Darkdesire wrote:
P.S its not that hard to make a model look tall its a matter of common sense.

It's all a matter of perspective... and sometimes using undersized props

Studio36

Darkdesire wrote:
Ok so I get this email tonight saying that a photographer gets his best work from tall thin models. Understood, but my perspective is a lot of photographers do not know how to make us petite models look tall. I have had many photographers make me look shorter then what I am, and with that said I have had some awesome ones that were wiiling to get down on the ground and make me look tall. No offense to models who are thin or tall. I just think people need to realize how versatile a model can be!! As far as weight goes I do photographery as well I have shot some of those twigs, and I hate the fact they have no curves!! What is your opinion on this as photograper or model??

Im tired of models trying to telling me what I should and shouldn't shoot!

Thats what paying clients are for.

PhotoBob wrote:
Photographers job is to take what is at hand and make the best image possible.  Does it have to be a tall thin leggy thing to make a good image?  Not if they know what they are doing.  Not if they care what they are doing.

Use the light, use the angle, use what is at hand.

Bob

Agreed.  I was fortunate to spend my beginner days working with ballet/modern dance majors at a performing arts college, most of whom are tiny...it taught me a lot about making a smaller model look 10ft tall.

Nihilus wrote:
Meh...not bad. According to guesses, I've succeeded in adding from 3-7 inches to the model's actual height (4'9").

Perhaps I need to work harder...granted it wasn't my predominant intent to focus on suggesting a greater height...but it kinda goes to show ya.

Wow, I was guessing 4' 8". Not a bad wag. I went by visual cues around her though, not just her look.

Melvin Moten Jr wrote:
Agreed.  I was fortunate to spend my beginner days working with ballet/modern dance majors at a performing arts college, most of whom are tiny...it taught me a lot about making a smaller model look 10ft tall.

5' 4" for a ballet dancer is almost too big. One of the dancers in Russia [at the Kirov-Mariinsky?] was much too tall... and heavy... and kept injuring her male dance partners during lifts. They sacked her and she sued to get her job back... but few, if any, of the men will dance with her even today.

Studio36

Darkdesire wrote:
Ok so I get this email tonight saying that a photographer gets his best work from tall thin models. Understood, but my perspective is a lot of photographers do not know how to make us petite models look tall. I have had many photographers make me look shorter then what I am, and with that said I have had some awesome ones that were wiiling to get down on the ground and make me look tall.

Simple matter of laws of geometry. I can make you look tall or short quite easily, I agree. However, I cannot make a model 4'11" tall look good in a dress made for a model 5'10" tall. I cannot make a model with extremely thick thighs look like she has extremely thin thighs without changing something else about her which I may not want to change. I cannot make a model with a hand beam of 3" look convincingly restrained by a bracelet with an ID of 2.75". I am a photographer, not a magician, and light moves the way light moves, and that is all there is to it.

Also, there is always a trade off when you use perspective distortion to alter apparent ratios. There are no free lunches in photography any more than in anything else. So, while I can get a good picture using that technique, I will, all other things being equal, get a *better* picture if I do the exact same thing and don't have to use perspective distortion. If I want perspective distortion, fine and dandy. A petite model made to look tall may be the very thing. But if I don't, I'm reducing the quality of my image to accomodate a model who is not optimal for the purpose. I decline to do that just to make you feel better about yourself.

I wanted to be an astronaut: I'm too tall and I wear glasses. I don't get to be an astronaut. I moved on. I commend the same course of action to you: find what you can do and do it well, don't insist on the world altering itself to allow you to apparently do what you in actuality cannot.

No offense to models who are thin or tall. I just think people need to realize how versatile a model can be!! As far as weight goes I do photographery as well I have shot some of those twigs, and I hate the fact they have no curves!! What is your opinion on this as photograper or model??

Insult photographers all you like, but calling thin models "twigs" is just as rude as calling non-thin models "chunks." As a very wise woman once said, none of us can help the way we're made.

M

oldguysrule wrote:
macro photography?

You are a bad, bad man.

I like you.

M

Experimental Photoworks wrote:
I realize that short models know they cannot do fashion but why do they show up at a photographers doorstep and demand the art jobs???

It has been my experience (truthfully not with any model, but other work coworkers) that being unecessarily aggressive, intrusive, pushy and whiny can and will work to get you what you want more than being quiet and effective.

What's that adage about the squeaky wheel?

Iris Swope wrote:

But you're still taller than the OP, and you didn't post any pictures that gave you midget arms

Because I dont have midget arms, my limbs are very long just like a person that is 5'6-5'7, also I had very good photographers:) Not all short girls have short legs and arms.

Darkdesire wrote:
Ok so I get this email tonight saying that a photographer gets his best work from tall thin models. Understood, but my perspective is a lot of photographers do not know how to make us petite models look tall. I have had many photographers make me look shorter then what I am, and with that said I have had some awesome ones that were wiiling to get down on the ground and make me look tall. No offense to models who are thin or tall. I just think people need to realize how versatile a model can be!! As far as weight goes I do photographery as well I have shot some of those twigs, and I hate the fact they have no curves!! What is your opinion on this as photograper or model??

Isn't it just easier to work with the model that already has the look you want...as opposed to handing one stilts and crouching down on the floor?

I'm thinking yes.

