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A question for the collected wisdom of the board....

I don't do much studio work, but I've got a shoot with an outstanding model next weekend. She's also a photographer who likes film

So, I'm tempted to try a few shots with a 5/4 camera and 150mm lens (which can connect to the studio flash system). Could anyone suggest any obvious errors to avoid? Or, more controversially (for here), is it worth doing? I'll also have an medium format camera which is more obviously suited to studio work, but I'm reluctant to pass up the opportunity to try something a bit different.

And I do know that a longer lens might be better, but I don't have one... yet.

Thanks

Steven

I'm quite interested in these as well. I can only rely on the ground glass as opposed to using a rangefinder on a speed graphic say. So I think an issue is going to be the subject possibly moving out of focus by the time the film holder has been placed and exposed.

One quick hint: if you don't have a longer lens, be further away... there's enough image on a 4x5 to use only part of it for portraiture.

Apologies if that's obvious...

Neil

Ah yes, brings to mind what someone once said, to include all the stuff outside the subject when taking the shot so that you can decide how to frame later rather than having to do expensive reshoots later if you don't end up with quite what you want.

This is absolutely worth doing!

For contemporary reference, take a look at the work of Albert Watson who regularly shoots people in large format.
You have probably been seeing a lot of his Steve Jobs portrait recently. Take a look at his Vegas work (NSFW).
Hans Neleman's Moklo-Maori was shot on LF, if I recall correctly.
Although he's best known for his 35mm work, Eggleston shot a lot of portraits on 5x7.
I love Schoeller's Female Bodybuilder portraits. There is a video on youtube of him on one of those shoots.
The list is endless but my recollection is impoverished.

Portraits on large format have a different look.
The nature of your relationship with the sitter is different because at the moment of exposure, you don't have a big CaNikon between your face and your subject.
You will have to do this a few times to understand the difference.

People do move. The main thing is to keep the subject relaxed.
If they know that you are worried about them moving then they will become tense and anxious and they seem to move more.

Do not be afraid of shooting wide open if you need to.
Seated or leaning subjects move less.

Enjoy yourself

Avedon!

Thanks Everyone

Definitely worth a try, so I'll post some results in a few weeks.

You don't say much about the type of shots, but I'd recommend looking at Ian Leake's website for tasteful nudity and a variety of body parts shot with 5x4 and above!

http://www.ianleake.com/photographs/nudes/glimpses-1

First, thanks to everyone who encouraged me with this. It really is appreciated.

All I can say is that I will definitely try again. This was the first shoot I had in a studio with a proper model, so trying a 5x4 camera was probably running before I could walk. It was also a bad day for equipment failure (flash meter acting up, mamiya MF camera jamming). But the image quality from the 5x4 is amazing. This is a sample image more or less off the scanner, just corrected for some dust on the negative (Fujicolour Pro 160s).

Messing around with the camera meant that these are not the best poses from Alex B, the amazing model (http://alex-therealdoesnoteffaceitself. ... 4209778366 for her account of the day, and for some of the other images which show off her talent far better than this one does).

Steven

Sorry everyone - I can't get the file to attach to the post. I keep getting an error message saying, "Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached".

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

Steven

Steven wrote:Sorry everyone - I can't get the file to attach to the post. I keep getting an error message saying, "Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached".

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

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