Hollywood Glamour Photography | Darkmans Darkroom » Hollywood Glamour Lighting

Hollywood Glamour Photography, Behind the Scenes with Daisy Devine

Darkman — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 22:48:21 +0000

I thought I would post some behind the scenes shots from a shoot I did a while back, in fact several years ago, with one of my favorite models, Daisy Devine. In this shoot we were going for a Joan Crawford Hollywood Glamour type shoot. We had planned it out and chose Daisy for the shoot as we felt she would portray Joan Crawford best.

In this Hollywood Glamour photo shoot, you can see me messing with the lights and snapping a couple pictures. The in the resulting images you can see what the camera is seeing. Hollywood glamour photography really isn’t as hard as people make it seem. It is a technique, but it is also a feeling, an art and a painting of sorts with light. Not painting with light like they mean in today’s terminology, but more of an artists painting as he places his lights and shadows here and there.

One secret I always tell people is to create drama with shadows, rather than flood it with light. I hope you enjoy the pictures and the resulting images, can you tell or remember which Hurrell shots these are imitating?

Enjoy…

Hollywood Glamour Photography, Behind the Scenes

Hollywood Glamour Photography, Behind the Scenes w/Daisy Devine

Hollywood Glamour Photography w/Daisy Devine

I’d LOVE to hear your thoughts and comments. I’d also like to know what you would like me to write about. Got a question, ask me, and I’ll try to answer it to the best of my ability.

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Jean Harlow and the Bear Skin Rug for Vanity Fair

Darkman — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 21:28:58 +0000

The classic Iconic image by George Hurrell of Jean Harlow on the Bearskin rug, is a classic that many photographers equate to the quintessential Hollywood Glamour. It’s really not that hard to reproduce if you know where the lights are coming from. All you need is a Polar Bear Skin rug(good luck). The lighting is the easy part.

The negative sold for about $57,000 recently in the largest auction of George Hurrells works by Epstein and Schwimer. I would love to have a copy of that negative.

So if you take a look at my diagram you can see where I have set the lights for the photograph, and in the second and third images I will point out to you why it is and how I know.

The hairlight which is on a boom and above Jean Harlow, this is easy to tell by the shadow direction of this light(fresnel) and how it falls onto Harlow in a tight pattern around her indicating it is a mid level tight focus, and above her.

The next light is a narrow focus photo flood light to the left of the camera at about 90 degrees from the subject, also indicated by the light shining on her left side of her body to camera right. Also see the bears nose for highlights. This lamp is low to the ground, pointing slightly up at Harlow.

The third light, called the Key light is also a flood, but set to wide, and more of a fill light than a key light. Take note of the catch lights in Harlows eyes, and the lightness of the shadows on her ribcage, the back of her right arm and let hand, and her face. This light is slightly higher than the second light, and set to wide to soften and lower the brightness, so as not to remove or blowout the shadows, but rather to open them up, so the camera can get that shadow detail.

This image is Hurrells signature dramatic lighting which is accomplished by painting or composing with light, rather than blast with light. A little here, and a little there. until the perfect balance is met. Some would say the brighter parts of the image are her hips and the left side of her face, drawing attention away from the face, but instead, it frames the face.

As with many of Hurrell’s works, he the broke rules. To him there were no rules. This is what made Hurrell different, stand out and noticed. Not just by clients but by other photographers as well.

The other reason I know where the lights go is in the book “The Hurrell Style: 50 Years of Photographing Hollywood“, it’s documented where the lights are, as Hurrell took extensive notes on his setups and layouts. That book is available here, at Amazon.Com.

Jean Harlow, Bearskin Rug Lighting Diagram

Jean Harlow, Bearskin Rug © Epstein&Schwimer

The light is shining on her left side to camera right, also see the bears nose for highlights.

Jean Harlow Bearskin Rug, Blow Up Detail © Epstein&Schwimer

Take note of the catch lights in Harlows eyes, and the lightness of the shadows on her ribcage, the back of her right arm and let hand, and her face.

