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

A Classical Approach

I present Glamour, Boudoir and Figure Photography Workshops in various locations around the country.  There are always difficulties because I am often working in locations that I am not familiar with.  Usually I try to find a local photographer or model to co-sponsor the workshop.  They are invaluable in scouting locations and arranging models for the workshops.  

I recently received a number of inquiries about the possibility of presenting a workshop in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Previously, I had flown into the airport and connected with flights to Atlanta and Jacksonville, but had never had an opportunity to visit the city.  Therefore, my first efforts were centered on finding a kindred soul who lived in the area and could help me with all the arrangements.  Luckily, I became acquainted with Ray Gromadski of Portfolios Plus.  After a few email exchanges, we came to an agreement to work together on organizing a workshop in Charlotte.    

Since I had never been there before, I decided to make an exploratory trip in conjunction with another shoot that I had scheduled in Columbia. I set up three model test sessions to be conducted while I was in Charlotte. Well, one of the three models showed up for the test sessions.  This, regretfully, is about par for the course.   

It is also one of the nightmares of workshop presenters. That is "what if I have a room full of photographers and no models show up?"  Luckily, for this session I overbooked models.  And I say luckily, because two of the four didn't show! 

One of the two that did show was Sabra, the subject model of this article.  Ray Gromadski contacted me and said he had a "Betty Page" look alike that was interested in modeling.  When he emailed me a couple of images, my first impression was of the beautiful Rueben's paintings or the famous old paintings over the bar in many frontier movies.   

Ray also told me he had this beautiful old Victorian lounging couch.  Well, my mind started clicking into gear.  I could envision a classical "old painting" look to the photo that I wanted to create. But I had yet to meet Sabra face to face.  Well, I was not disappointed!  She showed up for our Sunday morning session about 30 minutes early.  We had planned to have a makeup artist available for the Saturday afternoon sessions and the Sunday morning sessions.  Guess what?  The makeup artist did not show for Saturday and I figured she probably wouldn't be there for Sunday either.  

Sabra responded like a true professional and immediately began her own makeup.  And, as you will agree, she did a great job!  I had asked Sabra to look for a shawl that had a Victorian look.  She and I were both thinking of  something in a floral print with a fringe.  We both went looking at resell-it shops, she in Charlotte and I in Brunswick.  We really didn't find what we had in mind, but Sabra did bring some semi-transparent material in a floral pattern.  Also, luckily in afterthought, she also brought a plain black drape, too.  

Once I saw the pattern on the couch, I realized that my floral print shawl idea was not going to work.  But, the black drape was perfect! 

The setup for this photo is really quite simple.  A black, seamless paper background was the start for the setup.  I have tried similar photo with velour or other less reflective backgrounds and they just do not work as well.  The couch was placed on a diagonal to the camera.  I have to admit that I first placed it parallel to the background, but as I walked around the scene and looked at different angles, I realized that the best placement was diagonal to my camera viewpoint. 

Which brings up a point that I need to make.  Before you start shooting pictures, walk around your subject and look at the scene.  Look for your subject's best angles and look for distractions in the scene.  I have seen a lot of great photos ruined by a light stand in the scene, or other avoidable distractions.   

Lighting for this photo was provided by two Novatron standard heads connected to a 400VR power pack.  I have to admit that my old faithful Novatron 340+ power pack finally bit the dust.  I sent it in to Novatron for a repair estimate, and they readily admitted that it was probably one of the oldest power packs still in use.  I can't see why they would say that, since I have only been using it for about 25 years and have probably only shot about 20 rolls of film a week over that period.  Which if your calculator is handy adds up to about 25,000 rolls of film or 900,000 exposures.  In all fairness, Novatron suggested that I could probably buy a new pack for what the repair costs were estimated to be.  And, they were right.

The fill light was positioned  over the camera position and adjusted to give an f/8 exposure for ASA 100 Fuji Color Negative film.  When shooting with color negatives, expose for the shadows and print for the highlights.  Therefore, in a studio lighting setup, I always base my exposure for the fill light and always shoot at f/8.  This is mainly because I don't have a good memory and I tend to forget things easily.  So, if I always shoot at f/8, I don't have to try so hard to remember.  

The key light, or the light that provides the highlights was positioned to the model's left.  I adjust my key light visually and rarely meter it.  If it looks good to me I shoot!  In this case, I would guess that the light was approximately 1 1/2 stops brighter than my fill, or about f/13.   

Two other lights were used.  An older Honeywell 52A slave on a Lowel Light Boom was placed overhead to give a very subtle separation of the model's dark hair from the background.  Be cautious when placing your hair light to ensure that the light does not spill onto the model nose or forehead.  I always use a diffuser on my hair light.  It should not be too harsh or too noticeable.  

The fourth light was provided by a Bowens Monospot.  This unit is a fairly large focusing light unit.  The unit will hold pre-cut patterns which can be projected onto the background and adjusted to be as sharp or as soft as you wish.  The pattern I used for this photo was a pre-cut design made by Rosco out of a thin metal.  I have in the past used patterns that I have cut myself out of a thin black cardboard material.  If you choose to do this, keep in mind that these units develop a lot of heat and you need to be careful.   

Photographer's Warehouse makes a smaller version Pattern Projector which attaches to their studio flash units.  This combination does not have the light output of the Bowens Monospot, but is adequate in some situations.  

The pattern was projected onto the black background paper and adjusted to give an f/11 reading.  I have tried this on non-reflective backgrounds, and have found that the results are best when I have used a black paper background, which is semi-reflective.  It also doesn't work as well when used on lighter colored backgrounds.   

As in all photographs that I do, I rarely have a rigid idea of what I am going to do before I begin the session.  I kind of "wing it" as I go.  You must do this, too.  Don't get yourself so locked into a preconceived idea that you can't step back and make changes, if necessary.  I have watched photographers try to force things to work and in the end, accept less than desirable results, because they haven't been willing to admit that things won't work the way they originally thought.  Don't let yourself get into this trap. 

But, there are times when your preconceived ideas can work.  A combination of a beautiful model like Sabra, coupled with the "old masters" ideas for capturing beauty can certainly make for a "classical approach".

Who is Gene Copas?

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

Last month's "Notebook."