In photography, glamour shots seek to enhance the allure and elegance of a person. It’s a genre that celebrates beauty, often with a focus on fashion, makeup, and style. In this type of photography, lighting is everything. The way light interacts with the person can define the mood, highlight details, and even tell a story. While traditional lighting setups with standard light modifiers can produce great results, the creative use of color gels can elevate the aesthetics of the image to a new level by adding drama, depth, and emotional resonance.
Color gels in portrait photography can produce striking skin tones, introducing a surreal or dreamlike quality to a shot. Color theory becomes fundamental when using color gels in glamour shots. For example, different color hues and levels of saturation can be used to convey emotions, such as calmness, melancholy, passion, or happiness. The effect can be intensified further by mixing analogous or complementary colors that enhance the subject’s clothing, makeup, or skin tone.
I recently had the opportunity to photograph a male model using color gels. Stefano wanted something different for his modeling portfolio. I used various lighting schemes to highlight different aspects of Stefano’s character and personality. For example, while one of the images evokes serenity, the other two portray a man with self-confidence and determination. I am a firm believer in getting the image right in-camera, instead of doing heavy editing in post-production. All the “painting” in these images is the result of using strobes with various color gels attached to them.
By the end of the session, I had captured a series of photographs that were more than just pictures—they were expressions of light and color, each telling its own unique story. The use of gels added a vibrant, modern edge to the classic glamour photography setup, making each image stand out with its own distinctive vibe.
