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The lighting setup for awesome glamour

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Vintage and pin-up photography and lighting

I love vintage glamour and pin-ups.Starting with George Hurrell, Avedon, Newton, to David LaChapelle.
And when you also want some insights into one of the best models in this genre, pinup/burlesque, make sure to check out Dita Von Teese, who wrote a great book about both being the model, stylist, and makeup artist.

In the next two articles, I’m going to show you two of my absolute favorite setups with vintage and pin-up photography and lighting, but on both sides of the spectrum.  Today, I’m showing the always awesome high contrast/flat lighting setup.

 

Flat lighting for pin-up photography

It might sound like a contradiction, but even with flat lighting, you can create some great contrast.
With low-key lighting setups, we play with shadows. With this technique, I’m actually working with accent lighting and highlights, which makes the depth of the face/body of the model jump out a lot more. Plus it looks great on shiny materials, and if you want, you can also get some lens flare.

The lighting setup

The setup is pretty simple, but you do need some strobes.
Mostly, I’m using a large softbox or umbrella in the front from a larger distance from my model than normal. This is done because I also want light to hit my background. So, due to the inverse square law, you can determine how much light is hitting your background.

Move the light further away from the model if you want more light on the background. Move it closer if you want less light on the background (of course, you have to re-meter the light on the model when you change the distance).

Accent lighting

For the accents, I love to use two strip lights with grids.
I’m using the grids because I don’t want double shadows on the floor. And because the accents are aimed towards the camera, this can happen very quickly when you are not careful. So, we aim the strobes mostly slightly up when shooting full body, the grid does the rest.

And finally, I’m using one strobe with the Rogue magnetic system with grids, or the snoot for the spot in the background.
In this setup, I like to overexpose my model slightly when shooting to get an extra “glow” in the skin.

Beware:

If the accents are too close to the model, you can get lens flare.
You can move the lights further away or use flags to prevent the lens flare.

The examples during this blog post were shot during a workshop with Claudia. And in most, I kept the colors pretty low in the blues to make the red jump out more. But as you can see, sometimes also boosting the blue can be great and striking. It’s in the end a personal choice, or just deliver both 😀

Vintage and Pin-up photography and lighting

Want to see the lighting and how we photograph these vintage and pin-up set?

In this video, you can see a similar setup during a workshop.

And the images

Vintage and Pin-up photography and lighting

See www.fotografie-workshops.nl for the workshops

 

The power of the expression

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Lighting and styling is essential

We probably all know that proper lighting and styling is essential for a successful photo, but for me personally it’s the start.
During the photoshoot I try to think about the proper posing of the body, the hands, the shadows, the background etc. In other words a lot of stuff going on. This also means that we often forget to think about expression.

Now in all fairness it’s not always the most important thing, although looking neutral is also an expression of course, but in most photography I think the expression can make or break a shot.

Let’s take a look at these 2 shots from our awesome model Claudia.
First image she is looking almost straight through the camera, powerful and almost arrogant, LOVE it.

Just tilt the head a little but, add a touch of a smile and as you can see we have a totally different vibe in the shot.
And trust me, it’s not just the smile, its the eyes that react to the (real) smile and the tilt of the head also gives a lot of extra expression to the final result.

So how do you do it?

In the past I tried different approaches ranging from showing images, telling the story behind the shot to get the proper expression, coaching etc. it all yielded results but in all honesty it was not easy and certainly not always “bingo”.

What I mostly do nowadays is just make sure my model is 100% at ease and has a “click” with me and the team.
This means the model is at ease and you can make her/him laugh without doing a lot of work.

Some things to take into account

A smile is with your whole face and body. If you just move the mouth it looks fake.
Make sure when you talk to your model, she/he can’t talk back. This sounds a bit mean, but imagine shooting a model that is talking 😀 You got it right?

So just make the flow in shoot nice and relax and if you want a laugh, don’t tell your model “Laugh” but just make a funny comment and just say “ok let’s have a real airy/funny or whatever look you like” and in most cases the models will just laugh and when you click, you got it.

