10 pounds

[jje]

Do still cameras add ten pounds or is that just movie cameras.

 

[mrsid99]

Do still cameras add ten pounds or is that just movie cameras.

Only if the camera weighs 10 pounds!

 

[malachite]

I wish my setup only weighed 10 pounds. Just this weekend I got the chance to weigh my photo backpack on an AZ Game and Fish scale and I tipped it at 51.5lbs. That's 2 bodies, 5 lenses, 1 Bogen 3021 tripod, a few filters, Vivitar 285 flash with Quantum Battery1 pack, a half dozen other doo-dads, 3/4 gallons of water, one package of sunflower seeds, and a pack of gum.

No wonder I was sore afterwards......................

Anyway, the heaviest 35mm SLR I've ever toted around was an F4 and those come in at about 3lbs just for the body with batteries.

 

[jje]

I mean on the aperance of a human being in the photo

 

[malachite]

Oh, well that depends on who's doing the shooting. Either way I still look like a skinny doofus with 50lbs of camera crap on his back

It's all about lighting and angles. You can take off 10lbs too............

 

[Slowboat]

Nothing like a the effects of a wide angle up close an personal with nothing in the foreground or background for visual reference. Talk about some distored views.

I also dont feel so bad now, knowing someone else packs around 50+ pounds of photo gear.

 

[ksmattfish]

Do still cameras add ten pounds or is that just movie cameras.

Frontal lighting adds 10 lbs.

 

[jje]

How does frontal lighting add ten pounds

 

[ksmattfish]

It removes depth and form from the head, turning it into a big, pie shaped blob, like Charlie Brown. Does the same to the body (although it may be more sausage shaped rather than pie shaped ).

Side lighting emphasizes form. Try natural lighting from the side, or use an off camera flash.

 

[jje]

So when people whatch video of them selfs out side and they say "the camera makes me look fat" there just in denial

 

[ksmattfish]

Well, there is no way for a camera to actually add 10 lbs (unless it's a 10 lb camera around your neck), so it has to be something about perception.

Front lighting is unflattering to me for a number of reasons. It's often sited as the reason one portrait looks like a "snapshot", while another of the same person, with side lighting looks more "professional".

An object's form is how we (as viewers) decide on that object's depth, volume, weight, etc... Form is created by combining shape with tone. Straight frontal lighting eliminates tone caused by falling light, and turns the object into a shape only.

Also it has to do with the subject's self-perception. My mother seems to think that if I never take a photo of her no will catch on that she is fat. To me, and other folks in my family, she looks pretty much the same in my photos as she does in real life. But to her, it's much more obvious that she is fat in my photos than in real life.

To see what the difference between frontal and side lighting is all you have to do it take a pic of someone with the standard in-camera flash most cameras have, and then take another with them standing near a window (to their side) with the flash turned of.

What to do about self perception isn't as simple. Good social skills and a little psychology might be necessary.

 

[terri]

Matt, your description of your mom is hilarious. With my mom it was more photos making her look "old", but I think you're dead-on with the lighting.

Also, I have a question: do you think it's only to do with lighting to get better perspective of one's shape and depth? Is it not true that with a "normal" lens, people's faces will not "flatten" (there has to be a better word than that) as well as if you use a protrait lens? Think, 50mm vs 85mm, in 35mm format. Or maybe it is "compression" I am thinking of.... ? Does it not also contribute? To what degree, do you think?

 

[graigdavis]

I always learned that you are to put your "bigger" people in the middle of the frame. and your "thinner" people to the outside. You get more distortion to the outside of your frame so it will kind of even out the size of all the people.

 

[jje]

Is it the samewith video cameras

 

[Scott WRG Editor]

So when people whatch video of them selfs out side and they say "the camera makes me look fat" there just in denial

In a way, but its about your mental self image. Now I'm a big guy, but in my head I don't see my self as being that big. When I see myself in video or stills or even a reflection i realise that my internal perception doesn't match my internal self image. For anorexics this is reversed, there self image is bigger than is actually the case.

So in essence it is denial, with a little help from weird lighting.