Axis lighting

[juan]

I've always been fascinated by the limb effect Edward Weston (and others) got with axis lighting (and I'm talking about with sunlight, not artificial light.) I've gotten that effect in my own photograhs occasionally, but frequently have one big problem.

After carefully setting up the view camera, focusing, etc., I pull my head out from under the dark cloth and realize my shadow, and the shadow of the camera is smack dab in the middle of the scene.

How did Weston avoid this? Longer lens to get the camera farther away? Middle of the day shooting so the shadows are shorter? Something else?
juan

 

[k_jupiter]

One of the things he did was shoot with a Graplex R.B. SLR Camera. Hence the camera position was relatively low.


tim in san jose