I have to admit, I love photographing women. Women are strong yet sweet, sassy but polite and everything in between. Photographing the bride is one of my favorite parts of a wedding day, a close second to photographing the bride and groom together.
When you’re photographing women, I think there is more pressure on the photographer because women tend to be more critical of themselves than men do. Blame it on pop culture and it’s portrayal of the “ideal yet unrealistic” woman if you’d like, but I believe it’s our job as photographers make all of our subjects be portrayed as the best version of themselves on camera.
- Understand Her
I recently had a debate with another photographer about my attempting to make women look “skinny” while posing them. While I still hold my ground that my subjects do want to look as flattering as possible in slimming poses (not Photoshopped), it made me realize that there needs to be more communication with my clients. As photographers, we should have open dialogues with our clients before or while we’re photographing them. What are their favorite features? What parts of their body are they self-conscious about? In order to capture our subject’s best side, we need to first understand their self-image. When posing a woman, take the time to understand her and how she views herself.
- Lenses
This is one of the easiest fixes for photographing women. Typically a long lens (70mm and higher) like the Canon 85mm 1.2 that I love and adore, will photograph a woman better than a wide angle lens in her face. A wide angle lens (50mm and lower) will distort a woman’s features in an unflattering way, while a longer lens will compress them. Click here for a great video on how different lens focal lengths photograph a face.
- Angles
In addition to considering your choice of lens, you’ll want to purposefully choose your angles as well. When I’m photographing a bride, I’ll typically shoot her at a higher angle because it’ll help minimize problems like a double chin. However, if you’re looking to elongate a woman’s legs, then perhaps you’d choose to shoot her at a lower angle. Whatever you choose, just keep in mind to keep things visually proportional. You don’t want to elongate a subject’s legs so much that her head appears tiny (have her lean towards the camera to correct this).
Be sure to check out my AdoramaTV episode on Posing Brides for some more helpful hints on making the women in front of your lens look their best.
