Book recommendation, studio portraiture
2003-07-16 by sandersm@aol.com
David Jackson asked for book recommendations for studio lighting and portraiture. One of the very few photography books I've found entertaining and useful marries both subjects. It's called Hollywood Portraits: Classic Shots and How to Take Them by Roger Hicks and Christopher Nisperos (Amphoto 2000). The authors take fifty or so publicity photos of the great Hollywood figures from the 1920s through the 1950s -- Garbo, Gable, Bogart, Marilyn Monroe, they're all here -- and deconstruct the lighting and camera placement for the shot. The images are a delight to see, their deconstruction (complete with lighting diagrams for each) gives a better understanding of how the photographers accomplished the Hollywood Look of the genre, and there are a number of sidebars included about the Hollywood photographers who made their livings turning out photos like these for the studios. Fun and informative. Sanders McNew. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]