Glamour Advice!

Phate

Phate

Phate

Caporegime
Joined
1 Nov 2003
Posts
35,700
Location
Lisbon, Portugal
Hello All

I have always wanted to try out glamour/semi nude photography but have never had the guts to try and find a model due to being considered a perv

I told one of my friends this and she has said she's always wanted to do a glamour shoot and is offering to do a shoot with me, I've told her I'd love to do it and want to show her some examples of mainly glamour, because as stunning as she is, I'd be uncomfortable taking semi nude pics of one of my best friends.

So I'm looking for some examples to show her of different types of glamour - no nude at all.

If anyone can provide links or show pictures of their own glamour work I'd grately appreciate it

Also any advice on portrait photography would be excellent! :)

Equipment used will be:

Canon 350D
17-40L
A flash of some sort (haven't bought it yet)
Tripod
Self made studio - going to turn the lounge into it
Plug in full length flourescent daylight light (maybe)
Possibly a remote shutter.

Thanks again! :)
 
nolimit said:
go to photography-on-the-net forum, they have a nude/glamour photography section with many great examples.
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I already have, and talk photography.

Was wondering what advice/examples you guys have :)
 
Ignoring the glamour topic are you planning to use any other lense as the 17-40 doesn't strike me as ideal for portrait photography. Both due to the short focal lenght and the appeture not being that wide.
 
In a studio you might need a softbox

you will certainly need a reflector or 2, can buy them or make your own (white card covered with creased up tin foil does the job, so does a white piece of polystyrene.

You'll need a light meter, the camera ETTL is all good but it's best with a light meter.

A White background ? or would it be Playboy style on the couch shot? ;)

I say the hardest thing thou is to keep her relax enough so it looks natural, and she might be pretty but it's a different kettle of fish when it comes to photogenic. The camera either loves her or don't.

Soot at the long range, 40mm on a crop still won't be wide enough for me, I'd like 100mm on a fullframe. So 40mm is barely 70mm, which is cutting it. anything from 85-100 is perfect, I say this for 2 reasons.

1 - Wideangle makes funny shots on people, especially on portraits.
2 - You'll be too close, to a point some find its uncomfortably. 100mm means you can keep at a distance but close enough still.

plan the type of shots you want before you start, as you shoot through them, add any you think are good on the day. And with digital just snap, often shoot when they are not ready for some candids. You don't need to shout "ready?" just set it up, have her in the frame and keep snapping but keep talking.
 
Raymond Lin said:
plan the type of shots you want before you start, as you shoot through them, add any you think are good on the day. And with digital just snap, often shoot when they are not ready for some candids. You don't need to shout "ready?" just set it up, have her in the frame and keep snapping but keep talking.
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Totally agree. I've taken artistic nude and semi nude (i.e underwear and bits covered with hands or props!) shots of a good friend.
She offered and I said sure ! :) I found a bottle of wine helped to calm both persons nerves !
But keep talking, keep snapping and have a laugh. Don't get overly serious about it and you can get some good candids and good poses. The poses have to look relaxed and not forced. But as Raymond says, plan poses that you really want that accentuate her features, tattoos, hair, shape and then snap away in between poses and ask her opinion on what she likes or can suggest. My friend came up with some great poses that I didn't even expect.
I showed her this website as a good starter which she found great -> Tamara Loncar

I used her lounge as a studio. Used some ikea desk lamps for light. Some chairs and boxes to get the height right for the light. A few white sheets over the sofa and stuck to the wall. And a white canvas board I bought for 2 quid as a reflector. Took about 15 mins to set up. Despite it's cheapness I came out with shots we both liked :)

Used a Canon 300D, no flash, a zoom lense set to around 60-70 so it works out around the 90-105mm or so mark for 1/2 body shots and a cheap tripod !

Oddly enough, she didn't like the use of the tripod as it made it a little more serious. But handheld was impossible with lack of light and a lense that only stops down to f4. I've bought a 50mm 1.8 (a classic imho) to use next time.

hope that helps ! :)
 
I am in a similar boat, my friend wants glamour / nude photos taken. The advice I would have given has mostly already been stated by raymond and Puz although I strongly advise getting a cheap set of studio lights ( thisis what I will be doing).

