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View Full Version : Robert Mapplethorpe - How Did He Light This?



celtic9
1-Jun-2018, 15:11
Hello fellow LF users,

recently got a bit more invested in Mapplethorpe's work, and I was wondering how he might have lit this portrait of Grace Jones in particular? Curious to hear your guesses (or knowledge) on the positioning and kind of light sources he might have used.

178867

Thanks for your help!!

Peter De Smidt
1-Jun-2018, 15:17
Clamshell, with a large rectangular softbox up high as the key, and a reflector (or another light) down low.

Bruce Watson
1-Jun-2018, 15:20
Look at the eyes. Catchlights indicate a straight forward over/under beauty light array. That and a "hair light" almost directly overhead looking straight down to light the hood and the right shoulder. When you've got a beauty like Ms. Jones to work with, what else do you need?

Tobias Key
1-Jun-2018, 15:25
Clamshell, with a large rectangular softbox up high as the key, and a reflector (or another light) down low.

Totally agree. There is nothing mysterious about how this was lit. It is very obvious if you study Grace's eye's. If anything I would say the light sources are a little too obvious in the eye and have given a 'goat's eye' look to the pupil.

Greg
1-Jun-2018, 16:34
When I was teaching a college level Studio Photography course at the Hartford Art School, I used to project images of ads and have the students tell me which kind of lighting was used, most of the time based on the reflections in the eyes. 70% of the time this method worked. 20% of the time the reflections of the lights were removed by Photoshop. 10% of the time one side of the face was reversed and used for the other side of the face. It's was pleasure to show them Mapplethorps honest work with no digital manipulations.

Luis-F-S
1-Jun-2018, 17:01
There is a book called Light; Science and Magic by Hunter & fuqua. One of the older editions is quite reasonable. I would suggest you get it and read it; it's the text I used when I taught photographic lighting at the college level many years ago. L

Greg
1-Jun-2018, 17:06
There is a book called Light; Science and Magic. I would suggest you get it; it's the text I used when I taught photographic lighting many years ago. L
Used that same textbook in one of my classes... recommend it 100%

William Whitaker
1-Jun-2018, 18:38
Clamshell, with a large rectangular softbox up high as the key, and a reflector (or another light) down low.

What is a "clamshell"?

Mark Sampson
1-Jun-2018, 19:37
@Tobias Key, Mr. Mapplethorpe may very well have chosen the 'goat's eye' look.
@Will Whitaker, just a descriptive term for a standard lighting technique, like the portrait business' use of the term 'Rembrandt lighting'. (which Rembrandt van Rijn rarely used, btw)

William Whitaker
1-Jun-2018, 20:17
Mark, after some thought I interpreted it as "sideways butterfly lighting". At least I think I get the idea....
That Mapplethorpe image is striking, to say the least. And the lighting technique complements the subjects features

Peter De Smidt
2-Jun-2018, 17:06
What is a "clamshell"?

https://digital-photography-school.com/clamshell-lighting-two-light-setup/

Or:

http://lightbasics.com/clamshell-lighting/

Pere Casals
2-Jun-2018, 17:47
Look at the eyes. Catchlights indicate a straight forward over/under beauty light array.

Is perhaps the "under" a reflection on the floor ?

William Whitaker
2-Jun-2018, 18:44
https://digital-photography-school.com/clamshell-lighting-two-light-setup/

Or:

http://lightbasics.com/clamshell-lighting/

Thank you.