After reading up on this 20th century artist I am wondering about the conversations Yousef Karsh must have had with his subjects. They ranged from entertainers to governmental leaders and he made it a point to “do homework” on his subjects. His portraits have dramatic looks due to the artificial stage style lighting he uses.
Focus on the image on the left (man smoking)
This image on the left of the man smoking uses high contrast and broadside lighting to make the image successful. To help the subject to stand out from the background he lit the back side of the subject as well. Yousef was able to capture the subject in an expressive state, maybe they were about to take another drag from the cigarette or they were mid sentence. We will never know, but what we can tell is that is image is captivating. This is something I would like to create.
I too love the sense that Bogart was mid motion esp with hhis hands. the light along the edges of his fingers is so pretty.
The light is high contrast but this is short light. The side of Bogart’s face with the features is what is lit. There is also a kicker and a fill light.