To show the pit or not? The armpit, that is.
I don’t know why, but models for some reason love to put their arms over their heads, which, of course, exposes the armpit. I have an aversion to armpits. I don’t find them particularly attractive.
Armpits join horizons and other objects that cut horizontally through the head, railroad tracks, middle fingers, gas masks, etc., as taboo in my photographic world view. Like polyester liesure suits, they find no room in my closet.
On occasion, however, I let my guard down. Just a tad. Like in this image from the shoot at Red Rocks:
If they are in shadow, as in here, or obscured in some other way, I tend to be OK with it.
I understand it’s kind of hard to work your hair with your hands and not show pit(s). Believe me, I have tried to defy the laws of human mechanics in trying to avoid them. In the end, lighting tends to be my biggest friend in helping to reduce the noticeability factor. That and posing with the near arm down, working with only the far arm and obscuring the armpit with the pose.
Working both arms, as here, short lighting casts a very helpful shadow. It’s not just for facial modeling anymore 🙂