When shooting portraits, one of the first things you should do, is evaluate the subject and try to discover what their best angles will be. Of course, it is often advisable not to accentuate people's overweightedness, but not if it creates a worse photo.
Posing will certainly be important. As mentioned, when someone is facing the camera directly, with head and body...the camera will see their whole width, making them look their biggest. By turning them, the camera will see less of them, thus giving the impression of less size.
Take note of how parts of a person's body will look different, depending on their pose/position. A big one is how the neck looks, depending on the position of the head. If a person pulls their head back, they get more of a neck, and heavier people may get chins or rolls. But if they push their head/jaw forward, the neck skin is taken up and stretched, thus looking better. This isn't natural for people, so you usually have to keep reminding them to 'stick their face out'. Also, shooting from a higher angle, and having them look up at you, will accomplish the same thing.
Having someone turn their head & neck away from the front, can also make for a better looking neck/chin etc...but while it looks better on the side they turn away from, it looks worse on the side they turn to, so be careful.
Pay attention to how they are standing or leaning, and where they place their weigh. For example, if someone puts all their weight onto one leg, that led may appear larger, but it can make the other one look slimmer. If someone is leaning forward and puts their weight onto their hands/arms, their arms and especially shoulders will look bigger. So sometimes you can have a great pose, but you have to ask them to shift their weight off of a leg or arm.
There is such a thing as masculine and feminine poses. Feminine poses often involve more leaning or turning, usually with the idea that you want them to have a slight S-curve. So if a hip is cocked one way, the head can go the same direction, giving their body a curve.
For a masculine pose, you probably don't want them to tilt their head, although turning it is OK.
As for lighting, especially for portraits, you can use short lighting to make people look slimmer. Short lighting is when you light the side of their head/face that is away from the camera. Another way of putting it, is that you are lighting the far ear, but not the close one. This is the opposite of broad lighting.
And for shots of more than just the head, consider where your light is going and what it's lighting up. If you're shooting a portrait and someone has a large body, you probably want to draw more attention to their face, than their body. So make sure that their face has more light than their body. To this end, you'll want the face to have more contrast in the scene....so have them match (key) their clothing with the background that you're shooting with. This will put more emphasis on the face and less on the body. But beware that big patches of skin can also draw attention when they contrast. So if someone has large arms, it may not be idea to have them wear shorts sleeves etc. Certainly to avoid having big patches of skin face the camera. This also goes for the back of someone's hand, especially women. If you must include hands in the photo, have them pose so that the sides are to the camera, rather than the back.
![[No title]](/data/xfmg/thumbnail/37/37425-6c82b8d207549743954f4b99b56a8153.jpg?1734170466)