Continuous Light
My First Trial to Classic Hollywood Portraits
Written on the 26th of June, 2022
Since I started photography, I have been constantly told to look at other photographers' work and analyze it to enhance my visual capabilities. I had to look at the history and evolution of photography.
During my exploration of the history of photography, I came across photographer George Hurrell. George Hurrell was one of the leading photographers during the golden age of Hollywood. His glamour portraits were stunning. I loved his work and wanted to recreate Hollywood glamour portraits. I was keen on learning how George shot his images back in the day.
I was a novice at photography and needed guidance, so I searched on google and found photographer Damien Lovegrove. At first sight of his work, I was impressed with his recreation of Classic Hollywood portraits.
The key to taking classic vintage Hollywood portraits is to use hard fresnel lights, apply a vintage hairstyle and makeup, and wear vintage clothes.
Hard continuous fresnel lights are the key to classic vintage Hollywood. They were used by cinematographers and photographers back in that era. Cinematographers and some photographers continue using it today to achieve that look.
Fresnel continuous light can be tungsten or LED. After weighing the advantages and disadvantages of both lights, I decided to go with LED fresnel continuous lights. I purchased the Lupo Dayled 1000 Dual Color LED Fresnel.
I started shooting my friend Khaled AlBader, to create that look. The following images are the result of the session.
I am happy with the results, but I can improve them further.
The Gear I Used
