I just happened upon this thread and wanted to bow my head in respect to my late friend and writing partner, Roger Hicks (and, his wonderful late wife and writing partner .. and my friend, too, Frances Schultz)
I thought I'd take the opportunity to do something to benefit others who, like me, happen to stumble upon this old thread, who might be looking for good sources of information on the beautiful "Hollywood" portrait lighting from yesteryear . . . so here's a little summary;
BOOKS ON "HOLLYWOOD" STYLE PORTRAITURE
• "Portraits Simplified"
A.L. "Whitey" Shafer wrote a little book, published by Ziff-Davis in 1941. To my knowledge, it's the only book written on Hollywood portraits by an actual Hollywood "Golden Age" era portrait photographer (he worked for Paramount and Columbia studios during the Golden Age). Small but useful.
• most books on Hurrell by my old hometown acquaintance, Mark A. Vierra
Mark actually studied with George Hurrell in the 1970s -- He's deeply knowledgable about the Hollywood Golden Age and has long known how to create these portraits very well. He currently lives in one of Hurrell's last studios and partially makes his living restoring Hurrell's images.. I believe, from the orignal camera negatives.To my mind, Vieira is the last, living direct expert on the subject.
Note: Though Mark's book are not strictly "technical books", by reading through them, you can —along with some interesting Hollywood history — cull quite a bit of useful tech tips. I'm jealous of Mark because my only personal contact with Hurrell was because he was my customer, when he rented Mole-Richardson fresnels a few times when I worked at Pan-Pacific Camera in Los Angeles. I unfortunately didn't have the courage to "talk shop" with him... and I regret it!
• "Painting With Light"
The John Anton book that singlo mentioned, Choc-full of tips, tricks and rules-of-thumb.
• "Hollywood Portraits; Classic Shots and How to Shoot Them".
by Roger Hicks and myself It took us about two years to write, and I did a lot of tracking down of all the last, living "Hollywood photographers" I could find, in an attempt to unearth their technical secrets. My best sources ended up being Kodak's great book editor, Don Nibbelink and Hollywood legend, Wallace Seawell (who, at the end of his career, photographed most of the cover portraits for TV GUIDE magazine, up to about the mid-1960s. I highly recommend these old magazine covers as references for 1950s style [mainly, color!] Hollywood portraiture)
BOOKS ON PORTRAITURE DURING THE 1940s, but not necessarily "HOLLYWOOD" STYLE PORTRAITURE
(Note: "Hollywood Portraits; Classic Shots and How to Shoot Them". covers the 1920s-1950s)
• "Professional Portrait Lightings" by Charles Abel
This book, mentioned by Sanders McNew, has excellent diagrams and explanations, but the portrait examples therein were mainly of the type which were made by commercial portrait studios (for the public-at-large) at the time (mid-to-late 1940s), so — while many of the portraits are quite good— don't expect too many of th dramatic, "Hollywood" variety; for one thing, many of the portraits shown were lit, surprisingly, by banks of fluorescent tubes rather than the harsher fresnels and scoops used during the concurrent "Hollywood era". Rare and cher.
• "The Complete Book of Lighting".
A sleeper: Written by Don Nibbelink, who later became one of Kodak's most prolific book editors.. This, and the book below, are the only ones on this list that talk about the details of light metering and lighting ratios.
• "Fred Archer on Portraiture".
Yeah, surprise: that Fred Archer; the guy who co-devised the Zone System with Ansel Adams at Art Center! He wasn't just a teacher, though; he was a portrait photographer. Like the Charles Abel book, this one is not exactly "Hollywood" style lighting, but a good reference book for the portraiture of that era. I first discovered this book at Mole-Richardson's "museum", right after they opened in the late 1980s, and begged to see it (Mole's old 'guardian of the treasures, a fellow named Howard Gall, if memory serves, didn't want me to know "the secrets". The irony is, years later, one of the goals that the book that Roger and I wrote was to pass on ths information before it became lost or forgotten. ... and here I am, 25 years later, still on the same mission! Now I think it's easier to find, anyway.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
There! This list isn't exhaustive, but If you only have a couple books from the "BOOKS ON "HOLLYWOOD" STYLE PORTRAITURE"
section, above — and if at least one of them is a Mark Vieira book — you'll have the foundation to a pretty good reference library on the topic.
Get out there and make some Hollywood portraits (on FILM and with TUNGSTEN light, if possible!) Here's one of mine of my wonderful friend, Benoit Schwob, who wanted a portrait with his new hat (© Christopher Nisperos):
(sorry... I don't know how to make it smaller here!)
