Glamour for dummies guide?

[Fastfwd13]

I'd like to know where to start from a gear and technique perspective to get some decent glamour shots. Wanted to post this in glamour forum but the rules forbid newbies from that ;)

[chauncey]

What is your budget?

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What is your budget?

Maybe techniques and knowledge of what equipment would give what results would be best.

Right now I have a budget of approx. 3k$CDN and I'm getting:
50d
17-55mm f2.8
tripod/head
bag
memory

So I'll have to make do with that but knowing a few techniques could help and knowing what gear helps with what would orient my future purchases.

[Karl Johnston]

Studio lighting is what you need, I suggest dropping 3000$ on some good Alien Bees equipment and a set of gels.

In the words of rian flynn; "I'd rather have a cheap camera and some really good lights than a good camera and cheap light"

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Studio lighting is what you need, I suggest dropping 3000$ on some good Alien Bees equipment

And the dumpster diving MacGiver version of that would be what? Let's say I only have 2x500watts halogen lamps made for construction work and some white fabric.

[Mark_Cohran]

There is a "Talk About Glamour and Nude" Discussion forum though, which has no restrictions for new members. Which is where I'm going to move this thread.

[AxxisPhoto]

Studio lighting is what you need, I suggest dropping 3000$ on some good Alien Bees equipment and a set of gels.

In the words of rian flynn; "I'd rather have a cheap camera and some really good lights than a good camera and cheap light"

What Karl said. Spend your $$$ on good lighting first, and learn how to use it!:D

[woodsters]

or learn from what you have or can afford and then move up...

[speedster00]

spending money on lighting is one thing...learning about posing, perspective is another. I have not put any money into lights....yet. but I have some pretty good shots of my wife. I've realized that looking at others work for pose/composition and then trying to do it your self is a whole other story. Especially when both of you (photog and model) are amatuers. just my .02. Look on amazon and pick up some books. there are tons of them out there about glamour techniques and posing.

[Karl Johnston]

And the dumpster diving MacGiver version of that would be what? Let's say I only have 2x500watts halogen lamps made for construction work and some white fabric.
Hey that works ..you can get some pretty decent equipment from Alien Bees.

There are some non-brand name budget kits all over the place...can go as little as 200$ for a 150 w/kit and a couple of small umbrellas if you shop around.

B&H is where you should go...or vistek.ca for us canadians.

www.thecamerastore.com has some good kits, too. check it out

http://www.thecamerastore.com/products/studio-equipment/lighting/continuous-lighting/tungsten-lights/kits/lowel-go-all-pro-kit-har
this may be a bit out of your budget, but its certainly got everything you'd ever need and more.

unfortunately it's out of stock

http://www.thecamerastore.com/products/catalog/kits/photoflex-first-studio-kit
this may be more up your alley, 2 umbrellas and 2 small strobes..plenty to learn on..300 bucks or so

though for a bit extra I think you should go with something like this
http://www.thecamerastore.com/products/catalog/kits/lowel-goeasy-v-kit

Those 500 w halogen lights are pretty sweet. There's a dude around here somewhere with an Eagle for an avatar (what's his name? Anyone know who I'm talking about?) that made a pretty cool light-tent with a couple of those for under 100 $

[Andrushka]

Doesn't Lorek use (or did for a long time) halogen work lamps or something similar?

[wickerprints]

I'm hearing good things about Calumet Genesis monolight kits. Throw in some Cybersyncs and you're good to go for maybe $500.

Thinking of doing this myself at some point, but I'm still too preoccupied with collecting L glass. :D

[speedster00]

ebay trigers for under $50 that have a great rep. a 2-3 light stand/umbrella kit off ebay for $50. pick up a couple of used flashes or sunpack 383 for less than $100 and you can go strobist style for pretty cheap.

[Jon Foster]

Nobody has suggested buying Jason Cole's DVD on shooting glamour. I would say buy it, watch it, then watch it again. He has some good info in there to get you started. Do a search on the forum and you will find lots of posts about the DVD.

Jon.