Portraits from 2022

[szadow]

Sure, usually 20C, but in the summer sometimes I am not patient enough to let it cool down and I develop in 21-22C (adjusting the dev time of course)

[Roberto Nania]

Sure, usually 20C, but in the summer sometimes I am not patient enough to let it cool down and I develop in 21-22C (adjusting the dev time of course)

Thank you, so, as a starting point:
Diluiton E (1+47, which is the one I use the most for many film types)
20° or 22°C for how long? (12'-10' ?)
Do you expose it at 100 iso or lower?

So far, that's what I used: 80 iso, HC110 1+31, 6' at 20°C

Thank you!

[Alessandro Bocchi]

Barcola - Tuscany - Italy
Portrait of me in the Magra river. The portrait was made by Alessandro Oncini. 30 June 2022

- Camera: CHAMONIX 45-N2
- Lens: RODENSTOCK Geronar 210 1:6.8
- Film: FOMAPAN - 100 ASA - size 4x5
- Exposure: 1/125 second at f 11
- Developer: KODAK HC-110 - Dilution H (1+62) - 9 minutes at 20° C
- Stop: ILFORD ILFO STOP
- Fixer: ILFORD HYPAM FIXER
- Lightmeter: Gossen Lunasix 3 reading the incident light
- Lighting: Ambient light only

- Scanner: EPSON V700 and EPSON Scan 3.81
- Software: Adobe Photoshop CS6

[FrancisR]

[bevdig]

Portrait of my 8-year-old granddaughter. This is the best of four exposures on 4x5 Tmax 100 developed normally. I used a Zone VI camera and a 210mm Caltar II f/5.6 lens, with lighting from a large bank of electronic flash.

[FrancisR]

Portrait of my 8-year-old granddaughter. This is the best of four exposures on 4x5 Tmax 100 developed normally. I used a Zone VI camera and a 210mm Caltar II f/5.6 lens, with lighting from a large bank of electronic flash.

Superb!

[Bill Poole]

Lovely!!

Portrait of my 8-year-old granddaughter. This is the best of four exposures on 4x5 Tmax 100 developed normally. I used a Zone VI camera and a 210mm Caltar II f/5.6 lens, with lighting from a large bank of electronic flash.

[diversey]

Beautiful, well done!

Portrait of my 8-year-old granddaughter. This is the best of four exposures on 4x5 Tmax 100 developed normally. I used a Zone VI camera and a 210mm Caltar II f/5.6 lens, with lighting from a large bank of electronic flash.

[bevdig]

Having taken pictures with cameras large and small, film and digital, for many decades, I have concluded that large format cameras can bring a "look" to portraits that is difficult to obtain with smaller cameras. It has to do with the physical appearance of the camera itself, plus the calmness and deliberation that goes with it. The subject and the photographer can enter into an intimate zone in which the mask of public appearances and stereotypes drops away, thus revealing inner thoughts and feelings of the subject, this of course being the essence of a good portrait. In this photograph of a young girl, the temptation might be to strive for a "happy snapshot", or at the other extreme, a deliberately depressed look, neither of which is the true nature of childhood, as reflected in the innermost feelings of children. The large print which now hangs on my wall, with the subject looking directly into the lens, appears almost three-dimensional and I find myself staring at it over and over again, quite aware of the mystery and wonder of a child's thoughts at that age.

[Bernice Loui]

Thus is the very long tradition of view camera portraiture which was the way before digital sensor baed portraiture. Regardless of camera used, the primary need for worthy portrait is holding an expressive moment of the portrait sitter's expression.

“Look and think before opening the shutter. The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera.”
― Yousuf Karsh


If you've not seen this documentary on George Hurrell, it is highly recommended as it nicely illustrates the basics of view camera portrait making.
https://www.largeformatphotography.i...ll-Documentary

Lighting is a significant item in portrait making. There is a trade-off between using strobe -vs- constant lighting. Strobe has a tendency to stress the portrait sitter as the sitter is often waiting for that flash of light to go off.. blinking often happens due to this.. There was time in the past when applying several kilowatt/second of strobe power for group pictures and in some cases single sitter portraits were done. These were no fun at all for the folks involved due to the vast intensity of light involved.. yet it is required for big sheet film color done in large sitting/set areas.. Constant light prevents this, if high power tungsten lighting is used the portrait sitter is then subjected to "hot lights" which can be easily prevented today via high power LED constant lighting. Light modifiers are your friends.. Consider using the classic "three point lighting" as noted in post# 20 in the George Hurrell link above. Three point lighting grew up in the cinema industry and it remains a basic to this day in cinema and video yet less so in still image portraiture.

Last, consider a lens better suited to portrait images than a modern plasmat. Previously discussed here:
https://www.largeformatphotography.i...or-Portraiture

Post# 53 note again the usage of "three point" lighting. In this case with a soft focus lens.. which achieves a image result no soft focus add-on achieves.



Bernice

Having taken pictures with cameras large and small, film and digital, for many decades, I have concluded that large format cameras can bring a "look" to portraits that is difficult to obtain with smaller cameras. It has to do with the physical appearance of the camera itself, plus the calmness and deliberation that goes with it. The subject and the photographer can enter into an intimate zone in which the mask of public appearances and stereotypes drops away, thus revealing inner thoughts and feelings of the subject, this of course being the essence of a good portrait. In this photograph of a young girl, the temptation might be to strive for a "happy snapshot", or at the other extreme, a deliberately depressed look, neither of which is the true nature of childhood, as reflected in the innermost feelings of children. The large print which now hangs on my wall, with the subject looking directly into the lens, appears almost three-dimensional and I find myself staring at it over and over again, quite aware of the mystery and wonder of a child's thoughts at that age.