Glamour Photography
The topless glamour image above was done as part of job a couple years ago using my 1DsII and a Tamron 28-75 zoom. The photo was taken in a narrow hallway, so space was pretty tight. According to the Exif data for that image I still managed to work at 75mm though, which is a very reasonable focal length for glamour.
At a push you could get away with a 50mm lens most of the time, however, be warned that trying to do something like this with a wider focal length could get pretty ugly with unflattering distortion to the model’s body. You definitely don’t want that with glamour or nudes.
The lighting for this glamour image couldn’t be easier because it was simply my Canon 580EX flashgun bounced off a wall behind me and mixed with the natural daylight coming through the windows of the apartment. Although I am a great advocate of doing things the old fashioned way with manual readings it has to be said that modern TTL flash metering is generally very reliable 99% of the time nowadays and in this case it was able to quickly adjust as the outdoor conditions changed.
The off white cream coloured walls helped to remove any coldness from the light and boost the model’s natural tan, which I invariably prefer when shooting nudes and glamour images. A nice warm appearance to the model’s skin looks healthier and also works wonders for hiding many skin defects. Remember the whole point of a glamour image is that it should be attractive.
On a practical level it would have been really awkward to set studio lighting in such a small space, so using a small flash unit like this which automatically balances it’s output against the changing natural light was a wonderful solution. It also shows that you don’t always need a huge selection of complicated lighting to shoot effective and flattering glamour images with models.
I worked on 1/60th at F5.6 to blur the background and still try to maintain reasonable depth of field on the subject. This image was done hand held which was pushing my luck at that shutter speed. The Canon 24-105L I use now would have been a safer bet though because it has built in image stabilisation. A zoom lens definitely makes life easier in small spaces like this for nudes and glamour photography.
N.B It goes without saying that having a professional glamour model will make your shoot much easier.
Edit: Update – if you are interested in learning more about portrait photography using small flash units like the 580EX I used for the shot above check out Phil Steele’s online course.
Thanks for the tips the image looks like it was shot with lots of expensive pro lights!
I’m building up a portfolio of work but have no budget for lighting so it was great to see what is possible without any.
That model is drop dead gorgeous and I love the polished clean look from from the lighting. I never would have guessed this was nothing more than a simple flash on camera that is bounced off a wall.
As a quick follow up to my last comment how do you rate the Tamron 28-75 against the Canon 24-105L? is there much difference in sharpness?
I was initially quite impressed with the Tamron considering its low cost and purchased it just to use when it wasn’t convenient to work with prime lenses. Unfortunately I soon experienced a few problems with the Tamron and ended up buying the Canon which has exceeded all my expectations and now rarely leaves the camera body.
Overall I’d say that if you get a good example of the Tamron it’s a very decent lens and certainly very sharp but it lacks the magic of the L series Canon. There is a price difference of course.
I am enjoying the blog posts and just wanted to say I am finding your book incredibly useful.It has really helped my photography.
Great that you mentioned the tint of the wall paint and how photographers can make things like that work for them. I’ve done private mentoring and when I remind people of stuff like that, they’re often surprised as they haven’t considered it much.
BTW, I also have and use a Tamron 28-75 and it’s a terrific lens! I’ve heard the Nikon version of it doesn’t, for whatever reason, yield the same quality results, optically that is. Some reviewers have said they think it’s an anomaly that Tamron produces that one lens, the 28-75 for Canon EF mounts, which delivers the kind of optical quality you get with the 28-75.
Great to see you here Jimmy!
I was unlucky with the Tamron because not long after this shoot it developed a focus fault. Then shortly after returning from Tamron one or more of the elements slipped out of place, making it unusable. At this point I lost faith and switched to the 24-105L but until that happened I was remarkably impressed by the budget priced Tamron.
Those warm coloured walls are a fantastic help when shooting indoors like this and in Milan I had a room with great ambient light in the afternoon that had three yellow walls, pale tiled flooring and a single white wall where I could place the model for perfect soft natural portraits. On days when it was a little cloudy I could just bounce a flash off one of those yellow walls to brighten everything up.
BTW For anybody who doesn’t know Jimmy you should really check out his terrific ebook on glamour photography
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I was thinking of getting the Canon T3i – how might it compare to the camera you used? Would I get similar results in image quality and clarity? Thanks :)
Hi Ryan,
I wasn’t particularly familiar with the T3i (600D) so I just took a look at some sample images on the web and I was generally quite impressed by the quality of results. At the price it looks like a steal.
There are of course some advantages in using a camera like a 1DsIII but I think you’d need to be producing really large prints before they became noticeable on a purely technical level.
Get yourself some good Canon lenses and I think you will be more than happy with the camera. These days just about any half decent DSLR is capable of producing some excellent results. The more important question is whether you are using good technique to get the best out of your equipment.
Thanks Ashley!
I suspected that the important thing was that one was using the best techniques – rather than the most expensive camera. The 1DsIII is out of my price range, but the T3i is fine, and I, too, have seen great photos (and videos) taken with it, so I think it will suffice :) I will look into getting some good lens for it, for sure!
Thanks, again!
Ryan