For Lovers of The Golden Age

[B R A N D X®]

A couple of years ago I set out to see how close I could come to the look of George Hurrell's work using digital cameras and modern, studio monolights.

Hurrell was one of the top stills photographers for MGM studios during the late 30's and early 40's and produced hundreds of truly stunning images of the great stars and starlets of The Era.

I'd say that his high-contrast lighting has been the biggest influence on my style.

I imagine, due to the retro nature of DE razors, that many here share my enthusiasm for this era.

I hope you enjoy these. Unfortunately, Joan Crawford, Vivien Leigh and Lauren Bacall weren't available:

[ouch]

Very skillful.

[Isaac]

That is some top notch stuff. I particularly like the one with the lighter

[NorthALABeeKeep]

Stunning photos. Nice work

[THECHEBB]

Very cool old skool style!

[pibeandres]

Great 1930's/40's feel in the last few.

[Alacrity59]

Number 4 is the winner . . . just my 2 cents

[DunEdinRanger]

Outstanding!

[B R A N D X®]

Very skillful.

Thank you......it was a very fun session. We played period correct music and served martini's.

That is some top notch stuff. I particularly like the one with the lighter

That was the hardest one to pull off. If you have your strobe lights actualy fire they over power the flame so we had to use the strobe as a hot light and just leave it on and shoot by the "modeling" lamp without firing the strobe bulb.

I was pleased with how that one came out. It's arguably the most Hurrell like of the bunch which makes sense because he never used strobes.

Hurrell essentially used Hot Stage lights and by the end of a photo shoot his subjects would literally have sunburn on their retinas leaving them nearly blind for a day or two.

Stunning photos. Nice work

Thank you!

Very cool old skool style!

Thanks Henry!

Great 1930's/40's feel in the last few.

Thanks for the comment!

Number 4 is the winner . . . just my 2 cents

Erin, the model, had the closest look to what I wanted for this shoot. The lighting in that shot was more like CS Bull's work than Hurrell's though. Still....certainly one of my favorites as well.

Thank you!

Outstanding!

Thank you Lou!

[Haiku]

I've always loved Hurrel's work, and I think you've captured his look very well indeed.

I don't know if you know about it, but Roger Hicks did a book in which he analyzed old Hollywood photographs and "reversed engineered" the lighting setup.

Thanks for posting your work, it really is top flight.

[Rorschuck]

I've enjoyed your work for the past few days.

Did you do the hair/makeup as well? Just curious...

[Shane]

I'm partial to the second one myself...

[TstebinsB]

Erin, the model, had the closest look to what I wanted for this shoot. The lighting in that shot was more like CS Bull's work than Hurrell's though. Still....certainly one of my favorites as well.

Is she a redhead? I see her and think Debra Messing.

I'm partial to the second one myself...

+1

Mmm hmm. I will say though that no.1 has got some hourglass figure.

[Duggo]

I'm partial to no. 2 from the top and no. 2 from the bottom.

Very Very nice work.

[pibeandres]

This seems right up your alley (if you happen to visit Santa Barbara sometime soon):
http://www.sbma.net/exhibitions/current2.asp
I can't wait to go.

[SCWilson]

BRANDX, would you be willing to share some of the lighting techniques that you used to get the Hurrell effect?

Thanks,

Sam

[B R A N D X®]

This seems right up your alley (if you happen to visit Santa Barbara sometime soon):
http://www.sbma.net/exhibitions/current2.asp
I can't wait to go.

Very cool. Thanks for the link and enjoy the show.....wish I was closer!

[B R A N D X®]

BRANDX, would you be willing to share some of the lighting techniques that you used to get the Hurrell effect?

Thanks,

Sam

Hi Sam,
I don't have any secrets worth keeping so always glad to share!

For the most part I have always been *very* unscientific in my lighting. I own, but never use a lightmeter and I typically just push lights around, swap out diffuser types etc...until I see the light to shadow ratio I am looking for.

I use the modeling lights to gauge the overall effect of the lighting.

For shots 2 and 4 which have the softer lighting I used a relatively low wattage, Norman ML600 strobe firing through a 5' Octabox. I used no fill light or reflector which allowed me to create some rather dramatic shadows on the side opposite the key light.

For the first shot in the post I used barn doors to create the spotlight type effect.

For the 3rd and 5th shots I wanted a harder/harsher, higher ratio look (which is what Hurrel is most famous for) so I used a tight honeycomb grid for very little diffusion.

I believe I used a highly diffused hairlight to help minimize tonal merge b/w hair and the background for all of these.

That's really about it.

Early on I worked with an amazing photographer who was essentially my mentor. He was fond of saying "It's light, not rocket science."

He encouraged me to never pick up any books on lighting for fear of having them cloud my own personal vision of light, but rather to learn to "see the light" and then use the light to create whatever my vision was for the shot.

That's what works for me. I know nothing about ratio's, typically use no more than two lights...often a single light, but I *see* the scene as shown by the pre-flash modeling lights. I just move things around until I see magic and then I start shooting.

I know this is vague, but I hope it helps!

[burnwood]

While the photo quality is great, the rating of the models is as follows,

photo 1, NO
photo 2, meh
photo 3, no
photo 4, hells yes a thousand times over
photo 5, meh

[B R A N D X®]

While the photo quality is great, the rating of the models is as follows,

photo 1, NO
photo 2, meh
photo 3, no
photo 4, hells yes a thousand times over
photo 5, meh

Interesting....especially your comment about the model in image #5.

In my "My Muse" post your comment regarding her was a little different:

uhm, she belongs in front of the camera.

As for #2......most would find Courtney to be exceptionally beautiful!




But then I kind of covered this in my OP:
"Unfortunately, Joan Crawford, Vivien Leigh and Lauren Bacall weren't available"