Basics for Great Glamour Photography

Glamour photography involves taking sexy photographs of subjects. While many people associate this with nudity, it is more about taking photographs that are suggestive, but still in good taste. To take glamour photography, you simply need a good digital camera on which you can adjust light settings.

Picking the Location

While most people take glamour photographs within a studio, you can also go to exotic locations like beaches, waterfalls and the like to take your photographs. The studio provides you with a controlled environment for lighting, but you can achieve the same settings with your camera as long as you manipulate the lighting settings.

But, you need to make sure that you are using the correct lighting. Too much shadow on the face will cause it to be blurry. But, too much light could make the model look overexposed. You will have to experiment with your camera.

Shooting Vertically

Most glamour photographs are taken vertically as opposed to horizontally. To do this, you are basically turning the camera on its side to take pictures. Glamour photography is taken vertically since they can capture more of the model in the shot, and it focuses the attention on her as opposed to the background.

These shots also add a bit of mystery to the shot since most people are only familiar with the standard horizontal shots.


You should start with lining up your models based on the vertical and horizontal lines within your camera. This will ensure that model is in the center of the shot.

Once you get more advanced, however, try putting your model in different positions, including bending over slightly or following the line of the body’s natural curve. The photographs of pin-up models from the past are good examples of glamour photography.


You should only use backgrounds to frame out your model. Remove any clutter from the background. The colors of the background should always contrast with what the model is wearing.