If you aim to find out which category of photography is by far the leading position in terms of number and popularity, it is likely that at the first review the primacy will be behind glamor. This word is familiar to modern man not by rumor, since glamorous photos are seen everywhere: on billboards, on television; glamor is full of glossy publications, cafes, and bars along with the nightclubs.
Many subconsciously understand what glamor is, but rarely anyone can give a more or less distinct definition of this concept. If the definition of such types as, for example, portrait, landscape, does not cause difficulties and fits into a few brief sentences, then glamor disintegrates in a bank of rich descriptions. Here is an approximate list of definitions heard as a result of a brief survey: stylish, luxury, beauty, grooming, brilliance, eroticism, sexuality, charm … And this is not a complete list. You can even conclude that glamor is rather not a kind, but a certain sensation, an aura, a mood that has embraced modernity in the past three decades. Glamor, like style, is really hard to define. But it still is worth a try.
It is a matter of fact that every young woman wants to look beautiful, stylish, and attractive not only in everyday life, but also in a photograph. Perhaps this is why when applying for professional services to a photographer, women are asked to organize for them a photo session in the style of “Glamor”, which is becoming more and more popular every year.
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It originated, obviously, in Hollywood in the 1920s – 30s with the active spread of cinema and the popularity of famous movie stars. Numerous glossy publications and the active development of advertising have played their part (Willis-Tropea). The first glamor photographs showed relaxed, mannered ladies in low-necked dresses, high gloves and open heels. Recall, for example, famous photographs of Marilyn Monroe.
Today, glamor is much more diverse. In a glamor photo, a model can be portrayed in full form, or in separate fragments (glamorous portrait, glamorous legs, etc.). The girl can be dressed in an evening dress or sports suit, in sexy lingerie or swimsuit, in a wet T-shirt or topless. In terms of style, it can be either harsh sexuality with elements of fascist aesthetics or the presence of dangerous reptiles or animals, or a sweet romance in the radiance of incongruous and magic. How glamor will turn out depends on the author’s view of the photographer himself. After all, everyone understands it in their own way.
The founder and owner of one authoritative photo site, says about this: “In my opinion, the concept of glamor includes something for each person. That is, the definition of ‘glamor’ as ‘chic’ is absolutely different for everyone. Someone likes a country girl in the cold and big roses on her blouse (what is not glamor?). I will try to explain the concept of ‘glamor’ from my point of view. In my concept of ‘glamor’ – this is a gorgeous woman in a chic interior. And not necessarily undressed.
Everything is important to me – how the makeup lies on her face (if it is), the laundry (if it is visible), the sofa on which she sits, the wall (background), pictures on the wall, accessories (handbag, glasses, gloves – everything should be perfect). Maybe I am too serious about this topic, but I clearly distinguish Cartier points for $ 1,500 and ST Dupont belts for $ 500 from their fake counterparts. That is, a gorgeous woman in a gorgeous interior will not look glamorous to me if something in her is not perfect. People who do not distinguish such subtleties, of course, see glamor differently. ”
In Webster’s modern dictionary, glamor is defined as “elusive, mysteriously exciting and often illusory appeal that excites the imagination and inflames the taste for the unusual, unexpected, colorful or exotic …” and “the strangely seductive atmosphere of romantic magic, bewitching, incomprehensible, invincible “magical charm; personal charm combined with extraordinary physical and sexual appeal.” But the question is not only the problematic definition of the category. The difficulty also lies in the confusion of the boundaries between the glamor and similar directions: fashion, nude. For many, all these terms are the same with the same concept, but this is a misconception.
Fashion is a photograph of high fashion, that is, models, expensive things of famous brands and designers for fashion magazines. Fashion photography apparently may not be very different from glamor – and here and there is a beautiful model, an interesting background, luxury accessories. The difference lies in the very purpose of the image. In fashion photography, the importance is given to the clothes, and a beautiful model only increases the attractiveness of the outfit, representing the “product face”. Glamor photography concentrates the viewer’s attention on the model, and clothing and background details contribute to the multiplication of its attractiveness.
