Hollywood Lighting ....

Hollywood portraits - In this workshop we were focusing on replicating the tungsten lit portraits of the 'golden age' of hollywood during spanning the 1920's, 30's and 40's.
There was no social networking or any form of online media so the printed image was of great importance to the publicity of the aspiring actor/actress. At that time you'd have had too take your photographs to interviews and auditions as a way of being remembered after you left and as a part of your portfolio as everything was done on paper. 

Lighting ...

-High contrast 
-Dramatic
-Mood - the lighting was often used to convey the mood of the character in the image.
-Sharp Shadows
-Sculpting the subject with the light was a popular technique
-You would need to think about how to minimise the flaws of the subject and accentuate the good features of the subject with the use of light as there was no photoshop and limited postproduction. 

Cameras ...

-8x10 large format cameras where often used as they would pick up ever tiny fin detail well e.g. really realistic looking eyes. 
-They also create a really effective shallow depth of field- blurring out the background of the image
-they produced extremely high quality negatives so the actor/actress could blow up the images to be printed any size.

Posing ...

-there was little direct eye contact used in these style images
-the subject is often gazing into the distance
-they often used different/interesting angles to create different dynamics and effects. 
-the poses were also often very comfortable for the subject or at least easy for them to hold because when they were using large format blurring could occur easily if the subject moved.

Equipment ...

-Fresnel Lights were usually used in these hollywood portraits and in filming.
-really hot/powerful lights
-they didn't produce light that was even or predictable as the lighting we use today
-they are tungsten lights which will mean in colour the images will have an orangey colour cast on them, but as they shot on black and white it meant they would be more contrasted. 
-the lights would have 'barn-doors' on them and this is how the photographer would direct the light over their subject. 
-They would also use diffusers on these lights to soften the light especially on female subjects. 
-We wont be using the Fresnel lights because they are too unpredictable and dangerous to use in the college. We will be using 'Red heads' instead which are just as bright and get really hot too so you still need to consider the health and safety aspects of the lighting.

I then researched different photographers of that time and created a mood board of possible inspiration for poses and lighting - 

-from this then I decide which images I would like to try and replicate in my own work...