Just something basic like the interfit ex150 set, which is 2 150watt lights on stands, one with a softbox and one with an umbrella. It will make life so much easier as you will not need a tripod for sure and no desk lamps etc to move about. It will also give you a lot more freedom to move about the room trying different angles without lugging the tripod with you...

Reflectors, sure, but they aren't the be all and end all, shadows can sometimes be your friend... Get an object roughly the size and shape of a persons head, place it on a box and play around with different light setups so you can see what will happen with shadows etc, it will give you a better understanding for when the day comes for shooting.

Props, ask her to bring some props, or you can introduce them, they can be a lot of fun and a way of relaxing the model as she thinks a lot of attention will be put on the prop and not her, which is not true, she wills till be the centre of attention. Just don't introduce an awkward prop :p

Background... make sure it's not too cluttered as it can really detract from an image..

Thats about all I can think of right now.. good luck, hope she lets you put them online to show us all the results! :)
 
You don't really need props, and you don't NEED anything longer then about 50 (on crop) so your 17-40 is fine. You don't really need to shoot under F5.6 or so if you using strobes.

If you are using strobes, then make sure you use modifiers to soften the light. Nothing turns Galmour into soft porn faster then hard light.

You might consider a prime if you are going to shoot with window (natural) light. This might be a good idea since the days are longer now, and there is less expense.

For lighting, back lighting or rim lighting can be very effective when doing Glamour, expecially if you are spraying on liquids for bekini (sp?) or Lingerie (sp?). If you are going to use liquids, make sure you get the spray in all the right places (if there is spray on the face, you need to wet the hair or it looks unatural).

Also choose your music carefully (definately have music playing), to create a relaxed mood.

Edit: I have just re-read my post, and it seems a little technical?
 
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FranchiseJuan said:
If you are using strobes, then make sure you use modifiers to soften the light. Nothing turns Galmour into soft porn faster then hard light.

You might consider a prime if you are going to shoot with window (natural) light. This might be a good idea since the days are longer now, and there is less expense.

snip..
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Just had a look at your gallery some nice photos there, you defo have done this kinda stuff before so I guess your opinion is almost backed up with proof.

Just FYI your page doesn't load in opera or firefox, although the gallery is supported, it comes up with a required flash page for some reason.....

Thought you might wanna know :)

Chris.
 
boycee said:
Just FYI your page doesn't load in opera or firefox, although the gallery is supported, it comes up with a required flash page for some reason.....
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Yeah this is something that I have been meaning to fix for a while, but I am not fond of working on web pages, and I can't remember when I broke it.
 
FranchiseJuan said:
You do know what I mean when I say rim lighting right?
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hehe, nope not a clue. Just sticking my size 10s in where i'm not wanted for a good pun!

;)
 
Whoa, thanks for all the advice people :)

I'm afraid I don't have a studio to hand, going to convert my lounge in the bes possible way.
 
Get down to your nearest fabric shop and buy a roll of suitible fabric. Then go aobut draping it. Im currently building two rollers from my roof to hook multipue fabrics on. Then as its on rollers it will just roll back up.. I find most artistic nude shots come from dark backgrounds to help blend in suttle skin tones and shadows.

Nude photography really is very hard to do since its going to be the capture between well executed nudes and pornography.
You probably want ot build your scene around an exposed couch for the comfort of the model. He/she stood up is going to be very hard to work with since it will require arms and legs folded to cover up private parts.. giggity goo

For success its going to require only minor light sources directed at the subject with low flow and radius
 
Thanks for the advice :) Think I'll go down the fabric shot in the highstreet and see what i can find.

See if I can make some sort of collapsable backdrops - shouldn't be to hard.

I'm quite handy with wood and my hands (oo er missus)

Really appreciate the advice people, I'll probably be contacting you all seperately to go in depth due to the fact I've just done 3 hours at the gym and I can barely move my arms and can't really use the forums at work...

will be checking it throughout the day/evenings though :)
 
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