The Wet Look.Using the wet look makes some of my most compelling
glamour images. Made popular by Calvin Klein advertising in the early- to
mid-’90s, it’s on it’s way to becoming a classic style because of its impact.
Note that straight hair doesn’t work as well for this style as curly hair. For that
matter, thin hair doesn’t work well either. Because it destroys any hairstyle a
client comes in with, you need to do this type of image exclusively or reserve
it for the end of a session. Also, I lean toward black & white for this style, al-
though I’ve found it can work in color as well.
Let’s start with one of my favorite images of Shannon (next page). We
used fashion lighting, a large 3x4-foot softbox turned horizontally, placed
about two feet above eye level, and aimed down. While most fashion photog-STUDIO AND INDOOR PHOTOGRAPHY 69FACING PAGE, TOP LEFT—This image of Tarina was
made in the window room of my studio. We have
her seated in a hammock swing with the main light
coming from the window on her left. The swing
was positioned in a corner with windows on both
sides, so the window behind her provides separa-
tion. The fill comes from a 6x3-foot reflector
feathered in from her right. FACING PAGE, TOP
RIGHT—Tia is positioned in just about the same
spot as Tarina (facing page, left), so the same
lighting conditions apply. The white walls and win-
dow frames of this room complement Tia’s white
lingerie. I chose the pose because it shows that a
basic pose can really be feminine. Her body and
her face are both turned toward the main light,
and her head is tipped toward the low shoulder.
Tipping her left hip up and pulling her left shoul-
der down, then bending her right knee and tipping
it in puts her body in a very feminine S pose. FAC-
ING PAGE, BOTTOM—Missy’s leggy, profile pose is
very similar to the purple and orange one we did
of Michelle when we were discussing white sweep
backgrounds (see page 65). Later in the day, the
light in this room comes from the west, over-
powering the north light that’s dominant the rest
of the day. Therefore, I positioned Missy perpendi-
cular to that west light to give her great profile
light. The bend in her legs, the arch in her back,
her closed eyes, and flowing white clothes give the
image its sensual feeling. As in Tia’s image (fac-
ing page, top right), the room’s colors comple-
mented the white outfit. A large muted silver
reflector was positioned just to the left of the cam-
era to soften the shadows. RIGHT—Window silhou-
ettes are really fun. We wanted to show off
Heather’s figure and create an image used for the
background of a calendar page. To create a silhou-
ette, you need to shoot from a relatively dark area
into a light one and expose for (or slightly under-
expose for) the light outside. Use no fill. In this
case, the light reading outside was f/11 at^1 / 60 sec-
ond with the camera set at ISO 100. I stopped
down one stop to f/16, posed Heather in the win-
dow, told her my neighbor had paid me to pose her
there (just kidding!), and took the picture.