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Shoot: Uneven Height Couple Poses

We're going to talk about photographing uneven subjects. The most important thing about photographing uneven subjects is remembering our rule: whatever's closest to the camera is biggest, whatever's furthest from the camera is smallest. So, for example, one of the things that I get asked all the time is, "okay, what about if somebody is much larger in a couple?" What you would do, is that person goes behind. Now it actually gets more complicated than that because usually I also involve lighting, that person's more in shadow, and things like that, um, but what we're going to do right now is uneven height, because that one is all the time, alright, so we're going to photograph an uneven height couple, here are my tips photographing uneven couples. Tip number one: You don't need to eliminate the height difference, you don't need to try to, you're just trying to even it out a little bit, like, you don't to have them lined up and look the exact same height, so don't stress about that. Tip n...

umber two is you really want to maintain good posture and not strain, so I actually have a good example of this. A lot of people, when the height is uneven, the girl's on her tip-toes, right? And she's reaching up to try to put her arms around, which isn't necessary, or, he wants to get a lot shorter, and so he hunches over and has bad posture, none of that is necessary, so maintain good posture the whole time. So you have a couple, and I have three main ways of evening out height differences, okay? Three main ways: way number one is sitting. So you can sit your subjects. When you sit your subjects, people can sit on a foot, they can, one can stand behind the other, you can equalize that way, because the height difference isn't going to be as noticeable, because it's not all about standing. Sitting is your number one way you can do this. The next would be the "Step & Lean," we're going to see that, I'm going to illustrate it for you, and then the last one would be walking, so, whatever's closest to the camera looks biggest, so what you can do in this case, is have the shorter person in the foreground leading, holding the hand of the taller person behind them, they, to the camera will look larger, and the taller person in the background will look shorter. I would not do this in a studio, we are going to shoot it in the studio because that's what we have here, but this is probably, when I'm shooting weddings, that would be my go-to pose, is I have, you know, whoever's shorter in the foreground leading, looking back, and then they look about even height. That one's a nice easy candid one. So we have a couple of slides to illustrate, just so you can see, slide number one would be a don't and a do, I see this all the time. Really tall people, by default, hunch over to be equal size, and they do it all the time. Instead, you don't want to hunch, you want to lean, and so the way you would do this, do you mind if I, oh (laughs) do you mind if I borrow you for a sec? (audience laughs) Okay, and I'm gonna take pictures (audience claps) yeah, woo! (audience clapping and cheering) So I'm not gonna take a picture yet, I'm just gonna show. These guys are adorable, I love them. Would you stand in the center for me? Absolutely. Alright. So most people do this, okay, to even out to be the same height. What instead you want to do, is would you step behind him? I will. And step further behind him, and what she's gonna do, is instead of... hunching, slouching, she's going to step forward, weight back, and lean, versus bending over, there's a difference. You're actually, if you watch her height, so watch her height here, watch the difference in height. Take a big step forward, and now put your weight back, just a little bit. Okay, so, ready, hold on, okay, now stand up really straight. So it's like, you know, five inches or something? That's a good six inches! Okay, and then on top of that, if she leans her chest forward, it gets five, six inches of difference. So that is what we're going to do here. If you are not photographing full length, you actually can do that, (laughs) okay? It doesn't really matter if it's a situation like this, you want someone to be shorter, they can just spread their legs. It doesn't work for full length at all, it looks, yeah, it looks like that. So instead, that's why the "Step & Lean" works better, because if you line up these legs you can't tell as much. And not only that, if you crop at the knees, you can't tell at all. It's kind of the bottom part, so if you wanna crop tighter, I mean, do whatever you gotta do. But if you want a fuller length shot, it's a step, hips back, lean, and I get, even I get shorter, really (Kenna laughs). A lot shorter. (audience chuckles) Okay, so, I see one other thing before I demo with you guys. Alright so I see this a lot, is whoever's shorter giving the other person a hug, I mean, straining to become the same size or to reach shoulders. Don't do poses where you're trying to reach for the shoulders or the neck. Instead, pick a pose that is going to be less straining. Alright so we are going to take a nice, close look at a couple of poses we can do. Alright, so, thank you guys, alright so first of all I'm going to have you just stand side by side Okay So I can see, and I'm going to have you, actually I lied, will you stand right behind him? Yes. Perfect. Alright, so, (camera clicks) okay, so you will see a bit of a height difference, okay? (audience laughs) And I know