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Model – Mia Vixen, Hollywood Glamour and Film Noir

Darkman — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:17:04 +0000

Mia Vixen is a Southern California Model and Burlesque Dancer I had the pleasure of photographing a little while ago. This first shot Old Hollywood Glamour and reminiscent of Marilyn Monroe, with the second shot being more along the lines of Film Noir. Each shot was lit with Fresnel Studio Lamps, and each had a different number of lights used.

Can you tell how many lights were used? I’ll give you a hint: Look at the High Lights and the Shadows. That’s how I reverse engineer photos I like. Look at the shadows and the direction of the lights as well as with the high lights, there you will be able to tell where the light is coming from.

This is your typical Old Hollywood Glamour Style Photograph with a touch of Boudoir mixed in. The Lighting Diagram is below.

Mia Vixen Hollywood Glamour

If you guessed 3 lights you would have been right. One on her backside, one on her thigh and one on her face. The one on her face had a silk diffuser on it to soften the center but still give a hard-ish edge to the shadow on her cheek from her nose.

Mia Vixen, Hollywood Glamour Lighting Diagram

This next image could tell a story. A fine young lady is stranded at a bus stop late at night waiting for her bus. A single street light shines down on her. Her suitcase with all her worldly belongings props her legs up, in a recline. What’s a girl to do?

This would be a typical Film Noir type shot. How many lights?

Mia Vixen Film Noir

If you guessed 2 you would be right. On shining down on her like a single street light would, and a second one to camera left to open up the shadows a bit to keep her from disappearing int he shadows altogether. Hollywood Glamour Photography is often mixed up as or with Film Noir but there are some heavy distinctions, which I will go into at a later post. For now, enjoy the process.

Mia Vixen, Film Noir Lighting Diagram

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Model – Lindsey Lou, and Glamour Lighting Diagram

Darkman — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:25:55 +0000

In this post I wanted to show how I lit this Hollywood Glamour shot of Lindsey Lou, with just one Fresnel studio lamp. Fresnel Studio lamps can be purchased at B&H Photo and Video, at various sizes and various wattage’s. These are what I use to get that Real Authentic Hollywood glamour photography look.

In this image you can see the Butterfly Lighting Pattern under then Nose, a nice crisp clean edge to that shadow, however if you look at the over all edges of the shadows you will see a soft falloff about them. This is the difference between using Fresnels and Strobes.

With a Strobe and a Grid, you get either a hard shadow with a no soft falloff, or if you use a Strobe and a Softbox, you get soft falloff but no Hard Lines where needed.

I also used my favorite bamboo plant to great a little drama on the left side of the image, on the white bearskin covering, as well as to balance out the images with the leaves just barely coming into the image. This is also to show where the shadows are coming from, sort of telling a story.

Lighting Diagram Below…

Lindsey Lou #1 - Darkmans Darkroom

Lindsey Lou #2 - Darkmans Darkroom

Glamour Lighting Diagram for Lindsey Lou

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A Day with George Hurrells Last Assistant

Darkman — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 02:09:23 +0000

Back in December 2009, I was given one of the best Christmas Presents I think I have ever gotten. I was given the opportunity to spend the day with George Hurrells Last Assistant, Richard Settle. Not only did I get to spend the day talking with Richard about George Hurrell and his techniques, I was able to watch never before seen footage of George Hurrell Shooting some big time celebrities and musicians, in the last part of his life.

Richard served in the U.S. Navy 1967 to 1971 as the unofficial ship’s photographer, and then worked at Capitol Records from 1973-1980. From 1980 to 1992 Richard and his partner ran a photographic rental studio, in which photographers could come in and rent space for a day and photograph their subjects. I was at this time when George Hurrell came into contact with Richard and the rental studio.

Visage, a photographic agency that represented Hurrell at that time, contacted Richard and told him they needed a studio for George to shoot in. Richard was a little struck, but shortly after the phone called George Hurrell pulled up in his station wagon with his gear, and proceeded to unload.

George Hurrell shot at the rental studio from 1981 up to just before his death in 1992. At this time George has just finished filming a documentary about his work and life called “Legends in Light: The Photography of George Hurrell”. Richard also was a part and can be seen in another documentary called the Hollywood Fashion Machine: George Hurrell. Legends in Light can sometimes be gotten through Amazon, but the Hollywood Fashion Machine is not in print and can only be gotten through certain channels.

