When photographing models in bath
tubs, the tendency is to shoot at eye-
level—but you should also look for other
angles. As I did here with Ericka, shoot-
ing from a ladder is one way to find
those different angles. Tubs limit the
types of poses a model can use, so I pre-
fer to let the tub sculpt the pose for
me—relaxed poses in tubs work best! In
this case I also turned on the jets and
slowed the shutter-speed to give the
water some motion. In this scene, natu-
ral window light came from the back.
The main light on the model was a
Hensel Integra 500 Pro Plus monolight
fitted with a Hensel beauty dish with a
Rosco #3411 three-quarter CTO gel. No-
tice that the water has a blue tinge as a
result of white balancing for the CTO.
(Camera:Canon 5D;Lens:Canon 85mm
f/1.2L, USM lens, effective focal length
85mm;ISO:100;Shutter speed:^1 / 30
second;Aperture:f/3.2;White balance:
3700K)
run or walk while shooting will create an interesting image while still fo-
cusing on a direction she is heading toward. I once saw an image by an-
other photographer where the model, backlit by the sun, was playing with
a water hose, spraying water outside. Using a prop like this instantly adds
a sense of direction through action.
When photographing two models, have them be playful in their inter-
actions—for example, you could stage a pillow fight. You’ll get a lot of
fun action and expressions while not having to worry too much about
poses themselves. In shots like this, the “posing” comes in the form of
candid looks. While this is happening, make sure to concentrate on cap-
turing nice tight compositions. Again, crop out unnecessary elements in
the image, keep the focus on the action, and allow room for the direction
of the image.
Another favorite method for adding action and motion to a pose is to
have the model toss her hair back as you photograph her. This works well
whether the model is standing or sitting—or even, more provocatively, on
her hands and knees kicking her head back. The actual action is the toss-
ing of the head back quickly and the motion is the flying of the hair. Hair
can create a feeling of motion in most images. I often use fans in the stu-
dio to get that motion in the hair. Outdoors, look for gentle wind; brisk
wind can make the blowing hair harder to work with (and make it neces-
sary to secure your lighting gear with sandbags).