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Home / Photography / Why Celebrity Photos Look So Great

Why Celebrity Photos Look So Great

John P.

March 6, 2007 By John P.

Martin ScorseseHave you ever gone on vacation and come back wondering why your photos just don’t look as good as the ones you see in magazines? I do all the time, and let me tell you – throwing more technology at it won’t make that big of a difference.

The reason celebrity photos always look so great is:

  1. A professional photographer takes them, and they have LOTS of practice, trial and error, and experimentation under their belt.
  2. The process involves a huge crew, elaborate set, and a lot of time.

As evidence of this fact, here is a time lapse video of Michael Grecco shooting Martin Scorsese for OnDirecTV magazine.

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Filed Under: Photography, Videos Tagged With: Celebrity, Digg, Martin-Scorsese, Michael-Grecco, Photography, Videos

About John P.

John P. is a former CEO, former TV Show Host, and the Founder and Wizard behind Texas Metal Works. You can find him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Feel free to send shoutouts, insults, and praise. Or Money. Money is good.

Comments

  1. clydie says

    August 18, 2011 at 9:39 am

    Adobe & Photoshop rules yeahhhhhh

  2. Brian Friel says

    March 28, 2011 at 10:59 pm

    John,
    The video has been removed according to the youtube link when you click on it. Even without seeing the video, I can safely say that professional photographers are paid a lot of money for a reason! They do amazing things with people! I just looked at the Rolling Stone article about Howard Stern. He is in his late 50’s and they managed to make him look like he is in his 30’s! Airbrushing is KING these days. How do you think Playboy takes these older models and makes them look amazing? They wear out their programs, photographers and airbrushes just to sell TONS of their magazines. I know Scorcese looks rough these days. I would have liked to have seen the video so I could see what they did with him. Anyone else know where to find it?

    Brian

  3. Robert Geczi says

    December 4, 2010 at 12:09 am

    I feel good after reading this article. If I look bad in photos, I can just chalk it up to poor lighting conditions. ;)

  4. Adam says

    March 25, 2010 at 8:27 am

    The entertainment industry is based on fantasy thus extending into reality. However marketing is key to selling products.It gives a consumer a false expectation making them believe that they will look like the person in the ad but in reality the person in the ad does not even look like that person in the ad. Fantasy=Product=Expectation=Consumer=$$$$

  5. Macovei Cristi says

    February 2, 2010 at 2:18 pm

    Good video…and….PHOTOSHOP RULLZ!:)

  6. Filmari Nunti says

    July 9, 2009 at 2:51 pm

    In this case…Photoshop is only 10% of the picture…That’s why they pay $10.000/picture :)

  7. Wando says

    April 14, 2009 at 6:27 am

    Then there’s the Photoshopping…….

  8. Zach says

    February 21, 2009 at 5:08 pm

    Yeah not to mention the length these photos are edited in photoshop for…

  9. Ali Hussain says

    January 17, 2009 at 1:20 am

    well, i’d like to add a point about professional photographers.

    They know editing of photos as well which is why celeb photos look good

  10. Matt says

    January 3, 2009 at 6:02 pm

    Martin Scorcese looks great ? Uhm, well the photograph is good.

    BTW I’m sure there’s heaps of hair and makeup involved as well.

  11. Amit Patel says

    October 24, 2008 at 10:48 am

    I had bookmarked this post, not for the topic but for the excellent video which is a perfect example of a Time-Lapse video. Dont forget the tonnes of man hours invested on photoshop, for giving the finishing looks.

  12. moserw says

    October 9, 2008 at 7:59 pm

    I had read somewhere that no one can take a perfect picture every single time. The inexperienced can snap a good picture say 2-3 times out of 10, which a professional will do it say around 5 times out of 10. This book then had gone on to mention what you can do to increase your batting average to 4-5 too and these were the tricks of the trade. I have put some of them into practice on a consistent basis and can say that my ratio of good vs. bad pictures has certainly improved.

  13. Saim Baig says

    February 15, 2008 at 4:30 pm

    So what you meant to say is that they do it because they are experienced & facilitated.I think this is the right way to take it.This motivates me to pick up my camera & start experimenting.Not easy but not impossible to capture photographs as beautiful as celebrities.

  14. Rhoody says

    February 10, 2008 at 7:46 pm

    … good photography is a real skill. saves a lot of time on photoshop. I work with some under-water photoPros (no I am not the model). Next to the equipment the most important thing is “Time”. Getting your motive used to the diver. Many people have UW cameras, taking 100 of pictures on a dive. Most Pros taking 15-25 (some still swear on slides, not ) and may have 1 or 2 real exiting pictures out of them, while the “snapshooters” have 10 ok-picutres, but none of them can cause any excitement…
    But even with a “cheap” setup but a lot of time you can get some great results. Have a look…
    one of that dives

    Rhoody

    John, I hope it is ok to post that link, if not just delete my comment, no problem

  15. Michael Newbern says

    February 10, 2008 at 5:42 pm

    I am a pro photographer and this video is a testament to getting it right in camera. Thanks for posting this video. Hopefully, it will serve as education for the masses on how photography is really a skill!

  16. Ralf says

    January 4, 2008 at 12:25 pm

    Daniela Krajnc meets Anna Chakvetadze, that’s the way, when celebrities looking great

  17. Kevin The Crazy Blogger says

    December 10, 2007 at 7:52 pm

    I never knew it was so complex. Thanks for the great vid.

  18. Rhoody says

    September 6, 2007 at 2:44 pm

    If you have luck and/or the right motive you’ll be able to make great shots even without a lot of post-production. Even in the age of digital photography we amateurs should think about what we want to see on a picture instead of making 1000 shots and maybe there is one good on it.
    Thinking about your motiv, the background and the objective of your picture takes less time than viewing 100 pictures and find a maybe good one

    cheers

    Rhoody

  19. MG says

    August 25, 2007 at 2:53 pm

    If you’re not technically “harming” the chicks, I wonder if PETA has any objection to fashionably fluffy chicks?

    A good friend of mine comes from a family who’s living is in photography and watching him go start to finish on a portrait is almost a work of art. Creases in the face, wrinkles, bad lighting, all softens if not fades all together.

  20. Villa says

    May 16, 2007 at 3:22 pm

    Thanks for the video and insight. All that effort and equipment for a great looking photograph? I think they need better cameras ;-)

  21. Naomi says

    March 10, 2007 at 4:36 pm

    Great tip! I love making ofs. It’s also very interesting to note that they use a “model” to check lighting before Scorcese comes out. Brilliant :)

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