Outdoor portraiture like Annie

[drolight]

Anyone can point me out to a tutorial or outline for me step-by-step

how Annie Lebovitz shoots her portraits outdoors (big lights, over

powering the sun, but seamless)? Do tell. Willing student here.

[jack_carlton]

Seshu, you should post your question in the lighting forum -- Annie�s photography is (almost) all about lighting.

[ellis_vener_photography]

Well how much money do you have to spend on your shoots?

 

There aren't any big technical secrets in how she does does it: Lots of power (multiple

Profoto 2400 or 4800 watt -second packs into multiple heads inside either very large

softboxes or Elinchrom Octabanks: big heavy stands to support the lihgts with lots

and lots of 25lb sandbags and sometimes guy wires to secure the lights against the

wind, multiple assistants and grips to help her and set up the gear, a clothes stylist, a

make up person, good catering (craft services); a mobile hme set up as a changing

room; another one for her office; multiple Honda generators to supply electricity to

the packs -- if a generator truck, massive stands, etc to support the backgrounds,

Very large (like 20' x20' flags to block the sun from mixing with her lights; ISO 100

or ISO 160 medium format film in Mamiya RZ67II cameras. lots and lots of film.

 

And maybe two or three different set ups at the same time to get different shots in

different set ups t omake the best use of the subjects time.

 

All thought this sounds pretty daunting, it is actually not that photographically

complicated.

 

The hard bit is having a personality like Annie's. She is extremely driven, extremely

bright, and is always always thinking about creativity and career. She can be

extremely personable, charming and funny , as well as also being extremely

tempermental and she doesn't let anyone or anything get in her way when she really

wants something. After all this is a woman who at the age of 52 got pregnant and had

a baby.

[ellis_vener_photography]

<I>Annie�s photography is (almost) all about lighting.</I><P> My opinion is that

Annie Leibowitz's photography is about a lot of other things than lighting. Formally:

color, composition, & framing are at least if not more important than lighting. Over

riding these formal photographic qualities are her psychological takes on how

identities are perceived, masks, and role playing in a theater of fame & power.

[Spearhead]

Actually, I think her photographs are all about herself and how she is a star, no matter who she photographs. I find zero insight in her portraits. But she is the master of celebrity, that's for sure, so if Hollywood is your ideal state of mind, jump right in.

[john_photo]

Well it sure isnt about her equipment so I would agree with the original poster. Its about the lighting. Not relevant. Would belong in another forum.

 

I do agree with Jeff as far as her work goes imho.

[dumpster001]

i don't have pointers for you, but 1 more vote for : A.L = celebrity worship. hollow and shallow "portraits". her early stuff is different though.

[dougityb]

agreed on this last point. Technically excellent, but the pictures are of the faces, not the people behind them, and its the popularity, and familiarity with those faces that makes here work known. On the other hand, the people she photographs are not "people" when she's photographing them, know what I'm saying? They're celebrities going through a photoshoot as part of the celebrity status, so in that sense you almost can't blame her that they're shallow because celebrity itself is shallow and everyone is wearing their celebrity face for the camera, no matter what the pictures depict.

[fred_mueggelhopper]

Why not experiment a bit and develop your own style?

Imitation is just imitation. Not very creative at all. Be creative!

[drolight]

Ok, folks. I love it how quickly you can take this off topic. I could care less about AL as a celebrity or someone who photographs celebrities. I asked you all about "how" she photographs people (that is, can someone simplify the way she works with lighting ratios/apertures/shutter speeds). Words like "shallow" or "deep" are highly subjective (as is photography and art, in general). If there is a aesthetic to AL's work (and I believe there is), there is nothing wrong in emulating it to a point and then taking off in your own direction. That's the end goal (not monkeying her work!)

 

Going back to technique - I know she uses a scrim to block of her outdoors shoots, then brings in lights to compensate for the "shadow". Perhaps experimenting is the only way to do it.

[ellis_vener_photography]

Since i know people who have assistd Annie L. , I was able to lay out how she does it.

So perhaps

you should go back and re-read my answer -- which had no commentary on the

aesthetic values of her work. It simply takes a lot of equipment (to overpower the

available light and control the natural light. her shoots are akin to a set up on a

decent size movie set. And she starts with some pretty good

ideas. She also definitely sees the portrait as a collaboration between her subject,

herself and her client's needs. A couple of years ago she got about $1,000,000 in

creative fee

and production costs to do 8 shots for an advertising client.

[drolight]

Ellis

 

Thanks for your response. I think the basics are pretty obvious, when I see her images. I guess I will just have to scale it down a bit to see if I can do what she does (not that stuff about celebrity, shallow photography again, please) technically. Is there a way to put a subject in open shade or under a scrim and get a similar feel? If the ambient light was 1/125th at f/16, shooting ISA 100 film, what would my outdoor strobes have to be to get that effect that she does so well? Will my strobes have to be set at f/22 or higher? Or, do I kill the ambient light by increasing my shutter speed to 1/250th (anything higher on a SLR won't work, but on a Rolleiflex, I can push it to 1/500th). Again, I think this is a great forum to hash things out. If you have worked in this scenario before (shooting portraits with lights outdoors, please chime in). Thanks in advance.

[lex_jenkins]

If you want to keep it simple and affordable for outdoor portraiture you might do better to study Richard Avedon's "In the American West". Less equipment, fewer assistants, smaller budget, great results.

[Spearhead]

<i>I could care less about AL as a celebrity or someone who photographs celebrities.</i><p>

 

But that's what her work is about. The technical stuff is trivial, portraits are about what they show, not how they're made.

[drolight]

"But that's what her work is about. The technical stuff is trivial, portraits are about what they show, not how they're made."

This argument, if it is that, is a cyclical one. I understand that the technical aspects ought to play a secondary role in all of this. The original question was about how AL shot her outdoor portraits. What they show can be (and should be) interpreted differently by different people. One can't expect to fall in love with all of her work (if any). I happen to like some of her portraits and curious enough to ask an august body such as photo.net how it is done. My subjects, when I do get to photograph them, may or may not share the depth that AL's images have. In the end a portrait is about who is photographed (so, I agree in the end that they are about what they show) not who photographed them. The argument is cyclical because it is quite likely the technical limitations when crossed will lead us to making those telling portraits in the end. Don't you agree that getting a comfortable grasp of the technique will eventually lead us to (what other have urged me to do) achieve our own style/vision/thumbprint?

 

It's about putting the horse in front of the cart, not the other way around.

[martin_alston]

Well this is pretty late so I don't know if it will be of any help now or not. The way to do these portraits like Annie is she takes a flash reading using softboxes and adjusts the flash(move back or forward, increase or decrease power) until the flash reading is 1/2 stop more than what her camera is set to. This brings down the background and "pulls" the subject forward. Also look at some of Micheal O'Brien's work. It's the same technique. He has done many magazine covers like this.