This is a George Hurrell inspired vintage Hollywood glamour style portrait of a friend.
This was shot on digital with modern flash units rather than large format film and hot lights but we otherwise tried hard to get keep true to the style.
The hair was by a vintage hairstyling specialist (http://www.thairapy-freelance.co.uk/). The gown, makeup throw and jewelry were also vintage.
Lighting was a Lencarta Superfast 300 + SpotLite Fresnel attachment for key, with a layer of 1/2 Tough Spun diffusion material attached to the barn doors of the Fresnel unit with Manfrotto double clips, positioned at a very steep angle to the face to generate the characteristic eyelash shadows.
There was also a small silver gridded beauty dish high above for hair light and a speedlite + roguewave flashbender for fill. The hairlight was precisely aimed at the model's parting and the shoulder and dress highlights deliberately allowed to blow, again in keeping with the Hurrell style.
The mono conversion was done using a combination of Silver Efex Pro and a Photoshop gradient map.
Beautifully pose and lighting.
Thanks Rod!
A superb photo. I love it.
May I ask one question though? Given the description of lighting positioning, what has caused the shadow across the model's chest immediately above the neckline of the dress? I can't fathom that out.
Thanks!
Do you mean the narrow shadow which runs the length of the neckline?
That must be from the speedlite & roguewave flashbender I used for fill. Next time I'll pay more attention to how the fill is positioned!
Simon, thanks for your reply and yes that is what I was asking about.
My question wasn't a criticism. I am a 'rank amateur', although having been interested in photography for 40 plus years and I have some reasonable equipment (photographic) so was curious as to how it occurred. In my opinion it does not detract from the photo in any way. I suggest I only saw it because I looked at the photo in full screen detail trying to learn.
Still a great photo and I still love it.
Good use of lighting. It does capture "old" hollywood
Thanks Barry!
Well Done!!!! Kudos ! Great dimensionality (if that word exists) by Lighting.
Thanks Bernhard!
Great classic hollywood vibe. Nice work.