Tricky subject, how to...

Phil V

Phil V

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I've shot a few people in my time, when shooting a single subject I think I'm fairly proficient at lighting and posing to minimise issues, maximise assets. But when I photograph a couple, I start by maximising the light / pose for the female (marketing move - they care more and spend more), which leaves the bloke as a secondary concern. When this comes to overweight bald men, it can lead to a huge pink blob, I doubt customers notice in the way I do, but I'd still like to dig myself out of this a little, what does everyone else do?
 
Hat?
There's not much you can do about the weight, but it should be possible to do something about the expanse of bald head.
Presumably the lighting angle is the key?
 
kendo1 said:
Hat?
There's not much you can do about the weight, but it should be possible to do something about the expanse of bald head.
Presumably the lighting angle is the key?
Click to expand...
Yes, that's the issue, if I'm just shooting the bloke, camera angle, pose, and short lighting will cover it. But when shooting a couple, the lighting direction and pose are designed round the female, leaving less flexibility for the bloke.
 
At the risk of beginning a class in egg-sucking....

At the only wedding I've shot the bride's father was considerably larger and pinker than she was. They were very keen to get a few shots of the pair of them; I stood the bride half in front of her pa and had him turn in to face his shoulders towards her. I also shot from a relatively low angle and hide them both learn forward a little bit.

The results were acceptable, not amazing, and I'm pretty sure you'll have tried that sort of thing already, but I though I'd mention it in case it suggests an alternative approach to you.
 
Thanks Simon, no apology necessary, I'm comfortable with placement and posing to hide larger people it's just the large expanse of bald head that I'm trying to figure, particularly when it comes to lighting a couple.
 
Hmm.

Can't think of much more than having the lights and camera a bit lower down than usual & a pale coloured background so the head stands out less.

If it were a portrait session where I had time to experiment I'd try lighting from the side with a softbox, possibly gridded, and quite possibly rotated to an angle, and feathered to the front of the male so that the head fades into darkness. And I'd bung a big reflector or another similar softbox on the other side. That kind of fiddly work probably isn't practical at a wedding though, and needs more precision when doing it full length.

This isn't necessarily the atmosphere you'd want to create but it demonstrates what I'm trying to say:

Frankie by Simon Carter, on Flickr
 
Are you just worried about the shiney spot off the chap's solar panel, or something more nuanced? If it's just the shine then some dulling powder (Possible ettiquette minefield if they're just members of the public) or some simple photoshop to dial it down would serve the purpose?
 
Could it be better to focus the lighting on him on a few, her on the others..?

I know it may seem like a waste of time redoing the lights.. But I'm guessing the female may like a few of him "Actually looking good this time" and spending out for that too..?
 
You can use a gobo to cut out the light directly onto the head
 
I think that your approach is 100% right, concentrating on the vain woman instead of the realistic man is always the right thing to do commercially.

There are a lot of workarounds, including sticking bits of ND gel over the part of a softbox that's hitting the shiny bald head, makeup, shooting (and lighting them) individually and then comping them together in PP, or just doing a lot of PP work to improve things, but basically it all comes down to the cost in time.
 
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