Saving the World One Pixel at a Time

Many photographers are intrigued at the prospect of creating glamour photographs but may feel that not having the “proper” equipment makes this goal unattainable. Nothing is farther from the truth. My  approach to glamour photography doesn’t require a studio and, as Wilford Brimley might have said, “You don’t even need any fancy studio lighting equipment.”

Before

All that’s really necessary to produce professional quality glamour images is a camera that accepts interchangeable lenses, a few simple photographic accessories, such as reflector and speedlight, and models willing to pose for you. Here’s a few  tips that will help make your first glamour photography session go a little bit better. For the before and after examples shown here, the model, lighting, camera, lens and background are exactly the same.

1. Avoid flashy jewelry. Make your model’s face, especially her eyes, the focus of the photograph.

2. Ask your subject to wear solid colors. Nothing detracts more than clothes covered with busy patterns and prints. See last Friday’s post for more details.

3. Make sure the clothing fits. If a model’s clothes don’t fit, use clips or the old stand-by spring-loaded clothespins (out of camera range) to snug them up. This happens more often than you might think.

After

4. Change Hairstyles. Ask the model to style their hair differently for each change of clothing to add variety to the session and the photos that she can have in her portfolio. One of my favorite techniques is to have the model wet her hair, as shown in the “after” example.

5. Expression. Some models look great with a smile, others look better without one. Shoot a few test shots each way and make a determination what looks best for her. It will be obvious, right there on your camera’s LCD screen.

6. Make-up. When changing hairstyles or outfits, ask the model to changes her make up style and color too. It doesn’t have to be drastic, maybe a different lipstick color or darker eye shadow. I happen to think that red lipstick rocks. Ask her to try it.

7. The Right Footwear. For a more a statuesque posture, ask the model to wear her highest heels. No high heels? Ask her to stand on her toes for a few shots.

8. Relax. A glamour shoot is a team effort. Model and photographer must work together to achieve the best possible images.

Joe is the author of  “Joe Farace’s Glamour Photography” thats available on Amazon and your favorite book or camera store.

Electronic flash output is often measured in Watt-seconds (Ws,) a unit of electrical energy that’s equal to the work done when a current of one ampere passes through a resistance of one ohm for one second. Sometimes also called a Joule it’s basically a way to measure the power and discharge capacity of an electronic flash’s power supply. Think raw automobile horsepower but because Watt-seconds doesn’t consider reflector design it’s not a perfect indication of the total amount of light that can be produced by an electronic flash. Because of that, you’ll occasionally see Effective Watt-seconds used to give you some idea of what to expect from the flash.

This lighting setup places a Multiblitx Profilux monolights behind the model at about 45 degrees. A Profilux 500 is at camera left; the Profilux 250 (even though you can’t see it) is at camera right. You can’t see it because a reflector is blocking it from view and only the light from the 32-inch round reflector is bounced back to the model. An Adorama Belle Drape muslin background is used and is held with two Home Depot clips to add some—what else—drape to the material. © 2012 Joe Farace

Another method of measurement is lumensecond, a unit of measurement of light intensity falling on a surface. A lumensecond refers to the light of one Lumen for a one second or the equivalent, such as two Lumens for half a second. The number of lumenseconds produced by a particular flash system depends on how effectively the flash turns electrical energy into energy or Watt-seconds into lumenseconds. Most electronic flash units produce between 15 to 50 lumenseconds per Watt-second. What this means is that sometime an efficient 300 Watt-second system can produce as much light energy as an inefficient system that’s rated at 1000 Watt-seconds.

Some people prefer to use Guide Number (GN) as a measurement of flash output because it considers the entire lighting package. Guide Numbers are quoted in feet or meters (depending on where you live in the world) and are valid at a given ISO setting. The higher the guide number, the more the light output.

Glamour is a genre that has its roots in the pin-up or “cheesecake” photography of the 1940’s but over time has evolved. While early glamour photography was studio bound and many photographers still prefer that style it doesn’t mean your photographs can’t include some of the model’s surrounding environment.

1.60 sec at f/1.8 and ISO 640

At one end of the spectrum there’s boudoir photography which is practiced by many portrait photographers and includes the kind of sexy photographs wives and girlfriends give their significant others for Valentines Day. On the other hand, there is photography that varies from explicit to fine art. Deciphering the nuances sometimes means that you’re dancing on the razor edge between portrait or figure photography genres but as Jerry Seinfeld once said, “not that there’s anything wrong with that.” Any successful glamour photography can include most of the following elements.

Sexiness. Glamour photography focuses on the depiction of a subject with a strong emphasis on sensuality and trends today lean toward a more natural look at the same time.

Technique: In pursuit of the ultimate glamour image photographers use make-up, camera and lighting techniques to produce an appealing and sometimes romanticized vision of the model. While some photographers prefer gritty realism, put me in the idealized camp.

