I will be publishing a book containing about 200 images of mostly African masks and some figures, and decided to do the photography in-house. Most pieces are an tique, wooden, with incredible surfaces and patinas of accumulated materials on age. Some have dulled old metal attachments, many have brightly colored strings, feathers, fabric, etc. A few pieces are cast bronze. Most are 6' to 12' high, a few figures are 30" high. Most are only 3' to 6" deep, but a few have large hea ddresses that might go 18" deep. The reproductions will be full-page (at least 8 x10")and color. The backgrounds will all be simple gray or black. Of top concer n is sharpness of detail, with adequate depth of field. Although I'm still havin g second thoughts, I was steered away from 8x10 format by some comments about th e difficulty in learning this format as my first plunge into LF. I just ordered a 4x5 Sinar P2 from B&H, and expect it shortly. I think I would prefer "knock 'e m dead" color rather that purely accurate color, and was thinking of using Fuji Velvia. So, my friends, I desperately need input about appropriate lenses for th is project. My thinking was that since short telephotos are usually used for por trait work in 35mm, and since (I think) a normal lense in 4x5 is about 210mm, a 300mm lense would be best...I'm open to any and all suggestions regarding lenses , film, lighting, backgrounds, etc.
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