I sat and watched about an hours worth of Never-Before-Seen edited footage of Richard assisting George Hurrell shooting movie stars and musicians such as John Sedler, Emilia Crow, Glen Scott, Natalie Cole, Jeff Fahey, Ry Cooder, Ed Harris, Michael Biehn, Jefferson Wagner, David Duchovny, Bryan Murphy, Tony Peck, Dean Stockwell and Mario Van Peebles. It was funny to listen to some of the stars talking to the camera and to George, their just ordinary people, doing a movie stars job. “uhh, what’s the camera for?” hahahaha.

Below is a video I took of Richard and I at the end of the day, I wish I could share the video with the rest of the world but I can’t, hopefully some day Richard will get the releases to create a video for the world to see one of the best Hollywood Glamour Photographers of all time, George Hurrell.

I want to thank Richard Settle for his generosity and gift of memories.

Thanks Richard!!!

Richard can be reached here: http://home.earthlink.net/~resettle

Natalie Cole Shot by George Hurrell

The Oscar shot in the rental studio of Richard Settle

George Hurrell surrounded by his work

George Hurrell shooting Ann Sheridan

George Hurrell Shooting Ann Sheridan and James Cagney

Richard Settle Standing next to his photo of George Hurrell and his photo BY George Hurrell.

Richard Settle Photo by George Hurrell

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Model – Apnea

Darkman — Mon, 24 May 2010 18:10:44 +0000

In this shoot with the well known Model Apnea, we did a faux fashion article shoot, in which I made an faux magazine cover from the image. The lighting was two Fresnel lights both from camera right, one on the background and one on the model herself. The background was a plain white wall in a hotel room. We didn’t have much space for backgrounds and had to make due with what we had, hence the texture on the background.

Lights Used: were 2 Altman Fresnel lights

This shoot was done the same day as the Hollywood Glamour Shoot I did with Apnea Pictured Here.

Model: Apnea

Apnea Lighting Diagram

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Evie Lovelle Gallery and Shoot – Hollywood Glamour Photography

Darkman — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 04:51:26 +0000

After about a month of battling the Flu and a back issue, I am finally getting this gallery and post up regarding the Evie Lovelle Shoot. The day I shot Evie I was actually coming down with the flu, and for the following two weeks had the flu and then back issues, from popping a rib out of place from all the sneezing I did. Not Fun.

Anyway so Evie can over and we talked and went over some ideas for the shoot and discussed the order in which we were going to do the outfits she brought. I had her get into the first outfit and then did a quick video interview which is going to be on PinupoftheMonth.com, but I included a video here of us shooting and my messing with the lighting. The equipment list for this shoot is as follows, no strobes were used at all, only Fresnel.

Equipment list as far as lighting:

2 – 500 Watt Fresnel Lamps for kickers similar to these

2 – 300 Watt Altman Fresnel Lamps for Key and Fill Light

2 – 200 Watt Mole – Richardson Midget Fresnel Lamps for Side and Background Light

My Background Setup or one of them is the Manfroto AutoPole System by Bogen Imaging

In a previous post I included a video of Evie dancing to give people an idea of what a burlesque dancer does. Burlesque can be left up to some interpretation, but her dance is a classic style and with classic outfits. The video I included is here.

The video of Evie Lovelle and I working together is first, then the gallery of the shoot.

And here’s the gallery…Enjoy!

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Model: Jasmine Worth

Darkman — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:12:33 +0000

Jasmine Worth

Jasmine Worth is an old friend that I knew from the gothic/industrial scene like 8 or so years ago, before she started modeling at all. We used to see each other at clubs dancing and hanging out and one time she asked me about doing some pictures for her.

I had been doing pictures in the club scene for some time, doing the club scene type pictures that you see on websites of clubs. I had some great ideas, at least I thought they were great ideas. Somewhat fetishy in style, I guess she didn’t like the idea and I hadn’t heard from her for several years after that.

When I did run into her again she had a full portfolio and one of the best fetish/latex fashion models in the San Diego L.A. area. I never really asked her what happened, but we’ve shot a few times since and this is one of her ideas. She was saying a Hedy Lamarr type thing and it wasn’t until later, months later that I saw images of Hedy Lamarr and I realized WOW what an uncanny resemblance.

