Tag Archives: glitterboobs

Project Glitterboobs Shots

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This was my first project. I have a DJ friend Bam Bo Tang, who brought a glitterball, or mirrorball, to an earlier shoot (she wanted to smash it with a sledgehammer in a photo!) Thankfully, the glitter ball survived, & I had a play around with bouncing a light off it onto a body. Bam suggested making a project out of it, & I’ve noted that when looking through photos after a shoot, girls seem to have certain parts they like, & some they dislike about themselves. So, I thought it’d be nice to give people a chance to show off their favourite bits, & putting those two things together gave me Project Glitterboobs.

I like the idea of a project, focussing on one aspect makes me shoot it in a variety of ways, & it’s much easier to light one part of a body than all of it :) .

That said, finding time to shoot a variety of people for the project means it’s hard to make it work, so I haven’t shot as many as I’d planned to. In theory I could take a few shots during my other shoots, but we tend to use all the time & energy we have shooting whatever we’d planned.

I think ultimately just shining a light off the mirror ball is a bit limiting, I may explore the idea of different patterns across bodies as time allows, but I’m not sure how much more I can do with just one ball. Fnar :)

All shoots took place at my studio in Shadwell in Central London

Shoot – Vicki Blatchley

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As most of my published work has been with natural light, I’m still very much learning when it comes to studio lighting. I’m pretty happy with where I am for beauty, art nude & basic fashion lighting, and I’ve had plenty of work published that was flash lit,  but until I can look at any photo in a magazine & tell straightaway how it was lit, it’s important for me to keep practising & learning.

As I’m a sharing kind of guy, I thought it might be fun to write about my experiences along the way. I’m not claiming to be right or wrong, or trying to teach, as this is new to me, just telling you what I did & showing you the results.

The Plan

I can’t tell you how important it is to start shoots with a clear plan of what you hope to achieve. It’s hard to be creative when you’re halfway through a shoot, maybe tired, maybe distracted by other people in the room, so having a clear focus in advance helps filter all that out. It doesn’t have to be complicated, & you don’t have to stick to it, it’s just there if you need it.

For my shoot with Vicki I decided to start with some natural light shots to warm up, & also to get some good shots in the bag. If you can show a model early on that you can take great pictures of her, she’s much more likely to relax and commit fully to things you suggest later on, and also be patient while you’re fiddling around with a lighting setup you hadn’t tried before. We also decided to shoot something for my Glitterboobs project & finish by experimenting with gels, which I’d never tried, despite having them for a couple of years.

Vicki was great to shoot, she has piercing eyes, a really long neck & striking red hair, plus she makes some great shapes.

Vicki Blatchley Blue LightVicki Blatchley blue light

So, for the gel shots I wanted to change the colour of the room but leave Vicki at least a little bit natural, especially that fabulous red hair. I used a blue gel (you may have worked this out all by yourself) & barn doors to light the room, & a snoot to create the spotlight on Vicki. I really like the effect, & I’ve already tried it in other parts of the house.

Oh & the lighting diagram was drawn with an iPhone app that Vicki introduced me to called Strobox. Thanks Vicki! :)

Vicki Blatchley crouching

The natural shot is just using window light. I sometimes use a reflector, but I prefer the light without it where possible.

Vicki BlatchleyVicki Blatchley Glitterboob

The black & white shot has a gridded soft box on either side, & a snoot behind bouncing off the glitterball just next to her boobs.

Model: Vicki Blatchley
Blog: http://www.vickiblatchley.blogspot.co.uk/
Location: My studio in London E1

Matt

x

Shoot – Art Nude

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Pictorial shoot today with Tina Nguyen. She came as part of my Glitterboobs project, but wanted some arty nude shots as well, so here are the results.

Shot at my studio in Shadwell, Central London

Adreena Angela

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One of the reasons for starting this blog is to show photos that I can’t post on social media. I shoot quite a bit of art nude, I love the way that light plays across skin, & I think it’s one of the things I’m better at, so it’s good to have a place to share.

This shoot was with Adreena Angela, you can see more of her work at http://www.modelmayhem.com/172075 & http://adreenaangela.tumblr.com/

She sent me a mood board before the shoot; it’s really helpful I find to go in with a clear plan of what you want to get out of a day, without one I tend to default to things I already know how to do. This gets us pretty shots, but defeats the object of testing. I often use another photo as a starting point & then try variations on that theme to come up with something unique.

First a couple of behind the scenes shots. I really should take more of these, when the model isn’t posing you get a natural quality to the shots that often just isn’t possible when someone knows you’re pointing a camera at them.


From the actual shoot, the b/w shots are from the mood board, the outdoor shots were taking advantage of a neighbour-free moment on the balcony, & the mirrorball shot was just a random experiment. Sometimes these things don’t work out, but it’s always worth trying them; this one has led to a whole new Project Glitterboobs!