Learning from Old Hollywood (3pics)

[ara.bentley]

I was inspired by some old hollywood portraits lately and wanted to play! My friend agreed to be my victim - we had fun . C&C please!

Thanks guys! -ara

[texxter]

Ara, these images are really nice, I like how you've used wardrobe and props, plus nice hair and good expressions. In order to achieve the Hollyood glamorous glow, photographers like George Hurrell used hand postprocessing on large 8x10 negatives, literally smoothing the emulsion to achieve an impossibly perfect skin texture. I played with the middle image a little to try to emulate this glowing feel and came somewhat close. I can email it to you if you'd like - I respect your choice not to have your pics modified and will not post it here.

Nice job!
Paco

[ara.bentley]

Thank you Paco. Yes, I have been reading on Mr. Hurrell and about his processing on the negatives. I am in no way good at skin retouching so I left it as is. I might look up a how to and play with these images. I wouldn't mind you posting it here in this thread if you could tell me what you did! I know that is one area I need to work on ... a lot! Someone else might benefit from the knowledge as well! Thanks again!

[texxter]

Ara, here is the image and the mods I made:

I used the Portraiture Photoshop plug-in to smooth the skin - there are many ways to do this and you can find tutorials on the internet and in books. The plugin just makes it very fast. It normally works on skin tone only, but because the image had already been converted to B&W I had to tell it to smooth the whole image and then selectively mask in skin surfaces only.

I applied a gaussian blur to the edges of the frame

I sharpened the eyes a little, probably counter to the Hollywood style, but something that a client would expect to see - sharp eyes.

I made the eyes a little lighter and the lips darker, as if they had been bright red in a color rendition.

I cropped the image to tighten the composition and soften the extreme tilt.

Finally, I applied a gentle warming tone to the black and white, to make it look like a Platinum print.

I really really like the hair and the highlights you put on it.

Paco

[ara.bentley]

thanks for uploading this!! could you tell me a little more about the warming tone you applied for the platinum print effect? This is the only step I didn't quite understand... does this mean you added a warm colored filter?

[sandy_ruotolo]

I like your photos, and would be interested in hearing your answer about the warming tone. As for the plug in, can you download it from Adobe?

[texxter]

Hi Ara and Sandy,
I use a free Photoshop action called "TLR Toning" which gives you the ability to create a toning layer - you can use layer opacity to adjust the strength of the toning. And you can select the tone, of course. Here are some of the tones available:

Blue
Brown
Burgundy
Cyan
Green
Magenta
Mauve
Orange
Purple
Red
Yellow

Sepia Tone 1
Sepia Tone 2
Sepia Tone 3

Gray Green
Gray Mauve

Cooler Gray
Neutral Gray
Warmer Gray

Platinum
Selenium


http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/TLRB&WToning.htm

All the credit goes to Glenn Mitchell for developing this handy action for B&W enthusiasts.

[sandy_ruotolo]

Hi, just a few more quesitons please. When you apply these to a photo do you have the ability to discard the tone, and restore the original pictue. I've just ordered a version of photoshop, so while I've heard of the program, have never used it. The Olympus came with it's own editing software package, but if you retouch the photo, you have to save it with the changes, which you may or may not like.

[texxter]

Hi Sandy,
Yes, the tone is applied as a layer and you can save the file in Photoshop format, which allows you to go back to it and render it differently by making or removing modifications. Photoshop is a great piece of software, but it's huge and difficult to use by a beginner. I recommend you pick up a book or sign up for a course at your community college - I highly recommend Photoshop for Photographers by Martin Evening. And you should be able to find free video tutorials as well.

If you want totally non-destructive changes no matter what, Adobe Lightroom is the ticket, and cheaper than Photoshop. LR was designed for photographers, whereas Photoshop is used by all kinds of creatives, not only photographers. LR allows you to apply changes to many images at the same time and render all those images with those changes without affecting the originals at all.

Good luck!
Paco

[klynam]

I'll jump in here as I've been researching vintage Hollywood portraiture as well...

Ara.Bentley -

Your povs, clothing/hair, and model are great for the vintage look.

I can recommend three immediate changes to get you even closer:

1) The lighting is nicely directional, but too soft. Vintage light was direct (hot lights) with very specular quality. Diffusion was achieved from the old lenses or with a screen (hose, mesh, etc.) placed in front of the lens to diffuse the light - but the shadows cast by the actual lighting were very crisp.

2) Include more light sources. Vintage Hollywood photography often employed 4+ lights. Your posted photos - with only 1-2 lights - are more of a film noir look. Nothing wrong with that of course, it's just not exactly vintage Hollywood portrait lighting.

3) Try posing your models in ways that could easily be held for long periods of time without any movement. Due to the long exposure times required in the 20's-40's, many portraits were made with the model seated, leaning on hands, or reclining where the entire human form was supported. This of course was a "form following function" aspect but it ended up being a characteristic of vintage Hollywood portraiture.

I'll post a few samples shortly...

[klynam]

Moderator(s) deleted the reference images, making this post useless, so I deleted it...

[klynam]

Moderator(s) deleted the reference image, making this post useless, so I deleted it as well...

[twoeyesopen]

Boy was this little thread instructive and interesting
Ara - nice pics and good work
Paco - super pp
Kevin - GREAT post on seeing the light
Thanks

[HotHolly]

I'm getting ready to do a golden age of hollywood shoot and have been doing a little research. Good thread. Thought I'd add some info.

I'm drawn to photographic stylings of most of RITA HAYWORTH'S stuff. You might want to google her to see examples. Moody butterfly lighting - very sexy. I love moody lighting. This is right up my alley.

[ara.bentley]

Wow - thanks to everyone for such great info!!! Kevin - i see exactly what you are saying about the lighting. Unfortunantly I am working with the 2 lights that I currently have and will not be able to get new ones soon - BUT i have several new ideas on how to 'make it work' with what i have from your posts! Thanks Paco for all the info on the PP. I think I will have some time this upcoming week to work in PP on these photos and will try out your technique! I'll post them if I come up with anything good! Thanks again - ara