Umbrella bellweather
The phrase "lambent light" was probably too pretentious to stick… but this 1968 article did strike me as a bit of a turning point, for what kinds of lighting styles photographers favored.
I think midcentury photographers were highly influenced by the styles of Hollywood publicity photos, which featured hard, directional, even theatrical lighting. And typical press photos would be shot with a Speed Graphic firing a single blinding flashbulb.
A typical amateur's kit (like my father's) might include several 10-inch aluminum reflectors and a clutch of fast-expiring photoflood lamps. You can see a few examples of the look in the great "Mom's World" set from pal Joey.
By 1968, fast f/1.4 lenses and 400-ASA film were making available-light photography viable in many more situations; and photographers began to see naturalistic lighting as something desirable. This is where bounce umbrellas and softboxes started to come in, and they remain basically the default for studio work to this day.
I was thinking about photography fads the other day after a YouTube video arguing that wide-angle lenses are fine for portraits. That idea is anathema to me, drilled in the principle that staying ~4-5 feet from your subject gives the most natural perspective for a human face. (But of course I didn't grow up in the age of arms-length phone-cam selfies and vlogging.)
Coincidentally I think the photo in the article above was probably shot from closer than that, and it still looks kind of balloon-headed to me. I guess it seems better if you it fills your visual field as it would standing 18" from the person.
Umbrella bellweather
The phrase "lambent light" was probably too pretentious to stick… but this 1968 article did strike me as a bit of a turning point, for what kinds of lighting styles photographers favored.
I think midcentury photographers were highly influenced by the styles of Hollywood publicity photos, which featured hard, directional, even theatrical lighting. And typical press photos would be shot with a Speed Graphic firing a single blinding flashbulb.
A typical amateur's kit (like my father's) might include several 10-inch aluminum reflectors and a clutch of fast-expiring photoflood lamps. You can see a few examples of the look in the great "Mom's World" set from pal Joey.
By 1968, fast f/1.4 lenses and 400-ASA film were making available-light photography viable in many more situations; and photographers began to see naturalistic lighting as something desirable. This is where bounce umbrellas and softboxes started to come in, and they remain basically the default for studio work to this day.
I was thinking about photography fads the other day after a YouTube video arguing that wide-angle lenses are fine for portraits. That idea is anathema to me, drilled in the principle that staying ~4-5 feet from your subject gives the most natural perspective for a human face. (But of course I didn't grow up in the age of arms-length phone-cam selfies and vlogging.)
Coincidentally I think the photo in the article above was probably shot from closer than that, and it still looks kind of balloon-headed to me. I guess it seems better if you it fills your visual field as it would standing 18" from the person.