Glamour Photography on Location in Rio de Janeiro: Behind the Scenes

Photography Tips

This year, photographer Steve McCurry was put in charge of creating the 2013 Pirelli calendar, a prestigious calendar given only to select VIPs and Pirelli customers. This year’s calendar features models with great causes ranging from environmental issues to helping keep children educated, and is located in the beautiful Rio de Janeiro. This behind-the-scenes video shows the models, locations, and photography techniques used in the making of the calendar:

Though McCurry does not go into a lot of detail of how he captured each of his shots, the video does give you some insight on how a location-based, high-end photo shoot works. Here are some things to think about while watching the video:

• Location – Notice the background of the images and the lighting of each location McCurry shoots at.
• Artificial Lighting – Since the location and models move so much, McCurry has several grips holding small lights instead of setting up light stands.
• Type of Camera – You can see McCurry shooting with both a full-frame Nikon D3x and a medium-format camera of some sort.
• Interaction with Models – Around 26:00 you can see how McCurry greets the models

Model posing for Pirelli calendar in Rio

Perhaps Steve McCurry‘s greatest strength is the use of his surroundings. This photo above captures the skyline of Rio while still keeping the model prominent in the image. With Sonia, he goes in for a much tighter shot, but uses the pool to reflect the surrounding structure and lights. Even when it rains, McCurry rolls with it and makes it looks beautiful.