Creative Portrait Photography Series: Modern Vintage

Investigate how era, zeitgeist, and camera tech influence vintage visuals, and build a Photoshop mood board of five to ten images to brief the model and define a concrete concept.

Explore the evolution of classic Hollywood imagery from the 1920s to the 1970s, guiding wardrobe, backdrops, and shoot concepts for modern vintage portraits.

Trace the rise of Hollywood from the roaring twenties to the seventies, highlighting the arrival of sound, the double feature, iconic films, stars, and the blockbuster era.

Explore the evolution of portrait photography from daguerreotype to modern studio lighting, highlighting lighting techniques, strobe adoption, and the rise of commercial photography across decades.

Explore seven essential ingredients for great portraiture: story, lighting, exposure, composition, posing, and post-production, for an integrated approach to crafting compelling portraits.

Learn to weave storytelling into modern vintage portraits by answering the five Ws—who, what, where, when, why—and choosing props, scenes, lighting, and post-production to engage viewers.

Balance client expectations with artistic freedom to craft storytelling-inspired vintage portraits that feel dreamy or glamorous, using lighting and styling to create authentic looks while considering audience exposure.

Explore how Hollywood's golden age shaped portrait lighting with harsh overhead key lights, 45-degree setups, and butterfly, Rembrandt, and loop lighting techniques.

Examine how Hollywood lighting of the era reinforced stereotypes and discrimination, using Hedy Lamarr's portraiture to show how hair, skin tone, and cheekbone lighting shaped beauty standards.

develop your modern vintage style by identifying common visual traits—color, contrast, mood, and cinematic lighting—while maintaining a unique concept that reflects your signature approach.

Explore how exposure defined classic Hollywood portraits, with long exposure on light-sensitized plates, shutter speeds near 1/125 s, and aperture range from 5.6 to 8.

Explore exposure manipulation through lens softening, tonality, and lighting to craft black-and-white portraits; learn raw usage, white balance, and post-production adjustments for period-inspired results.

Master composition by bending rules on purpose, apply the golden spiral and rule of thirds, use negative space and framing, and shoot wider to preserve options.

Explore composing portraits with interesting backgrounds, lines that lead to the face, textures, and patterns from self-made floral backdrops to budget-friendly vintage prints.

Explore posing techniques from the Golden Age of Hollywood, balancing Rembrandt lighting, camera angles, and hand positions to craft dreamy yet powerful or feminine looks and adapt to expression.

Photograph anybody in a modern vintage style by leveraging client-provided wardrobe and diverse models, with flattering lighting that blends tradition and modern science in pin-up inspired sessions.

Explore budget-friendly inspirational sets for modern vintage portraiture, drawing from eras and motifs like 1920s flapper, film noir, and pin-up, with on-set makeup options to vary looks.

Draw inspiration for the 20's sessions from a 1927 studio, using authentic natural light, flea-market finds, and vintage props like zither and mandolin.

Shoot vintage portraits almost anywhere by using a 50mm f/2.0, slower shutter, and higher ISO to add atmosphere, while seeking old stairwells and walls for authentic modern vintage looks.

Capture modern vintage portraits through whimsical music scenes using affordable gift paper backgrounds and tea-stained pages, lit by natural window light with a 50mm lens, f/8, 1/125s, iso ~500.

Explore a modern vintage 1930s inspired portrait session that reimagines Indiana Jones as a female explorer, using era props, selective lighting, and adventurous posing to evoke filmic escape.

Learn to create a modern vintage portrait with an Indiana Jones vibe featuring a female explorer, using vintage props, aged book pages, and a controlled lighting setup with studio lenses.

Shoot a bird's-eye portrait from above with a step ladder and vintage props, using a single key light at 45 degrees and Sandy's directing cues.

Explore 1940s inspired portrait setups using vintage textures, retro backgrounds, and curtain reveals to evoke Hollywood glamour with butterfly and Paramount lighting, monochrome options, and era storytelling.

Master the classic Hollywood glamour by placing the main light high above, using a beauty dish with a bare reflector for smooth skin and butterfly shadows that echo stage lighting.

Explore a Hollywood style portrait inspired by Grace Kelly, using a beauty dish key light and 135mm setup for a film set look, plus optional soft filter and backlight separation.

Create a vintage travel portrait inspired by train stations, with fake smoke and blue and orange gels. Set the scene with a beauty dish key light, dual back strobes.

Recreate a vintage portrait setup using a beauty dish key light, black paper background, and a spiffy light blaster projector to project a vintage plane behind the model.

Capture a sexy jazz singer in a moody 50s club with smoky lighting and glittery backdrops to evoke a vintage vibe, using a long lens and wide aperture for bokeh.

