Introduction, and a little of my work...

[Douglas Carl]

Hello everybody. Glad to become a member of your community. I am from South East Wisconsin, and have been shooting for a bit over 6 years now. Glamor photography is something I have always admired, but have just recently tried out. I had 2 hot lights and a couple pretty friends to get started. I shot at a local strip club, and while there met a well known photog that said my work was good, but I needed better lights. Per his recommendation, I got 3 Bowen 500 watt lights and have been learning how to use them. On a recent trip to NY I saw a Showcase magazine in a gas station magazine rack. The cover blew me away. I glanced at the pages and had to buy it. After a couple minutes I searched for the photographers info and looked up Nick online. His style of shooting is exactly what I want to achieve. Hoping to get ideas and some guidance on using my equipment properly from Nick and the others on this forum.

Here is some of my better work to date. Let me know your thoughts...

http://www.dougraflikphotography.com/sf1.jpg

http://www.dougraflikphotography.com/sf2.jpg

http://www.dougraflikphotography.com/sf4.jpg

http://www.dougraflikphotography.com/sf5.jpg

http://www.dougraflikphotography.com/sf6.jpg

http://www.dougraflikphotography.com/sf7.jpg

Thanks for your time.

Douglas Carl

[Corey Jenkins]

First off welcome to the fourms!! You should learn a lot from members posts on here being that you work appears to be mostly glamor. It can be a little slow but you will receive some great feedback time to time.

Photos look pretty good lighting wise but the 3rd and bottom two shots look a little flat. Try and mess with a little more dynamic lighting and I think the photos would be better. Also retouching wise the eyes look a little too white/bright on a few of them. Just be careful of this, too much can make it look fake.

Keep it up and keep posting!

[Bigram]

Pretty good pictures man...Welcome to the site :wink:

[Nick Saglimbeni]

Hey Doug,

Welcome to Slickforce, and thanks for posting your pics. I agree with Corey, the lighting is a bit flat. That said, I really do like the way you achieve soft front light, you've really got that down...so don't lose that. The two things that jump out at me are a lack of rim/back lights of any sort, and the models all look unhappy. Work on directing expressions out of them, because your lighting issues are an easy technical fix.

[Douglas Carl]

Thanks for the advice. I did know that the lighting was flat. I am working on improving that. As far as the expressions, I was trying to go for more of a sexy look, but I guess that didnt come thru. Maybe if I work with a real model rather than just good looking friends this will improve. I am trying to line up a shoot with an incredible looking girl who models a lot. I will be sure to post pictures when that happens.

Thanks again.
Doug

[photogenics]

I like the expressions in these photos myself. One tip that works well with non models is to ask them start out with "no expression" and then slowly work their way from a hint of a smile to a big grin while you take several photos in the process. That way you get an inbetween smile in the series that is often the best. Except for the girl with the hose I thought the lighting was really very nice really ... yes, adding a separation light would help make them even better but I still liked them as is because they look very natural. When using a back light to add a rim of light on the hair be careful not to make it too strong or it calls too much attention to itself.