Long exposure experience with portraits?

[Ulophot]

Someone recently posted a sharp, 14-second-exosure photo of a friend standing outside, which astonished me and led me to make a few experiments yesterday. I had to use myself as a model, so my getting up and down probably have contributed to motion blur in some frames. In any case, I found 2 seconds to be fairly reliable, 4 to be uneven, with some clearly blurred (if I may use the oxymoron) from motion and others probably usably sharp. I'm just looking at 645 negs with an 8x loupe.

Naturally, the degree of support in the pose makes a difference. I tried both supported and non-supported standing, and sitting with and without a hand to the face at a table, in a backed chair, on a padded bench.

Anyone have experience to share?

[Bernice Loui]

~Victorian Posing Stand.


Bernice

[Mark Sampson]

I'd say study the earliest portraitists. Hill & Adamson come to mind, Southworth & Hawes too. Two different processes, calotype vs. daguerrotype, and location vs. studio portraits.

[LabRat]

One thing that has come up for me has been with highlights on the eyes... The sitter will sit still (hopefully not too rigid), but under the lights, most sitters can't control their eyes, and sometimes there is a "smear" of specular highlights, or just good 'ole blinking (which can ghostly soften the eyes)...

Usually happens under high hot lighting, even if the face is not directly being illuminated... Strobe tends to avoid this, as they don't exactly know when it will pop...

Steve K

[Vaughn]

I cheated -- my boys were usually standing back into the landscape...and was pleased if their facial features were noticable! Thirty seconds was normal, two minutes the longest. Negatives (8x10) contact printed in alt processes which also helps.
The one of the 3 boys and 3 snags was a 2 minute exposure.

[Ulophot]

Thanks, all. My new incarnated portrait effort, so to speak, is an effort to leave behind the studio lighting (hot and strobe) I used for so long, along with the studio backdrops, and to use only natural or existing light, reflectors/subtractors allowed, on location. I have already had to compromise in one portrait, made in a small townhouse living room with only indirect sunlight coming through a door at one end; I supplemented the key with an 85W CFL through a diffusion sheet and, with some extensive darkroom effort, got it to work --albeit made with my 645 and probably a 1-sec exposure; 4x5 working apertures (DOF) would have required very long exposure. I shoot HP5 only.

I go back and forth about supplementary lighting. I'm trying to travel light and deal with what I get on location. I needed to clear my head after the studio work when I started back up again a few years ago, and am still working at it. Except now; no portraits for a while to come.

[slerman]

Philip. The interesting thing about line scanning backs is that movement creates distortion, not blur. This is a recent ~2 minute exposure. Self-portrait given...well you know! Scott 202390

[diversey]

202392
This was sold recently for $1800.

[Ulophot]

Wow, Scott; glad I only shoot film!
diversey, thanks for the tip, along the lines of benice's above. Besides travelling light, I practically drool imaging all the film and paper I could buy with $1800, if I had it. Heck, I could even hire a model!

[nerologic]

That head brace went for big bucks since it was original from the 1860’s, Rob Gibson was the seller and he’s a well known and reputable fella/wetplater/re-enactor. I saw people calling that “a good deal”.


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[Monty McCutchen]

You don’t need a head brace. There are many work-arounds. Finding SOME bracing is important. The head brace becomes more important the tighter you get. The picture of my daughter leaning on the tree I believe was 13 seconds. Obviously wetplate. 20x24. Dallmeyer 8D. The picture of my son was 30 plus seconds. The backdrop is draped over my truck and his left arm is braced up against the door handle. Back is against the truck but his head is not. Same technical data/equipment as above. The biggest key i have found is explaining to your sitter that this is a collaboration and they need to participate. It is also helpful to let them know front to back movement is worse than side to side. That helps them concentrate on one thing instead of being ‘still’. To me that’s the most enthralling aspect of LF portraiture is the connection you make with the sitter because they feel vested in the outcome. The joy on their faces when it turns out well always speaks to the fact they feel they played a role in the success of the collaboration.

