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The Glamour Photographer's Notebook
One Light Glamour
by Gene Copas
In some of my earlier
columns, I have mentioned that a lot of my work is done while traveling and
staying in hotels around the country. Occasionally, I am lucky and I get
a room that is spacious and well appointed. Usually though, I have a
room that is small and forces me to be creative and imaginative in doing a set
up. I recently made a trip to Mobile, Alabama to photograph one of my
favorite models, Gayle Elizabeth. She is a professional ballet dancer
and a professional model. I am working on a series of painting, in the
Degas “Impressionist” style, entitled “ The Dancers” and wanted to include
Gayle Elizabeth in that series.
She had recommended an old restored historic hotel in downtown Mobile as a convenient location. The hotel had a beautiful courtyard and rooms furnished with antique furniture. But, because the hotel was in the old style, there was not much in the way of excess room. The furniture was very, very heavy and not something that I wanted to move around much.
I had the idea of establishing the “Old Masters” look to the photo. With that idea foremost in my mind, I had carried along a painted background by Dianne Flemming of Superlite Backdrops by Dianne (www.superlitebackdrops.com). This is a marvelous, very light, and durable material that is very easy to travel with. The 10’ by 20’ background weighs only about 2 pounds and crushes into a small nylon carry bag.
When I checked in to the hotel and arrived at my room, I realized that I only had a small area of open space to work with. Moving a small table and a floor lamp opened up an area about 7 feet wide. Using some ˝” push pins, I fastened the backdrop to the wall and stretched if fairly tight to minimize the “wrinkled” effect. There are times when I like wrinkles and drape effects, but for this photo I wanted the classical look.
Since I knew that Gayle Elizabeth would be wearing ballet shoes, I didn’t want to complicate her movements by having her work on the backdrop spread on the floor. So, the backdrop was hung and folded back so that the carpeting was used as the “dance floor." This would have been a lot easier if I had remembered to bring a small step ladder along. I am only 5’ 6” tall and even when standing on a chair, I can’t reach up 10 feet. I had to reach as high as I could and then fold the bottom under.
Since I was limited for space, I decided to keep the lighting very simple. I used one PGM3001 monolight with their 10” x 24” collapsible softbox. The hotel room antique white wall, about 4’ to the left of the model provided the fill light. A small amount of light from the softbox was allowed to fall on the background to partially light it. The light was metered for my favorite f/stop of f/8.
I have recently begun to shoot more images in digital format. I have been using the Olympus E-10. It has forced me to rethink my photography work. I had my favorite films, and had worked with them enough that I was fairly confident in the results. The first digital images I shot in my studio were TERRIBLE. I had to go back to photographic “kindergarten” and start all over again.
Digital imaging is similar to videography. It does not handle contrast in the same way film does. And ISO film speed ratings don’t seem to be the same as we are used to in film work. Keep in mind also, that from a photographic standpoint, it is more similar to shooting transparency film than shooting negative film. And, the image you see on the little view screen on your digital camera will probably not look like the one you eventually print out.
All that said, it does have some definite advantages. Since I shoot several hundred images a week playing around in my studio, it has a definite cost saving advantage. Memory cards are not cheap, but they are reusable! It also gives you an immediate check on lighting setups. While the image you get on the little viewing screen is not anymore accurate than shooting a Polaroid, it is a good way to see what your lighting is doing.
In future columns, I will be addressing some of the disadvantages that I have found in working with the digital cameras, but for now I have to admit that I reach for it first when doing test shoots or other “non-client” work.
I hope this challenges all of you who think that you cannot produce “art” because you don’t have enough equipment. It isn’t the amount of equipment that you have. It is your own imagination that limits your results. Try to train yourself to see what you are looking at. I present workshops at various locations around the country, and that is one of the most frequent problems that I encounter. Many photographers have no idea what they are “seeing”. They simply point their cameras and hope that things will come out right.
I challenge you to “see” not just “look”!
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