Capture a 50s jazz club vibe with textured foil backdrop. Light with a high angled beauty dish, grid, and back light for separation; use 135mm for shallow depth.

Craft a 50s postcard romance look using natural light, a styrofoam board, gift paper and simple props, shot with a 50mm lens at f/1.8.

Explore modern vintage portraiture by using pop up books as textured backdrops, natural light, and a 50mm lens with wide aperture for shallow depth of field.

Create a vintage, old-fashioned portrait by staining book pages, mounting them on a styrofoam backdrop, and lighting with one soft key light and minimal fill, using a 135mm lens.

Craft a 50s sleeping beauty portrait by photographing a model lying on a golden blanket from above, surrounded by fairy lights, with a 50mm lens at a wide aperture.

Explore 50s pin-up aesthetics in a modern vintage portrait photography context. Use the pin-up inspiration reel to guide creative portrait direction within this course.

Create modern vintage portraits inspired by 60s Hollywood fantasy, blending exotic motifs, a genie lamp, fairy lights, golden coins, and floral backdrops with a timeless, travel-inspired vibe.

Explore an exotic 60s bazar vibe with colorful textiles, christmas lights, and a blue glass ball glow, using natural window light and a 50mm f/1.4.

Capture a 60s jeannie style romantic vibe with an exotic blanket setup, shooting from above with ladder, soft light, 50mm lens at f/7.1, 1/125s, ISO 100.

Create vintage rose portraits from distance with a 135 mm lens, feathered key light at 45 degrees, optional fill, f/5.6, ISO 100 (or 640 in natural light), shutter 125.

Explore 70s-inspired sessions with vintage jackets, detective poses, bold backdrops, flowers, and gels on strobes, plus cross-processed tones for a stylized, era-defining look.

Create a modern vintage look with flowers and a soft box. Capture with a 50mm lens at f/3.5, ISO 100, 125 shutter, from a ladder toward model on the floor.

Explore modern vintage portrait techniques through film noir aesthetics, Hollywood glamour, and Monroe, Hepburn, and Bond girl styles in this reel.

Explore post-processing for portraits by choosing contrast levels and converting images to black and white with multiple tonalities using Photoshop and Lightroom, tailored to era and modern vintage style.

Learn how RAW and JPEG workflows convert back into color, while black-and-white tonality clarifies contrast; see the magic unfold as you bring the image into Bridge.

Explore black and white conversion in Adobe Camera Raw from raw files, using saturation minus 100 and HSL adjustments, then save snapshots and compare film looks.

Learn to craft true and natural black-and-white portraits in Photoshop using saturation, black-and-white and gradient map adjustments, plus levels and soft light blending for controlled contrast.

Explore how to achieve modern vintage portrait looks in Photoshop using the Nik Collection Silver Efex presets, blending modes, and layer adjustments for contrast, saturation, and skin tone control.

Learn a Photoshop black and white matte film look by adjusting color ranges, curves, and gradient maps, then apply selective masking and grain for modern vintage portraits.

Explore vintage color grading in Adobe Camera Raw to craft a film-like look across multiple images, balancing white balance, exposure, and subtle grain for consistency.

Explore vintage color grading in Photoshop, using black-and-white conversions, color balance, selective color, and saturation adjustments, plus gradient maps and blending modes to create sepia or warm tonal looks.

Master color grading in Photoshop with plugins and actions to craft vintage looks, using Nick Collection or Color Effects Pro, with cross processing, skin softening, and curves.

Learn to bring vintage film looks together in Photoshop with a ready-made action, applying saturation, contrast, center light, vignette, cross processing, and color toning for a cohesive retro portrait.

Learn to enhance portraits with color and light streak overlays using blending modes and adjustable opacity, plus sourcing or creating textures for a modern vintage look.

Explore transforming studio portraits into vintage looks with acr presets, sepia, greenish and magenta tones. Compare the results across acr, Lightroom, and Photoshop with haze, grain, and black-and-white tonality.

Wrap up the course by exploring vintage inspired shoots and cinematic portraits with classic hollywood lighting diagrams, posing tips, and recommended Taschen and golden age photography books.

Learn noir-inspired night portraits with blue tones, using color gels and controlled backlight to separate the subject from the background, guided by light meters and motivation lighting.

Explore the 50s neon look by placing blue and pink gels at a 90-degree angle to the model, with a red gel, using blinds for shadows and a coke-bottle prop.

Create a modern vintage 50s theater look for a diner scene using pink and blue gels. Explore pink-blue and blue-orange color combinations with era props like a fake gun.