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Now that we’re fully into the age of digital photography with resolution sharper than the human eye, it is easy to think that photography is somehow better than it was 50 or 100 years ago. It is certainly easier, lighter, with the camera and postproduction apps doing much of the thinking, much of the work.

However, I’m not convinced that photography is truly any better than it was when Henri Cartier-Bresson, Harry Callahan, Margaret Bourke-White, Richard Avedon or Playboy’s Pompeo Posar (and there are so many others) were shooting. It is still ultimately the eye of the photographer that determines the quality of the image, not the equipment he is using.

The first few Playmates who appeared in the Playboy Magazine were photos that Hefner purchased from the few glamour photographers working in the early ‘50’s—Bunny Yeager, Peter Gowland, Jerry Yulsman. However, Hef quickly came to the conclusion that Playboy needed to control every aspect of the Playmate photo production process if the results were to meet his vision and demanding specifications.

And because he wanted the Playmate centerfold to be a three-page gatefold, he needed a level of quality that then wasn’t possible with a small format camera. Enter the Playboy era of the 8×10 Deardorff camera.

The Deardorff camera was invented by Laben Deardorff, a camera repairman who worked for Rodchester Camera for 30 years before moving to Chicago. The camera he created was designed with a system of swing and tilt movements that made it suitable to shoot architecture by allowing the photographer to adjust the camera to create parallel lines.

Soon the era of the Sears catalog began and the Deardorff was quickly adapted to product photography. At one time, Sears had 130 Deardorff cameras in their photo studio. Hefner knew about the Deardorff and recognized that the 8×10 format would make it possible to reproduce the Playmate centerfold image with a much high resolution than any other camera.

From that moment on, all centerfolds were shot using the 8×10 Deardorff, the image upside down on the rear glass plate, the photographer, cloth over his head so he could see the image, using a magnifying glass to make sure the subject was in focus, the model holding her pose while the lens was manually opened and closed. It was an exhaustive process for both photographer and model but the result in Hef’s view was worth the effort.

Keep in mind that in the magazine’s early days, the only nude photo of the Playmate was that three-page centerfold. There might be accompanying “story” photos, usually in black and white, that gave a little insight into the Playmate’s personality and life. However, the centerfold was literally at the center of the magazine and was the first thing that most readers opened to.

Later the Playmate feature was, of course, expanded with more nudes, up to a ten-page feature plus the centerfold. Those images were shot on 35mm and were referred to as the “small camera.” However, no Playmate feature could be published until Hefner had initialed a three-page to size color print of the centerfold image.

Deardorff stopped producing the 8×10 camera in 1988 but Playboy continued to use the camera for centerfolds until around 2004-2005 when digital photography was well beyond the experimental stage. Hef was reluctant to make the switch until he was absolutely convinced that digital would reproduce as well as his trusted 8×10. “Let everyone else perfect the digital to print challenge. We’ll make the switch when the bugs have all been worked out,” Hef said on more than one occasion.

And for a short while, we shot the centerfolds with both 8×10 and digital cameras to compare how well they reproduced as ink on paper. Eventually and reluctantly, Hef was won over.

“Developing your skills as a photographer, improving your eye for a great photo, is more important than the camera you’re using.”So, did centerfold photography improve with the introduction of digital? It certainly became faster, easier, cheaper. However, I don’t think it resulted in better images. In fact, digital presented some unexpected problems. The old 8×10 had a narrow field of focus, even with all the lighting we used on the sets. But then the eye has a relatively narrow field of focus. Digital brought an unreality to the images. Objects in the background that the eye would view as slightly out of focus were now sharp as a tack. It created a certain unreality.

Now Playboy has deserted the stand alone centerfold image altogether, instead simply taking an image from the general shoot and blowing it up into the centerfold. With high resolution digital, the reproduction hasn’t suffered but the centerfold has lost its special pin up presentation quality.

Keep in mind that while improvements in cameras, lens and lighting may make your job as a photographer easier, they don’t necessarily result in better photographs. With glamour photography, it’s what you put in front of the camera that counts—the girl, the pose, the expression, the setting, the accessories, the lighting (natural or not).

I have a great love for fly fishing but I learned a long time ago that a more expensive fly rod does not necessarily result in more or bigger fish. Developing your skills as a photographer, improving your eye for a great photo, is more important than the camera you’re using, not that having good equipment isn’t important. It’s what the STC seminar/workshops are all about—helping you become a better photographer.

~Gary Cole

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