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If you take enough photos of people, eventually you’ll photograph someone who is either a little heavier or thinks that they are. This is especially true for those of us in the U.S., where obesity rates are sky high. The good news for you is that there are a few tricks you can add to your bag to help make your subject look thinner. You’ll get the photo, your subject will be happy with it, and everyone wins.

Lighting and Gear Tips

Short lighting and high ratio

1. Use short lighting. Short (or narrow) lighting is when your subject’s face is turned away from the camera, and the lighting is such that the lit side of the face is facing away from you. If you were to use broad lighting, the side closer to you would be lit, and it would make the face look larger. Read more on how to use short lighting.

2. Use a high lighting ratio. This goes along with the short lighting tip. Keeping your fill light dialed down means that your subject will stay more in shadow on the side opposite the key light. If part of the body is more in shadow, your eyes will tell your brain the person is thinner when you look at the photo.

3. Use the right lens. Be very careful with those wide angle lenses. They can be fun sometimes, but can really pack on the pounds. For best results, use a middle of the road focal length like 55 mm.

Posing and Composition Tips

4. Get up high. Elevate your position just a little bit. Try standing on a chair when you take the picture. Your subject will need to look up at you slightly, and in doing so will be stretching out the extra chin a bit, making it disappear behind the real chin. If done right, you usually can’t even tell you’re up high in the final photo. Whatever you do, don’t take any photos from down low when you have a larger subject!

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5. Watch the head position. Make sure your subject doesn’t pull their head back for the photo. This makes the chin skin squish out. This makes even thin people look terrible. You can try having them put the head out just a tad if you like, which stretches out the skin a little without looking strange.

6. Crop out the bad stuff. Before you press the shutter, simply take a second to take note of your subject’s shape. If you have someone who is rather heavy down below, keep the majority of your shots up high to keep the bad stuff out of the frame.

7. Twist the body. Have your subject twist sideways with their feet (if standing), or twist their legs (if sitting). This will pull a little extra skin tight.

8. Slim the hands. While this may seem like a small detail, making the hands look smaller can have a real impact. Angle your subject’s hands so that you’re seeing the edges of them, not the palms or backs. This will add to the overall feel of “thinner”.

Iden Pierce Ford

9. Put your subject in dark clothes. This isn’t always an option, but if you have control over clothing, tactfully suggest that your subject try some dark clothing. Say it will make for a more dramatic portrait. Dark clothes have a tendency to make us look thinner, especially when combined with the lighting tips mentioned here.

Got any other thinning tips you want to share? Drop them in the comments section and let everyone know.

UPDATE: A discussion thread was started over at Flickr in the Wedding Photography group about this article and tips to thin photo subjects. A few people chimed in and gave some additional suggestions. Check it out if you want to read more. Thanks to Bakari for starting up that thread.