Portrait Photography: A Master's Perspective

Years ago, the famous “Hollywood” style of portrait lighting was widely used. It was employed before Photoshop made retouching easier and more widely available. Everyone wants to look their best, and many photographers did this with careful lighting. Today, even an unflattering, poorly lit portrait can be made to look pretty good with digital retouching. But why not get it right the first time? Well, it’s a little trickier and many of the true masters have left the game. Here is a true master’s take on the lost art of portrait photography.

Ken Cook On The Lost Art Of Portrait Lighting

Part One: The Evolution of Lighting in Portrait Photography from the Perspecitve of a Four Generation Family

W.B. Cook started Cook's Photography in 1879 in Woodland, a northern California city. In 1924, after several moves, he settled at our present location in Salinas, California. At that time Salinas was a small town supported by the agricultural and cattle industry. In 1920, my father, Orval Cook, joined the business and married my mother Catherine (who is still alive at age 95). They struggled through the Great Depression and managed to survive on as little as $1.50 a day. 1932 was the year of my birth and by that time my mother and father spent so much time working that I came close to having my debut in the studio.

In 1946 Orval purchased one of only six of the first electronic flashes sold in California. It was the Kodak Kodatron. Most photographers found it difficult to integrate the lights in the studio with their existing lights. This unit was a full 200 ws, exiting a polished aluminum 20" concave bowl. The speed of the flash was around 200,000th of a second. The flashes today are around 2,000th of a second. I'm pretty sure our eyes blink around 200th of a second. The Kodatron was popular in commercial product studios.

I joined the business for a brief time in 1950 and with the uncertainty of the draft during the Korean War I opted to enlist for three years before I got on with my life. In January 1954, at the age of 21, I went to work in the studio doing odd jobs. I fully intended to go to college, however, photography totally consumed me, and I was hell bent on mastering its craft.

During that time I worked with all the hot spots and floods my father was using and began to experiment with electric flash techniques. I was using a large studio 8x10 camera with 5x7 black and white film. The camera had a squeeze bulb with speeds of 1/5th - 1/15th of a second. The Photogenic Company had developed the first userfriendly flashes and had a mixed bag of lights to accommodate a classic 5 light studio setup. By 1955-56 I was able to achieve dark dramatic low- key portraits with the combination of hot lights and flash. It was then that I began to lecture up and down California on this style of lighting. Most flash portraits were very flat at that time which made my work intriguing.

Kodak introduced the TYPE-C and TYPE-R process in 1956. It was the first time we could make one single exposure on a multi layered color paper and develop it in trays to produce a color print easily and for a reasonable cost. The average cost of a DYE-TRANSFER print, at that time, was around $100.00. Only a few of the highend top guns of the time were able to sell this product. TYPE-C had the same effect on photography as digital has today.

The older masters, set in their ways, did not embrace this new color. It faded fast, and black and white lighting didn't work. Kodak sent a message through the industry to shoot color flat and avoid dark shadows because color is its own tonal separation.

A new nemesis hit our industry at this point - "cross over". This is simply one color and its compliment present in the same color balance. Also, to cancel one color would aggravate the compliment. Many of the films and papers had a persistent color bias that was difficult to deal with. Color had to be lighted differently. We started backwards. Instead of placing the key (main) light to form a pattern on the face, then using the fill light to brighten the dark shadow, we started placing the fill light at the camera in such a position that it evenly lighted the face and upper body with a soft diffused light, producing NO SPECTRALS. This fill light ended up as the F-stop exposure and also the shadow. The key (main) light was then skimmed around the face in a feathered mode, allowing all spectral highlight to breathe, and the shadow to be open and well exposed. This was achieved because the fill in this position was able to penetrate all color layers of the film, particularly the bottom one. The same applies to digital cameras. This situation set the stage for color labs to pop up all over the country. I went full color in 1959 doing my own developing and printing. I received my masters degree in 1962, and was the first to do it all in color. Portrait photography probably peaked at that time.

The umbrella and then the soft box appeared and photography started to use only two or three of the seven available light patterns favoring a more fixed frontal position which provided some roundness and general good color renditions. Most of the young photographers at that time entered photography starting with these lights. Big name companies compounded the problem of generic lighting by hiring well known photographers to sell cameras, lights, and equipment. Most of these photographers demonstrated easy, generic light patterns that most could take back to their studios and immediately use. By the time more control and finesse started to come back, outdoor photography took everyone outside. Many of the young photographers didn't even have a studio. When outdoor photography peaked and more photographers started to return to the studio, the soft box and its many sizes and configurations became the standard light of the industry.

The digital era provided the final blow to classic disciplined lighting. The trend is to under expose, shoot flat, and fix it in Photoshop. The camera companies have successfully focused everyone on pixels and software.

My son, Jason Cook, joined me in 1994. He immediately embraced the digital revolution. We both use the light technique of my father and grandfather. The secret is NO FRONTAL MAIN LIGHT. This light direction washes out the face, kills spectrals, and produces dead flesh tones. Side lighting skims around the face, giving form and spectral beauty to the human face without affecting exposure.

There are seven light patterns to choose from. They are Butterfly, Modified Butterfly, Split, Short, Broad, Rembrandt Short and Rembrandt Broad. By turning the face to a front, left and right position, and applying all seven of the patterns, the results are 27 options of light patterns to chisel and paint the human face with light.

Mastering the craft of lighting and posing is very similar to playing a musical instrument. You can learn two or three chords and fake it, or really study and practice and play like a virtuoso. I developed the Master's Brush to help my son Jason master our craft quickly. The Master's Brush is a self- feathering light that falls off five F stops with only a 3" throw.

Our studio and reputation are still growing, and lighting discipline and pristine color balances set us apart from most. It is my quest to pass the missing years on to all who will listen, thus enabling them to capture the beauty and perfection that God designed in the human face.

by Ken Cook

Ken has shared his years of capturing the elusive look of great portrait lighting in an informative series of DVDs. If you would like a DVD or to learn more, you may contact cook@cooksphotography.com or visit www.cooksphotography.com.