Engagement Session: Body Sizes disporportanate to each other

[MikkiStreak]

I have an upcoming engagement session coming up, and I'm trying to figure out the best posing/positions for the couple to look flattering.

The groom is about 6' tall and..... "paunchy" as my mother would have called it. The bride is about 5', very tiny in stature.

I'm concerned that he might look either hunch-backed if he comes down to her level; or that he'll look "pregnant" in other poses.

I was wondering if some of our more experienced photographers could post some images from their body of work, to show how they handled this type of situation... Please? :)

[toverman]

Do more seated poses with them together. Try some with her sitting in front of him, leaning on him, laying her head in his lap, that kind of thing. With the size differences, I can't think of any natural poses that would put them on the same level standing.

Although you can also have some fun with them ... have her ride him piggy back, etc., if they're adventurous. Another common thing (for at least one or a short series of shots) is to take turns having one of them closer to you and the other behind and blurred in the background. Size won't matter when they are separated like that.

[Jeff Lane]

I have a photo of my wife's grandparents, that would have to have been taken before 1910. He was 6'2" or 6'4" (depending on who you ask), and she was every bit of 4'10" and not a fraction more. He's sitting down camera left with his knees pointing 45 degrees camera right, in his best overalls. (Yep, that's what he got married in.) She's in her white gown, standing just behind his knees, with her hand draped on his shoulder. If they didn't have that blank emotional stare that was universal in turn-of-the-century photos, it would be a sweet picture.

You might try playing with those kinds of themes -- him seated in various ways with her standing behind him touching him or hugging his neck, or him leaning on an elbow in semi-repose with her sitting in front of him with her knees laying slightly to the side, or him leaning against a staircase with her standing behind him and a few stairs higher so that he is looking up adoringly at her.

[toverman]

That is great advice, Jeff, and your example reminds me of my great-grandparents (my dad's mom's parents). It was the opposite for them ... my great-grandmother was the tall one at nearly 6 feet and my great-grandfather was lucky to be close to 5 feet tall. I don't remember seeing many photos of them together alone ... usually it was group shots of them seated near the middle and the newer generation around them.

My great-grandmother's "wing span" was so wide that she could stretch out her arms and encompass all 7 of her grandchildren (when they were small).