Glamour Photography Tips

Photo by Amy K Roberts. This photo is copyrighted and must never be used without written and signed permission from the photographer.

Domestic portrait photography is one of the most popular forms of photography for the home-based services market. Many of these include weddings, newborns and infants, celebration,  events and glamour photography. Glamour photography is very popular today. What are the main differences between domestoic portrait photography and this stylish photography? Furthermore, in what way can we shoot the most ideal images for the task?

Glamour photography is a stylised representation of someone. Stylised will mean that that someone is styled, had their hair and make up done to look a particular way. It may also employ props such as home furniture, clothing and elegance to make someone look a particular way. Fashion photography is quite comparable but it’s not quite the same as glamour. Glamour photography is created for the domestic market and fashion is created for promotion.

Many people love this type of glamour photography. It’s actually a lovely service to provide for a friend. For the client, especially women, it is quite exciting to get made up for a photo with the specific aim to look as beautiful as she can. As a photographer there is a lot of possibility for this kind of service.

In this glamour photography tutorial I will be discussing how photographers can develop sound and successful lighting and shooting methods to photograph the very best in people. To begin with, look at how people want to be photographed.

Ask the customer how they want to come across in the photo, and, what sort of photo they want. It’s a great idea to ask them to offer you photo examples of what they love. If they don’t know what suits them you can always have photographs to show them. They will get a well thought out idea of how they want to look. You can then chose the lighting set up according to what they want to look like. You can also suggest clothing and colour ideas.

Colour matching is necessary in glamour photography.  Colours help to create elegance and beauty. The best colours usually have a sensual feel to them. Colours that are bold work well with feminine make up styles. One of the best and most effective ways to get your colours appearing real and genuine is to do a custom white balance. Why is this so essential? For skin tone primarily. There’s nothing inferior than skin tones looking a little yellow or green because the white balance is wrong. At all times use custom white balance with a  grey card.

Once you have done that you can create outstanding and brilliant colour using bright clothes or material. In the recent glamour shoot I did, I used a long piece of energetic scarlet chiffon. Chiffon is a beautifully light, semi-transparent fabric.  It hangs in straight lines that work suitably for the feminine body. It has a fine and beautiful feel to it. I folded it over itself a few times to take away transparency.

Next, lets look at some glamour photography tips to get you started. Once you have a real comprehension of how your friend wants to look, set up your lighting. More often than not glamour photography is done in a studio using what we call modelling lamps, or key lights as they are known, and fill lights. The key light is your most important light source and your fill lights are the lights that help minimise some of the dark areas. Usually your key light is brighter than the fill lights. This is how you recognize which is which.

A deep black setting, an individual source of light from the side and a splash of colour is more often than not what distinguishes glamour photography from other sorts of portrait photography. This is usually done using a piece of black paper type of material that can taken out of a huge spool attached to the top of the wall. That’s all very well if you have a costly set up. If you only have your living room or garage to work with then you need to get creative.

Think about your lighting. Soft flash lighting from the side works well. If you can take your flash off your camera and link it remotely then do so. Each time you press the shutter the flash will discharge. You can change the intensity output of the flash manually. This is done shooting with  the manual mode on your flash.

Once you have your lighting set up, consider your environment. If you do not have an appropriate background then don’t use a background at all. It’s better to use no background than a background that does not match. Try tightly framing the photo by photographing a head and shoulders shot.

Lastly, lets look at some glamour photography poses. These are usually done by making lot of angles of the body. A flattering glamour photo of a woman is not one where she is standing front-on. It looks flattering to have one shoulder higher than the other or her head somewhat titled away from or in the direction of the camera. For thoughts of finding the right pose, have a look at glamour photography websites. See how other photographers have requested their models to pose. If you get caught for ideas use other photographers photos to inspire you.

Try to photograph from different angles. I shot my model from a higher angle for a few photos. I then got on the ground and shot from floor level as she lay in front of the camera. Lastly I did the shoot at normal standing height as she sat on a stood. You can get very resourceful. Make sure you have the background to support this. If you don’t try some closer focal lengths that crop the background out.

Always remember your lighting. It is one of the most important things in glamour photography. Use flattering poses and opt for no background if you can’t find a background that works. And most of all have fun!

How To Create Beautiful Portraits With Window Light

 

How easy is it to create a beautiful, softly lit portrait? It feels hard if you do not know how to do it.  Once you have your light right then half the battle is over. What happens when you have no studio light? What then? I have good news; you don’t need studio light. Why not consider window light? 

If window light were so successful then everyone would use it, right? Well, yes, that is right. The trouble is that with this is that no one uses window light properly. Many photographers position the subject in front of the window. They do not turn their subject to face the window. By turning the subject to face the window it is a great way to take advantage of some beautiful light. It’s not only beautiful but it’s ideal light for portraits. Many photographers don’t actually use the light from the window to illuminate the subjects face or eyes. Instead they photograph the subject side on or with the window light from behind. This method will not work and you will be quickly disappointed with the results. 

So let’s now look at some ways to create lovely window light portraits. 

First, think about the quality of the light coming through the window. Is it hard or soft? Usually the light is soft. A portrait looks fantastic when the light is soft. Blemishes are reduced, skin tone evens out and there are no harsh shadows under noses or eyes. It’s really an ideal kind of light for portraits.

Think about the temperature of the light. Changing the white balance to suit your portrait is essential if you want to create beautifully warm and fresh skin tones. It’s easy to create unsuitable colour tone through a lack of understanding about white balance and how it affects your friends skin tone. In this case do a custom white balance before you shoot. 

The way to do a custom white balance is as follows: Take your light meter and place it on the persons face. Face the light meter towards the window light with the invercone extended. (That's the little white round thing that comes up to to read the light)> Now press the side button and take a reading. Make sure the light meter and the camera have the same settings. For example if the light meter tells you that F1.4 and 1/60^th of a second is ideal, and your lens is unable to go to F1.4 then you may not use the setting. Move your light meters dial to the aperture you want to shoot at. It will then give you a reading you will able to set on your camera. 

Now that you have the ideal exposure take a grey card and place it in front of the lens. Set your camera to the settings of the light meter. Take a photo. Set the photo of the grey card to the correct white balance on your camera. Now your white balance should be ok. It’s been set for the conditions you are shooting in. 

The direction of light is very important too. It’s good to get a window that is quite long so the majority of light comes from the person’s top and side, not directly from above only. If you have too much light from above only, then shadows under the nose and the eyes may occur. To avoid this, try and find a window that is quite large. This will help disperse the light evenly.

If you find that you still have too much shadow on the opposite side to the window, then try using a reflector. A reflector can bounce the light back onto the persons face to fill in the shadows. This works very well in some situations. 

If you place your subject too close to the window you may see more contrast on the persons face. If you want softer light and less shadows, move them away from the window. This will even out the light across their face, but darken the overall exposure of the image. Simply adjust this by increasing your ISO. 

When shooting a portrait using window light its important to keep the emotive affects of that light clear in your mind. A soft light cast across someone’s face can often create an endearing affect. This is ideal for weddings, young people and children. If you want to create something theatrical and moody, try a different direction and quality of light. However, for windows, you will find that creating an endearing affect is easier than you think. 

Consider window light as a wonderfully accessible way to shoot portraits. Always make sure you have plenty of light and use a tripod. Window light is soft and subdued and ideal for portraits. Face your portrait towards the light, not away from it. The direction of light needs to light the persons face to help create a gentle and soft look and feel. If you use window light in this way, you will be better equip to handle many lighting situations.