Vintage shoot

[Granddad]

The fixup looks really good. OK, GD, here is Peter Hurley critiquing head shots with Patrick Hall of Fstoppers. They discuss pupil size while looking at the girl with the finger nails at the 7:00 mark. Since I also use flash I put a small 55W fluorescent light (5500 Kelvin) behind the camera and it was enough light to shrink the pupil without messing with the shot. Another way is a window behind the camera.

Thanks Rick, not only the link but the solution, too. I'll have to look back through my other dining room shoots and see if they all have the same issue, it's one that I've never had pointed out before. Old dog, new tricks, learn something new every day and all that!

 

[Gary A.]

Wow! Wow! Wow! Very vintage and very nice. Now print on a very heavy and coarse paper stock.

 

[Rick50]

Heres the one Derrel mentioned. 17:50 mark.

 

[Granddad]

Thanks Rick, I watched the first and will save the second for tomorrow. I've subscribed to both channels.

 

[Derrel]

Peter Hurley says that one of the favorite things he gets from continuous lights is small, constricted pupils, and plenty of eye color. Now, keep in mind he is also promoting equipment these days.

And he says regarding the eye rendering that there is something "that I can't get from a strobe". That is actually not fully,100% correct. There are professional studio flash units that offer 150-Watt quartz modeling lamps, and 250 Watt quartz modeling lamps, and which put out a LOT of light. Similarly, the host of the f-Stoppers video likened flash shoots to those where one is in a dimly-lit environment. AGAIN, not a 100% accurate statement, but more like how a young-ish peedlight flash shooter, an f-Stoppers host, would be likely to generalize.

AGAIN: the idea that one cannot use studio flash units and be able to dialate the eyeballs enough to get the main color of the eye to show up is based mostly on using low-powered modeling lights, in HUGE modifiers, and normal working distances. Notice the setup Hurley has in the B&H video? With three, small, light fixtures, at VERY close range, at under three feet from the face, in the case of each light?

Hmmmm...let me re-state: he is also promoting equipment these days. But, there are different levels of modeling light power. And his statement that he cannot get the pupils to dialate with flash? Maybe when he said, "that I can't get from a strobe", there is a 50/50 chance he means speeldight when he says strobe. I grew up calling speedlights "strobes", and studio flash units "studio strobes".

****The whole big, dilated eyes vs small, constricted pupils issue has a long history. I grew up on 150 Watt, blinding,quartz modeling lights in Speedotron heads. Peoples' pupils were constricted (small), and the eye color was very visible. To me, three, or four 150 Watt quartz lights menas a flash set is BRIGHT, unlike the f-Stoppers host wgho is in his 30's. In the 2000's I switched to Speedotron flash units with fan-cooling and 250 Watt quartz lamps in each flash head.

To people who started shooting in the Strobist era, with speedlights and NO modeling lamps, then yes a flash environment might be mentally categorized as "dark".
*****

But if you drill down into the long video, Hurley likes the way continuous light works. At his typical ULTRA-close light placements, he gets a LOT of light, so the irises of peoples's eyes close way down, and show the color of the eye, and each light source is its own "satellite speaker" in a multi-speaker system. I just wanted to explain that the above, lengthy video is a very extended look at one guy's methods, and **also** his promotion of the new light units he's promoting for Westcott. I just want the whole truth of the matter to be brought out: the idea that one "can't get" small pupils with flash is not a 100% truth; there is a continuum: flash with no modeling lamp; low-powered modeling lamp; medium: high-powered modeling lamps; lamps set to "track" or at "reduced brightness", or lamps of HIGH-brightness: modifiers from small to large, and from 28 inches to 12 feet distant. He is NOT "a flash guy", and he goes into that in his longer video. The shorter f-Stoppers headshot critique is also, for a headshot, not a vintage era portrait shot:. Hurley has made his headshot trademark style on 1)horizontal framing 2) eyeballs that are lit-up with highlights.3)Superb posing and direction/coaching for each subject.4) Very good understanding of how to photograh people so they look awesome.

A truly 1930's to mid-1950's vintage portrait like granddad's, would possibly have been shot with either hot lights, or with flashbulbs in deep, voluminous 16- to 20-inch so-called pan reflectors. The flashbulb-type work would of course be flaaaaaaaash....and would have had bigger pupils, like Granddad's model has. And, since so much portraiture was seen, printed, and shown in B&W, the pupil wars issue was not something people talked about all that much. By the mid 50's Speedotron and Photogenic in the USA had begun delivering studio flash systems that look a lot like the ones still made today.

What has happened in the last decade is a move to LOW-powered modeling lamps and inexpensive Made in China flash units, and people setting modeling lamps to "track", and to thus dim, or turning them off to "Save money" , or to prevent overheating,etc. Speedo's 150 and 250 Watt modeling lamps have fan-cooling, to siphon that heat out the back end, and they can be noisy; with five fan-cooled high-perfromacne flash heads in a shooting era, yeah, the noise can become unnerving after an hour...and this too is another reason Hurley likes continuous light. And also, continuous lighting is always on...not Pop! Pop! Pop!

 

[Derrel]

TLNR (or Did Not Watch a 54 min video) version: Hurley likes hot lights. He bought into the Dynalite system early in his career. A great system for what it was designed for, light weight and super-portable, ultra-rugged, really tough gear, made in USA, but lean on studio modifiers., and really meant for mobility/sports arenas, and on-location shooting; never was meant to be a permanent studio flash system like Speedotron, Norman, or Photogenic.

He likes the silent nature and the continuity that CONSTANT, stable lighting gives to his shoots, and his subjects. No Pop! Pop! Pop! of studio flash.

He made his career and fame on Kino Flo lights, which are uber-costly. Most people can/will never afford these. He has multiple lights, set up VERY close to headshot clients.Kino Flo Diva-Lite 415 Universal 2-Light Kit KIT-DV42-120U B&H

He has some new, name-brand lighting gear for sale now. And it is not flash-based.

The Internet and YouTube is filled with people who will tell you much of the truth, but seldom will tell you the other parts of the truth.

Lighting has era-specific styles. granddad's shoot was going for a vintage look. A 2016 Hurley lighting look would not mesh with this model or her makeup or wardrobe. Granddad's shot has actual shadows that define the subject.

PH is now subtly selling NEW lighting technology and NEW form-factor lights for Westcott.
Westcott Peter Hurley Flex LED Mat 4-Light Kit 7537 B&H Photo

 

[Granddad]

Thanks for the above VERY USEFUL two posts (articles?) Derrel. I'm a flash man and a cheapskate. I don't make a profit from my photography and pensions don't stretch to fancy gear like Mr Hurley's. I used a long Godox strip box with a grid for this shoot and as the modifiers are thin nylon I added a cut open cotton pillow case to further soften the light. My fill light was a Yongnuo speedlight because my strobes don't go to a low enough power for a light painted dining room and I set the Yongnuo as low as 1/64th... at that setting 4 coppertops last for ever!
I tend not to use the modeling light on my made in China main for the reasons you stated, i.e. the lamp gets very hot with the soft box on it and there's no fan.

I'm used to finding ways to do things on the cheap. I'll watch Mr Hurley's stuff and take it from there. If I want a large iris and a small pupil I'll work with Rick's idea, maybe set up a low power LED spotlight and see how that works. Improvisation is the key!