This 3-part series as a whole is one of the best instructional videos on the topic of glamour photography you’re going to find anywhere. Parts 1 and 2 cover studio environments and shooting, while part 3 concentrates on outdoor techniques, and covers diffusion, reflectors, and other techniques for manipulating sunlight.
Formerly a photographer for both Playboy and Penthouse, Ken Marcus’ philosophy towards glamour photography is more like what you’d expect from a landscape photographer. His approach is based around pre-visualization and attention to detail. Unlike other books or videos where they just grab a camera and start shooting, he takes time to explain his preparations and why he decided to do things one way or another.
Parts 1 and 2 are excellent in pretty much every way. Part 3 is also excellent, but in a different way. It’s interesting, but not quite as directly educational. While the studio setups in parts 1 and 2 can generally be achived by a single person with enough patience and the right collection of light stands, clamps, and other equipment, the outdoor techniques shown in part 3 are a bit more impractical for individual photographers.
Have you ever put a decent-sized reflector on a light stand outdoors? Even if you weigh it down, a fairly modest burst of wind can come along and blow it around. Even if it doesn’t get knocked over, it’s still likely to require frequent readjustment. Ken doesn’t have to deal with these problems because he’s got a small army of assistants that accompany him on each shoot. Unfortunately, he seems to take this for granted when the reality is that most photographers are lucky if they can manage to have a single assistant along on a shoot.
Another downside to part 3 is that there isn’t too much attention paid to fill flash techniques, and what little there is uses studio flash equipment running off a nearby AC power source. It would have been nice to see something using smaller battery-powered equipment. Or for that matter, if the omission is on-purpose because Marcus doesn’t like fill-flash, it would have been nice if he’d spent a few minutes explaining why.
The videos are now available only in DVD format, and as far as I can tell, only directly from Ken Marcus. However, if you go to his website’s main page you’ll be hard-pressed to find a link to any information. The page for the videos is still there, but you need a search engine or a direct link. Like this one.
Thank you, for your insightful review of my video series.
I’m pleased to see that even after all these years, somebody still appreciated my efforts and finds the content worthwhile and relevant.
At the time I produced these videos, I was very involved in teaching workshops for photographers on the techniques of professional glamour photography.
If I may address some of your comments . . .
The large crew of assistants, makeup people and wardrobe stylists were reflective of practices in use at Playboy and Penthouse at that time.
My intent was to illustrate how high-end productions were actually produced and to allow the viewer a behind-the-scenes window into understanding how publishable results are achieved.
I chose not to show the ‘do it yourself’ amateur way to shoot glamour, because there were lots of materials available on that subject already. At that time, there was no information available about the details of professional glamour techniques.
When Part 3 was produced, there were limited choices of portable flash units available. What was available were small strobes that were very unlike todays sophisticated flash units utilizing advanced technology. They were not used much by professionals. If anything, pros brought along gas generators to power their lights.
BTW . . . I do have a website where my videos are available and easier to find:
http://www.melrosevideo.com
Thank you again, for your interest in my video series and your kind comments.
Regards . . . Ken Marcus