Advanced TLR techniques?

Hamster · Jul 9, 2009

I have used TLRs for over 15 years. At the beginning, before the internet, I just picked one up from the fleamarket and experimented with it.

Since then, I had read book like "the rollei way" and so on. But somehow I feel I am still very much not taking full advantage of the format. Most of my favorite pictures out of my Rollei were more by accident than skills.

Most of the information I found on the web were very basic like loading film or just simply camera fondling sites. I want to take better pictures, there are so many dents on my Rollei it will never be collectable.

Are there any resources on how to make the most out of TLRs? Or any old hands here have a trick or two they can pass on?

dpurdy · Jul 9, 2009

What model do you have? The camera was intended to be very simple. My greatest upgrade in picture quality came with starting to always use a tripod and, not for everyone but for me, a prism. Also a Maxwell screen or a Beattie bright screen will help to see what you are looking at. Another trick I guess is using a good hand held meter instead of the camera meter. And a lens hood is very important if you don't want flare.
Dennis

David William White · Jul 9, 2009

So what do you shoot (landscape, portraits, macro,...documentary or artistic, etc.) and is that black and white or colour? Is it optics & technicalities or composition tips you are looking for? Do you like printing square or do you compose for 8x10?

nemo999 · Jul 9, 2009

Main 2 points of "technique":
1) Use of square picture - frame the subject loosely to give lots of cropping options, or fill the square so that no one [else] can crop the picture afterwards.
2) "Waist level finder" - don't think it has to be at waist level all the time - without too much trouble, you can use a TLR with a WLF at any height from on or close to the ground, through to waist and eye level or even at a height of seven or eight feet by holding the camera upside-down over your head.

Mark Antony · Jul 9, 2009

Like David said above what do you shoot? I found that one of the best things I did was buy a Rolleinar close up, giving you much better head and shoulder portraits- get in close. Another thing is to start seeing square, it takes a little while to look for the sqaure especially if you come from 35mm. Aside from that if you want to know what works look at some books especially those who worked with TLRs like British photographer David Bailey some of his 1960's B&W is the Rollei at its best IMHO.
Mark

bdial · Jul 9, 2009

The most advanced WLF TLR techique I can think of is holding the camera upside down over your head to frame a shot over a crowd or other obstruction.

Hamster · Jul 9, 2009

I do mostly portraits, in B/W. My Rollei is a MX-EVS. I am familiar with all its operation, but i feel the way I photograph are very "formalized", lacking in spontaneity. For sure a lot of portraiture is to do with building the proper rapport with the sitter and also the lighting, but is there anything from the format that contributes to the picture?

I find the work I do with an 35mm (85mm lens) SLR to be good but the work from the Rollei to be very stiff. Maybe it is the tripod? I don't know, I shoot hand held too and the images feel stiff.

I have my own darkroom so I can print square and 8x10. In fact I got into photography because of my preference for the square format. Somehow I have lost the "eye" for it?

archphoto · Jul 9, 2009

Taking better pictures with a TLR starts with taking better pictures on 6x6, the square format and that requires a diferent way of looking compared with a 6x7 or 6x9 format.
The other thing is that you are stuck with a standard lens only, unless you have a Mamiya C series.

Q: what are you after ?
Rectangular shots ? > get some very fine tape and put 4 lines onto your screen: 2 for horizontal and 2 for vertical shots
Square shots ? > get a piece of black cardboard with a square hole in it and start practicing, looking through it for shots, in that way you train yourself in looking for square shots.

I realy think that your "problem" has nothing to do with either the camera or your technique, but is all related to how you look into the world.
And maybe, just maybe, the square 6x6 is not the thing for you and 6x4.5 is........ Only you can find that out.

Greetings,
Peter

archphoto · Jul 9, 2009

In the studio put your camera onto a tripod, have a good mental picture where your framing is and be away from the camera using a relaese.
Maybe that helps.

Sorry we were writing at the same time.....

And yes 6x6 requires a diferent approach, esp for portraits in a studio. Experience a bit, it will help.

Peter

Mark Antony · Jul 9, 2009

Too formal, sounds like things are too static. I like the approach where I hold the camera and after I have focussed just flick my eyes down but keep chatting. I actually like the immediacy of the close copped square, but sometimes I have the sitter look away out of the frame.
Anyhow less of my guff here is a link to a genius Rollei user (some square shots here on a 'blad' too:
David Bailey
Mark

Larry.Manuel · Jul 9, 2009

The tried and true method of getting to Carnegie Hall is practice, practice, practice. While you've been at it for 15 years, do you work with the Rollei nearly every day? Expose 3-4 rolls per week? Doing that for a year helped me to become very comfortable with my Rolleicord. After I while, I nearly forgot I was using it; concentrating on what was in front of the lens[es]. Good luck.

dpurdy · Jul 9, 2009

A second suggestion of an after market bright screen to make the view much easier to see. But as to stiffness, I don't think you are ever going to be as spontaneous looking down at a WLF as you are looking into a 35mm SLR prism. It is something you have to purposely work on. You think using a TLR is stiff, try using a view camera for portraits!! You really have to be good to get the stiffness out.

WolfTales · Jul 9, 2009

Most advanced technique I can think of is visualizing and framing a shot in a rectangle format while looking at the square view finder - so you can print on rectangular paper later on - ie - cropping in the negative instead of cropping on paper.

