Some of the lighting in this section of the course has caused me to take another look at some of the black & white portrait work by Richard Avedon. I am a big fan of the fashion genre and Richard Avedon was instrumental in showing me the 'art' in fashion photography.
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Audrey Hepburn |
Looking over a collection of his
work it is possible to de-construct some of his lighting techniques. With my new found knowledge I am able to better asses how these pictures work. Here are a few of Avedon's images - some iconic and some not so well known.
In the images of Audrey Hepburn & Twiggy we can see soft, diffused light. The light is wrapping around the subject and the graduation from light to shade is gentle. In the case of Audrey, the light appears to be coming from two sources, one camera left just a little higher than her face (see the shadows behind her glove and on her neck) and the other camera right from higher up (shadows under and in front of her arm). This is a truly beautiful portrait of a beautiful lady!
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Twiggy |
In the photograph of Twiggy, she appears to be looking straight into the main light. This again must be diffused - we can tell by the soft shadows under her chin and on her neck- alternatively this may be due to some light being bounced back with a reflector? This could also conceivably be taken in daylight, maybe from a high window - note the blurring in Twiggy's face which suggests a slowish shutter speed or at least slower than a flash speed.
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Barbra Streisand (1965) |
In contrast to this we have the pictures of Barbra Streisand and Elizabeth Taylor. Both of these photo's have harsher lighting although this is by no means detracting from the images. Of the two, Streisand's image seems to have less contrast, be it only by a fraction - see the shadows on her neck and under-arm. The main light appears to be coming from high up camera left. This makes for a lovely sculpture like image which is further enhanced by Streisand's slightly unusual features and the shape of her haircut.
The image of Elizabeth Taylor is extremely well carried out. Of all the images in this post, this must have the harshest light but at the same time this is very well hidden. When you look at the light drop-off on the arms you may think that the light is quite soft but looking closer at the shadows under her scarf, chin and beneath her nose, you can see that there is almost no graduation from light to dark. It takes a good look to notice this though as each shadow is almost hidden.The contrast between light and dark across the whole image, combined with the shape of Elizabeth's torso, which seems to push our eyes up to her face and then traps them within the ring of hair and scarf, serves to place our attention firmly on the mesmerising stare straight out of the picture!
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Elizabeth Taylor (1964) |
