A success story! (nudity warning)

[Ash]

WARNING - This does contain nudity so don't view at work!


So my beautiful girlfriend is over.

I've got my darkroom sorted (finally!). The Beseler CB-7 is set up for 4x5 and 6x6, my new LPL 6700 for 35mm.

I've got a few cameras in my room begging to be used.


So the Korona 4x5 with the Dagor 180mm is sat waiting to be used properly. My mother's 1DmkII and studio lights are gathering dust. I want to use 'proper' Ilford film rather than all that Ortho 4x5!

I need a portfolio sorted by Wednesday and MJ offers to let me take some photo's if I'd like to.


We're playing around, but to use the studio flash, I wasn't sure how to meter - I use the 1DmkII as a ££££ light meter, then set up the Korona to take one photo.





This really was to test whether the Dagor-in-shutter would work properly with a flash. I think I set it to 1/15 at f/32ish after all.


So playing around with the digital, we got this photo - I thought you all might enjoy the humour





With the camera set up with fp4 we got this -



Full version here:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y43...ed/miafull.jpg


Thats a very rough neg and VERY rough prints. Rushed to say the least, literally quick development, quick printing without test strip or filtering or dodging or burning. The contrast should be a lot higher, but of course a near-100 year old Dagor would have low contrast. I've not leveled the scans yet either.




All in all I quite enjoyed using 4x5 for portraiture... I can't wait to take more!

[Ben R]

I must be getting old, looks underage :-)

[MIke Sherck]

Have you considered using filtered window light as your main light source, and a white card (a sheet of matt board works well,) as fill? Artificial lighting always seems so harsh to me.

Mike

[Ash]

Ben, she's young like me, but not underage!

Mike, do you think that the lighting is too harsh even on the film shot? The digital is of course very harsh.

[David A. Goldfarb]

A hard light can work, if you set it up right. Try placing the light higher and put more distance between her and the background. The print could also use more contrast.

[Ben R]

Ash, I'm 27, that's why it's scaring me so much that not only are 18 year olds almost 10 years younger than me, they look it as well! :-) Sorry, been having a 'I'm not young anymore' crisis ever since my birthday!

[Ash]

Thanks for your crit and advice David. I had the light as high as it would go, facing at the ceiling, so I would have diffused and less directed light when I took the film photo. Unfortunately my room is pretty dark and MJ had to sit with her back almost against the wall to get in the frame as I'd wanted and that caused a harsh shadow behind.


Ben, it's more scary at my age when 10 year olds are trying to look 20!

[David A. Goldfarb]

You can usually get a higher angle in a small space by putting the light closer to the subject. Don't be afraid to have the light stand and fixture just outside the frame.

I think that beginners with studio lighting often don't realize how close you can put the light to the subject. Also, the closer the light, the softer the effect.

[Ash]

Well I definitely am a beginner when it comes to using studio lights - it's the fourth time I've ever taken them out the box to use.

I do have a few photography books and magazines that show lighting setups, so I'll need to remember to look through them before the next time I use the lights

[Peter Lewin]

Ash: You use the plural (lights) implying that you can do more than a single light set-up. I confess that I'm distracted by the shadow behind your model (I could say that I was distracted by your girlfriend and didn't notice the shadow, but I'm trying to be serious, rather than lascivious...) Anyway, if you have a second light, you can try bouncing it off the back wall (at lower intensity than your main light) to eliminate the shadow. If you have only one light, someone else suggested using white board as a fill reflector. Another poster suggested moving the light closer to your model, which would work if you are using a softbox, but may be very uncomfortable for the model if you are using bare studio flash (its a harsh light to fire straight at someone from close range) - in that case you could try using white board as a reflector, so the strobe fires at the board, and the reflected, more diffused light strikes your girlfriend. Yet another approach, in absence of a softbox, is to string up a sheet inbetween the light and the model as a diffuser. Loads of options, keep us abreast (oh, what a horrid pun!) of your progress!