what's your focus routine in LF portraiture?

[stehei]

I was wondering, do you guys have a routine in focussing when setting up a portrait?
I ask because it took me some time to 'develop' mine, and I'm still not sure whether I'm doing it right, although the results come out fine. Here's mine, would be nice to see how you are dealing with this:

set up tripod, base is level
set up ansco 8*10, make sure front and back are level
frame the shot
first raw focus
then adjust the back (or ought this to be done with the front) to make sure the
person is sharp from shoes to head (since I sometimes point down the camera a bit the plane of focus has to be adjusted)
then adjust the back horizontally to get both eyes sharp
stop down
check focus
take the picture

the reason for working with the back is that on my ansco it is far more
reliable to backtilt/shift than to work with the front

I hardly ever use tilt for portraits
BTW, this is just the routine to get a 'sharp' picture, all pictoral effects
are left out here, enough movements to make a crazy picture!!

regards
stefan

[Gene McCluney]

Set up camera before model comes onto set, have everything almost ready...camera lens open, lights set. When Model comes onto set adjust camera for framing, focus on eyes, caution model not to move, stop down to shooting aperture. Close lens, insert filmholder, pull darkslide and trip shutter.

[Maris Rusis]

I do pretty much as you do but with one extra. After the camera back is swung slightly to get the catch-lights in both eyes sharp a tiny tilt on the back is used to get the middle of the top lip sharp as well.

None of the movements are big enough to cause obtrusive geometric distortion (a potential problem with back movements) but they are a lot faster to do than front movements on a 8x10 with 500mm of bellows to reach past.

My theory (amateur psychologist!) is that the plane defined by the eyes and the mouth is what we pay attention to when looking in a respectful and attentive way at someone's face.

[E. von Hoegh]

I do pretty much as you do but with one extra. After the camera back is swung slightly to get the catch-lights in both eyes sharp a tiny tilt on the back is used to get the middle of the top lip sharp as well.

None of the movements are big enough to cause obtrusive geometric distortion (a potential problem with back movements) but they are a lot faster to do than front movements on a 8x10 with 500mm of bellows to reach past.

My theory (amateur psychologist!) is that the plane defined by the eyes and the mouth is what we pay attention to when looking in a respectful and attentive way at someone's face.

Nice touch!! I'll use that one. I don't make many portraits, but that is a wonderful touch.

[scott russell]

I've shot maybe one or two portraits with my 4x5. I pretty much did the same thing as the original poster and it turned out surprisingly well. Does anyone find it strange though, that you have to tell someone to stay absolutely still while you slide in a film holder, hoping their head didn't waver back or forward at any point? Oh, and i should have mentioned, the portraits i did were both shot wide open which explains my concerns with focus. It seems that with portraits where perspective and focus control aren't very complicated (compared to something like...architecture), wouldn't it be a little more practical to shoot on digital, roll film, or something else that doesn't require GG focusing?

[Hollis]

If is works and you are happy don't change it. There is no right or wrong way.

[Kirk Gittings]

I merged these two threads at a members request, and move it to style and technique, but never having done it before, I'm not sure its right.

[Frank Petronio]

if you can get someone to be holding still steady enough to make camera movements my hats off to you. These are living people, no headbraces, right!? ;-)

Seriously, I can't imagine doing it that way!

[stehei]

dear moderator, I've missed the style and technique forum, this is indeed the place for my question,

about asking models to stay still, I can't see another way with 8*10, especially if you;re shooting portraits 'close'. But even with full length portraits I've experienced that focussing is critical, even when you stop down. And stopping down means longer exposures with the risk of movement!

I also think it is a way of making pictures, models 'pose' in the traditional way, but there has been a lot said about the charme of big camera's portraits. I think it is a special collaboration, and can intensify the picture, I've come to like it very much! And to my eyes 8*10 is so lifelike that I hardly ever take portraits with another camera,
I also make sure the camera is all set, no time to lose!

If its about movement and spontaneous movements than a graflex like frank petrinio is using is just fine. Mostly I grab for my pentax 67!

about the back tilt, I've been experimenting with that, had the same hunch, eyes and lips are the 'attention' points for viewers. I'm lately doing double portraits for a show in oktober, and it's very difficult to focus. People have to sit close to each other, and even then the movements are rather extreme. Not easy!!

thanks all

stefan

[Gordon Moat]

Mostly pre-focus for set-up, usually with assistant. Then place talent, and instruct not to move forward or backward, basically keeping them along a line representing focus. Then I stand next to the camera, instruct talent how I would like the to move . . . just interact a bit, then when the shot seems what I want, quickly trip the shutter. I use Readyloads and Quickloads to move from one shot to the next at a fairly good pace, for example:

cropped from vertical shot

Ciao!

Gordon Moat Photography