LF Ambient indoor light portraiture

[chris_4622]

Diane,

I want to encourage you to take along your lf camera. I used my 5x7 at a 100 year birthday party for a great aunt. I had about 25 people including kids in the picture. Before pulling the dark slide I had everyone keep quiet and told them to listen to the shutter, this is how long it will be open and you will have to be still. I did this three times pulled the dark slide and was off to the races.

I had good luck with one second exposures. I did this in a room with fluorescent lights which doesn't look too good, but for a group shot it was okay. If you have a hot light I would bring that.

good luck
chris

[Diane Maher]

I am planning to take both the MF & the LF. I think I would regret not doing so. My uncle is in a wheelchair so isn't really all that mobile to begin with.

As for hot lights, I have some table top lights which might give me some additional light. I'll have to consider taking one of them.

[Diane Maher]

I took the LF, MF and 35 mm and used them all. I hope that the LF ones come out. I had at least one second exposures, possibly two seconds on others. I shot a total of 7 sheets.

[C. D. Keth]

I've dug something up for you. It's a portrait I took of my Grandfather a couple of years ago. It was 200 speed film by lamplight in our living room. I believe exposure times were around a second. It was with my 10-inch tessar on 5x7. probably wide-open at f/4.5.

Please pardon the poor reproduction. I don't have a scan and so took a quick digisnap of the negative with my monitor as backlight.

[Harold_4074]

An old trick from my press photography days was to make headshots by aiming a strobe up and into the corner of a room, with the subject(s) facing into the corner. The reflection from ceiling and walls gives reasonably good lighting, much better than overhead fluorescents ever would. Substituting a halogen worklight (300 watts, but cheap) for the strobe might work.

Another quickie substitute for a window is a diffuser (bedsheet or the equivalent) hanging across a doorway, with your light on the other side. It's usually doable at home, maybe not so much in a restaurant or similar venue.

[Diane Maher]

I have only developed one negative from the event so far. I think I am okay with the exposure. I am not developing the others until I see a print from this one. Christopher, that is a great image of your grandfather.

[Jim Noel]

If you plan on making platinum prints from these negatives you will be better off with T-Max 400. It is capable of building the necessary contrast w/o adding excessive grain.
I stay away from films such as Delta 3200 when making these exposures because the T-Max does the job so superbly while making a good negative for platinum.

[C. D. Keth]

I have only developed one negative from the event so far. I think I am okay with the exposure. I am not developing the others until I see a print from this one. Christopher, that is a great image of your grandfather.

Thanks, I like it. Unfortunately my ghetto way of rephotographing it in 5 minutes for you shows all of the defects. I need to make a proper print one of these days. The negative is a bit thin but there's enough there.

[Diane Maher]

If you plan on making platinum prints from these negatives you will be better off with T-Max 400. It is capable of building the necessary contrast w/o adding excessive grain.
I stay away from films such as Delta 3200 when making these exposures because the T-Max does the job so superbly while making a good negative for platinum.

I used HP5+ for the LF images. The Delta 3200 was MF and 35 mm.

[mrladewig]

I shot my grandpa with my 4X5 earlier this year.

Provia 100, window light, a white 32" reflector on the left and I just asked him to sit still. Its not perfect, but I'm happy to have this photo.

link

I think you'll be much happier with a portrait result if you use window light or some studio lighting.