Favorite Portrait Recipes: Camera/Film/Dev Etc,

[TheFlyingCamera]

Alex_cave- Rodinal is too still available!

 

[alex_cave]

where at?

 

[vdonovan]

Freestyle

 

[raucousimages]

Camera, any 4X5.
Lens, 250mm Imagon or 300mm normal lens of almost any brand.
Film, Plus-X (I stocked up on 4X5)
Developer, Ansco Hyfinol. Hasen't been made since the 1950s but I have enough to do the last of my Plus-X.
Lighting. Window light with a white reflector.

 

[nsouto]

equal time between a
nikkor 85/1.8 and 105/2.5 on a F2AS or F4
and a
Minolta-M 90/4 on a ZM Zeiss r/f

all on b&w, of course.

Still haven't made up my mind which is my final choice.
Each has its own thing going:

the Minolta is ultra-sharp (careful!) and the r/f is just sooo portable,
the 105 is to die for in close crop face shots,
the 85 is just purrfect for half-body shots.

aw, stuff it: I'll just keep using them all!

 

[nsouto]

85mm Jupiter-9 M42

A lovely, lovely lens.

got one of those for my r/f. I get a big glare centre spot when using it outdoors, otherwise a very good portrait lens. any tips how to avoid the glare other than with a monster lens hood?

 

[2F/2F]

Favorite recipe is to start with a sound concept. If you have that, all else falls into place nicely.

Technically speaking, I like a 250mm lens on 645 or 6x6, 135 on small format, or 360 on 4x5 for a tight shot. If doing a tight head shot on 8x10, I would really want an 800mm lens. A fast film is usually my film of choice, but if shooting small format, I will try to go as slow as the light will allow. I have used down to ISO 16 (Pan F), but usually I will use FP4.

For a not-so-tight shot, or a slightly environmental portrait, I like a 50mm to 85mm on small format, 150mm, 180mm, or 210mm on 4x5, 100mm to 150mm on medium format.

For an environmental portrait, anything from 90mm to 127mm on large format, 20-35mm on small format, and 45-65mm on medium format.

In short, pretty much every common lens imaginable. In the end, a successful portrait really comes down to what the picture is about, not the literal picture.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Very interesting how you use different lenses for different environments. Food for thought for sure.

- Thomas

Favorite recipe is to start with a sound concept. If you have that, all else falls into place nicely.

Technically speaking, I like a 250mm lens on 645 or 6x6, 135 on small format, or 360 on 4x5 for a tight shot. If doing a tight head shot on 8x10, I would really want an 800mm lens. A fast film is usually my film of choice, but if shooting small format, I will try to go as slow as the light will allow. I have used down to ISO 16 (Pan F), but usually I will use FP4.

For a not-so-tight shot, or a slightly environmental portrait, I like a 50mm to 85mm on small format, 150mm, 180mm, or 210mm on 4x5, 100mm to 150mm on medium format.

For an environmental portrait, anything from 90mm to 127mm on large format, 20-35mm on small format, and 45-65mm on medium format.

In short, pretty much every common lens imaginable. In the end, a successful portrait really comes down to what the picture is about, not the literal picture.

 

[mabman]

got one of those for my r/f. I get a big glare centre spot when using it outdoors, otherwise a very good portrait lens. any tips how to avoid the glare other than with a monster lens hood?

Bad sample, maybe? I haven't experienced what you're talking about on my M42 version, so I can't think of anything off-hand...

 

[Keith Tapscott.]

Mamiya RZ67 Pro II with 110mm and 180mm lenses with UV filters. Ilford HP5 Plus exposed at box speed and developed in D-76/ID11 diluted 1+1 for 13 minutes at 20C. The negatives enlarge easily with a full tonal range onto normal paper grades, usually Multigrade IV or Kentona.