My prevailing theory is it creates a hypotenuse that makes their hypotenuse-leg look longer and your brain generalizes tgat impression/illusion to the other obliquely (and therefore: skinny-er)?

    • berdandy@lemmy.ca
      10·
      18 days ago

      I used to do photography as a side gig, with an interest in fashion and portraiture. When I was dealing with new models or doing portraits for friends, I had to do a lot of posing with people who don’t know how to position themselves for the camera.

      Feminine bodies tend to look better on a 45 degree angle, making the entire frame look slimmer. Our stupid brains tend to only see the width in the image. Masculine bodies look more powerful facing the camera straight on, and with the lens higher than the subject, which makes an inverted triangle shape. Broad shoulders, skipped leg day, etc. For young guys, I’d generally get them to crouch, look up, and get up on a ladder, and then zoom in on their head & shoulders. Magic. Old guys can’t crouch. Bad knees LOL

      High camera can also work well for some women, but tends to emphasize chest size, which isn’t always appropriate given what the portrait needs (ie, we doing a business headshot or a sexy dating profile?)