smooth the complexion. With any type of glass in the
glasses, this light or reflector has to be removed or it will
create glare.
One technique used to reduce glass glare is to angle the
frames of the glasses so that the lenses point slightly down-
ward and the frame raises slightly above the ear. This usually
reduces the glare and the change of angle isn’t noticeable
from the perspective of the camera. This isn’t an ideal solu-
tion, but it is more manageable than spending a fortune on
enhancement to remove the glare. A second effective tech-
nique is simply to raise the main light to a point at which no
glare is visible from the angle of the camera. Here again,
though, you are creating the portrait to avoid glass glare,
not to make your client look her best.
Baldness.If a client is bald by choice, meaning they have
decided to shave their head, they will not usually be self-
conscious about it. To photograph them, simply turn off
your hair light and you will be fine.
However, if a person’s baldness is out of his control, no
matter what he might say to the contrary, he is not alto-
gether too happy about it. When you meet with a man over
thirty who is wearing a hat or cap, you can be 90-percent
certain there is a bald or balding head underneath. To use
shadow to reduce the appearance of the balding area, turn
off the hair light and lower the camera angle slightly. Then,
make sure that the separation light is low enough to just de-
fine the shoulders from the background but still allow the
top of the head to blend in. At this point, the problem will
be much less noticeable.
If a man is really worried about his lack of hair, you can
lower the main light and use a gobo in front of the main-
light source to hold back some of the light coming from the
top of the light modifier. They (and you) have to remember
that this isn’t an alternative for a hair transplant, though. It doesn’t make a per-
son appear to have hair, it just makes the problem less noticeable.
Larger Body Size.The best way to control body size is to have the client wear
a black, long-sleeved shirt. You can also rotate the subject’s body around toward
the shadow side of frame to place as much of the body as possible in shadow.
For further correction, use a gobo to block light from hitting the body. As
noted in the chapter 4, it’s also very helpful to coordinate the color and tone
of the background and clothing, allowing them to visually merge, and to avoid
using separation lights behind the problem areas.POSING 85ABOVE AND FACING PAGE—With careful
lighting and posing, you can give your full-
figured clients images they will love (fac-
ing page)—images the that are much more
flattering than the standard portrait (top).
The setup for the final portrait is seen in
the image above.