Glamour photography

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Glamour photography is the photographing of a model to emphasize the subject, instead of the fashions or products endorsed.

Today, nude or semi-nude photographs of models appear in softcore publications like Playboy, Perfect 10, or in the pages of tabloid newspapers like Britain's The Sun's Page 3; however, glamour photography does not have to include nudity as evidenced today by the many lad mags.

Standards of glamour photography have changed over time, reflecting changes in social morals. For example, in the early 1920s, USA photographers like Ruth Harriet Louise photographed celebrities to glamourise their stature. During World War II pin-up pictures of movie stars in swimsuits were extremely popular among US servicemen.^{[citation needed]}. However, until 1950s, the use of glamour photography in advertising or men’s magazines was highly controversial or even illegal. Men’s Magazines were usually marketed as “Art Magazines” or “Health Magazines”.

Playboy Magazine was instrumental in changing the world of glamour photography as the first magazine that focused on nude models and was targeted at the main stream consumer. In December 1953, Hugh Hefner published the first edition of Playboy with a nude photo of Marilyn Monroe on the cover. Marilyn's star status and charming personality helped to diminish the public outcry. When asked what she had on during the photoshoot, she replied: "The radio." Slowly over the course of the next decade, Playboy's popularity increased and glamour photography began to assume its position as a respected form of photography.