Big Bold and Beautiful Bride

bennielou · Oct 4, 2011

We all photograph the real woman. The average size of the American Woman is size 14, but not a lot of photographers showcase this real sized bride. I have no idea why! While most women WANT to be that size zero we see in the magazines, most of us are also keenly aware of the reality of our body type. Real life sized brides, or those that are in the plus sized category appreciate a photographer that can showcase them in a way that makes them feel as gorgeous as they are. There is a definate market out there for the photographers who court this real American woman.

Due to the way we photograph and process, we basically get three types of clients on a continual basis: The couple that spends a lot of money on looking good, other photographers, and the couple that are aware that we can do retouching and body morphing.

The beautiful lady below came to us because she's not always happy about her body, and while she didn't want to change herself, she wanted to be as beautiful as she honestly is, for the memories of her wedding day.

She didn't want anything crazy. She just wanted a few tucks and tweaks, a bright smile, and to be photographed in a way that highlighted the things that are gorgeous about her.

We photograph several ladies that request the same thing each year. Many brides, no matter how tiny, always seem to have something about themselves they want to tweak. They don't like their arms, or they don't think their smile is bright enough, or whatever.

In the photos below, we did some minor slimming of the face, lifting of the chin, elongating of the neck, dropping of the shoulders, slimming of the arms, and we put a nip and tuck in at the waist.

Again, nothing super dramatic, but something she truly valued in her wedding photography.

If anyone is interested, I would be happy to do a short tutorial on how to gently liquify a larger bride without making it completely obvious that the work has been done.

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12sndsgood · Oct 4, 2011

i really like the first two in the set.

tirediron · Oct 4, 2011

Very nicely executed Bennie- #3 = $$

Jethro · Oct 4, 2011

Photos are very nicely done (5. and 7. are my fav) but her smile scares me..:/

MissCream · Oct 4, 2011

Good job

Aerr · Oct 5, 2011

Cool, do you have befores?

bennielou · Oct 5, 2011

Jethro said:
Photos are very nicely done (5. and 7. are my fav) but her smile scares me..:/

Why does her smile scare you, Jethro. I think she has a beautiful smile!

bennielou · Oct 5, 2011

Hi Aerr,
I went back and grabbed the RAW files. I didn't make any changes to the files at all, so these are exactly as shot, before white balance and exposure corrections or crop.

To make it easy to compare the changes (they are indeed slight), I'm putting the before and afters together.

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2. (This one is a bit more dramatic in the waist area)

penfolderoldo · Oct 23, 2011

#2 is fantastic

MLeeK · Oct 23, 2011

They're gorgeous. THe nip tuck on #6 is kinda extra nip tuck. She looks like she's got about a 28 inch waist and a 46 inch bust.

CCericola · Oct 23, 2011

If you had not told me they were morphed I wouldn't have noticed. The photograph takes me right to her face. Excellent job

D-B-J · Oct 23, 2011

Well done.

tirediron · Oct 23, 2011

Great work!

e.rose · Oct 23, 2011

bennielou said:
We all photograph the real woman. The average size of the American Woman is size 14, but not a lot of photographers showcase this real sized bride. I have no idea why! While most women WANT to be that size zero we see in the magazines, most of us are also keenly aware of the reality of our body type. Real life sized brides, or those that are in the plus sized category appreciate a photographer that can showcase them in a way that makes them feel as gorgeous as they are. There is a definate market out there for the photographers who court this real American woman.

What am I? Chopped liver? :greenpbl:

Someone's gonna have to break the news to my husband that I'm not a real woman... :lol:

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Nice job with your client. I agree that both 3 is a beautiful image and that number 6 is a little *too* nip tucky... I don't think it's the amount you brought in her waste so much as the... what's the word I'm looking for? Wait. Let me start again. :lol:

If you would have brought in her waste in a more gradual degree, it would look more realistic, rather than... no tuck, no tuck, no tuck, SUDDEN TUCK, no tuck, no tuck...

Does that make sense?

I'm not good with the English language today, apparently. :lol: