Gizmodo
So, you want to take more professional-looking pictures. You know who takes a lot of professional pictures? Earl Miller, Penthouse Magazine's most published photographer. He seemed an appropriate enough person to ask for some advice, so we asked him to give us some tips for shooting pictures that'll make both aspiring pornographers and regular-old photographers take better snaps. He sent us five tried-and-true pointers on how to get the most out of your camera—and to improve your burgeoning career, if that's what you're looking for. So gather up your leopard-print throw pillows, faux-roman columns, flea market art and a willing model and get ready to become a professional letch. It's your destiny.
Know your camera, whether digital or film. Shoot at 125th of a second to freeze motion and at an f-stop of at least 5.6 for a greater depth of field. The f-stop determines how much light is let in to the sensor, affecting what parts of the image are in focus and how sharp it is. An ideal f-stop would be f-11. Do these things and your images will be sharp.
Use a soft light source. Outside, shoot in open shade, not direct sunlight. Inside, use window light as your main light. If you shoot close enough to the window, you should get enough light to shoot at 125th and f-11. If you shoot in Auto mode, the camera will make all these choices for you. If your light level is low, then use the on-camera flash, just for fill light. Still, use as much available light as possible. The on-camera flash alone is too harsh a light for glamour lighting.
Spend time with the girl on styling. Choose wardrobe, colors and settings that flatter her. Go with what she feels good in.
Have her use soft natural glamour makeup.
Now you are ready to go for it. Don't be afraid to shoot too much, then cut out the bad shots later. And learn from your mistakes (which you will definitely make). Give the girl some of the good shots. [Earl Miller - This link contains explicit hardcore images and is extremely NSFW.]
Comments
Shouldn't this really be following "How to get beautiful women to stay within 10 feet of you for an extended period of time"?
Seems like a mis-use of the word 'beautiful'...
I thought this was about shooting "beatiful" women... Eekgads!
@Step666: If they used the term "Skank-rash", "Whorecake" or "Scuzzy-Pornstress", it would make things seem just a bit too easy, wouldn't it?
The woman on the picture does not look beautiful, and the surrounding looks awful. The painting! The frame! The blanket! The... column? WTF?
ppft whatever. id let her onto my johnson
@Kaiser-Machead: Ow.
I just fell off my chair laughing at "Skank-rash"...
"Natural Glamour"????
That, sir, is a fallacy.
She's not skanky, she's just um, misunderstood.
I need more sample pictures for reference and comparison...
Hey, that's my couch!
"soft natural glamor makeup"?
Is that what they call airbrushing the shit out of models these days?
@pevans34: If ever such a thing occurs, be sure to coat your johnson in China lacquer, just in case.
Shoot at f/11? Why? Photos of people look much better when you shoot wide open, f/1.2 if you can afford the glass.
@aec007: Absolutely! I'd be very interested in an advance lesson on how the lighting conditions are affected by different sized breast implants. There's gotta be some bad reflections coming out of those things, you know.
Hey, lay off the model. Its not her fault. Blame her dad and the photographer. And don't take either's advise. Smut is not rocket science. Porn's camera angles and lighting concepts haven't dramatically changed since nadar shot paris from a hot air balloon.
Did I end up in Fleshbot by mistake? Should give Gawker a call to fix this busted link.
@aec007: you beat me to it
Alternatively a working username and password for penthouse.com would be appreciated.
@mullingitover: Depends on what you're going for. Portraits with longer lenses will provide adequate shallow dof while keeping the entire film plane as sharp as possible by stopping down to f8-11 (depending on make and model). Can't be having soft/blurry/vignetting corners now can we?
nasty.
Earl needs to re-read his own advice, especially, "then cut out the bad shots later".
in the past 6 months i have taken over 6,000 photos (i dont do it for a job or anything, just for fun) and i yet to really learn (aka RTFM) my camera
i am a shamed ninja. (though not actually a ninja...i only do that for fun as well)
Also I forgot to mention that with larger formats the dof stays shallow even with higher f stops. There's a reason you'll be hard pressed to find lenses faster than f2.8 for MF and f4 on LF.
i think gizmodo needs to interview some photographers from Met-Art or something similar, not penthouse .. OMFG that is nice photography... *drools*
and BTW if you need support when visiting their installations, you can count me in!!! LOL
No matter what, my lens is bigger than your lens.
letch isn't a word.
"lech", as in "lecher" is a word.
She looks like she is about to sneeze and has a really bad itch on her back. I hope she does'nt fall off those hideous shoes and hurt herself. Oh never mind, she will bounce....
Hmmmmm...
Does this mean I should perhaps upgrade to at least a mid-level digital camera from the 1.5mp Nokia cam phone I have? Would explain the women hysterically laughing at me whenever I try to say "I'm a professional photographer... and this is my camera! :D "
Does anyone else see the irony in asking a PENTHOUSE photographer to give advice on photography? This from a magazine that has only one rule...NEVER focus the camera!
They must have interns that do nothing but smear vasoline on lenses all day.
#6 Avoid roast beef.
@Pope John Peeps II: it isn't?
The most expensive camera in the world can't compensate for poor sense of balance, lack of vision, and a palette for aesthetics of a mole in heat.
@jrghoull: One of the things I did to learn my camera is to force myself to shoot in full-manual mode. That way, I'm constantly thinking about how aperture, shutter speeds, and ISO sensitivity (I've got a 'cheap' dSLR) affect the image in addition to the composition of the frame. It's a little overwhelming at first, but it gets easier the more you do that. Eventually, you'll get to the point where using the more automatic modes feels like a limitation and/or a crutch for 'real' photography.
The benefit you get over time is the feeling of total control over what you're capturing. You'll even learn when to use some of the automatic modes like 'aperture priority' and 'shutter priority' (both helpful if you know when to use them).
@Kaiser-Machead: LEAVE. EARL. MILLERS. DAUGHTER. ALONE. RIGHT. NOW!
Folks please don't be so quick to judge the poor woman. She is just modeling to earn her tuition money for her Nuclear Physics classes at MIT. No really!!!!
I like gizmodo because of the cool Gadgets, but my daddy blocked it because he saw me looking at a link I found in this article. I just wanted to know how to take better pictures of grandma, but I saw a bunch of naked women doing gross things like licking each others tongues and putting their face really close to a peepee.
Ideally when you set your F-Stop, you want to use the ideal setting for that lens. Typically that will be in the middle of the range.
The higher the F-stop the less accurate you have to be about focus distance, due to the depth of field.
If you set a low F-stop you actually have to be more precise about the distance you are from your subject. You can see this easily by setting a fast lens (one with an F-stop below F4, preferably under f2) once focused and depending on your distance movement back or forward of the camera or model can affect the sharpness of the image.
Invariably someone will argue in regards to this post about depth of field. However.. most serious photographers have fixed lenses (primes) that have easier focus distance measurement to remember.
This is because telephoto lenses change the focus distance dependent on the amount of zoom used in the shot.
HEY GIZM! maybe a NSFW on that link, huh? thanks...
yes i should have guessed, but the freshly coated chick was a bit of a surprise...
I read fark too much, because I read the comments just to see the obligatory "I'll give her a few good shots" or similar.
Hey. That's Lannie Barbie :) Isn't the name fitting. And no, she's not beautiful - she's f%&*$ hot. There's a slight difference between being (pornstar) hot/sexy and beautiful. The former is for one night and the latter is for marriage :)
There's only like 5 women in this world who are both at the same time. My wife is certainly one of them :P
T.
#6 how to convince talentless fugly strippers that you are a professional photographer and get them to go home with you. And wait until after they sneeze. Did I mention she's ugly?
She could use some airbrushing. Where's the tutorial on that?
You might want to label that Earl Miller link as NSFW, morons.
This is funny...
A ton of guys are doggin' this chick out KNOWING that if she rolled up to their crib and said "Come and hit this." They'd have their pants off quicker than Bill Clinton.
To you cats I say, "BULLSHIT!"
@Kaiser-Machead: And at the very least a somewhat normal-looking model instead of a pumpkin.
@drsmith: You're calling them morons because they didn't label a link about photographing women for Penthouse as NSFW? Hmmm...
Be careful when you drink coffee too, it's usually served hot.
@Hestika: thats what she said.
@jibbly:thats why I love my Aero Ektar on my Speed Graphic... depth of field???? what depth of field? thats sissy stuff
@Kaiser-Machead: nice!
Ad the Vaseline goes WHERE!?!?
@sqeakytoy of the apocalypse: Hehe, kind of funny that deep focus has come full circle with the rise of teeny tiny CCD sensors. Especially notable on ultrazoom digicams.
I hope you're completing the Speed Graphic with a pop out bulb flash and a stylish hat with a "press" card in the band.