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Thread: LF and ULF portraiture

  1. #31

    LF and ULF portraiture

    I am humbled by the remark that anything between digital and 8x0 is a "compromise." I shoot nude portraits in 4x5 and 5x7, and am embarrassed to learn that I've been compromising in my work for all these years.

    I add to this discussion because I've just been given the gift of a Hermagis Portrait lens, which I believe is a Petzval-design lens made in Paris in the 1860s. (If anyone knows more about the Hermagis lenses, by all means speak up.) I have tried any number of old lenses. My experience is that even Rapid Rectilinear lenses give remarkably good resolution and bite across the image field. the Hermagis is the first lens I've shot that does what I want it to do -- lay focus on the eyes and allow it to wander in and out of focus elsewhere.

    Here are two examples. Both are shot 1/15 second at f/10. The first is shot in 5x7:

    http://www.mcnew.net/new/slides/0020Mary109adj.html

    And here is another, in 4x5:

    http://www.mcnew.net/new/slides/0021Kathleen12.html

    The Hermagis is the end of my searches for portrait lenses -- it is just delicious. I have more of my work up at www.mcnew.net if anyone is interested in seeing more of this series.

  2. #32

    Join Date
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    LF and ULF portraiture

    "I am humbled by the remark that anything between digital and 8x0 is a "compromise." I shoot nude portraits in 4x5 and 5x7, and am embarrassed to learn that I've been compromising in my work for all these years. " (Sanders McNew)

    Hi Sanders. I think you might be taking that comment wrong. I think what Frank meant (and Frank, please correct me if I'm wrong) is more about the subjective feeling —from the photographer's point of view in using a particular format— rather than a comment about the work which results from the use of the format itself. So, certainly, no hard feelings to users of other formats were intended!

  3. #33

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    LF and ULF portraiture

    How would a Tessar design work, if left close to wide-open ? I ask, because I have these kind of lenses on my 6x6 and 6x9 folding cameras.

  4. #34

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    LF and ULF portraiture

    [...]http://www.mcnew.net/new/slides/0020Mary109adj.html

    Do you always use the same light?

  5. #35
    Whatever David A. Goldfarb's Avatar
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    LF and ULF portraiture

    Ken--Tessars can be great, as long as you have one that covers the format, which shouldn't be too difficult at portrait distances. There's a fair amount of variation among tessar types, particularly with regard to the rendering of the out-of-focus area, but the usual pattern is sharp in the center with resolution falling off at the corners. Here's a 5x7" made with a B&L 5x8" Tessar wide open--


  6. #36

    LF and ULF portraiture

    JJ asked:
    ... http://www.mcnew.net/new/slides/0020Mary109adj.html

    Do you always use the same light?
    JJ, yes, I shoot in a ridiculously small space, lit with homemade hot lights and reflectors. The falloff visible in the 5x7 image you reference is due to vignetting. The Hermagis, though a beast of a lens, barely covers 4x5, and vignettes at 5x7. For my work, though, I like the effect in 5x7.

    Sanders McNew

    www.mcnew.net

  7. #37

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    Re: LF and ULF portraiture

    Very nice shot, David!

  8. #38

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    Re: LF and ULF portraiture

    Quote Originally Posted by Jay DeFehr View Post
    My largest currently available format is 8x10, but a 14x17 is in the works. Here's a portrait of my wife, in 8x10:

    http://www.apug.org/gallery/showphot...500&ppuser=177

    Jay
    Sadly I am unable to get linked to the images by Tedd or Jay. I can open the web sites, but not those images.

  9. #39

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    Re: LF and ULF portraiture

    Jay is on Flickr and Instagram.

  10. #40
    Tin Can's Avatar
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    Re: LF and ULF portraiture

    I must try my 900mm Tessar f9 wide open on 14X17" X-Ray with an extension on The Howitzer

    Quote Originally Posted by David A. Goldfarb View Post
    Ken--Tessars can be great, as long as you have one that covers the format, which shouldn't be too difficult at portrait distances. There's a fair amount of variation among tessar types, particularly with regard to the rendering of the out-of-focus area, but the usual pattern is sharp in the center with resolution falling off at the corners. Here's a 5x7" made with a B&L 5x8" Tessar wide open--

    Tin Can

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