Hollywood Glamour Photography | Darkmans Darkroom » Models

Fashion Glamour Photography – Lighting Diagram and Explaination

Darkman — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 17:06:22 +0000

Hey folks, this is one of my favorite shoots and favorite ways of doing a night shoot. With an small strobe and a long exposure. We know that Aperture is what controls the flash and that shutter speed controls the ambient light. Here’s the formula:

1. Expose the face for flash using aperture(size of the hole).
2. Expose for ambient background using Shutter(speed of the shutter, usually long).
3. Close aperture until face is correctly lit.
4. Increase strobe power until face is exposed correctly
5. Decrease shutter speed until background is correct.

Sometimes it takes a few minutes to get the background and foreground just right, because your using a tight aperture with a long exposure.

flash is controlled by aperture
shutter speed controls ambient light.

So how I did the shot below, the faux magazine ad for the eyelashes, I metered for the correct flash exposure on her face. Then I focused on the light in the background behind her with my camera and opened the shutter speed up(made it longer), until the background light was up as much as the strobe on her face.

The strobe is only “on” for so long in terms of milliseconds. After the strobe fires, the shutter is still open drawing in the background ambient light, exposing the “film” to the correct exposure of flash and ambient, until the perfect picture is achieved. Am I making any sense at all?

The end product:

Faux magazine Ad for Shu Uemera Eyelash Comany

The Lighting Diagram is here:

Glamour Photography Lighting Diagram, F/13, 1/3 sec., 800 ISO

The portable system I used for this shoot is HERE.

Glamour Photography Lighting Explaination

This shoot was done on the street corner in Pacific Beach, Ca., on a strip where there’s a lot of college kids bar hopping and partying. I wanted to get some people in the background and have it give an atmosphere of night out on the town, but the crowd wasn’t co-operating. So I just shot kali alone with the fashion area of the strip in the background.

The following two fashion glamour shots were done in downtown San Diego at a law office that was covered in ivy, I wanted to shoot Kali in front of the old door with ivy surrounding it. I used the same portable lighting setup as above but I only metered for the strobe since there was no background or ambient light I wanted to include.

Model: Kali, Location: Downtown San Diego, Ca.

Kali is a model I was directed to by my make-up artist Jenny. Kali had just returned from a modeling gig in Hong Kong where she was there for over a year. She said they love American Models over there. It was really cold that night and Kali is a true model in all the sense. When it came time for the shoot she took her coat off and posed like a real trooper, fighting of goose bumps from the cold. She’s a modeling machine.

Shu Uemura is an eyelash company based in Asia.

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Hollywood Glamour Photography, Behind the Scenes with Daisy Devine

Darkman — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 22:48:21 +0000

I thought I would post some behind the scenes shots from a shoot I did a while back, in fact several years ago, with one of my favorite models, Daisy Devine. In this shoot we were going for a Joan Crawford Hollywood Glamour type shoot. We had planned it out and chose Daisy for the shoot as we felt she would portray Joan Crawford best.

In this Hollywood Glamour photo shoot, you can see me messing with the lights and snapping a couple pictures. The in the resulting images you can see what the camera is seeing. Hollywood glamour photography really isn’t as hard as people make it seem. It is a technique, but it is also a feeling, an art and a painting of sorts with light. Not painting with light like they mean in today’s terminology, but more of an artists painting as he places his lights and shadows here and there.

One secret I always tell people is to create drama with shadows, rather than flood it with light. I hope you enjoy the pictures and the resulting images, can you tell or remember which Hurrell shots these are imitating?

Enjoy…

Hollywood Glamour Photography, Behind the Scenes

Hollywood Glamour Photography, Behind the Scenes w/Daisy Devine

Hollywood Glamour Photography w/Daisy Devine

I’d LOVE to hear your thoughts and comments. I’d also like to know what you would like me to write about. Got a question, ask me, and I’ll try to answer it to the best of my ability.

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Model – Bianca Malise, Nude plus Glamour Lighting Diagram

Darkman — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 17:09:02 +0000

I did this nude/boudoir shoot with Bianca Malise a while back at her San Diego residence. Done in her upstairs bathroom to give a feeling of intimacy, and set in place that makes the subject feel naturally relaxed and at home.

This image in particular receives many questions as to the lighting and how it was shot. It’s actually pretty simple and mainly with existing light, with the exception of one additional light acting as both fill and key light.