I thought I'd take the opportunity to do something to benefit others who, like me, happen to stumble upon this old thread, who might be looking for good sources of information on the beautiful "Hollywood" portrait lighting from yesteryear . . . so here's a little summary;
BOOKS ON "HOLLYWOOD" STYLE PORTRAITURE
• "Portraits Simplified"
A.L. "Whitey" Shafer wrote a little book, published by Ziff-Davis in 1941. To my knowledge, it's the only book written on Hollywood portraits by an actual Hollywood "Golden Age" era portrait photographer (he worked for Paramount and Columbia studios during the Golden Age). Small but useful.
• most books on Hurrell by my old hometown acquaintance, Mark A. Vierra
Mark actually studied with George Hurrell in the 1970s -- He's deeply knowledgable about the Hollywood Golden Age and has long known how to create these portraits very well. He currently lives in one of Hurrell's last studios and partially makes his living restoring Hurrell's images.. I believe, from the orignal camera negatives.To my mind, Vieira is the last, living direct expert on the subject.
Note: Though Mark's book are not strictly "technical books", by reading through them, you can —along with some interesting Hollywood history — cull quite a bit of useful tech tips. I'm jealous of Mark because my only personal contact with Hurrell was because he was my customer, when he rented Mole-Richardson fresnels a few times when I worked at Pan-Pacific Camera in Los Angeles. I unfortunately didn't have the courage to "talk shop" with him... and I regret it!
• "Painting With Light"
The John Anton book that singlo mentioned, Choc-full of tips, tricks and rules-of-thumb.
• "Hollywood Portraits; Classic Shots and How to Shoot Them".
by Roger Hicks and myself It took us about two years to write, and I did a lot of tracking down of all the last, living "Hollywood photographers" I could find, in an attempt to unearth their technical secrets. My best sources ended up being Kodak's great book editor, Don Nibbelink and Hollywood legend, Wallace Seawell (who, at the end of his career, photographed most of the cover portraits for TV GUIDE magazine, up to about the mid-1960s. I highly recommend these old magazine covers as references for 1950s style [mainly, color!] Hollywood portraiture)
BOOKS ON PORTRAITURE DURING THE 1940s, but not necessarily "HOLLYWOOD" STYLE PORTRAITURE
(Note: "Hollywood Portraits; Classic Shots and How to Shoot Them". covers the 1920s-1950s)
• "Professional Portrait Lightings" by Charles Abel
This book, mentioned by Sanders McNew, has excellent diagrams and explanations, but the portrait examples therein were mainly of the type which were made by commercial portrait studios (for the public-at-large) at the time (mid-to-late 1940s), so — while many of the portraits are quite good— don't expect too many of th dramatic, "Hollywood" variety; for one thing, many of the portraits shown were lit, surprisingly, by banks of fluorescent tubes rather than the harsher fresnels and scoops used during the concurrent "Hollywood era". Rare and cher.
• "The Complete Book of Lighting".
A sleeper: Written by Don Nibbelink, who later became one of Kodak's most prolific book editors.. This, and the book below, are the only ones on this list that talk about the details of light metering and lighting ratios.
• "Fred Archer on Portraiture".
Yeah, surprise: that Fred Archer; the guy who co-devised the Zone System with Ansel Adams at Art Center! He wasn't just a teacher, though; he was a portrait photographer. Like the Charles Abel book, this one is not exactly "Hollywood" style lighting, but a good reference book for the portraiture of that era. I first discovered this book at Mole-Richardson's "museum", right after they opened in the late 1980s, and begged to see it (Mole's old 'guardian of the treasures, a fellow named Howard Gall, if memory serves, didn't want me to know "the secrets". The irony is, years later, one of the goals that the book that Roger and I wrote was to pass on ths information before it became lost or forgotten. ... and here I am, 25 years later, still on the same mission! Now I think it's easier to find, anyway.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
There! This list isn't exhaustive, but If you only have a couple books from the "BOOKS ON "HOLLYWOOD" STYLE PORTRAITURE"
section, above — and if at least one of them is a Mark Vieira book — you'll have the foundation to a pretty good reference library on the topic.
Get out there and make some Hollywood portraits (on FILM and with TUNGSTEN light, if possible!) Here's one of mine of my wonderful friend, Benoit Schwob, who wanted a portrait with his new hat (© Christopher Nisperos):
(sorry... I don't know how to make it smaller here!)
Last edited:
