How can I make a subject look taller or lengthen their legs in photos?
Asked 1/26/2011
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2 answers
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I’ve seen fashion images where a person’s legs look longer relative to their body. Is that mostly caused by lens choice or camera angle? What focal lengths and shooting positions help create this effect, especially on an APS-C camera? Does lighting matter much, and are posing or wardrobe choices important too?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
15y ago
2 Answers
39
Use a wide angle lens and position yourself low down, as others have stated:
Giant legs on even the shortest subject guaranteed! This was shot with a 10mm, the effect is more subtle at longer focal lengths.
Wide angle lenses accentuate perspective, they increase the distance in size between near and far objects. By getting low you are making the subjects legs the closest thing to the camera, thus they appear disproportionally larger.
This is the same reason you should use a longer lens for regular portraits, a wide angle will make the closest parts of the face (nose, chin, forehead) seem larger which is not very flattering! Taking this advice to the extreme is why you see fashion photogs using 300mm lenses and directing their models using walkie-talkies!
Originally by user1375. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1375
15y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes—this look is mainly created by perspective, not lighting. To make legs appear longer, use a relatively wide lens and shoot from a low camera position so the legs are the closest part of the body to the camera. Wide lenses exaggerate the size difference between near and far parts of the subject, which can make legs look longer and the person seem taller.
A low viewpoint is especially important: shooting slightly upward adds height and a stronger, fashion-style look. A wider-than-normal portrait focal length can help, but going extremely wide can become distorted. One answer suggests roughly the 35–50mm range; stronger effects come with wider lenses if used carefully.
Posing also matters a lot. Emphasize the legs with stance and body angle, and footwear like heels can help. Wardrobe can strengthen the illusion too: showing more leg and using clothing that makes legs appear slimmer can make them seem longer.
Lighting is not the main factor here compared with perspective, pose, and styling. Be careful, though: very wide lenses close to the subject can be unflattering in regular portraits because they also exaggerate other nearby features.
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