What 8x10 lens do I need for full face portraits like this?

[Daniel Stone]

just to "clear the water" a bit...

most of these "close-up" portraits were shot with a rz67(medium format) camera, with the tilt-shift extension module, and a 140mm macro lens(probably the sharpest in the rz line-up of lenses).

this allows him to tilt the lens to help throw things out of focus, and back onto the eyes. shooting wide-open(or close to it) with the CONTINUOUS lighting(kino-flo's in this case, the daylight-balanced variety). Generally using 160 speed color neg films, he gets them drum scanned and printed large.

some of the close-ups(but not big face pictures), like this one here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZTGXhWjAf4

are shot with an 8x10 camera(in this case a Sinar monorail, with a DB-mounted lens, see him flip the lever on the left side to open the lens to focus @ 3:05 in the video link above). Having a small army of assistants helps too .

with the 8x10, he uses strobes(Profoto) to ensure enough light output for a smaller aperture for increased DOF due to the close proximity to hi subjects in the frame.

-Dan

[Jeff Keller]

The ears are back behind the edges of his face. I would have guessed slightly shorter than normal ... I guess I'm not used to 8x10.

The perspective looks allright, but the lighting is a little intentionally unnatural. You see in the eyes big light sources on each side of the camera. Hard to tell from the jpeg, but the nose looks a little out of focus, so I'd guess the aperture would be f16 or less and it would be a slightly long lens. Your options are tiny depth of field or slight depth of field. You don't need any super sharp lens for brutally sharp portraits in 8x10. Anything that's not "soft focus" will show every single pore and whisker at non-wide open apertures.

[Brian C. Miller]

... but the nose looks a little out of focus ...

There are other portraits where it is easy to see that the nose is out of focus. He focuses on the subject's eyes and mouth, and that's it.

Here's a PopPhoto interview where he mentions his equipment. He doesn't say what lens length he uses with his Sinar, though.

[Policar]

Looks like he shot these with an rz67 and 140mm lens on portra. Not so expensive after all!

[eddie]

16 to 18 inch lens. with the longer FL you do not have to be at 1:1 to get a tight head shot.

for wet plate this is great so you do not loose as much to reciprocity.

for film you get to stop down to get the DOF you like. with a longer lens you get "a bit better DOF" IMO as you are not so close to your subject.

i do not like the super shallow nose and ears OOF area.

i dunno. i would try 18 inch lens at f11 or 16. focus on the eyes. BTW i love my 15 inch lens on 5x7 and 4x5 head shots as well....

oh! and use a studio camera. all my century studio cameras can do this type of a head shot with a 16-18 inch lens.

eddie

[mrossano]

Eddie,

Re-examine your comment. To achieve a specific image size (such as filling the frame with a head) in any given film format, the lens focal length has no effect at all on the reproduction ratio (in this case, around 1:1). You could use a 120mm or a 600mm, 1:1 is still 1:1. Only the subject distance will change.

[aluncrockford]

I would suggest something like a 480 at about f11 will achieve what you are after, this set of portraits here http://aluncrockford.com/portrait2.html were done on such a combination with cross polarisation

The only snag with using large format with people is keeping the iris in focus ,which is why in the 19c one of the standard items of the portrait studio was a head stand. and when you try and get your subjects to stay still you will wish you had one

[Craig Roberts]

I use a 14-inch Commercial Ektar.

[mdm]

I would suggest something like a 480 at about f11 will achieve what you are after, this set of portraits here http://aluncrockford.com/portrait2.html were done on such a combination with cross polarisation

The only snag with using large format with people is keeping the iris in focus ,which is why in the 19c one of the standard items of the portrait studio was a head stand. and when you try and get your subjects to stay still you will wish you had one

Thanks for that link! I thought your Small Gods series exceptional and liked the nature series too. I really enjoyed looking at your photographs.

David

[Frank Petronio]

http://aluncrockford.com/

Thanks for coming onto this forum, your work is inspiring.