you can't bend too much, but can you lean just a little bit? Just a little bit. Bend forward? Yeah just a little, okay. (camera clicks) She bends forward a little bit, she's kind of leaning and sticking her butt out, it made it a little bit shorter, but let's do the "Step & Lean." Okay. So. You're going to take your big step and you're gonna lean in, good, and you can lean back towards her just a little bit, great. And everybody chins out and down, and I'm going to have you hide that hand, yeah, perfect. And soft fingers, perfect, head tilted together, (camera clicks) Alright so now, let's take a look at those, so you can relax for a sec. So let's take a look between those three, if you don't mind putting them all up on the screen. (laughter) That was kind of cute. Okay, so she's nearly a full head taller, and then she's just about even, and she's not slouching. Let me just show you what it looks like full length so you can kind of see if you did want a photograph at full length how you would crop that. First, can you do the legs apart one? Okay, I've gotta get this shot. Okay, this one I, yeah (audience laughs) Yeah, this is gonna be a good photo, here. Okay, perfect. (camera clicks) Alright, this is a nice photo, I like this. Oh, except for I can't see, the light on your face is a little hidden. I like that. (laughs) Okay, so, can't take any full-length photos. I'm gonna take one more of those. And lean your chin forward just a little bit and you can head back just a tiny bit, just a little bit for... (camera clicks) okay, so now, what I'm going to have you do instead, is the step. Step forward? Step forward and lean, okay. And then lean right in and hands back on again, good. And all I want you to do is put this foot over just a little bit, so I'm having her line up her feet so I can't see this, I see one leg. So now... (camera beeps) Good, (camera clicks) and if I crop in... (camera clicks) Alright tell me in the second shot if you can tell at all. The first shot, you can kinda tell. How bout the second shot? I think the second shot, she just looks curvy. (crowd murmurs appreciatively) You have no idea. So that would be my recommendation for you, the "Step & Lean," but line up her legs, if her legs are apart you can tell that difference. I think you just look crazy curvy, so that looks pretty good. (woman laughs) I approve of that. Okay, so that would be number one, "Step & Lean." You guys are very cute. Okay so I would like those little benches, please? And we are going to do, yeah, we're gonna do sitting. So you guys can step out while they situate that. You can do this on a bench, on a couch, we didn't really have the exact perfect thing, so I have little tables, I think, I don't really know. Okay, perfect, and you're gonna put one kind of behind the other, here. Yeah right there, alright perfect. So would you come take a seat? So I'm going to put the taller person sitting in the front, which sounds opposite of what you wanna do, but it's going to allow the shorter person in the back to hide if they're on their knee, or to push up, or to even out. So I'm actually just hiding the tricks that I'm doing, just like the one leg in front of the other, and I think that's the key, is hiding those tricks. So, would you go ahead and kneel there? And I put the pillow there because it's the hard surface, and I want him to be comfortable, perfect. So lean forward towards her, and, okay, no slouching. So should I turn? Yeah, you can turn your hips that way. This way? Yes, perfect. Great, yep, a little less, like a little less. And now scoot together just a little bit more, you lean back, you lean forward, okay so now it looks perfectly even, I can line things up, alright great, and I am gonna get a cute shot right here. (camera clicks) And I'm gonna move your hair a little bit. (Lindsey laughs) It's fluffy. It's nice fluffy, listen. (everyone laughs) Okay? (laughs) Trust me. Perfect. (camera clicks) And what I would do photographing, and just chin out a little bit more? Good. (camera clicks) And so what I would do, is I would shoot this just like I instructed in the first couple sections, moving around. So if I get a shot from over here, for example, I'm gonna have you look at me and lean, and have you look at her, okay, so this is gonna get all romantic. (audience laughs) And you're gonna put your hand on her shoulder. Okay, a little bit higher, good. So I don't have narrow depth of field, we've talked about this, I mean I do, but you'd have to change lighting. So now I can make this (camera clicks) kind of all about her, and you'll see, mm-hmm, it'll be all about her, and then I can switch and flip the other way, so now can you look your eyes down and kind of just smile, and now you look at her. Oh, Nico. (audience laughs) (camera clicks) Perfect. (camera clicks) so that's what I would do, I would kind of work around the angles, and I would come over here, I would shoot from that side, but those would be my number one and number two. (audience laughs) Ah! You guys look all "romantical," I like it. Okay, so the last one, the last "go-to pose" for evening out height, you guys can stand up, ooh. I mean, like (audience laughs) trust me. You could work this around, he could sit in front, she could sit, you know, it's the same thing. It's just giving myself a little more flexibility. Can we take those away, please? Alright, so the... Lindsey! Yeah? I've got a quick question from Diego D., "would the 'Step & Lean' trick work if the taller subject was the man in that relationship?" Oh yeah. Do