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Analog Glamour Photography:
Behind the Scenes of a Medium and Large Format Film Set

Date: February 24, 2025

Glamour photography on film is a space where time stretches, gestures slow down, and authenticity rises to the surface. It is the opposite of digital haste: a deliberate, thoughtful craft built on preparation, presence, and trust. Over the years — shooting fashion campaigns, editorial stories, redazionali, lookbooks and personal projects — I’ve learned that analog glamour is not just an aesthetic choice. It is a philosophy.

This article takes you behind the scenes of how I approach a glamour set shot entirely on medium and large format film, using cameras that demand intention and reward honesty.

Graflex Speed Graphic 4x5 + 4x5 Graflok back - 1944 Kodak Aero Ektar 178mm f 2.5 WWII Usaf reconnaissance lens
Kodak Tmax 400 in Xtol 1+1 @20° x 11'00" - Patterson Tank + Mod54 reel - Fidelity Elite 4x5 chassis - Scan from neg - © Niccolò Barone - All rights reserved

The Art of Preparation: Where Everything Begins

A glamour shoot does not start on set.
It begins much earlier — at the table, in conversation, in planning, in intuition.

1. Understanding Purpose and Mood

Before choosing a stock of film or setting up lights, I define the emotional temperature of the shoot:

sensual or intimate?
soft and romantic?
bold and cinematic?
classical or editorial-modern?

Analog film has infinite personalities. Portra 400 is not Tmax 400. A 6×7 negative does not speak the same visual language as a 4×5 sheet of black and white. The mood must guide the technical choices.

2. Styling and Visual Harmony

Wardrobe, makeup, and hair are crucial. Not because glamour needs extravagance — often it’s the opposite — but because analog film rewards texture, simplicity, and coherence.

Years spent working on fashion editorials and high-end lookbooks taught me the value of quiet styling.
Film loves natural fabrics, matte finishes, subtle colors, and shapes that flow with the body. On a glamour set, these principles are even more important. The image must feel effortless.

3. Location Scouting

Whether it’s a Renaissance palazzo in Florence, a minimal studio in Bologna, or a private interior lit by afternoon light, the space becomes a collaborator.

Medium and large format cameras need time, space, and stillness.
A location with beautiful natural light is worth more than any equipment.

The Technical Setup: Film, Cameras, Light

Medium Format: The Emotional Core

My primary tools on a glamour set are:

Pentax 67II + 105mm Takumar
Pentax 6×7 + 45mm Takumar (especially for environmental glamour)

These cameras create depth, smoothness, and body sculpting impossible to replicate digitally. They slow everything down — including the model, the team, myself. And that slowness is key to intimacy.

Large Format: The Sculptor

Occasionally, for moments of striking stillness, I bring out the 4×5 view camera.

Large format glamour is not common today — and that’s exactly why it’s unforgettable.
It forces absolute attention: from the model, from me, from everyone in the room.

The result is a portrait that feels carved, not shot.
A moment that exists in a dimension outside time.

Film Stocks

For glamour, my usual palette is:

Kodak Portra 400 – warm, soft, forgiving
Fuji Pro 160NS (if available) – neutral and elegant
Kodak Tmax 400 – strong, architectural black and white
Ilford HP5 – grain with character (especially for 6×7 glamour)

Film stock is part of the mood. It is not just a technical choice — it’s emotional.

Lighting the Glamour Shot

Analog glamour thrives on soft directionality rather than aggressive contrast.

My typical setup includes:

a large octabox or umbrella
diffusion scrims
negative fill to sculpt the body
natural window light whenever possible

Film handles highlights differently than digital.
Where digital burns, film blooms softly.
Where digital sees flatness, film finds depth.

This is why glamour on film feels more human.

On Set: Rhythm, Trust, and the Invisible Conversation

Working with analog on glamour means creating an atmosphere where the model can breathe into the moment.

1. A Slower Rhythm

The shutter is not a machine-gun.
With 10 frames per roll — sometimes fewer — every click is a decision.

I talk less.
I observe more.
I wait for gestures to form naturally instead of directing every detail.

This is where my years shooting fashion editorials become essential.
Editorial work taught me how to read micro-expressions, anticipate movement, and sense when a gesture will bloom into something meaningful.

2. Building Trust

Glamour cannot exist without trust.
Analog cameras help because they don’t intrude.
They don’t fire endlessly.
They don’t show the model an immediate preview to self-correct.

They create presence.
And presence creates sincerity.

3. The Invisible Dialogue

In glamour, the most important thing is not the pose.
It’s the tension between the body, the space, and the light.

Sometimes the most powerful image comes from a breath, a half-turned glance, or a small shift in weight. Analog responds beautifully to these subtleties.

Interpreting Glamour: Not Performance, But Presence

There is a misconception that glamour is about seduction.
In analog photography, it is about presence.
Emotional, physical, atmospheric.

When I shoot glamour on medium or large format, I’m not asking the model to be someone — I’m asking her to inhabit a space, a gesture, a sensation.

Editorial Influence

My work in:

fashion magazines
commercial lookbooks
art-driven redazionali
international editorial collaborations

has shaped the way I read glamour.
I bring the same narrative discipline:

clean composition
controlled styling
emotional continuity
architectural use of space
attention to materials and skin

Glamour becomes storytelling, not display.

1990 Polaroid Spectra System

Why Analog Glamour Still Matters

In a world flooded with digital perfection, analog glamour gives us:

texture
breath
intimacy
imperfection that feels human
depth that cannot be replicated

For brands, magazines, and personal projects, this type of photography elevates the imagery, making it timeless rather than trendy.

For me, analog glamour is not nostalgia.
It is a return to sincerity — to the essence of what a photograph can be when all that remains is the moment itself.

© Niccolò Barone - All rights reserved

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