Behind the Lens: Hollywood Lighting
- Dec 5, 2022
- 3 min read
It’s a new month and another new blog in my ‘behind the lens’ series! I am taking you back to this time last year in the studio at University, where I experimented with Hollywood lighting for the first time. Hollywood lighting is a style of lighting a subject through continuous lighting, used of course, in the Hollywood era. It was made to flatter the cheekbones of the actress particularly, and created what is known as a ‘Butterfly’ shadow just under the nose.
This was one of my favourite concepts our studio technician taught me (hi Paul if you see this!), so I went all out with the moodboard and styling. It was our final year, so we were really expected to make these technical sessions our own, and today I am going to take you through the whole process.
Moodboard
After our initial lighting demonstration, I went away and curated a moodboard for posing and prop inspiration. I imagined my portraits would feel classic, glamorous, and have a little drama to pull the audience's focus across the image. My go-to place for quick inspiration is Pinterest, where I collected several black and white, Holly-wood style images for posing inspiration. A few of these images had models styled with gloves, which gave me a motif for my photoshoot. One thing I have learnt about my practice over the years, is that I love having a theme or object to build my concepts upon.
The Shoot
I adapted the lighting set up slightly, as myself and my model had a different facial structure than what Hollywood Lighting traditionally suits. I did this by moving the two tungsten lights further back to create more shadow across the models cheeks and jaw, which really accentuated the cheekbones while still achieving the butterfly-shaped shadow under the nose. I’ve included images of the set-up below to help you visualise the lighting.
I had my model go through some traditional, Hollywood poses before playing around with the props and expression a little more. I had sourced some red satin gloves and a fake, pearl necklace to add a pop of colour and some texture. While most Hollywood images are black and white, I experimented with colour photography for a more modern feel, while still keeping the look classic with traditional accessories.
One of my favourite props was a pair of white, modern sunglasses that I paired with some black satin gloves. The images from this prop pairing are still some of my favourite images, I love the combination of the old lighting style with more modern poses and accessories. Additionally, I gave myself a couple of options when it came to hats. During these sessions and now any moment I get to experiment, I love to give myself options that allow me to flourish creatively and spark ideas. In the end, I utilised both hats but for two very different style images. One provided poise and glamour, while the other felt more dramatic and mysterious. I love the way that accessories, posing and facial expressions can really transform the image.
Post-Production
Most of my editing consisted of navigating the black and white toning, to ensure the skin didn’t appear washed out or the shadows too dark in contrast. Aside from this, our studio technician encouraged us to experiment with frequency separation for the first time, and so I applied this technique to all of my images. Frequency separation is a technique which allows you to even the skin tone without removing the skin’s texture or affecting skin colour, resulting in smooth, blemish-free skin without the unnatural look. I am going to do a full blog on the frequency separation process in due course, but essentially the technique works by separating the skin colour and texture into two separate layers.
Here are more of the final results! As previously stated, this was one of my favourite technical sessions at University, and I’d like to thank my lovely friend Ruth for modelling for me. Remember, always give yourself options when you’re shooting and don’t be afraid to experiment and get things wrong. Let me know which photoshoot you would like to see in detail next, as I am beginning to plan for 2023!
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