Procedures To Shooting Portraits on 8x10

[Rob Skeoch]

I shot 8x10 portraits for a lot of years and had a number published in magazines. I had the Ebony SV810 camera, which had enough bellows draw to use a longer lens like the Fuji 450C. The 450 was my favorite lens although I also used the Fuji 300C a lot.
You'll have to jump in and try it.
Things to consider include.
Are you printing these with a enlarger or making a contact print. If it's a contact print you can't crop.
Does your camera have enough bellows draw for the longer lens up close.
Can your tripod support a camera with three feet of bellows out?
I would use faster film as grain wouldn't be an issue.
Are you going to shoot open shade like in the Avedon photo or use flash like Avedon often did. If using flash you might have to consider big pack and head units like the old Speedatron 2400's as you need about f16 of light or more and you loose power going into the softbox or umbrella. The 450C is f12.5 wide open, so I often shot at f45.

It's a great project. Start, fail, continue to learn. Repeat until you run out of money/energy/time or all three.

But remember, it's suppose to be fun.
Also remember, fun's a funny word.
-Rob