Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/07/29
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]'Avedon light' used to refer to passport, or id tag, portrait lighting. Now it is considered fine art lighting. s.d. On Jul 29, 2007, at 11:38 AM, Mark Rabiner wrote: >> Catching up with PAWs. >>> From a recent vacation. >> I am still obsessed with Avedon light. >> I thought this was getting somewhere. >> >> http://tinyurl.com/3dyuvo >> >> Eric >> > > White unsmiling faces do not an Avedon make. > > Avedon shot in the studio with a medium white umbrella an assistant > would > hold on a boom about 6 feet in front of the model as they moved > around the > Cyclorama keeping it at the same distance in front of the subject. > His main look is this but of course he shot on location too. > > Outdoors I'm not sure in his later work if he used reflectors or > not like > many do know I think maybe he didn't from the shots if seen of his > shoots. > > But I've never heard of "Avedon light" and I've read pretty much > anything > written in English written about Avedon or by him for 3 or 4 decades. > > I've heard the term "Strand Light" batterered about as in PAUL > STRAND as in > the light before a rainstorm (yellow) which looks like the light in > the > beekeeper shot maybe. It was shot on the shady side of a barn with a > seamless tacked to the wall. > > Avedon over exposed slightly and over developed by quite a bit his > PLUS X > and had his printers print his faces hot. Making sure they "pop". Such > printing of faces is a very common approach in the past decades and > is the > way I print. I don't think the movable boom with an umbrella was his > concoction either. He probably learned it in the merchant marines > where he > learned photography and from Brodovitch when he started out. > > What I'm seeing here is an over exposed shot of a boy on a beach. > And just printed or presented way way light. > > What the light was like at the location we'd not know as much > information is > whited out in the post processing. > > Another term for this is "Salon Printing". A bit lighter than > Avedon prints > perhaps. > > > > Mark William Rabiner > Harlem, NY > > rabinergroup.com > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information