Tips for Nailing the Angles on the Glitter Blow

Posted by Glitter My World on 1/10/2023 to All Glitter Projects

Tips for Nailing the Angles on the Glitter Blow!

Considering your angles and playing with lighting can be incredibly fun as well as crucial to getting a great image. We've got two examples of a glitter blow from the same shoot, different models, different angles, but same lighting and set. We want to note that neither of these photos are perfect. They are rough edits to play with lighting and angles.

With this image, you can see that it's exposed just slightly lower to compensate for the glitter, which is in fact the same glitter snow. Our model is also just slightly shifted so that you can see more of her face which helps add to the image (especially if someone did a lot of work on the makeup). You might note that the glitter is much warmer, it almost looks like fireworks, welding sparks or something else incredible. This effect is in camera and thanks to the halogen bulb we had placed in front, to the side, and aimed at the models hands. It requires adjusting to your preferred position which means more work but it adds to the image in a different way. Try positioning your model at different angles with the light and play around to find what best suits you, different angles with the model and definitely the light give very different looks.

In this image, our model is straight-on, she's facing the camera. While with a few tweaks this could be an exceptional image, we do lose quite a bit of her face with a magnificent cloud of glitter snow. There's no extra light so while the glitter will bounce the light that's around, it's not getting any extra help to boost the reflective property it's known for.

1. Weight of glitter. If you need the glitter to hang in the air then be sure to use Polyester or Hybrid or Cosmetic glitter and in small flakes. These glitters are lighter so they hang in the air longer. If you do not need it to "float" then larger flakes are better. They pick up more light and sparkle more. Note: The larger the flake the more surface area your glitter has to bounce light and the bigger the sparkle. It's physics!

2. On a budget? Large flake craft glitter works great. If you want the glitter to look like snow, we recommend Iridescent Glitter Snow. It is a larger flake glitter that is very light and sparkles beautifully.

3. Find different small lights, we used a halogen and if you can get your hands on some of these dying species we highly recommend you do. Small lights you can use for directional play can make a huge difference!

4. Start considering light angles! This is where you can start seeing a large difference by the placement of light. Try lighting from above directly over the glitter and just kissing the face of your model.