[Monty McCutchen]

I should note you don’t get much joy from your children, collaboration or not in long exposure portraiture.

[Andrew Plume]

That head brace went for big bucks since it was original from the 1860’s, Rob Gibson was the seller and he’s a well known and reputable fella/wetplater/re-enactor. I saw people calling that “a good deal”.


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Yes.........there was a great article in 'View Camera' magazine about Rob's work when I believe that it was him who re-enacted in Wet Plate the meeting of the two sections of the Trans Cont Railroad when it crossed the US

Andrew

[Vaughn]

I should note you don’t get much joy from your children, collaboration or not in long exposure portraiture.

Got to train them up early! And limit it to one image per outing, then turn 'em loose. My boys enjoyed it since I did not make it a task. Never got,
"Dad, do we have to?" from them...

8x10 pt/pd print, 159mm lens -- soft dark corners and all seem to work...don't use this lens much.

For this image I am set up about 25 feet above the forest floor (on top of a redwood fallen on top of another). I told the boys to get out to the stump -- generally I let them pick their spots/poses. After the image was taken, I continued to photograph and the boys explored.

[Exploring Large Format]

These shots of your kids are fabulous. Inspiring, just need some grandkids to come along!

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[slerman]

Monty. Those photos are great! I also like long portrait exposure times and agree that it is a special kind of collaborative image making...

[paulbarden]

I think this might be the photo Philip originally referred to:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49546085666_a17fcd7682_b.jpg

Yes - 14 seconds at f4.5 with a 10" Kodak Anastigmat I had just acquired. This is a wet plate negative on glass.
As others have suggested, the trick is to get your subject to find something to lean on, without making it look obvious.

[goamules]

George Hurrell often had the Hollywood star steadying her head with her hands, or reclining on a couch, etc.

With wetplate, a typical outdoor portrait with no flash is from 2-10 seconds. A blink is a fraction, so is not noticeable in the photo, usually. I've found any exposure longer than 10 seconds risks a motion blur, unless a head rest is used. I have a replica of the one shown above.

[Ulophot]

Paul, yes, that's the photo, and no it's not obvious that he is leaning on the trunk; well done!
Monty, thank you for your experience in this; very helpful.
As for children, one thing I found most challenging when I was a pro, were the children who did not know how to relax in front of the camerra, because their parents had insisted on photographing them to relentlessly and always demanding "smile," "show me your teeth." as soon as I saw that look, I knew I had to start getting very devious to trick the child into a more natural condition. One time, with twin boys, I told them to turn their backs to the camera and not peek, which of course they did, to my shock dismay, which turned into a game with them laughing.

[John Layton]

Now that is one relaxed dude!

[nerologic]

Now that is one relaxed dude!

With that beard, there’s too much air drag to run anywhere in a hurry! Best suited to stationary gandering and pondering.


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[Vaughn]

These shots of your kids are fabulous. Inspiring, just need some grandkids to come along!

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Thanks -- unfortunately the above is a poor reproduction (and/or poor photoshop skill). Not much hope for grandkids...but ya never know!

Another way to approach long exposure times is to have the person lie down...some old images...4x5, silver gelatin prints, 20" long side, 1986.

PS -- it was this limited experience with the nude in the landscape that led to the larger work of my boys 15 years later.

[Maris Rusis]

https://live.staticflickr.com/1693/25175540433_2e3628314e_c.jpg

8x10 Studio Shoot, Tewantin
Gelatin-silver photograph on Ultrafine Silver Eagle VC FB photographic paper, image size 16.2cm X 21.5cm,
from a Kodak Tmax 400 negative exposed in a Mamiya RB67 camera fitted with a 37mm f4.5 fisheye lens.

Just for fun everybody photographs everybody else on Ilford Direct Positive paper. Exposures run 5 to 10 seconds but the subjects don't move because they are leaning on a wall covered by a neutral backdrop. And if the camera itself isn't moved it needs focussing just once before the first exposure.

[Ulophot]

Thank you, Maris. Good to hear from you!