The existing light was metered to be approximately 1+ stop higher than the key and fill light, to give a nice rim light on her hair and her left side. It was also set this way to illuminate the scene with the existing lights in the bathroom, to make it look as natural as possible.

The Key and Fill Light, was a 200 watt Fresnel, with a diffuser on the barn doors. The diffuser was homemade, with a round embroidery frame from Walmart with a piece of white, sheer fabric, like synthetic silk to diffuse the light and make it a bit softer. I then hung this round frame on the barn doors of the Fresnel.

The shutter speed was set at 1/20th sec. and ISO 800, to allow the low wattage lights to take hold and register. The Key and Fill light were placed a ways back from the subject so as not to overpower the existing lights and to allow them to be brighter for rim lighting. The Key and Fill light also give a nice little catch light in the eye. The catch light brings the eye to life and gives a sense of realness to the image.

Bianca is sitting on the counter top of the sink with her back to the mirror and leaning toward the camera. The resulting shot was a really warm toned image of a really pretty model with a nice figure. Capturing forever, the image of youth and vitality, which is a selling point for all boudoir photography.

Enjoy…

Bianca Malise, Nude Boudoir

Bianca Malise Nude Boudoir

Bianca Malise, Glamour Lighting Diagram

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Model – Mia Vixen, Hollywood Glamour and Film Noir

Darkman — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:17:04 +0000

Mia Vixen is a Southern California Model and Burlesque Dancer I had the pleasure of photographing a little while ago. This first shot Old Hollywood Glamour and reminiscent of Marilyn Monroe, with the second shot being more along the lines of Film Noir. Each shot was lit with Fresnel Studio Lamps, and each had a different number of lights used.

Can you tell how many lights were used? I’ll give you a hint: Look at the High Lights and the Shadows. That’s how I reverse engineer photos I like. Look at the shadows and the direction of the lights as well as with the high lights, there you will be able to tell where the light is coming from.

This is your typical Old Hollywood Glamour Style Photograph with a touch of Boudoir mixed in. The Lighting Diagram is below.

Mia Vixen Hollywood Glamour

If you guessed 3 lights you would have been right. One on her backside, one on her thigh and one on her face. The one on her face had a silk diffuser on it to soften the center but still give a hard-ish edge to the shadow on her cheek from her nose.

Mia Vixen, Hollywood Glamour Lighting Diagram

This next image could tell a story. A fine young lady is stranded at a bus stop late at night waiting for her bus. A single street light shines down on her. Her suitcase with all her worldly belongings props her legs up, in a recline. What’s a girl to do?

This would be a typical Film Noir type shot. How many lights?

Mia Vixen Film Noir

If you guessed 2 you would be right. On shining down on her like a single street light would, and a second one to camera left to open up the shadows a bit to keep her from disappearing int he shadows altogether. Hollywood Glamour Photography is often mixed up as or with Film Noir but there are some heavy distinctions, which I will go into at a later post. For now, enjoy the process.

Mia Vixen, Film Noir Lighting Diagram

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Model – Lindsey Lou, and Glamour Lighting Diagram

Darkman — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:25:55 +0000

In this post I wanted to show how I lit this Hollywood Glamour shot of Lindsey Lou, with just one Fresnel studio lamp. Fresnel Studio lamps can be purchased at B&H Photo and Video, at various sizes and various wattage’s. These are what I use to get that Real Authentic Hollywood glamour photography look.

In this image you can see the Butterfly Lighting Pattern under then Nose, a nice crisp clean edge to that shadow, however if you look at the over all edges of the shadows you will see a soft falloff about them. This is the difference between using Fresnels and Strobes.

With a Strobe and a Grid, you get either a hard shadow with a no soft falloff, or if you use a Strobe and a Softbox, you get soft falloff but no Hard Lines where needed.

I also used my favorite bamboo plant to great a little drama on the left side of the image, on the white bearskin covering, as well as to balance out the images with the leaves just barely coming into the image. This is also to show where the shadows are coming from, sort of telling a story.

Lighting Diagram Below…

Lindsey Lou #1 - Darkmans Darkroom

Lindsey Lou #2 - Darkmans Darkroom

Glamour Lighting Diagram for Lindsey Lou

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Model – Apnea

Darkman — Mon, 24 May 2010 18:10:44 +0000

In this shoot with the well known Model Apnea, we did a faux fashion article shoot, in which I made an faux magazine cover from the image. The lighting was two Fresnel lights both from camera right, one on the background and one on the model herself. The background was a plain white wall in a hotel room. We didn’t have much space for backgrounds and had to make due with what we had, hence the texture on the background.

