Large format portraits with shallow focus

[Ian David]

Hi there
One thing I have not done much of with the 4x5 is precision portraiture. But I am now thinking of doing a set of portraits of my numerous older siblings. One of the looks I want to experiment with is the very shallow depth of field, with super-sharp eyes but quite fast fall-off of focus through the nose and ears. My concern with this is keeping the focus spot-on while closing the shutter, putting in the film holder, pulling the dark slide, and making the exposure. Apart from simply asking my sitters to keep very still, and working on my speed, are there any cunning tricks I haven't thought of? (A related issue is getting the shallow focus right in a 4x5 self-portrait with air bulb release...)
One approach would be to have the sitter sit with the back of their head against a wall, although that may pose problems with unwanted shadows.
Grateful for your thoughts!
Ian

 

[SuzanneR]

You can try the "string" trick, where you literally hold a piece of string between the sitter and the lens, figure out its precise length for the focus. Then, when you have the dark slide out, you can check the distance between the lens and the sitter to be sure they are at the plane where you have the focus with the proper length of string.

 

[removed account4]

hi

you can also have you sitter close their eyes and "relax"
after you focus on them.
it will allow them to recompose themselves as you tell them to
look at the camera ..

i have done a bit of wide open portraits like this, and it works best
after you decide on a pose, and when dof is barely there.

good luck!
john

 

[DeBone 75]

If you are developing and enlarging these your self you could try to do it with the enlarger. Focus as sharp as you want the eyes and while exposing the paper do the eyes as required then dodge them and gently bump the enlarger. I have seen this done with other subjects. Looked pretty good.

 

[BenZucker]

How close are you trying to get, filling the frame with just a head or more pulled back? I have shot a number of portraits pretty close, and i find that in terms of the focus, weather you are wide open or super closed down that you still have to be precise with the focus. Sure the additional DOF from shooting at say f22 compared to f5.6 will make parts of the face that you didn't focus on (everything but the eyes) closer to being in focus, but I could always see distinctly what was actually in focus. One thing that I found out very quick was to make sure the tripod I was using was very sturdy, this has a huge effect when working close up (with a flimsy tripod its easy to move the camera when you are adjusting the lens/shutter and putting in the film holder). Also try to re-focus as often as you, I usually try to not shoot more than 3 frames with out opening up and checking focus. Hope this helps.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

The string trick is very reliable. I put a knot in the string, focus while the subject is holding the string taut to their nose, and then I can use the string to check focus after inserting the film, removing the darkslide, and cocking the shutter. The other end of the string is tied to a fixed point on the tripod. You can shoot 8x10" and larger at a wide aperture, and just about every frame will be dead on.

 

[Ian David]

Thanks for the ideas everyone. Much appreciated.
Ben, I am planning to get in quite close so it will be pretty easy to cock the focus up.
Suzanne and David, I particularly like the string idea - such an obviously sensible solution that hadn't occurred to me! I will see how I get on. If all else fails, I guess I can always move back down to MF for this project...
Ian

 

[brian d]

not to sound clich'e but you might want to practise on some still life shots first, flowers or something to help have a system down before you start on people
good luck

 

[Larry.Manuel]

In high school days, the commercial photographer had a wooden fixed focus camera and a chain that he pulled out to each person's nose just before the exposure. That was early / mid 1970's in northern Ontario. If I recall, he wound the film on, implying, to me, 120 or 220.

You might want to look at some depth of field calculations - [for example] a 135mm lens at f/4.5 has a very shallow D.O.F., especially in close. You may find what you want at f/8. [I'm no expert in 4x5, so do your own thing.]

 

[BetterSense]

Seems like if you had an SLR or view camera with a fast lens, you could set it up next to the 'real' camera and peep it to make sure the subject hasn't moved.

I don't quite understand the attraction of the razor-thin DOF done on purpose. I understand the appeal of isolating your subject, but to me, the subject is the person, and to me it seems basic taste that the person or at least their face should be in focus.

 

[Ian David]

Thanks for the further suggestions. Some more food for thought...