The images of Hedy Lamarr, the movie star of the 40′s 50′s and 60′s, we’re beautiful in their own right, but the images we had created were incredible and I couldn’t believe what a resemblance ours had to her’s. I had never seen images of Hedy Lamarr before until months after Jasmine and I shot. I have to credit Jasmine for this shoot as it was her ideas and her guidance during the shoot that we were able to come up with the resulting shots.

Jasmine Worth is a great model but she is also an incredible artist. Her art is somewhat like a fairy tale gone bad, but it’s beautiful. One can only experience her work and see what she does for themselves. Her site and online gallery are here http://www.jasmineworth.com

Here are the images we came up with for this shoot. Enjoy…

These shots were done with 2 Altman Fresnel Lamps, a keylight and a background light.

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Hollywood Glamour Lighting Video and Diagrams

Darkman — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 06:25:40 +0000

Be sure to check out the Photography Lighting Diagrams for this shoot HERE

I have people wanting to know how I set my lights up and how I get some of the effects I do for Hollywood Glamour and Film Noir Lighting. Most times when I do Hollywood glamour photography I use Fresnel lights, the same type of lights they use in Hollywood on movie sets. In fact I use several very old lights that were probably used on a Hollywood lot somewhere. I have two lights that are from the 1950′s.

When I first started this type of photography I felt I should use the same exact lights to get the same type of effect. I still feel the same as when I started, however I have adapted several strobes to do a similar effect, but it’s still not quite the same. You can get strobe flashes fitted with Fresnel lenses to get the same focusing effect but to me it’s just not quite the same.

The main difference between a Fresnel Lens Hot Light and a strobe, IS the Lens. A Fresnel lens is the same lens used in lighthouses and that long focused beam. A Fresnel Lens has the ability to focus to a hot beam of spotlight or open up and spread out for a wide spray of illuminating fill light. You can also use the edge of the circle of light, called feathering as a fill light or an edge light.

The center of the circle of light is a hot spot, and the edge is a softer feather edge. The Fresnel gives a hard light but also has a creamy soft quality to it. It’s hard to describe but it is something you can see and experience when shooting. A strobe has a hard quality to it with no softness at all with the bare bulb, nor does it have any focusing ability or softness unless you use a modifier. Then even with a modifier it’s too soft, and can’t give a hard edge shadow as the Fresnel can give. The modifier, usually a softbox wraps the light around corners and spreads the light everywhere. You can’t get a good hard edge on the shadow needed for a good paramount lighting under the nose. I will give a couple comparison photos another time but below is a video of a shoot I did with the model Kristabelle. It shows the lighting diagrams and actual shoot we did with Fresnel lights and a shot with a strobe.

Enjoy…

Darkman.

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Portable Flash Sytem I use on Location

Darkman — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:17:52 +0000

PhotoFlex Poratable Lighting System

Some people emailed me and asked me about this portable unit I use when I am on location so I felt compelled to write a little about it. The unit is a Photoflex extra small softbox with an off camera strobe, and I use it for some location stuff when a little light is needed but not a lot. It’s a great little piece of equipment because it is so lite and portable I can pack it away in a very small area.

It’s good for face and head shot stuff outdoor and can be moved back a bit to spot light a larger area for a full body shot as well. There is no grib for this extra small softbox, but I bought the grid for the next size up, cut it to fit and sewed the velcro back on to finish the job, and now I have a grid for it. The only thing I can think of that is a con, is it’s so lite I have to weight it down a bit in windy situations, unless I have an assistant holding it for me. Other than that I really like this piece of equipment and it’s only $118 at B&H Photo.

Below are a couple shots I used the lighting system with, as always it has it’s place in your tool box of equipment. It’s not for everything but for light duty stuff this piece kicks butt.

Link to this at B&H Photo is Here

PhotoFlex XS LiteDome Poratable Lighting System

Shu Uemura Eyelash Ad - Close up shot with the Photoflex

Partial body shot with the Photoflex Lighting System

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Hollywood Glamour Photography | Darkmans Darkroom » Hollywood Glamour Lighting

Hollywood Glamour Photography, Behind the Scenes with Daisy Devine

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