I also don't think being a versatile model means you can be 5'9 and 4'11. I think it means you can be commercial-glam- etc.

-D

Darkdesire wrote:
My only opinion on the weight issue is that I think girls who have curves are desired more.

yes. they are. in the glam/bikini market.

Tall thin are desired more in the fashion market.

Girls willing to take their clothes off are desired more by GWC's.

It depends on the market.

Darkdesire wrote:
Ok so I get this email tonight saying that a photographer gets his best work from tall thin models. Understood, but my perspective is a lot of photographers do not know how to make us petite models look tall. I have had many photographers make me look shorter then what I am, and with that said I have had some awesome ones that were wiiling to get down on the ground and make me look tall. No offense to models who are thin or tall. I just think people need to realize how versatile a model can be!! As far as weight goes I do photographery as well I have shot some of those twigs, and I hate the fact they have no curves!! What is your opinion on this as photograper or model??

Don't get too stressed out about this, since you are interested in glamour/artistic modeling, I don't see a problem with your height. Tila Tequila is one of the most successful glamour models and is only 4'11. You have to work twice as hard when you are shorter and don't give up. Also I would recommend that you workout your arms and legs, it will make them look leaner and they will appear longer, tanning is also a good trick.

Good luck with your career!

studio36uk wrote:
It's all a matter of perspective... and sometimes using undersized props

I've had Spinal Tap in my head since this thread began.

W.G. Rowland wrote:


3'8"

OK?!?!?!

let me work with you! please... lol if you can do that to someone whos 3'8" shhhieet. great job

Allen Coefield wrote:
In 1997 I put a model on the front cover of a national publication.  She was paid $500.00 for it and got tons of exposure and work offers.  She worked as a professional, freelance, full time model for the next 8 years.  She was 4 ft 8.
It is all in how you shoot it.....if it is short...get on a knee....good lord...it isnt that hard

I see some photographers know what they are talking about and work hard that good image as a model should!

Ana Paula wrote:

Don't get too stressed out about this, since you are interested in glamour/artistic modeling, I don't see a problem with your height. Tila Tequila is one of the most successful glamour models and is only 4'11. You have to work twice as hard when you are shorter and don't give up. Also I would recommend that you workout your arms and legs, it will make them look leaner and they will appear longer, tanning is also a good trick.

Good luck with your career!

First off tanning is not good if you look at most irish women and dutch they don't have tans really! As far as working harder this is true I work my ass off for an image. I have had some photographers call me crazy for either poses or locations I would chose. I try to do things out of the ordinany that other models will not dare do cause they are either scared or just don't feel the need too. As far as some phototgraphesr this is just what I observe is that some of you get the impression if you get a tall model you won't have to work hard am I right?? IF a model works her ass off shouldn't a photographer??

Miz Beth wrote:
let me work with you! please... lol if you can do that to someone whos 3'8" shhhieet. great job

He's a big fibber.  That model is 6'2", he's just being goofy. 

Scott Meyer wrote:

Im tired of models trying to telling me what I should and shouldn't shoot!

Thats what paying clients are for.

nobody is telling you what you should or should not shoot.

Shyly wrote:

He's a big fibber.  That model is 6'2", he's just being goofy. 

damn lol....

Shyly wrote:
He's a big fibber.  That model is 6'2", he's just being goofy. 

=p

Ok.. 6'2"



Does this make her look short?

Daniel Norton wrote:
Why would a photographer want to make a short girl look tall or a tall girl look short for that matter, if the photographer likes a model's look I'd say they'd have no problem with the height of the model.

2 reasons I can think of that the making someone taller or shorter might be mentioned....

#1 the model hires a photographer and says " I want to look tall in my pictures"
#2 the model wants a job that the photographer has posted that asked only for tall girls "I have a great look for your project, can't you make me look taller? you could if you where not a GWC, let me go b*tch about you on MM"

in any case if a photographer has a preference to a certain model type, why is this a sin?

-Daniel

Nobody is saying its a sin. for instance say if a photographer liekd a models looks or figure but she is short would that stop a photographer from shooting her?

W.G. Rowland wrote:

=p

Ok.. 6'2"



Does this make her look short?

no lol

You don't need to be chubby/overweight i  order to have curves. You can have waist that is quite smaller than your hips, and there you go- it creates curves.

Darkdesire wrote:
Nobody is saying its a sin. for instance say if a photographer liekd a models looks or figure but she is short would that stop a photographer from shooting her?

If the photographer has a specific need, and height is part of the requirement to meet that need, then yes.

Darkdesire wrote:
Nobody is saying its a sin. for instance say if a photographer liekd a models looks or figure but she is short would that stop a photographer from shooting her?

If he wants a tall girl and you are not, he does not like your looks and figure.. the only time this would be the case is if he booked you after looking at your complete portfolio, then when you showed up on set he was like "wow you are way to short for me" and sent you packing.

- I should point out that I personally like to work with models of all shapes and sizes and that is actually one reason why I am on MM.. If I wanted all tall thin girls, I would just get 'em from the agencies.

Urban Eclipse Studio wrote:
1.) Height Perspective.....if a model is 6 foot tall, an ideal height for the camera to be is 3 ft off the ground.  If is model is 5 foot tall, then approx 2 to 2 1/2 off the ground.

huh?

Does this mean I need to invest in a yard stick before I can shoot properly?