 

During the workshops we don’t just talk about lighting and styling, getting the CORRECT shot is a vital part of the workshops.
Do you want to visit a workshop in the Netherlands… visit fotografie-workshops.nl for more info.
If you don’t understand Dutch please let us know a few weeks in advance and I can switch the workshop to English.
And if you can’t travel, check out our online 1:1 workshops (they are awesome :D)

Black and white or color or let’s do both

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Some things I never do, Black and White and color!

We all have said something like this when it comes to our work. Model photography in black and white and color. One of the things I hardly use myself is selective coloring, and yeah, sometimes it looks great. But somehow in my work, it’s always a matter of keeping all colors and even enhancing them or converting them into black and white. But sometimes…

Amazing costumes ask for amazing light

During an online 1:1 workshop we got some amazing costumes and for the final set, our model Linda was wearing an awesome red hat and vintage outfit. I immediately felt an old-fashioned movie star vibe.
So, for this I wanted a spot effect on our model to make it look like a theater spot. You can use a fresnel for this like the great Nanlite Fresnel but if you want total control?  The Lindsay Adler Westcott optical spot is much better because now you can control the sharpness of the effect with the focus of the lens. And for this shot, I wanted it razor sharp.

Black and White and color.

Now that I had the shots, I just loved the black and white version. But the color one was also great due to the reds. (I just love red)

I like the image in color

I like the image in color

Black and white and color

But i also like it in Black and White

As you know, I love comics and movies, and when I was doubting between the color and BW version, I had this idea of “sin city”
And that would mean selective coloring…… but in this case, I think it is more than just an effect; it really made the image jump out. So I bumped the contrast a bit and mixed the two together.

Black and white and color

The result: black and white and color

Remember that nobody tells you you can only have one version of an image 😀

During the workshops, we always try to do 3-4 totally different sets, and this is just one 😀
Also, want to visit a workshop?
Visit fotografie-workshops.nl for more information. The workshops are in Dutch, but if you let us know a few weeks in advance,e we can switch to English.
Don’t want to travel?
It’s also possible to book a full day 1:1 online workshop, see here for more info.

 

Light from different angles

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Light should always come from…

I’ve read a lot of books about photography. Some older books often describe light as much as possible, like it has to come from one side and mimic the light in nature. And although that sounds logical, for me it never really made sense to limit myself. When we watch movies, we often see actors walking towards the camera with a bright sun behind them, creating an aura of light and glow, but we can still see the face 100% lit. Well, if you ever tried to shoot something like this, you know you ended up with some really awful shots with a white sky or a totally black model. So when Hollywood can do it, we are allowed to play with our lights right?So, light from different angles.

Let’s talk about angles, and different angles of light

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about angles. One rule most people will agree upon is Light from below is often not something we use in our photography. Unless of course, you want that freaky horror look. I actually always call this lighting “Halloween lighting”. An one light setup, I also don’t see a lot of people use, but which is one of my favorite ones is the light from above.

This lighting setup has some really cool benefits but also some big drawbacks.

One of the things I love about this setup is the inverse square law in action. You can really see the light drop off over your model, creating a very nice contrasty image.
But when you place your model against the backdrop, you also get a nice vignette effect around your model. Move your model slightly forward, and you can get more or less light on the backdrop. As you can see it’s a great setup, and you only need one strobe.

So what is the disadvantage of lights from a different angle?

The model has to be careful where to look. This means you have to coach your model constantly and choose your angles carefully.
If you want the model to look a way that just doesn’t light the eyes, you can always make your model wear sunglasses (cool and great to solve lighting issues). Or use a small fill-in light, but when using a fill-in light, you will lose some of the contrast. So, sunglasses are often my preference.

In the next shots, I’m using a mix of the Rogue Frank Doorhof FlashBender and our small Geekoto striplight, both above the model aimed down under a slight angle. These are perfect examples when light from different angles work!

By moving around the model, you control contrast and the depth in the shot. Straightforward is great, but when you shoot under an angle, this setup really comes alive.
In this series, I’m also varying the colors slightly for added effect.

Model: Claudia

light from different angles, this time from above light from different angles. this time above

During the workshops, we always try to do 3-4 totally different sets, and this is just one 😀
Also, want to visit a workshop?
Visit fotografie-workshops.nl for more information. The workshops are in Dutch but if you let us know a few weeks in advance, we can switch to English.
Don’t want to travel?
It’s also possible to book a full day 1:1 online workshop; see here for more info.