Christopher Walrath · Jul 9, 2009

It sounds to me like it's time to build a relationship with your format. Stay with me on this one. Take your camera, load on some film, and shoot the ever-lovin' crap right out of it. Fire away for days/weeks on end. Get to know that little square like the back of your hand. Reading your posts it just seems like you're uncomfortable and, given that most photographers see in either portrait or landscape and not in square, it's readily understandable. You need to find the square. I know this is zen-like, but there's a little something to it. It depends on how the mind works. Most people are conditioned and have a 3:2 mind when it comes to 'seeing'. You need to immerse yourself in the square. Just like the above poster mentioned, get some cardboard, a smallish piece you can fit into a pocket. Carry it with you EVERYWHERE. pull it out and look through it to see how the square takes shape. This will accomplish two things at once. One, you will probably be labelled a lunatic in the eye of the public for looking at the world through a piece of frickin' cardboard. And two, you will begin to train your mind to interpret what the eye receives in a different manner. Your brain sees a scene and fits it into a 4x6 composition. Now it's time to rewire that thinker and make 6x6.

'It's hip to be square' - Huey Lewis

'Make love to the camera.' - Ibid

Steve Smith · Jul 9, 2009

I think Kodak had the right idea: http://brightbytes.com/collection/kodak1_photos.html

Steve.

MattKing · Jul 9, 2009

Here is a good project for you - experiment with using your TLR to shoot movement and action.

It is hard, and you will get quite a few shots where you'll miss the subject completely, but you will also increase your ability to remain aware of the periphery, while focussing on the centre.

That may help increase your ability to be spontaneous and flexible when you use your TLR.

It will improve your wedding photos too .

Matt

Bosaiya · Jul 9, 2009

I print out gridlines on transparency material (for overhead projectors). I use double-lines on all four sides. This accomplishes a few things for me such as proper leveling when handheld and aid in composing if I know I'm going to have to crop for a print.

I'm thinking about printing a new one with motivational sayings or reminders on it.

GGardner · Jul 9, 2009

Upside down style

Hamster said:
Are there any resources on how to make the most out of TLRs? Or any old hands here have a trick or two they can pass on?

I recently saw old newsreel footage about some sporting event, and there was a photographer with a TLR with a WLF. Instead of holding the camera at waist level, he tilted his head back, so he was looking almost straight up, and held the camera upside-down, with the finder resting on his eye, and the taking lens pointing at his subject. He then took several shots, even focusing and winding on in that position. Anyone else use this technique? I guess it's useful for when you need a high point of view?

2F/2F · Jul 9, 2009

To make the most of it, don't focus on the camera. Focus on yourself. The camera simply does what a camera should do: works mechanically. The rest is up to you. If you are getting good pix only by luck after 15 years with the thing, it is not a technical issue. It's very possible that TLRs are just not your style. Nonetheless, the first things I might try would be some other subject matter that is more suitable to the camera's strong points.

Christopher Walrath · Jul 9, 2009

i have before with my SLR's and a WLV when I could not get quite high enough for the desired composition unless I inverted the camera. I had honestly forgotten until just now that I had done so.

Hamster · Jul 9, 2009

2F/2F said:
To make the most of it, don't focus on the camera. Focus on yourself. The camera simply does what a camera should do: works mechanically. The rest is up to you. If you are getting good pix only by luck after 15 years with the thing, it is not a technical issue. It's very possible that TLRs are just not your style. Nonetheless, the first things I might try would be some other subject matter that is more suitable to the camera's strong points.

I am inclined to agree to TLR not being my style. Perhaps another reason is the sitter these days have no patience. With a SLR there looks to be excitement and action, while with a TLR it puts my sitters to sleep.

Rolleiflexible · Jul 9, 2009

Hamster said:
I am inclined to agree to TLR not being my style. Perhaps another reason is the sitter these days have no patience. With a SLR there looks to be excitement and action, while with a TLR it puts my sitters to sleep.

I was going to stay out of this but this last
remark goaded me to chime in.

You might not have figured out how to make
a TLR a suitable camera for your work but
it is crazy to attribute it to the camera. Put
one in the hands of somebody who knows
how to use it, and I promise you it will not
put his sitters to sleep. Exhibit A: The
fashion photography of Richard Avedon,
shot with -- what else? -- a Rolleiflex:

Kinetic, vibrant, alive -- not sleeping.

Marcus S · Jul 10, 2009

You might have done all this already, but here it is.
Perhaps do some location portraits for a while so that your subjects are in a surrounding they are comfortable in. Studios are not for everyone.
In the studio, play music that they like. Use a longer cable release so that you can move away from the camera from time to time.

Marcus

Christiaan Phleger · Jul 10, 2009

Here's one I use with Rollei's and C330's, focus on the subject with the WLF, then bring the camera up to eyelevel and shoot, paying more attention to the subject and interacting with them. You'd be very surprised how natural the shots look, releasing yourself from constraints of looking down at the screen, and if you shoot a bit loose you can either crop to fit or I just leave the composition looser. You can use the 'sports finder' if you need more compositional help. Something about not shooting a waist level but eyelevel makes it quicker, allowing you to respond to the subject rather than direct it or wait for it.

Hamster · Jul 10, 2009

Rolleiflexible said:
You might not have figured out how to make
a TLR a suitable camera for your work but
it is crazy to attribute it to the camera. Put
one in the hands of somebody who knows
how to use it, and I promise you it will not
put his sitters to sleep. Exhibit A: The
fashion photography of Richard Avedon,
shot with -- what else? -- a Rolleiflex:

Kinetic, vibrant, alive -- not sleeping.

Agreed! Not a camera issue but a personality issue.

Any idea where I can find videos on how he work his sitters? I heard he is not "hands-on" as opposed to Bourdin.

Advanced TLR techniques?

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