Questions: A Portrait of my In-Laws

[William Barnett-Lewis]

I've trolled the archives but my google-fu is lacking. So I appeal to the good folks here...

My Father-in-law is a WWII Navy vet & a union organizer. He spent many of his 80+ years trying to make other people's lives better. Now recently he was diagnosed with lung cancer (smoking for near 70 years will do that, I hear... ) and, at best, he'll be with us through christmass this year.

What I am interested in trying to do, & I expect this will push my skill set hard, is to take a portrait of him and his wife.

I'm planning, at this stage, to use my Calumet CC-400, with a Symmar 135/235 convertable in 235 mode (the drop in sharpness being a plus here). I want a normal balanced color neg film for this project, so I'm thinking Kodak Portra 400NC for the film. My goal is a 20x16 framed and matted print to give to the various relations. Fortunately there is an exquisite lab here in Madison (Burne Photo Imaging) so that helps enormously.

My vision of this is to do it out doors, in thier backyard under one of the trees back there. He would be sitting with his wife behind him, hand on his shoulder. I'm thinking of doing this around noon (his strength is best then) using the foliage to diffuse the light and perhaps one or two gold reflectors near/on the ground to fill in from below.

So am I off in lala land or is this something a rather less than experianced LF shooter can pull off? Any tips or suggestions are welcomed.

In the "real world" I'm an over-the-road truck driver. I may not answer this thread for several days but I will soon enough and will give everything due consideration.

Thank you,

William

[Greg Lockrey]

My wife lost her Dad a couple of weeks ago. He was an Air Force vet and to listen to him, he invented the air planes they used in "The Big One". It's good you have this opportunity to make some lasting images. Sounds like you have things planned out pretty well. I would also use some polaroids for test shots, and this will help make the old folks be more comfortable with the process and to see what you are doing. I would also consider using a flash to help with the fill. You don't need to use it too much either, The polaroids will help you there too. But you don't need to listen to me either, I'm just a custom printer,

[Walter Calahan]

Our plan sounds good to me. Pretty much how I'd do it. KISS is the best approach.

[Ken Lee]

Light through leaves can be very splotchy - and unflattering. Make sure the leaves are think enough to provide real shade.

[RDKirk]

Going along with Ken, you want to do this in real shade--the north side of a building would be easier. If you place them in the shade on the north side of a building, close to the wall facing east or west, you will get soft sidelight modeling.

You could also face them away from the building (using the building as background) and use a large card on the side to block some sidelight and still get the modeling.

You didn't mention using supplemental lighting, so a danger will be overexposing the sunlit background. If you place them under a tree, you shold make sure the background is dark foliage or similar, or just be aware of the danger.

If you have a garage available, you might consider posing them right at the doorway. If you place them just outside the doorway (but under the eaves), you will get the benefit of brighter daylight and be able to greatly underexpose the background (the interior of the garage).

[jnantz]

overcast days work wonders ..

good luck with your project!

john

[Scott --]

I didn't know you'd given up the stay-at-home gig.

I think I'd try to do this on a high overcast day, rather than filter the light through the leaves. Think it'd be more flattering overall.

Nice project. Good luck with it.

[Stan. L-B]

Hello William.
What an interesting project!
I can relate sympathetically to your thinking as I too am getting to the end of my voyage of life. However, I have no one to give such a touching send off - particularly on film. I hope all goes well in this venture for you and your kin and hope that my mutterings will be noted and prove to assist in your masterpiece.

I would avoid bright sunlight, a bright yet veiled light is to my mind the best for portrait work out of doors.

Make use of a tripod, even if you think you don't need one.

Don't rush the set up, create a relaxed atmosphere.

Negative film of medium speed will give you the widest exposure latitude.

It is always more comforting to take more than one photograph - as people tend to
make faces, blink or make other unwanted expressions. Good luck, and hope to see your results on this site.....

[Ed Richards]

One more vote against light filtered through leaves. Screwed up some photos of my own inlaws that way - what looks great on the GG looks a lot more blotchy on the prints.

You should also include some shots where you back up and get him in the environment, using the 135. With the closer shots, give yourself a lot of room to crop, you might find that a different composition than you envisioned workers better for a print. You might even throw in a few holders with Tmax 400 using the same lighting and exposure - you might find that black and white is a lot more interesting and flattering to the old guy. You can also do that from the negative film, but Tmax 400 is especially nice for this sort of work.

[BrianShaw]

There has been a lot of good avdvise so far. Photographically speaking I can add little except to consider use of a reflector to ease any problem you may encounter from the light filtering through the leaves.

Regarding the project, however, I can offer quite a bit of expert advise. Two years ago I lost my father-in-law to pancreatic cancer. I never had the opportunity to photograph him because his condition progressed too fast and we were too busy just trying to deal with the medical aspects of the situation. Now I am dealing with my father, who has been in hospice care for the past 12 (or so) months. Some would say he is "overstaying his welcome" in that kind of program but I couldn't care less what they say

My advise is simple: START SOOON and SHOOT OFTEN.

My Dad has been my favorite photo subject for the past two years. I have a variety of pictures ranging from totally lousy to okay. About two months ago I shot him with MF, but this time with my Mom. Out of 12 frames I had 11 that fit the previous description, but on one of them I saw an image of my parents like I've never seen before (except in real life) - totally comfortable and totally loving... but mostly because they were together.

Since that photo session my Dad's conditon has deteriorated and I doubt I'll have another chance to photograph him. START SOOON and SHOOT OFTEN!