My wife suggested the “Tricky Tuesday” theme as a way for me to share some of the different tricks, tips and techniques that I’ve used over the years when shooting glamour images in my home studio and on location.
Today’s Post by Joe Farace
The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude. — Friedrich Nietzsche
When my wife used to make business trips to Albuquerque, New Mexico, I often accompanied her and made many images in an around the city. After stopping by a Starbucks in Nob Hill one day, I walked past a group of young women having lunch and overheard one of them saying, “You can’t capture the essence of a person with a photograph.” I really disagree with that statement. I didn’t say capturing the essence of a person in a portrait would be easy but if you and they work together during a portrait session, it can easily be accomplished. For instance…
It’s been my experience that when working with a new model, even when photographing a professional, it takes time for them to become complexity comfortable working with you and produce the best possible images. Even though the images Pam Simpson and I made on our first shoot together were quite good, I believe a really great photographic relationship takes time and not always a lot of time.
Photographing Models in the Studio
The image at right was created during Pam’s ninth shoot with me and was almost one year after our initial session. I remember the exact second I clicked the shutter on this photograph as if it were yesterday: It was the same moment when I realized that every one of the images we were making that day would be great! And they were. That trend of excellence continued over the 13 years that Pam and I worked together and continues as recently as this past June.
How I made this portrait: Film noir is usually thought of as a black and white medium but I challenge that assumption as Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 film Vertigo literally explodes with color. For this portrait, two Westcott cold “hot” D5 lights were placed on either side of Pam, as seen in the setup photo above right. This practical and inexpensive fluorescent light kit has been replaced with the Westcott U60-B Bi-Color LED 2-Light Softbox Ki.
Pam was photographed with a Panasonic Lumix GH4 and Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm f/2.8 lens. Exposure was 1/100 sec at f/4 and ISO 640. To echo the vibrant Technicolor used in Vertigo, I used Exposure Software’s Exposure plug-in with its Two-Strip Technicolor preset. A light touch of Color Efex’s Bi-Color and Glamour Glow filters were used to mimic the soft focus often used in movie still images of that era.
This image, I feel, captures the essence of a beautiful, uniquely stylish woman who is strong, confident in who she is as a modern woman and is in total control of her craft as a model. There were other interesting and impressive images we created later in that same session but this one remains stuck in my mind as the one of the first times we made photographic magic and I know she agrees that this portrait captures her essence.
Note for my Patreon Subscribers. After looking at all of the images from my most recent session with Pam, I realized I could make a Bonus post using some of these images for one of my uncensored Password Protected posts. If you are interested in seeing some of the other images from that session, click CONTACT and let me know. If you are not yet a Patreon subscriber—it’s surprisingly inexpensive—details on how to sign up can be found here.