Taking portraits with a large format camera

[jimbobuk]

Hi folks.. I've still not used my camera enough, i have a few days off work so hopefully i'll be able to shoot something!!

I've just got back a roll of 120film that i shot in my horseman 6x12cm roll film back.. a good number of them are some test portraits in bright sunny conditions where the shutter speed was able to be kept nice and fast for no blur from moving people.

They are pretty nice shots, but only when viewed quite zoomed out, up close you can notice that there isn't a great deal of sharpness on any of the 3 people i managed to fit into the panoramic frame. I can only assume that either i wasn't very well focused in the first place, or the subjects moved whilst I was taking out the glass and fitting the rollfilm back into the camera. It was my first roll of film through the back so i wasn't exactly being speedy with it.

I just wondered if anyone had any tips on how you can shoot sharp portraits with LF when your sitter isn't perhaps going to stay perfectly still. I didn't note down the aperture i'd used but i'm quite sure it was near to f22.. the distance from lens to subject would have been around 2m or so, not sure how much DOF i would have had in these circumstances but even with keeping their feet still I'm guessing they were able to drift out of that sharp band of focusing.

Its not something i'll ever really plan to shoot a lot of, but i may try again sometime soon.. any tips to getting something so sharp the sitter wont want to do it again as they dont like seeing all their skin that close up :) Once i can happily shoot it that sharp, then i can deliberately make asthetically pleasing softer focus portraits :)

Cheers

Jim

[Frank Petronio]

First you need to assemble a kit of "helpers": nails, duct tape, and reinforcing rods.

It sounds like shutter speed would be key. Try 1/250, use a higher ISO film. In my experience a good model can hold still enough to be tack sharp at f/5.6 at 1/30 to 1/60. Moving or nervous casual models require 1/125 or higher.

I will still shoot down to 1/8th but as you go slower it becomes a game of percentages. If you do four shots of a person at 1/15th, you will find that one of the four is noticablly sharper than the other three.

ISO 400 4x5 is great. You can always push it, putting a little grit and contrast into the scene is usually a nice postive addition.

[steve simmons]

If they are seated it will help them move less. Did you use a loupe to make sure you were focussed correctly? Are you sure you had the film holder in correctly? Practice before you work with the camera and holder again.

steve simmons

[jimbobuk]

Thanks for the tips guys. The models were just family, and sadly they were standing which i think is the problem, i think someone in a pose more easily held with precission would be a better subject, though in fairness my time at the camera has sped me up quite significantly so perhaps it'll be less of a problem next time.

I'm having constant problems with both rollfilm holder and cut film holders having what look like light leaks on them.. on the same roll of film from another "shoot" I have some more flare, at the same time i took some pictures on cut slide film.. both were sadly way out on exposure as i used a friends compact to base my exposure off of and it was very wrong!! :) The flare on the b&w roll film though did look like it matched the direction of the sun, the lens has a shade, I think it could be the bellows which i've since shown to leak slightly.

Now i have a polaroid back I'd love to go into some really bright conditions and shoot with the light on all sides of the camera to see if i can recreate (and then fix) the problem.

Ironically these portrait shots were done in bright bright sunlight, the kind that i doubt i'll see again till 2007. But they are all CLEAN.. the sun would have been mostly behind the camera though, this has obviously helped. By the time i shot them though i'd seen the problems i'd had with other shots so i think i was already trying to be cautious. If i can only master pulling the dark slide under the dark cloth then i'd be much happier at removing light from the back of the camera as a potential cause of the problems.

Steve, I did use a cheap 8x loupe.. i've since got a toyo 3x loupe, but i've not assembled my camera since its arrived, it does look very nice and clean through it, we will see where things go. I've achieved reasonably sharp images on other subjects since, as you've all said though.. practice practice practice.. I just hope i have the chance to.

[Ron Marshall]

At that distance and f-stop you don't have much depth-of-field. All someone has to do is rock back on their heels slightly and they will be slightly unsharp.

Seated and 400 speed film will do it.

[steve simmons]

In the next issue or two we are going to have a couple of articles on portraiture/figure work with large format.

steve simmons

[jimbobuk]

The next issue of what Steve? View Camera i take it? I'm in the UK and have never seen it :(

[jimbobuk]

Thanks Ron, I thought as much on the DOF, should get more familiar with a DOF caculator, i take it you guys carry them in the field?

[steve simmons]

Yes, View Camera. If you want to try it contact

Mike Walker
Walker Cameras
44 (0) 1244 881 755
mik@walkercameras.com

steve simmons
www.viewcamera.com

[Ron Marshall]

Thanks Ron, I thought as much on the DOF, should get more familiar with a DOF caculator, i take it you guys carry them in the field?

I have an idea now what it is at a given distance and aperture. But when I started I went to one of the online DOF calculators and put in a few numbers to get an idea. The following link is useful to determine what aperture is required for acceptable sharpness across the range of subject distance required:

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/fstop.html

Just focus on the nearest and farthest points you want to be in focus and measure the distance the standard moves. Then the table will give you the f-stop required.

[Frank Petronio]

I would love to be standing for a portrait while the photographer consults a depth of field table ;) Unless you are using additional lighting, such as strobe, start with the shutter speed you can get away with and then accept the f-stop you have to live with. You may not be able to get 1/125 and f/45. In which case you have to compromise on either risking blur from motion or blur from not holding enough depth of field in a group photo. Sometimes it is impossible.

You quickly run out of light, which is why you just can't do some things with only natural light. So you give a "what the hell" lucky try or go learn about lighting.

[Pete Watkins]

Jim,
I bought one copy of View Camera and it was digital loaded and not very impressive. You'll learn more on the net. Robert White used to be the agent in the U.K. but if somone else is now the agent you must draw your own conclusions.
Pete.

[steve simmons]

Viw Camera is not a digital magazine and not digitally loaded. Since you do not know why we are changing distributors your comments simply show that you are willing to make a post without knowng anything. Mike has wanted to do this for a couple of years and will be more proactive than a larger store.

Get an issue and draw your own conclusions.

For another opinion refer to the posts about the last few issues. Universally positive.

steve immons

[Pete Watkins]

Quote from Mr. Simmons "more proactive than a larger sore".
If you're gonna get aggressive try to back up your case by getting the spelling right at least. The copy I paid for WAS digitally loaded. If you don't like it, tough.
I really don'y care how many times you change distributers, or why, one issue was enough for me. Say what you like now, it's my bed time.
Pete.

[steve simmons]

Check the recent posts here and check

www.viewcamera.com

and judge for yourself.

steve simmons

PS

BTW, this thread was about portraiture with lf, not about View Camera magazine. In my first post I did not mention anything about the magazine, etc. I addresed only my thoughts about the orignal question. I did mention the magazine in my second post specifically because there is an article in the upcoming issue that is about potraiture and figure work wih large format.

Let's keep on topic.