I started this Sunday series on outdoor portrait and glamour photography last year because I enjoy this genre. I’ve written four books on this subject, including one on Available Light Glamour Photography that nicely fits this series of posts.
Today’s Post by Joe Farace
“Sometimes you’re the windshield. Sometimes you’re the bug.” ―
There are lots of advantages to working in a studio, even if it’s just a temporary set-up in your basement or garage. The biggest advantage of shooting in a studio is that you have much more control over the environment. You don’t have to worry about wind or changing weather conditions and you have full control over the lighting. On location? Not so much.
On-Location Model Shoots
Shooting glamour portraits in Cancun might be too expensive for most of us but shooting outdoors in local parks is free and state parks admission usually costs less than a few bucks a day. When you take the time to look around, attractive and dramatic locations are everywhere. Tip: Many state park systems have affordable annual passes and if you’re 62 years of age or older, a lifetime pass to National Parks costs $80.
If you shoot during the week, which is when I made this photograph at Barr Lake State Park, it’s not usually crowded. There were few people around—just a couple of fisherman— so you seldom have to worry about gawkers. Even the park rangers were friendly to me and the model.
How I Made this Portrait: I first photographed Helen for a calendar project that was shot in a firetruck factory. I really enjoyed working with her and asked if she wanted to do an outdoor shoot with me and she said yes! I did many of my outdoor shoots in Barr Lake State Park before running into one of the biggest problems these kinds of locations can have. It wasn’t gawkers, it was bugs! I was only able to make a few images of Helen before large ants started crawling all over her and she said, “that’s it” and we left the park and relocated to Benedict Park near my former home.
Before we left, I was able to make eight exposures. The featured image was the seventh one that we shot before moving on. For this portrait—the best one I made at Barr Lake that day—the camera used was a Canon EOS 10D. (Look for an upcoming post about this camera and another 10D I owned.) The lens was an EF 85mm f/1.8 lens and the exposure was 1/180 sec at f/5.6 and ISO 200. A 420EX speedlight was used as fill with a Sto-Fen Omni Bounce diffuser attached to soften the light.
One of the key decisions you’ll face when preparing for a outdoor shoot is determining which kind of location is best for the kind of photographs you have in mind. For glamour photography, privacy is the most important concern. If your model is wearing lingerie, a bikini or something less, you can forget about shooting images where people would be walking by. It’s unprofessional to place your model in that kind of situation too.
That doesn’t mean you can’t shoot glamour images outdoors but it does mean you’re going to have to be creative about where and when you shoot. That still doesn’t guarantee you won’t encounter problems. Shooting outdoors in a post-911 era has made many people, especially those wearing badges, sensitive about photography and sometimes they overreact. In short, there are many places to shoot outdoor portraits but you need to be aware of what you’re shooting and where. Erring on the side of caution is a way to ensure that you’ll get some good images and not be chased off, and not just by bugs.
Joe Farace’s Glamour Photography features information about how I shoot glamour portraits in available light situations or when using minimal lighting equipment such as reflectors or speedlights. Used copies are available from Amazon.com for around ten bucks, as I write this. Kindle copies are $19.99 for those preferring a digital format.