you think it would be just as fine? That tends to be usually what it is. And that's what I usually shoot, so yes. Do you have any way to do that "Step & Lean" that doesn't accentuate the curves in that case, then? Yeah so what you'd want to do, instead of putting the weight on your back hip, it's just more lean than weight back. But since she's a girl, I can use that action to make more curve, but yeah, definitely. It works completely fine with guys. Love it, thank you. Okay, so here's the last one. The last one is my walking pose. I'm gonna tell you, it's not going to look good in here, because this would be outdoors, but what the pose would look like. Whoever is shorter in the front, so would you step in the front, and I'm gonna have you closer to the light, perfect. And I'm gonna have you reach your hand back towards her. Okay, just like that, if I get to a lower angle in the front they're going to look almost identical in height. Alright, so, uh, and turn your uh, right now, remember posing from the feet up, he's doing this, okay, so it looks really awkward, so I'm going to have it look like you're actually stepping. So put your right foot forward. And the reason right, is 'cause he puts left, that's awkward, so it's whatever he's opening up towards. So, perfect, great, and loose hands. And you can flip the other way. You can step that foot forward, perfect. Lean your weight on your back hip, great, back hip, perfect, just like that. (Mumbles) There you go, good. And now look back at her. (camera clicks) Okay so imagine this out on location, with good light, all that stuff. So you can't, you don't tell the height there, and so you do all the posing, and then he can look back at the camera, can we look at the camera here, and then will you look at him? Okay, and chin towards this light a little bit. (camera clicks) Great, and now actually take one step that way, just a tiny bit, there you go, a little more negative space. And a little looser with the arm, just a little bit, good. (camera beeps twice) Hold on, okay, good. (camera clicks) And I have one final tip on this. The other thing is if you're shooting with a wide angle lens, sometimes you can tell how far away they are, (laughs) and it becomes a little more apparent. If I back up and use that compression of my lens, I get to about eye level with him, use a longer lens, they look closer, but the height difference still evens out. So those are your three go-to ways to even out a drastically different height couple, and of course, I mean if you're in a studio, you've got apple boxes, you can literally have someone stand on it, I usually tend to wait a little further in the session, instead of saying, "hey, you're really short, let me put you on an apple box," (audience laughs) I would try to work around that first, but if someone's comfortable with it, then it doesn't really matter, and I'll bring it out right away. Okay, so that is uneven sized couple, thanks guys. Alright, thank you. (audience clapping) Love you guys, bye. Thank you, Kenna and Nico for doing that, everyone thinks you're adorable. They are adorable. Cool, do we have any questions on that, or would you like me to continue? I think we are good to keep going at the moment, we just have some questions, maybe you can talk to, that I don't know that we have anyone here to actually demonstrate with, but of different, uh, like a curvier and a thinner couple? Like a couple, where their weight difference is substantially different? Okay. So with weight difference, substantially different, it's whoever's larger goes behind, so it would actually be the same thing in that hand holding example, the person behind and the hips back and leaning, you can't tell as much. It's kind of the same situation. Or if it's the step, that person is shorter and hips back, or just when you're doing the proportions, do have the smaller person cover a little more than usual, and so that it's not like, equal proportions. Have the smaller person obscuring a little bit more. I do think that does come down also to, kind of, lighting, which isn't for this course, but in general, let's say the light is on this side, whoever's larger, you put them on the opposite, because then they'll be more in shadow, and your eye also goes to whatever is brightest, whatever's brightest also looks largest, so the smaller person closer to the light, and closer to the camera. Bigger person further from the light, further from the camera, okay? And maybe just one quick question that's sort of unrelated, but do you ever tell your clients, Justathought says, do you ever tell your clients the rules, like, no showing back of the hands, nothing like that, so that they can help you with that, or do you just do it yourself and not let them think about it? I actually will tell them the rules, but if it's because they're breaking that rule over and over and over again, I don't really wanna sound annoying, so I might as well just tell them. So, yeah, if I'm seeing their palm, I'm like, "Okay, what I'm gonna look for, for all these poses, if you can try to keep that pinky," okay, and I'll move their hand, "you feel that? Kinda feel that, okay let's try that." Or the hips back thing so it's not a annoying broken record. Otherwise, I don't want to complicate it, so I don't want to tell them until it's a repeated problem. Gotcha, and I love those pictures that we've got. We've got that compilation of pictures showing. It's adorable. That was really cute. I like the "snuzzle-y" one of them. (all laugh) Totally. It's really good.