5 Tips For Photographing Models
ARMS IN PICTURES are the despair of countless directors and models. When photographing models, some even resort to concealing the arms, reasoning that 'no arm movement is better than poor arm movement'. And, to an extent, they are right. You can keep your head above water - but you will never win any races that way!
Arms are essential to quality posing. Arms can be an asset or a liability and the only way to obtain effective results is to use them effectively.
If you are apprehensive about the problem - cut it in half. Work with one arm at a time. Remember that the camera is methodically collecting space and pressing it into a flat picture surface. You cannot ignore it.
The design in which the three segments of the arm reach this flat surface is of practical importance. Because the arm is fastened at one end and telescopes to the other, it seems sometimes to take on properties of direction in its flow of design. At other times it seems to encircle or bound areas -called traps.
While some directors are sensitive to the excessive light these traps hold, all find them most useful in design.
When the arm makes a trap, its size, shape, location and position can be used to photographic advantage.
If the arm assumes direction and seems to go somewhere ... it does so in a continuous line or a broken line.
When you look closely at arms in photographs you soon see that there are two kinds of continuous lines. One is absolutely straight: upper arm, forearm and hand in a line. The other is a flowing line composed of these same parts arranged in a curve.
When the line is broken it takes the eyes around right-angled corners, or down and back with acute angles at elbow and wrist.
When photographing models, it is important to keep ion mind that the direction of the arm, from shoulder to finger tips, moves:
1) toward the body (up or down)
2) away from the body (up or down)
3) across the body (high or low)
4) parallel to the body (high or low)
5) or, relates itself to the horizontal, diagonal or vertical lines of props or to the page itself by crossing, becoming parallel to or striking it at an angle.
Whether you use dynamic symmetry, a special formula or your inborn sense of balance to arrange them - one thing is sure: there is a myriad of excellent positions to choose from.
Can you
... recognize the general design of each arm you see in a photograph? Does it make a trap, a continuous or a broken line?
... spot and identify any rectangular traps? Many sizes of triangular ones?
... state quickly the general direction of each line? (Up, parallel to the body; out, at a right angle to the support, etc.)
... direct yourself or someone else in the specific position of the upper arm you want to achieve?... recognize each forearm position illustrated in a photograph in a magazine?... recognize each hand position illustrated in a magazine?
When photographing models, it will be worthwhile if you study the position of the arms and the way they are used to create an attractive photograph.
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