January Portraits

[jp]

Those bumby seats are great for holding the baby in the plane of focus!

[Mark Sawyer]

With apologies, as I cross-posted these in the Velostigmat thread...

A former student dropped by last week, and you know the rules: "you can always come visit, but you gotta sit for a portrait..." I had one 8x10 filmholder loaded, and a 12-inch Velostigmat on the old Century 4 studio camera, sooo...

[D. Bryant]

This girl looks so cold it makes my knees ache.

Don Bryant

[Tri Tran]

With apologies, as I cross-posted these in the Velostigmat thread...

A former student dropped by last week, and you know the rules: "you can always come visit, but you gotta sit for a portrait..." I had one 8x10 filmholder loaded, and a 12-inch Velostigmat on the old Century 4 studio camera, sooo...

Mark,
These are perfect! Is it wide open and what soft focus number did you dialed in? Thanks for sharing.

[Mark Sawyer]

Mark,
These are perfect! Is it wide open and what soft focus number did you dialed in? Thanks for sharing.

Thank you! Yes, these were made wide open (at f/4.5), a temptation I can't seem to resist lately. (I can resist anything but temptation.)

These were five full rotations out. As the limiting screw (since removed) normally stops the rotation at one rotation valued at "5", I call this setting 5x5, or 25. The max is 45 (where the front cell falls out), so I hold myself to 40 for safety's sake.

A curious experiment would be to find an extension to make it overly soft, but bring it back down to a reasonable level by shutting down the aperture. Perhaps one could get softness andf depth of field that way. Perhaps I'll find the time one day...

[bsimison]

Those bumby seats are great for holding the baby in the plane of focus!

Don't I know it. He's not mobile yet, but he's making efforts to jump out of my lap all the time. Once he's on two legs, I'm definitely going to have to switch to something that shoots a little faster.

[William McEwen]

Frank, I like your outside jeez I'm freezing portraits.

When I've photographed people outside under similar conditions, I always tried to make them look like they weren't freezing.

You did it right.

[Jim Galli]

You're surely making that Velo sing Mark. Now, does that 4A have a rotating back, or is the whole camera sitting in a rocking cradle, or did you actually place the young lady at the angle photographed. Curious because it adds such a Hollywood glamour flavor.

Thank you! Yes, these were made wide open (at f/4.5), a temptation I can't seem to resist lately. (I can resist anything but temptation.)

These were five full rotations out. As the limiting screw (since removed) normally stops the rotation at one rotation valued at "5", I call this setting 5x5, or 25. The max is 45 (where the front cell falls out), so I hold myself to 40 for safety's sake.

A curious experiment would be to find an extension to make it overly soft, but bring it back down to a reasonable level by shutting down the aperture. Perhaps one could get softness andf depth of field that way. Perhaps I'll find the time one day...

[Tri Tran]

Mark,
These are perfect! Is it wide open and what soft focus number did you dialed in? Thanks for sharing.

Mark,
I just saw your post on the other page and thanks so much for the very informative threat , the beauties of the Velos II in your hands . I will will take it out and try it and definitely post the picture here soon. Thanks again.

[Mark Sawyer]

You're surely making that Velo sing Mark. Now, does that 4A have a rotating back, or is the whole camera sitting in a rocking cradle, or did you actually place the young lady at the angle photographed. Curious because it adds such a Hollywood glamour flavor.

Thanks, Jim! No rotating back on the 4A, I'm afraid, though I have been known to shove a couple of thick books under one side of the camera bed. I may consider making a simple removeable side-tilting bed this summer; it would be an easy project.

I do know that angled effect you speak of; an old photographer I know, (jeez, even older than us!) calls it the "Hollywood Tilt". I don't know if that was a common term, but it really fits the look. In this case, I just had her leaning into the corner of an old wingback chair. I've discovered it gives a nice angle and helps hold the head still between focusing and exposure.