Nude – a genre of fine art, revealing in the image of the naked female body ideas about beauty, the value of sensual earthly existence. There may be two types:
- Artistic nude photography – a nude person is depicted delicately and artistically, very often in black and white and with an emphasis on the light and shadow figure. There are such moods as drama, mysticism, etc.
- Erotic nude – unlike artistic, it is intended to affect not the high strings of the human soul, but to attract attention and produce sexual desire by showing beautiful nude nature.
Glamor – The main thing here is that the focus is on the model itself, its appearance, and not on the mood, dress or atmosphere. Usually, the interior, the details of the background, accessories and clothing are a kind of enhancers of beauty and charm of the model. Shooting can be both in clothes, and with a small amount of clothes, as well as completely without her. Therefore, we can derive directions (divisions) of the genre: erotic glamor, which is nude and non-erotic, which is fashionable.
The most common myths about glamor:
- Color image. In fact, glamor in black and white (colorless) version is no less relevant than in color.
- Sexuality and overt eroticism. Clear eroticism in glamor photos is not a condition at all. Sexuality is just one of the accents, a way to attract more to the image, seduce and win the viewer’s attention.
- Model – a woman. A glamor man (glamor boy) is also possible, as is a glamor woman (glamor girl). However, the second option is most common.
- Photos of famous personalities. At the initial stage, at the very beginning of the development of the genre, glamor implicitly implied photographs of world-wide personalities – showmen, pop stars, actresses, etc. However, today the scope of the concept has become much broader, and a glamorous woman or man is not only a well-known personality. The main thing is that the model is distinguished by its chic appearance, sexuality, and that it breathes luxury (Thrift).
A photo made in the style of ‘glamor’ should be perfect – overexposure, under-lighting, covered eyes and other, even very small, flaws destroy the concept of ‘glamor’ cleaned up (Rojas). For shooting glamor it is required:
- Professional photographer.
- Expensive hardware.
- Experimental model.
- Makeup artist and Stylist.
- Successful composition.
- Well-chosen accessories.
- Intriguing background or location.
Glamor at the unprofessional level is impossible! This applies both to the professional skills of the photographer and his equipment (Fox et al). A glamorous photographer should be able to correctly expose the light and know the features of color and b / w shooting, and this requires practice. Therefore, before proceeding to the glamor, it is desirable to practice in shooting ordinary portraits. In addition, an important criterion is the ability to work with the model and good taste.
Recently, special editions for photographers and models appeared on the market, where templates of various postures, their psychological characteristics, as well as ways to hide certain figure flaws or emphasize advantages, are given. One of the criteria for glamorous photography is unquestioning image quality, which can only be achieved with a good camera and optics. Ideally, of course, medium format equipment, as it gives a higher image quality and, importantly, allows you to better convey the plastic colored drawing of the human body. But with the right approach, the required quality can be achieved with a 35 mm camera, and if we are talking about digital technology, then a resolution of at least 6-8 megapixels is desirable.
Glamor girl all fascinates and captivates. She is brilliant, luxurious, and seductive; there is a mystery and charm. To achieve this effect, you need to have both excellent physical and artistic data. Therefore, it is very important that the model has a proportional and pleasant figure, good skin without obvious defects, and attractive features. The necessary personal qualities include the ability to relax, the ability to understand the photographer, the ability to communicate various emotions and internal states. Makeup artist and stylist will help add the smallest strokes to the image.
Day after day, year after year, the concepts of beauty and chic undergo changes. A photographer, like no one else, should feel the slightest transformation, capturing them in the bright gloss of a photographic image. The word ‘glamor’ in translation from English, means ‘magic’, ‘charm’, ‘attractiveness’, which means that the term ‘glamor photo’ can be translated as ‘magic photo’ or ‘photo with a twist’. As you like. Photographers have their own definition of this “beautiful” phrase: “Glamor photography is the perfect combination of charm and beauty of a model with luxurious clothes, glittering jewelry, impeccable makeup, and romantic atmosphere”.
