I'm taking a couple of days to redo the lighting on the computer desk I'm using. Most of the photo stories I've shot til now were lit with a little table lamp off to the side of my computer. I could get lots of variation in the lighting just by tilting the shade. It worked pretty well up until recently and now, for some reason I can't understand, everything I shoot looks terrible. Maybe the computer's built-in camera is on the fritz, or maybe the lamp has an electrical problem. I wish I knew.
Anyway, I'll be gone for a couple of days while I wrestle with this problem. My computer's up against a wall so 3/4 frontal lighting is out. Tomorrow I'll hang a mirror in front of me and try to bounce a light off it. Maybe that'll give the illusion of frontal lighting. Aaaargh! What a hassle!
Anyway, just to fill the space for a couple of days, here's some photos that I've been dying for an excuse to post. That's Hitchcock above. Here he makes fat look fashionable. The tight clothes come off as comedic, but they're also a serious graphic statement. You take orders from people who look like that.
Here's (above) a self-portrait of Weegee, the famous New York press photographer. Aaaargh! A beautiful but creepy picture!
Poor Weegee lived in a bare bones one room apartment in Manhattan. He slept next to receivers that picked up shortwave broadcasts from the police and fire department.
Here's (above) a nicely lit picture of Charles Laughton. It makes me want to draw a pen and ink version of it, with lots of crosshatching around the eyes and mouth.
Thanks to Mike, a rare frontal picture of Mortimer Snerd. It's funny, but kind of evil, too.
Boy, the right kind of lighting can make anybody look evil, even Harpo Marx who was reputed to be one of the nicest guys in Hollywood.
If you're wondering how to give your place a touch of class, I suggest hanging a poster size picture of Reginald Van Gleason III (above). The frame should be a gold baroque design with lots of carved grape clusters and cupids.
I'll end with another picture of Hitchcock, this time with Claudette Colbert. Hitch looks like he's having a good time. I hope he had lots of moments like this. The biographies make it seem like he never had any fun.
8 comments:
For some reason, there's a real sense of magic and authenticity behind these old black and white photos that I often don't see as much in color photographs. In a lot of ways, these photographs are literally an art form in themselves. Black and white cartoons tend to look and feel a whole lot different from color cartoons for some reason as well.
Sorry about the video light problems, Eddie. I hope you'll be able to fix it. You're a modern reincarnation of all the great photographers of the past who did work in black and white. Someone needs to pay you for these. Seriously.
hehe...Weegee.
I think Hitchcock liked to project his "stuffy" demeanor as the real man for publicity reasons, but he couldn't have made the movies he made unless he was absolutely in love with the craft. I'll bet he was a lot more like the "happy" photo than his well known public persona.
Interesting. I think b/w can be used more artistically then color, its easier to make graphic statements. Color can work well in cartoons because its easier to control and manipulate color then it is filming real life.
It's cool how you take photos and film your youtube videos in b/w. Isn't is strange that one of the rare times you took color photos (your steak post) you complained you looked old?
I've been planning a story post like yours and want to do it in b/w. It will take some fiddling with to get right though. Should I take the photos in b/w or convert color photos to b/w afterwards?
Nice pictures ya got there Uncle Eddie!
About your lighting problem: I'm no expert, but I've seen people aiming lights at their white walls that bounce back to get a softer light effect. If your wall isn't white you can just hang a white cloth up, or use pieces of paper! I hope this helps. :-)
Blake: Thanks! I tried bouncing light off the white walls, and combining that with a desk lamp. Ditto white reflectors. It didn't work. What's puzzling is that it worked so well only a short time ago.
Scrawney: Interesting question. I usually shoot in black and white because I think differently in that medium. It forces you to think of the graphic nature of the poses you take. Color makes everything look good so you don't try as hard to get the expressions.
The way I see it, some stories play better in color, and some better in B&W. I use both.
Roberto: Thanks. B&W is more dramatic, that's for sure. I felt the Smoker episode I did more than a year ago, and the Pizza Boy episodes I did recently worked fine in color, but in general I still prefer B&W for internet drama. In this medium it's easier to create mythology in B&W.
Youtube color is good for slice of life realism, and not so good for creating characters. In the movies it's different. You can't imagine The Matrix or Kill Bill in black and white.
I'm going out on a limb and will say the Hitchcock shot was taken on location for "Shadow of a Doubt" in Santa Rosa, California (where I'm writing from now). This is taking into account Hitchcock's age (film was released in 1943), and also comparison to a production still taken at the train station, showing similar pavement configuration, as well as a grip closely resembling the one at the left. Not a big deal, but there you are.
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