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Archive 2016 · Bridal Portrait - old hollywood style.

  
 
Numfar
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Bridal Portrait - old hollywood style.


Maybe I should put this in the wedding forum, but I've been sharing the other old Hollywood style images inspired by the work of George Hurrell here, so I thought I'd share this one of a bride and gown we did for a lovely girl who fell in love with the style.







Jan 11, 2016 at 04:07 PM
gshawus
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Bridal Portrait - old hollywood style.


another great image


Jan 11, 2016 at 05:07 PM
artmaseda
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Bridal Portrait - old hollywood style.


Excellent !!!


Jan 13, 2016 at 09:28 PM
Evan Baines
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Bridal Portrait - old hollywood style.


An admirable image. If I were to offer one critique: the sharp transition between the brightest highlight in the image (the Rembrandt triangle) and the extremely dark shadow on the lateral aspect of her left cheek is such a stark contrast that it pulls my eye. If there were a way either in post or in a retrospective thought experiment to add just a smidge of fill over there without compromising the overall high-contrast approach, I think the image might be a bit stronger.

Obviously YMMV



Jan 14, 2016 at 09:47 AM
Numfar
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Bridal Portrait - old hollywood style.


Evan Baines wrote:
An admirable image. If I were to offer one critique: the sharp transition between the brightest highlight in the image (the Rembrandt triangle) and the extremely dark shadow on the lateral aspect of her left cheek is such a stark contrast that it pulls my eye. If there were a way either in post or in a retrospective thought experiment to add just a smidge of fill over there without compromising the overall high-contrast approach, I think the image might be a bit stronger.

Obviously YMMV


I completely agree that some fill would improve the picture. And that would almost always be my inclination, for sure - I have been addicted to soft shadow/highlight transitions for a decade... but that's not what this style was about back in the day. Ultra harsh was common, and while it may make a better photograph overall (to our eyes) to add the fill, it very rapidly breaks down whatever authenticity the look has if I do so. Believe me, I've tried. That said, there probably is a way to do it, and I've cheated in the past on tighter head-shot sets by tossing in a lamp to get small fill off the white shade... all kinds of things like that... but here, in 1955 it was all about the harsh lighting, so I tried to match that. Maybe to the detriment of the image, but hopefully to the benefit of the effect, if that makes sense.



Jan 14, 2016 at 02:23 PM
Evan Baines
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Bridal Portrait - old hollywood style.


Numfar wrote:
I completely agree that some fill would improve the picture. And that would almost always be my inclination, for sure - I have been addicted to soft shadow/highlight transitions for a decade... but that's not what this style was about back in the day. Ultra harsh was common, and while it may make a better photograph overall (to our eyes) to add the fill, it very rapidly breaks down whatever authenticity the look has if I do so. Believe me, I've tried. That said, there probably is a way to do it, and I've cheated in the past on tighter
...Show more

I really respect that you're a student of the history and craft of photography. I too have spent some time on this topic.

For the sake of discussion I'll disagree slightly. Most of the times I've seen the golden age photographers use true black shadows (>3:1 ratio), it was for a paramount or loup, while generally for Rembrandts there is at least some fill, even if the transitions are crisp from sources like fresnels. There are, of course, exceptions, and I'm actually looking at one in a 1949 lighting manual in my collection. So its certainly authentic to use such a black shadow on a Rembrandt, its also authentic to use more fill.

I dunno. Maybe its why I like Steichen's work better than Hurrell's most of the time.

Either way kudos for the scholarship!



Jan 14, 2016 at 02:45 PM
Numfar
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Bridal Portrait - old hollywood style.


In my research, I have found that Hurrell let blacks go dead black very often. And I mean BLACK. Now, the real question is do the prints look like that - most of what I have had the opportunity to see is online, or fairly bad print versions in books. How true are those to the originals? Maybe it has more to do with print quality than his (lack of) photography skill/choices/gear limitations.

Still, low-end/limited print quality IS pretty much how his work was distributed. All those 8x10s of stars handed out were not meticulously printed by masters, they were mass produced in an effort to create a cult of personality around this or that movie star. Kids and young men stuck up pictures of this or that starlet on their wall, or inside their army barracks and looked at/loved them for months/years - but they were not great quality.

And that's the feel/vibe I'm trying to reproduce. I know it goes against a lot of what I am naturally inclined to do - I mean, how often do many of us set out to make lower quality images than we are capable of? But i think that's what this project calls for.

I have a slight advantage in that I actually really LIKE the look; and it sort of strikes a cord with my subversive side in that I enjoy making technically weak images that still tell an engaging story. The real trick comes on those rare times when I can make the so-called technical 'problems' add to the mood/feel/story of the final images - which of course makes then not 'problems' at all.

Is it successful? Well, mostly for me yes, but for everyone else - well, that's up to each individual viewer. And realistically, it's hard to tell even from feedback whether people are simply responding to the general feel of 'old hollywood style', or are actually responding to nuances that only we would notice. If it's the former, then I'm doing something right. If it's the latter, then I'm wasting a lot of my own time and sort of fretting over irrelevancies.

I can say that it really, really challenges my mindset when I make these. I mean, I do things that would seem absolutely CRAZY to a modern photographer all in an effort to DEGRADE my images IN CAMERA - all in an effort to produce period-style images. Sometimes I end up shaking my head and laughing out loud at my own damn ideas and actions on how to do this. And a few of the more photo-shoot-experienced subjects and all my assistants just look at me and give me that 'wtf are you doing??' look... but so far, some of it has worked okay.



Jan 14, 2016 at 03:56 PM





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