My buddy Glyn Dewis already wrote it in his book “Photograph like a thief” to get better in your trade, photography or any other, just look at the work of other people, don’t be afraid to be inspired or to be “steered” towards a certain end result, of course there are moments where you DON’T want to be looking at someone elses work because for example you want to create something unique, but in essence… well everything has been done so why not take a bit of inspiration into the shoot.
So what do I mean with “learn to read”.
In my own book “Mastering the model shoot” I tell you everything about styling, metering, lighting, coaching the model etc. but you will have to combine everything to find your own “voice”. Now what do I mean with this?
According to some, you should only do your own thing and don’t look at other work, to be as fresh as possible. And although there is some truth in there I don’t really agree with this. If you close yourself off to other influences you will not see other oppertunities, I’m for example a big team player, always listining to other people and seeing how we can improve a shoot or setup. But what if you see something you really like and you want to recreate it but don’t have a clue how it was shot? this is where that term “learn to read” comes from.
You have to know the theory behind the light to play with the light.
And the best thing to remember is actually that ALL can be read from the shadows in a shot, follow the shadows and you’ll know the angle of light, look at the transision and you’ll know the quality of light, look at the shadows in the face (or other subject) and you’ll know the position of the light. In essence it’s pretty easy, but you’ll first have to know the basics. And the best way to learn this (besides learning from books and workshops) is of course to practice. So take our your flashlight and start moving around an object and see what happens with the shadows.
Personally I’m always inspired by people like George Hurrell, Studio Harcourt and many others that literaly stood at the start of glamour photography (the hollywood style, not the lingerie style that glamour now often means), I’ve looked at those shots a lot and tried to develop my own style, and remember that in most GOOD examples there is not ONE lightsetup that rules them all (pun intended), but often they move lights arround, change sets etc. but you will still prety easily find out the “trick” behind the techniques, now that’s something else than really capturing the mood by the way.
So learn to photography like a thief and really master your model shoot by learning to read the shadows and learn about your examples. (yeah I know that first part was cheesy, but I couldn’t resist).
I want to leave you with the tip that shadows are actually what a crime investigator would call it’s “dead give away to what happened” so learn to read the shadows and the book will open.
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Also I will be starting a brand new series of full lenght tutorials soon going back to the basics and starting from the ground up to create stunning images.
