{"id":14363,"date":"2013-05-15T02:15:19","date_gmt":"2013-05-15T06:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/?p=14363"},"modified":"2017-12-01T23:48:17","modified_gmt":"2017-12-02T03:48:17","slug":"hollywood-glamor-lighting-with-video-lights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/hollywood-glamor-lighting-with-video-lights\/","title":{"rendered":"Hollywood Glamor lighting with video lights"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hollywood Glamor lighting with video lights<\/h1>\n

The old Hollywood masters such as George Hurrell, CS Bull and Laszlo Willinger had a dramatic way of lighting their portraits, with specific use of light and shade.<\/p>\n

For my\u00a0review of the Litepanels Sola 4 LED Fresnel Lights,<\/a>\u00a0I had\u00a0Ulorin Vex<\/a>\u00a0as model. Her style and clothing are quite unique, and dramatic enough that these lights enhanced her look. I loved what we came up with.<\/p>\n

In using these Litepanels Sola 4 LED Fresnel Lights<\/a>\u00a0(B&H<\/a>\u00a0\/\u00a0Amazon<\/a><\/em>)\u00a0to specifically emulate Hollywood Glamor lighting, I called in another model, Elle Olins<\/a>. Elle has that smoldering look to her that turned out to be perfect for this style of lighting.<\/p>\n

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This pull-back shot shows how the two Sola 4 units were set up. The light to camera left, was there to create that oval streak on the background. The Sola 4 in the foreground (camera right), was there to create the dramatic light pattern on Elle’s face.<\/p>\n

With the barndoors on that light, I was able to minimize the light falling on her forehead, and accentuate her eyes. I also specifically lifted the bottom flap of the barndoors to create a distinct light fall-off over her lips. I really wanted Elle’s eyes to draw the viewer in. As you can see from this photo of that Sola 4 unit, I had just this narrow slit of light sneaking through.<\/p>\n

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The pull-back shot also shows, interestingly perhaps, the clutter of the studio. Shooting tight, the 4′ wide backdrop was more than enough for this kind of portrait.<\/p>\n

You may well ask why I used this narrower backdrop here instead of the 9′ wide paper backdrops that are in my studio<\/a>. Well, there was just too much available light streaming in, and we couldn’t get the kind of contrasty photos we wanted. So I turned this smaller backdrop around so that it would block the majority of light. The available light ended up giving some rim-light on Elle, as can be seen in this comparison photo.<\/p>\n

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The fortunate thing with the Litepanels Sola 4 being daylight balanced LED lights, is that the available light that snuck in, didn’t give a strange color balance.<\/p>\n

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The WYSWIG aspect of these video lights (and other continuous light sources), is that you can adjust the position of the lights (and your model’s pose), to a fine degree. You can closely observe exactly how the light falls across your model’s features. Then it’s a matter of adjusting the light levels (and focus of the light beams), and the position of your model to get the exact light you wanted.<\/p>\n

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Books on Hollywood Glamor lighting<\/h2>\n

I strongly recommend this book where the authors analyze and break down some of the best known portraits and describe how the images where lit – Hollywood Portraits, by Roger Hicks and Christopher Nisperos<\/a>. (Amazon<\/em>)<\/p>\n

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Photo gear\u00a0(or equivalents) used for this photo session<\/h2>\n