Sharp focus? Glamour photographers such as the late Peter Gowland preferred crisply rendered images. Others, like me, like to add touch of softness and retouching to the image in the digital darkroom. It’s up to you because ultimately it all comes down to the…

Subject: Casting the right subject and having rapport with her helps create the uniquely collaborative effort involved in glamour photography. She must be comfortable being photographed and it’s the photographer’s job to make sure the subject is relaxed because it will make the session go smoothly and let both of you create the best possible glamour images.

Joe is the author of the forthcoming book “Available Light Glamour Photography.” Look for it this fall from Amherst Media.

EOS 5D, 1/160 sec at f/6.3 and ISO 400

There is much more to black and white photography than simply an absence of color. Maybe I wouldn’t feel this way if the first photographs had been made in full color,but that didn’t happen and, like many photographers, I grew up admiring the works of W. Eugene Smith and other black and white photojournalists who photographed people at work, play, or just being themselves. As a creative medium, traditionalists may call it “monochrome” and digital imagers may prefer “grayscale,” but it’s still black and white to me.

Black and white is a wonderful media for making portraits because the lack of color immediately simplifies the image, causing you to focus on the real subject of the photograph instead of their clothing or surroundings. Sometimes the nature of the portrait subject demands that the image be photographed in black and white. Arnold Newman’s portrait of composer Igor Stravinsky could never have been made in color and have the same impact that is has as a monochrome image.

There are also the trendy aspects associated with creating images in black and white. MTV, motion pictures and fashion magazines periodically “rediscover” black and white as a way to reproduce photographs that are different from what’s currently being shown. Right now, many professional photographers are telling me that they’re seeing a higher than normal demand for black and white portraits than previously was the case. Individual and family portrait purchases like these are driven by these same trends.

While you could always use real color filters on your camera to archive the same effects there are major advantages of using digital filters: While most in-camera metering systems automatically take “filter factors” (See “Filter Factor”) into consideration, you still have to look through and compose through a colored filter whose factor might range from three and five. In addition, a purely digital solution is an easier one to live because the exposure for no filter is identical to one with the dark red filter.

Tip: Filter Factor: In the world of traditional photography, the light loss caused by a filter’s absorption and color density is expressed as a filter factor. A 2X factor means the exposure should be increased by one stop, 3X means one and one-half stops, etc. When using several filters at once, filter factors, aren’t added together but instead are multiplied reducing depth of field or slowing shutter speeds.

Flashpoint 620M monolight with 3x4-foot Flashpoint PZ soft box

In a recent podcast with Jason Anderson (www.canonblogger.com) we talked about lighting and the disparity in cost between a speedlight and a monolight.

For example, a Canon 580EX II speedlite costs $449. For Nikon shooters a SB-910AF speedlight cost $546 and while it might be argued that the Nikon flash is a much more capable shoe-mount flash, it can also be equally argued that a monolight kit, like the Flashpoint II 320M with 7-foot Light Stand and 33-inch white umbrella and carrying case is only $179. I think the monolight option is also an easier one to use and get started making portraits right away.

So if you’re looking for the most cost effective way for lighting portraits, here are a few features to keep in mind when considering a monolight for your studio lighting needs. As in all photography this involves a series of trade-offs between functionality, ease-of-use, and cost.

Continuously variable output: Some monolights have individual power settings of ¼, ½, ¾, and full, because sometimes when working with a individual you don’t want to blast your subject with enough light for an exposure of f/64 and melt their false eyelashes. And sometimes you just need more control than fixed power settings can provide. Having the output continuously variable allows you to fine-tune the exposure to get precisely the aperture and depth-of-field you want.

Proportional modeling light: Less expensive monolights may just provide a simple on or off light that will give you some idea of the final lighting effect but may not show the true effect of the power setting that you selected. However, working in a dark room it will make it possible for your camera’s autofocus to work faster. Monolights with proportional settings allow the modeling light output to vary with the flash output. Keep in mind that although the modeling light may be bright it is not as bright as the flash and when you use a low power setting the effect of the modeling light may be difficult to see under high ambient light.

Fan cooling: Placing the modeling light, power supply, and flash tube (that’s the glass tube that produces the actual flash from a capacitor filled with energy from the power supply) inside a single housing creates heat. A fan-cooled monolight is better than an air-cooled model but makes the monolight bigger, heavier, and noisier, and more expensive. Is it worth it? That’s up to you and your credit card company.

Portability: To many photographers the ability to have the power supply and light head in a single package makes for simple set up and greater portability. That’s why lots of companies offer packages consisting of monolights, umbrellas, light stands, and even a case for a single ready-to-go package. Portability is also why some people prefer speedlights even though they are much more expensive.

Joe Farace is the author of “Studio Lighting Anywhere.”