Comments on: “Female Subjects Are Often Best Pictured with Soft Lighting”

By: Hebrew

Hebrew — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 15:46:30 +0000

Women’s knees generally are tilted together though. Their toes also generally point in.

By: adrenalectomized

adrenalectomized — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:07:52 +0000

Ugh1 I’m tired of being seen in a sexual light full stop…

By: Ben Zvan

Ben Zvan — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:17:03 +0000

You’d have to shear off a lot more than that. There are plenty of flat-chested sexbombs out there. Princess Amidala for example.

By: adrenalectomized

adrenalectomized — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 13:51:16 +0000

Ugh.

Yup, sadly, that’s how society is. Men are allowed to be a bit ugly or asymmetric, it shows character. Women are supposed to just look as sexual as possible.

It makes me want to shear my boobs off in protest. You can’t objectify me as ‘just sexual’ if I don’t have any.

By: Ben Zvan

Ben Zvan — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 21:08:02 +0000

As a photographer, this is something that I struggle with on a daily basis. If I’m shooting a man, I can pretty much get away with anything, but if I’m shooting a woman, I have to hide all the character in their face. I have a long-term project to investigate gender and race differences in photography, lighting, and retouching.

By: adrenalectomized

adrenalectomized — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:46:57 +0000

Lol, if I take a self portrait on my mobile, I always use harsh directional light. Looks way cooler. I’m female. I don’t wish to look soft and suggestive. :D

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:41:55 +0000

Your comment makes sense. When I get my photo taken, I want to look my best (I mean, I have probably spent hours getting ready and will have to send out the photo to dozens of family members). If a certain type of light is going to look nicer on me than another type, then I am fine using it.

By: jenni

jenni — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 21:13:03 +0000

oh theres a problem. but this blog post was about the book suggesting it, writing out a fact. the book is not saying its good or bad, just saying that its a usually a good idea to use soft lighting. because the book is trying to educate u to take photos that the subjects are happy with (at least usually its a good idea) – and why the subjects dont want to look like themselves, thats another issue. the book is not criticizing how women look naturally.

By: Simone Lovelace

Simone Lovelace — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:38:59 +0000

*Dramatic sad facial expression.*

By: Siveamrai

Siveamrai — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:23:03 +0000

With the upswing in botox usage the lack of expression can be a real thing here. Specially if you’re drawing off a model.

By: Simone Lovelace

Simone Lovelace — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:11:09 +0000

Well, women don’t really have facial expression, right? Just a permanent sexyface. XD

By: Liz

Liz — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:07:39 +0000

As a direct parallel, I’ve seen countless times the advice to draw a woman’s face using as few lines as possible if you’re doing it for comic books or something like that. You can use a lot of lines to show men making a facial expression, but you’re cautioned not to on women because they can read as ‘wrinkles’ or ‘imperfections.’

By: Frowner

Frowner — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:48:57 +0000

An issue–the social cost of “imperfect” photos is much higher for women, whether it’s internet mockery of anything deemed unsuitable or the need to submit headshots for corporate promotional materials. The situation isn’t just “women feel that they want this”; it’s “women know that they have to brace to take criticism for every physical flaw, mocking photos is practically a national industry in the US, and sometimes one just doesn’t have the spoons to deal with the social or economic costs, you know?”

By: E

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:57:27 +0000

This is just a photographer’s daughter’s comment:

You don’t see a problem with the fact that women don’t want to be seen looking like themselves? You don’t see a problem with the fact that it is assumed that every woman will need to be retouched?

By: jenni

jenni — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:07:08 +0000

this is just a photographer’s comment, but out of the 100-200 women i have photographed (for various reasons, portraits mostly), i cant remember a single one who would have asked not to be retouched or asked for a ‘harsh’ lighting or similar. however i remember some 70-90% of those women being insecure about how they look, asking about covering blemishes, asking if i can retouch specific things later on and if the light etc is merciful and so on… the list is endless. (and yes, i retouch and do everything i can to make the subject of the photo happy).

im sure other kinds of women exist but we have to accept the fact that MOST women really do want a soft “forgiving” lighting. how women have gotten to this is another subject. but the reality is this and i think its okay for a photography guidebook to address this.