Glamor photo shoot cannot take place without a bright glamorous image of the model. Fashionable clothes on a figure, various accessories in the form of a hat, handbags and jewelry should be complemented by bright makeup. In a glamorous photo, a special place is occupied by the expression of the model’s eyes, which means that the makeup artist, preparing the model for the photo shoot, should emphasize them in a special way.
However, makeup, clothing, and accessories are just part of the shooting process. An important role is also played by the background on which the shooting takes place, and the general situation, and lighting. Most often, photography takes place in a professional photo studio, where during the whole process of photographing the scenery, lighting, details, and background color can change. In this case, the photographer can embody any artistic idea, giving the freedom of his creative imagination.
Despite the constant change of angle, lighting, scenery, and other elements, the photo can still get a little “clamped”, since the place of shooting does not change. Therefore, in addition to paying attention to the postures and emotions of the model (which are excellent), you need to remember about changing the place of the photo session. For example, when shooting in nature, frames will always come out more interesting and “open”, here the photographer has more opportunities to embody his creative ideas. “Live” background brings in a special color, charm, and energy.
But it is not necessary to immediately run to nature; the shooting can also be carried out on the streets of his native city or, for example, in abandoned castles. The photographer only needs to have with him all the equipment and photographic equipment – a portable flash with a lens, a good tripod, filters, and blends.
Important here are the postures of the model. There is a set of the most common poses that are remarkable and advantageous in almost any glamorous photo shoot, among them: full-length photos; angle “look over the shoulder”; shooting a model lying on the stomach or side; photographing from above, below and emphasizing the look, hair or smile.
To create a classic portrait, a photographer needs to take into account several important factors at once, namely: the lighting scheme, the ratio of light sources, the point of shooting, the turn of the face (Foster). Under the lighting scheme, I understand the distribution of light and shadow over the face of a model in order to create a specific shape. In classical portrait photography, there are four basic lighting schemes:
- Separate light
- Light type ‘loop’
- Rembrandt Light
- Light ‘Butterfly’
There are also methods of lighting ‘light half-turn’ and ‘shadow half-turn’ that can be used with the above schemes.
There are certain fashion magazines that are just filled up with the gossips and celebrities news but if someone really wants to learn about the glamour photography, Vogue magazine is the best of all. There are many other magazines which are worth considering in the process of learning including Elle Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, W Magazine, L’Officiel Magazine, and some others. These are among those fashion magazines where the real models are being photographed and glamorized.
High resolution cameras are used by them with a readiness to do experiments and to bring novelty almost every time in their shoots. Vogue is absolutely the most influential among all other fashion magazines. It is all time ready to bring new trends in the industry, portraying blends, different color schemes, experimenting with the lights, and a lot more. It is the highest selling fashion magazine having global edition.
There are different cameras that are been used by different professional photographers including Nikon D3X Digital SLR Camera, Canon 5D Mark III, Nikon D7100 DX-format, and Hasselblad H5D-50.
Works cited
- Thrift, Nigel. ‘The material practices of glamour.’ Journal of Cultural Economy 1.1 (2008): 9-23.
- Foster, Jerod. The Enthusiast’s Guide to Portraiture: 59 Photographic Principles You Need to Know. Rocky Nook, Inc., 2016.
- Rojas, Jeff. Photographing Women: Posing, Lighting, and Shooting Techniques for Portrait and Fashion Photography. Rocky Nook, Inc., 2016.
- Fox, Anna, Michael Langford, and Richard Sawdon Smith. Langford’s basic photography: the guide for serious photographers. Focal Press, 2012.
- Willis-Tropea, Liz. ‘Glamour photography and the institutionalization of celebrity.’ Photography and Culture 4.3 (2011): 261-275.
