Greg Gorman
The importance of color management isn’t necessarily a topic you would expect from a photographer renowned for shooting much of his acclaimed work in black and white. Yet color, or more precisely the accurate rendition of tonal nuances, is a critical aspect of how world famous photographer Greg Gorman has developed his discriminating and unique style. From personality portraits and advertising campaigns to magazine layouts and fine art work, his body of work is a virtual “who's who” of Hollywood including photographs of Al Pacino, Leonardo Di Caprio, Pierce Brosnan, Michael Jordan, Robert de Niro, Muhammad Ali, among others. His work has appeared in countless magazine features and covers including Esquire, GQ, Interview, Life, Vogue, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Time, and Vanity Fair and The London Sunday Times.
Ethereal, magical, sensual – all of these words have been used to describe the process by which Greg captures the essence of his subjects. Yet he would add one more word to those looking to deepen their understanding of the art of photography: practical.
“At the very least, anyone at all serious about photography needs to start with a well-calibrated monitor,” Greg says. “It will save you countless hours of frustration, not to mention ink and paper. And there are a lot of great color management tools out there now so that you can be sure that your vision will be reproduced in the way you intended. For my fine art projects, I work with X-Rite’s i1iSis, which allows me to fit color management into my workflow with absolutely no hassle, or errors.”
Greg stresses that working in black and white, as he often does, particularly when shooting nudes, does not preclude this prerequisite for good results. In fact, he feels that an absolutely calibrated environment in which to process and support the full tonal range of black and white shots – from pure black through pure white and all the warm nuances and shades of gray in between – enhances the artistic aspects of these shots, and ensures the clarity of his vision.
“Most of the time, you are counting on someone else to produce your vision, so you need to provide them with as clear a communication of that vision as possible,” he says.