December 2013 Portraits

[DrTang]

Mamie

Three Great Photos - Mamie just pops off the screen

[adamc]

Thanks guys!

[life_in_sepia]

Three Great Photos - Mamie just pops off the screen

+1 Nice!

[Ken Lee]

Of the soft-focus lenses I've been able to try out the Kodak Portrait Lenses are my favorites. This is closed down to around f/11, which I find is just about perfect for my taste.



Century No.8 w/8x10 reduction back
Kodak Portrait Lens 405/4.5
Ilford HP5 Plus / Adonal 1+50

I like this much more than the other portrait of the same lady. The other one is a perfectly competent picture of someone from a distance, but this one is very engaging. It breathes and has the kind of mystery, beauty and presence we see in many of your great photographs.

[SergeiR]

back from trips..

4x5, ilford delta, 210 Symmar-S


Waiting for water by Sergei Rodionov, on Flickr

[benrains]

Attachment 106100

That's really impressive for xray film. I think the approach with the lighting on this is just perfect and works really well to convey a sense of heat and fire. The background looks a little streaked, and I can't tell whether it's something present on the surface of what he's standing in front of or whether it's streaking from the development. But, whatever it is, I don't think detracts really from the image. It almost looks like smoke.

[benrains]

I like this much more than the other portrait of the same lady. The other one is a perfectly competent picture of someone from a distance, but this one is very engaging. It breathes and has the kind of mystery, beauty and presence we see in many of your great photographs.

Thanks, Ken. This one is certainly more straightforward, and probably more along the lines of the usual "quiet" feel of a lot of my portraits. It's not really deliberately done, but it does seem to always come out. I guess it's just something I have to attribute to my personal style.

[grantflanagan]

That's really impressive for xray film. I think the approach with the lighting on this is just perfect and works really well to convey a sense of heat and fire. The background looks a little streaked, and I can't tell whether it's something present on the surface of what he's standing in front of or whether it's streaking from the development. But, whatever it is, I don't think detracts really from the image. It almost looks like smoke.

Thanks a bunch! I'm pretty sure its from development, I also sometimes get dots on the side from my holders, I think its from my agitation technique, which is just to raise the images, not sift side to side.
Heres another one! Different foundry, different day, similar set up, save the lighting. I used the porty again, but chose a 5 foot octa as fill and a 1x3 foot strip as key.

[benrains]

Thanks a bunch! I'm pretty sure its from development, I also sometimes get dots on the side from my holders, I think its from my agitation technique, which is just to raise the images, not sift side to side.

The 4min development time you listed for the Xtol 1:1 will be part of the problem. It's hard, maybe impossible, to get even development with such a short time. So I'd say dilute the Xtol to 1:2 or 1:3, or you could bring the temperature down on your developer if it's up above 70F or so. Try to find some temperature/dilution combination that gets you to at least 8 mins, but maybe 10-12 mins if possible. And then, if you aren't already doing do, also presoak the film in plain water for 2 mins before you put it in the developer.

[SergeiR]

8x10, 14 inch Heliar, abrasion toning, xray film, print screen


Pictorial #11 by Sergei Rodionov, on Flickr