Lights Used: were 2 Altman Fresnel lights

This shoot was done the same day as the Hollywood Glamour Shoot I did with Apnea Pictured Here.

Model: Apnea

Apnea Lighting Diagram

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Model – Ash DeLovely

Darkman — Mon, 24 May 2010 17:02:09 +0000

This shoot with Ashley, a makeup artist for Mac, was a collaboration between the two of us. Shoot in my home studio on a chaise lounge, using one strobe and a beauty dish with grid. Originally in Color I personally liked it better in Black and White.

The setup in the Lighting Diagram shows the camera with lighting to camera right and model being slightly to camera left. The light was feathered off the model just enough to cast some of the light onto the background, but still have a significant amount on the model herself.

Ash DeLovely

Glamour Photo Lighting Diagram

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Evie Lovelle Gallery and Shoot – Hollywood Glamour Photography

Darkman — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 04:51:26 +0000

After about a month of battling the Flu and a back issue, I am finally getting this gallery and post up regarding the Evie Lovelle Shoot. The day I shot Evie I was actually coming down with the flu, and for the following two weeks had the flu and then back issues, from popping a rib out of place from all the sneezing I did. Not Fun.

Anyway so Evie can over and we talked and went over some ideas for the shoot and discussed the order in which we were going to do the outfits she brought. I had her get into the first outfit and then did a quick video interview which is going to be on PinupoftheMonth.com, but I included a video here of us shooting and my messing with the lighting. The equipment list for this shoot is as follows, no strobes were used at all, only Fresnel.

Equipment list as far as lighting:

2 – 500 Watt Fresnel Lamps for kickers similar to these

2 – 300 Watt Altman Fresnel Lamps for Key and Fill Light

2 – 200 Watt Mole – Richardson Midget Fresnel Lamps for Side and Background Light

My Background Setup or one of them is the Manfroto AutoPole System by Bogen Imaging

In a previous post I included a video of Evie dancing to give people an idea of what a burlesque dancer does. Burlesque can be left up to some interpretation, but her dance is a classic style and with classic outfits. The video I included is here.

The video of Evie Lovelle and I working together is first, then the gallery of the shoot.

And here’s the gallery…Enjoy!

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My Shoot today with Evie Lovelle

Darkman — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:28:22 +0000

Today I’m shooting Evie Lovell, a well known Burlesque Dancer from Hollywood. I found a YouTube Video of her, and here she is…

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Evie Lovelle Gallery and Shoot – Hollywood Glamour Photography

Model: Jasmine Worth

Darkman — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:12:33 +0000

Jasmine Worth

Jasmine Worth is an old friend that I knew from the gothic/industrial scene like 8 or so years ago, before she started modeling at all. We used to see each other at clubs dancing and hanging out and one time she asked me about doing some pictures for her.

I had been doing pictures in the club scene for some time, doing the club scene type pictures that you see on websites of clubs. I had some great ideas, at least I thought they were great ideas. Somewhat fetishy in style, I guess she didn’t like the idea and I hadn’t heard from her for several years after that.

When I did run into her again she had a full portfolio and one of the best fetish/latex fashion models in the San Diego L.A. area. I never really asked her what happened, but we’ve shot a few times since and this is one of her ideas. She was saying a Hedy Lamarr type thing and it wasn’t until later, months later that I saw images of Hedy Lamarr and I realized WOW what an uncanny resemblance.

The images of Hedy Lamarr, the movie star of the 40′s 50′s and 60′s, we’re beautiful in their own right, but the images we had created were incredible and I couldn’t believe what a resemblance ours had to her’s. I had never seen images of Hedy Lamarr before until months after Jasmine and I shot. I have to credit Jasmine for this shoot as it was her ideas and her guidance during the shoot that we were able to come up with the resulting shots.

Jasmine Worth is a great model but she is also an incredible artist. Her art is somewhat like a fairy tale gone bad, but it’s beautiful. One can only experience her work and see what she does for themselves. Her site and online gallery are here http://www.jasmineworth.com

Here are the images we came up with for this shoot. Enjoy…

These shots were done with 2 Altman Fresnel Lamps, a keylight and a background light.

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Hollywood Glamour Photography | Darkmans Darkroom » Models

Fashion Glamour Photography – Lighting Diagram and Explaination

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Hollywood Glamour Photography, Behind the Scenes with Daisy Devine

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