Glamour with a twist (NSFW)

Today Tamlyn was our model for the Glamour workshop.
The glamour workshops are most of the time the workshop were we have room to experiment with different methods of lighting, but also with concepts and of course accessories. For today I decided to use some materials with reflective and translucent qualities. By using these low cost materials I was hoping to trigger the students to think about lighting in a totally different way.

The most heard “complaint” I hear from students is that they are stuck with the same lightsetups, the same kind of models and are simply put not going forward. With the workshops I can of course teach people how to understand the theory behind light, and show things like measuring etc. But sometimes the students need something more, or as you could say a different view on light and shooting. As mentioned glamour is the perfect workshop for this, so let’s see what we’ve done today.

Simple translucent material
For the first setup we used a large piece of translucent material (you can buy those for next to nothing at a textile store).
Tamlyn was standing very close to the material (hanging against it). For the light in the image at the start of this blogpost I used the 1.90 mtr octa which lit the complete material. By experimenting with the distance of the model and the angle of light there were some really nice options.
For the second shot (below) I used the Elinchrom wide reflector which gave me more options to place a hotspot on the position I wanted it, giving me a completely different look from exactly the same setup.

Some more materials for next to nothing
Next up was an assignment were the students got a very simple assignment 🙂
Shoot the model with the aid of a plastic sheet of curved material, the model could not be seen directly, and there should be no hot spotting on the material itself. The group had 10 minutes to find the solution and shoot a shot that they were all content with. And I’m happy to say they did it perfectly. After this I also took a few shots myself the way I liked the setup.

As you can see it’s a much more abstract look than I normally do.
Light used here is an Elinchrom D-lite with a standard reflector + medium grid.
After this more abstract look I also let the students play with the sheet to shoot some more direct model shots, this way (again) optimizing the way you can use a simple piece of plastic.

The stairs again
Yeah it stays populair to use the stairs in the studio.
Also today the students asked to shoot some images on the stairs, and to be honest I can’t resist that location myself also, so the last setup we concentrated on the stairs, here are some of my own shots. Lightsetup was the Chimera strip light with the Lighttools grid

Conclusion
As mentioned before using lights can be learned, understanding theory can be learned.
However seeing possibilities for the most simplest materials or the most non inspirational locations is something that is much more difficult. Of course I love to shoot on the most exotic locations with the most beautiful dresses/clothing but sometimes we simply don’t have that or you don’t have the budget to do this. To keep oneself motivated, inspired etc. it’s often a very good idea to buy something from which you think you can never make an interesting shot and try to maximize the options with that accessory, piece of cloth etc. you will be surprised how you can create something interesting from sometimes nothing.

On Photoshopworld I will also dedicate one of the seminars to creating something with as little as possible budget.

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