Hollywood lighting

Today we had to recreate an image that contains Hollywood lighting. The main characteristic that defines the style of Hollywood lighting is the dramatic light and shadows. Shadow is usually added to the face by having the light positioned higher than the model. Fresnel lights were used for stage lighting; they had a piece of glass over the front of them, which could be adjusted for focusing purposes. The lights were also known as ‘red head’s due to them being very hot and therefore dangerous. The lights that were used were tungsten lights. If you were to use tungsten lights the images would come out orange. In the golden era colour photography wasn't around. The lights being orange however benefited Hollywood lighting as orange images being turned black and white contain more contrast. 

Holly wood lighting was used in the golden era and the images were used as publicity pictures. As there was no social media or social networking sites the physical pictures would be used to take to auditions etc. The cinema was a big deal in the golden era and people lived up to the people shown in the films. The photographs were used to represent the person and the characters they play, i.e. if the character was serious, this would be shown through the use oh harsh shadows upon the face, if they were delicate then a softer light would be used to illuminate the face. 


The characteristics of Hollywood lighting:
- High contrast
-Sharp shadows
-Dramatic
-Always has a mood (links to the type of character the person plays)

When you use Hollywood lighting you are sculpting with light. As there was no Photoshop in the golden era you had to try and minimize flaws whilst taking your image or in post-production. To remove wrinkles and minimize blemishes parts of the hair and skin would be blow out. An 8x10 large format camera would have been used which means there would be a shallow depth of field; this too would help to create the flawless look.

Posing:
-Little direct eye contact
-Look as though they are pondering away
-Hands frame the face/ prop the models head (mainly for women)
Because the camera was slower to set up, the pose was important. You need to have a still pose to prevent movement of the model affecting the focus, especially when you are using a shallow depth of field.

Camera angles:
-Lower or higher, never straight on
- Lots of tilting

Light attachments:
-Barn doors (4 panels that you can move to direct the light)
-Diffuser (used for making the light softer… mainly used for women)

HOLLYWOOD LIGHTING ON MEN:

The images of the men women found appealing have been taken using a soft looking light to highlight their delicate and well groomed side. In comparison the man with the serious expression has been taken using a much harsher lighting set up than the rest possibly used to reinforce the idea of him being a poignant character. The image including the happy expression has been taken using a brighter light which indicates his upbeat character.

  

HOLLYWOOD LIGHTING ON WOMEN:

  

 

Looking at the images of the these women you can see how the lighting has been used to create a soft look to reinforce delicateness associated with women. Parts of the images seem very bright, this is where the image has been purposefully blown out to hide any blemishes.

The image above is an image of Lauren Bacall and it is the image I have chosen to recreate. Looking at this image you can see she looks like she is sat/stood side on with her head slightly looking over her right shoulder. When I recreate this image I will use a white background. There is more lose space on the right side of the image. Lauren Bacall’s iconic pose was always having her head tilted down with her eyes looking up. I think there was one main light used in this image coming from the right. If you look at the back of her head you will see that the back of her hair is also lit, this was most likely caused by a reflector being held behind her head.

In the studio:
1) I didn't use a light meter when taking my photograph however if I had of I would have had to set it to daylight mode.

2) There is no flash used in Hollywood lighting. The lights are very harsh and bright, do no touch them, if you need to adjust them you should do it from the side. Don’t place them too close to your model as you don’t want to burn them. To move the light turn the dial under the light. There is a diffuser on the inside of the light. If you want to channel the light use barn doors. Make sure you have a reflector to play around with.

 This is where my light was positioned with a fellow student holding a reflector to the back of the models head. In my final image my model was facing the backdrop with her head turned over her right shoulder. 

My camera settings were:
ISO 200
F8
55MM FOCAL LENGTH
1/5 SHUTTER SPEED

This is how my image turned out









When looking at this image of Olivia I did notices that her eyes were slightly out of focus, to try and fix this i went to filter, sharpen and unmask, i went around the edges of her eyes to make them sharper. To complete my Hollywood lighting image i converted it into black and white. I did this by opening my image in Photoshop. I went on the the layers panel and clicked gradient map and made sure it was on black and white. Tweak slightly until happy. After doing this i then adjusted my levels to adjust the intensity of the tones.
My black and white image:

  





Overall I am pleased with how this image came out. I am especially pleased with the shadows, I managed to capture the shadows from Olivia's eyelashes which have also been captured in the original image. I feel my framing is quite accurate too however the positioning of her face and the missing white lighting on the background has let me down. For a first attempt i think i have achieved the ability to observe and understand where my lighting is coming from and what it does to the image however if i were to attempt this again i would be more observant to the positioning of the model as well as the lighting techniques.