{"id":31412,"date":"2015-10-22T02:48:40","date_gmt":"2015-10-22T06:48:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/?p=31412"},"modified":"2017-11-27T23:54:56","modified_gmt":"2017-11-28T03:54:56","slug":"boudoir-photography-with-a-hollywood-glamor-feel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/boudoir-photography-with-a-hollywood-glamor-feel\/","title":{"rendered":"Boudoir photography with a Hollywood glamor feel"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Boudoir photography\u00a0with a Hollywood glamor feel<\/h1>\n

I managed to acquire a lovely (and massively big) lighted table\u00a0for my studio. I picked it up for quite a low price at a photography studio auction in New York, and now it has a new home. It was a missing piece in my studio – especially since I also offer the place as a\u00a0photography studio rental (NJ)<\/a>\u00a0. But I digress. In other studios that I’ve used, I’ve used the glow of the circularly arranged lightbulbs, as a light source. For example in this photo session with Jessica Joy –\u00a0composition: working towards the final image<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A number of years back when I wanted to build up my boudoir photography portfolio,\u00a0Priscilla<\/a>\u00a0contacted me, and she was perfect for the look I had in mind for my portfolio – sensual and soft. Meeting up with Priscilla again recently for another photo session for myself,\u00a0the intention was to aim for boudoir photography with a Hollywood glamor feel – but as often happens, the resulting images ended up a distance away from the original idea.<\/p>\n

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This photo is from that very first photo session with Priscilla\u00a0– I was quite taken with her profile. With this latest\u00a0photo session, I wanted to use\u00a0her\u00a0features as part\u00a0of the design of the photograph. This time, I wanted the mood to be darker.<\/p>\n

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This photograph took a while to gradually build up.\u00a0There were two light sources – but I wanted the light to be more mysterious, and not be obvious.\u00a0I ended up using the modeling lights of the\u00a0Profoto D1 500 Ws studio flashes\u00a0(affiliate<\/em>), to light this\u00a0image. The modeling lights are continuous light, and work like video lights in that respect\u00a0– providing\u00a0a WYSIWYG way\u00a0of working with light. (But then, that’s exactly what modeling lights on studio flashes are there for.)<\/p>\n

The main light on her was with a Profoto D1 studio flash<\/a>\u00a0(affiliate<\/em>), but with the beam controlled and tightened with a Profoto 20-degree grid<\/a> (affiliate<\/em>).\u00a0I have to point out that this could’ve been lit by any video light (with barn doors). It just happened that I started using the studio lights (with the intention of lighting this with flash), but then decided to run with just the modeling lights.<\/p>\n

To create somewhat of a\u00a0Chiaroscuro<\/a>\u00a0effect, I used a studio V-flat to cast the shadow behind Priscilla, so that her face would be against the darkened\u00a0background, leaving her profile to cast a shadow on the wall.\u00a0With just this one hard\u00a0light-source, the contrast on her face was too stark. A studio light softened by a Profoto 1\u2019\u00d73\u2019\u00a0softbox<\/a>\u00a0(affiliate<\/em>),\u00a0worked well. The grid on it helped contain the light fall-off so that it didn’t brighten the background behind her.<\/p>\n

Once we had the lighting down, it took us numerous more photos to get just the right balance and angle to her shoulders\u00a0and her face.\u00a0It also took careful posing of her hands for the shadows to not become weird shadow-puppets on the wall.<\/p>\n

I wanted to keep her hands and body less lit than her face, so I used another stripbox on a chair to help flag the light. This drew attention to her face, by shading everything else.<\/p>\n

For the pull-back shot,\u00a0I used a bit of on-camera bounce flash here to lift the shadow detail so you can see the position of the lights. The flash gives a bit of a blue tint. The flash was obviously not part of the actual photos – just this pull-back shot.<\/p>\n

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Photo\u00a0gear (or equivalents) used in this photo session<\/h2>\n