Apogee Photo - Home

Spread the News ~~ Click on this "Share Button"
 Send this Article to Your Photography Colleagues, Friends and Family
Spread It Around the World Instantly

Apogee Photo Magazine

The Glamour Photographer's Notebook
by Gene Copas

Oops! Did I Say Something Wrong?

When a model shows up wearing leather and carrying martial arts weapons, I begin to wonder if I said something wrong when we discussed the shoot. However, the true problem is that you can never anticipate what your subjects will decide to wear.

Several years ago at my studio in St. Louis, we produced many family-group photos. At that time, the trend was to have every family member choose clothing that coordinated with what everyone else was wearing. Earth tones were the "in" thing. Since we were charging a high rate for our services and we were "pushing" large wall-size prints, we wanted everything in the final image to be as perfect as possible. Each client was given personal attention, including our help in scouting locations and selecting wardrobe items for all the subjects from their personal collections.

A particular assignment comes to mind. Our task was to create a family portrait for the president of one of the larger corporations in St. Louis. So, we took extra pains to be sure the set-up was ideal. We selected a conservative, dark blue business suit for the president to wear and an attractive darker blue dress for his wife. His two sons were to be dressed in dark blue slacks paired with medium-blue pullover sweaters and light-blue oxford cloth shirts. We even went so far as to search out coordinating shoes for everyone. When we left their home, we were silently congratulating ourselves on the certainty of a great shoot to come.

The appointed time arrived, and we waited on location, ready to shoot. Well, you guessed it. The president showed up wearing a brown-and-green plaid sport coat. His wife had selected a white dress with a green lightning-stripe pattern. One son had on torn blue jeans and a blue work shirt. He was barefoot. The other son was wearing a bright yellow golf shirt and tan slacks with white tennis shoes.

Attempting to be as tactful as possible, I said, "We're all set--as soon as you get changed!"

The president answered with presidential decisiveness. "Oh, we're ready. Everyone's wearing their favorite clothes."

The lesson is, be prepared for anything! (We did sell a 40" x 50" print from the session.)

So, when my subject Stacy showed up wearing leathers and carrying whips, I was ready. With all of the detail work in her jacket, gloves, and whip, I decided to use a relatively simple background. The background is a velour material marketed by Photek as "Background in a Bag." This one is a medium gray on one side and painted with a mottled pattern on the other. It's fairly lightweight and can easily be stuffed into a nylon carrying bag for storage or travel.

Two Novatron heads utilizing my now defunct 440Plus power pack (it died of old age after thirty years of hard use) supplied the lighting. The fill light was provided by a 36" white umbrella, with the key light being a 36" silver umbrella. Only one other light was used. That was a small hair and backlight to bring out detail in Stacy's black hair and on the black leather jacket. My hair light is an old Honeywell 52A slave unit, probably one of the first "monolights" ever made. (I purchased it in 1965, and it's still in use today.) The output of the Honeywell unit is about 100 watts.

Sometimes, costume surprises can be fun. Just be ready to be flexible as you create.

Who is Gene Copas?

"Notebook #1"
"Notebook #2"
"Notebook #3"
"Notebook #4"
"Notebook #5"
"Notebook #6"
"Notebook #7"
"Notebook #8"

Last month's "Notebook."