My Sunday Series on Outdoor Portraits remains remains on hiatus as I consider changing this day’s theme to Available Light Portraiture. Today’s post features one of my favorite models, the always amazing Pam Simpson.
Today’s Post by Joe Farace
“Even the greatest was once a beginner. Don’t be afraid to take that first step.”—Muhammad Ali
You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on camera equipment to make high quality boudoir photographs. Although pros my shoot with top-of-the-line Canon, Nikon and Sony DSLR’s and mirrorless cameras, you don’t have to do the same thing. There are plenty of lower costs cameras out there, take Olympus’s plastic-body E-M10, for example, OM Systems is selling the Olympus-branded E-M10 Mark IV for $699.99 with a lens!.\ Bargain hunters should know that used bodies are selling for around five hundred bucks, while used versions of the metal-bodies Mark I i used to make the featured image are available for a little over two hundred bucks.
Entry Level Doesn’t Mean a Camera isn’t useful
In addition to offerings from Canon and Nikon, there are plenty of reasonably priced DSLR or mirrorless cameras that use interchangeable lenses and offer sophisticated electronics that are available from Fuji, Panasonic, Pentax, Olympus and Sony. So be sure to check out their lower and mid-priced models. While you’re shopping don’t forget that refurbs can be a big bargain too.
For a beginning boudoir photographer, you may find that it’s probably more useful to invest in a $600 (or less) camera and a few lenses, instead of purchasing a $2,000 (or more) camera and a single lens. Recently I recommended the under-$500 Panasonic Lumix G7 with 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 II ASPH Mega OIS. lens to a young photographer as something that would perfectly fit their needs. It doesn’t get more entry level than that.
How I Made this portrait: Take the above portrait of model Pam Simpson, for example. It was made as part of a collection of images for a personal project of hers. It was shot using only available light coming from a window to her right in the guest room of my home, not even a reflector was used. It was made using an Olympus E-M10 Mark I and their amazing M. Zuiko 45mm f/1.8 lens with an exposure of 1/80 sec at f/2.5 and ISO 800.
The portrait was made in color and stayed that way through the editing process reflecting my current taste in glamour and boudoir images to create these kinds of images in color rather than monochrome. Although as I’ve said before, I’m wishy-washy on this subject and may change my mind again.The image was retouched and then enhanced with the Glamour Glow filter that’s part of Color Efex.
While many of my in-studio glamour and boudoir images were made with a Panasonic Lumix GH4, I’ve made and will continue to make images with cameras that some consider to be “entry level.”. Look for an update on this ongoing concern—positive or negative—real soon now. As I write this I don’t know what camera will be my next choice for glamour and boudoir photography but I have lot’s of options available, including that very same Olympus E-M10 Mark I or maybe the E-M5 Mark I that I’ve been using lately for macro photography.
Note for my Patreon Subscribers. As a member of the second and third tier of my Patreon, members can see uncensored images of Pam from this session in a one of my Password Protected posts. If you are interested in seeing some of these photographs, click CONTACT and let me know. If you are not currently a Patreon subscriber—it’s surprisingly inexpensive—details on how to sign up can be found here.