skin on the neck easier on
your client’s eyes is to stretch the area, pulling it tighter. To do this, turn the
body away from the light, then turn the face back toward the light. This will
stretch out the double chin so that it will not be as noticeable.
When a traditional head and shoulders pose is needed (for a yearbook, busi-
ness publication, etc.), it is sometimes impossible to use the hands or arms to
hide this problem area. Posing the body to make the neck stretch can only do
so much to hide a large double chin. In a case like this, you do what some pho-
tographers call the “turkey neck.” To do this, have the subject extend their chin
directly toward the camera, which stretches out the double chin. Then have
them bring down their face to the proper angle. Most of the time, this elimi-
nates the double chin from view. This technique is especially helpful when pho-Many of the more
relaxed poses already
hide some of the most
annoying problems.