How to avoid double chin and glossy skin in portraits?

Question

Two of the most disturbing things I struggle with when shooting portraits are double chin of the model and glossy skin reflecting my flash, even while using diffused light. I normally ask my model to tighten his/her shoulder and move his/her head a little forward and clean his/her face with wet tissue. But this method doesn't always do the trick and ultimately led to unusable/embarrassing photos. Even my models feel uncomfortable when they see me struggling with their double chin or glossy skin.

How do I handle these problems without making them uncomfortable? Is there any particular orientation for placing the model in such a way that does not embarrass them and also solves the problems?

Answer

For dealing with the double chin, there's some excellent advice here but generally you're trying to get the model to elongate their neck and stretch that skin a little.

• Tell them to lean over their waist/belt and often times they'll stretch their neck a little too.
• The other thing to do is to put their shoulders more toward the camera and have them turn their head toward you. This has the effect of stretching that double chin out.

The worst thing you can do for a double chin is shoot them straight face forward.

In regards to the shine, you've got a few options:

• Avoid making it more wet/damp, that's only going to increase the reflection:
• Carry give them a small towel to wipe with, it shouldn't be an embarrassing thing. Keep it on you and make it obvious that you have it for that because 'hey, it just happens'.
• In worst cases, a little baby powder will dull it up. Just a little dab and a toweling and they should be ready to rock.
• Fix it in post. For a small shiny dot here or there, its often really easy to use a little post processing to airbrush it off. People want to look their best, don't be afraid to Photoshop portraits a bit as long as you're being honest with it.

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