Above The Nose, Please!

This tryptic was taken to show, without a doubt, why I’m constantly railing on about photographing me from “above the nose”.

Shot 1 – below the nose;    Shot 2 – at the nose;      Shot 3 – above the nose.
(And in case you missed it, I look better in Shot 3. Not great, but better. )

By “below the nose”, aka “up the nose”, as in the first shot in this series, you will literally have the camera angled up the nose.  If you are about the same height as your subject, this will be the angle you get from a digital camera most often since you look down into the screen.  This angle will emphasize any extra chins, waddles or flaps that may exists. Don’t I look glorious in all my pudgy goodness? No? I don’t think so either… but I’m not trying to look glamorous just trying to prove a point.

From “at the nose”, your lens barrel is essentially pointed straight at the end of their nose, as in the second shot.  While you will get a decent shot of most people, it’s compositionally boring and most of us plus-sized folks won’t be all that impressed.

By “above the nose”, where your camera’s lens barrel is above your subject’s nose (not yours) and angled slightly downward towards them, you have shadows working for you. For most people, it will result in a photo where your subject look slimmer and hide some other imperfections.

Trust me, us plus-sized folks (aka ME) will like your photos better (and possibly you better) if you just raise your camera a couple of inches.

Oh, and it helps if your subject isn’t over tired, sick and in a foul mood when you photograph them too… but smiling is overrated don’t you think?