One of the beauties of photographing my brothers and sisters is that, as family, they are almost obliged to put up with a bit of trial and error on my part!

I don't quite understand the attraction of the razor-thin DOF done on purpose. I understand the appeal of isolating your subject, but to me, the subject is the person, and to me it seems basic taste that the person or at least their face should be in focus.

Yeah, it's just one look I want to play around with, amongst others. But I have seen it very effectively used on occasion. The subject is the person, but some would probably say that the eyes reveal the person. Anyway I'm not sure what approach I will ultimately go with for the final prints, but I want to experiment a bit.
Ian

 

[colrehogan]

I did some portraits of my husband and our next door neighbor as they sat outside and played cards last week. I don't know how in focus the images were, I was not directing them and I was also using a lens with an air bulb release. I couldn't fill the frame without getting in the way, so I didn't worry too much. I was using a 270 mm Crown Anastigmat. I was hoping to shoot wide open at f/4.5, but the shutter speed was too fast for my old Compound shutter. I had to stop down just to get the shutter speed within the capability of the shutter.

I developed several of the negs today, but haven't had a chance to look at them.

 

[Rolleiflexible]

you can also have you sitter close their eyes and "relax"
after you focus on them.
it will allow them to recompose themselves as you tell them to
look at the camera ..

There is a risk to this. I have
come to appreciate that most
people sway when they close
their eyes, side to side, front
to back.

 

[removed account4]

There is a risk to this. I have
come to appreciate that most
people sway when they close
their eyes, side to side, front
to back.

very true ...
i guess one needs to gauge their sitter
to see how sway-ish they are, and figure
out which method ( string, plastic egg, chain, headclamp/rest &C )
works best ... i tend to have a conversation with them
get the rough focus, fiddle with the pose, and then tell them
how they need to be still for a second &C ...
it is the best when the dof is razor thin and the exposure is
between 15 and 30 seconds

sometimes over fiddling around, playing with the focus, eggs, strings &C
leaves the sitter wondering what the heck is going on ...

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Another method that I use it to study the shadows on the face closely while focusing. I'm usually looking at details like where the nose shadow meets the top lip. Then when the filmholder is in place, shutter cocked, darkslide removed, I can adjust the head slightly so the shadows line up as they did when I was focusing, and most of the time the leading eye will be in focus. It's not quite as reliable as the string trick, but it works most of the time.

 

[DanielStone]

i shot some head and shoulder, really shallow DOF portraits of my immediate family members 6 months ago or so, and i had them sit across the bathtub (yes, legs sticking out the side, hanging over the edge). since the wall in that bathroom is white, i had them wear a white t-shirt, and them being able to rest their head against the wall helped maintain focus. i focused on the eyes, and after developing, ALL were just as I wanted them! I attached two Nikon speed-lights with pocketwizards, and bounced them off the ceiling in order to bring all the tones up a bit, and since the only 4x5 film i had at the time was 4x5 QL acros, i needed all the help i could get

here is an example of my mum from that little get-together of my family

not edited, but an idea of what i was doing

-dan

 

[Shangheye]

I use Tilt. It is surprising how much movement the sitter can make in the tilted plane of focus, since it would now run "through" where their head is, not just up to it as with normal parallel plane of focus, where distance is critical...K

 

[eddym]

There is a risk to this. I have
come to appreciate that most
people sway when they close
their eyes, side to side, front
to back.

Simple solution: just staple the string to their upper lip. If you shoot fast, you can get some great expressions!

 

[erikg]

Simple solution: just staple the string to their upper lip. If you shoot fast, you can get some great expressions!

ha! Like Karsh pulling Churchill's cigar from his mouth.
John, what are the plastic eggs for?

Slightly ot: graflex slr are great for this type of photography.

 

[keithwms]

Oh do I have a solution for you....

http://neatorama.cachefly.net/images/2006-07/daguerreotype-head-clamp.jpg

Indeed it is possible to get very smooth shallow-DOF effects at the enlarger- you just take a reasonable DOF shot and put some angle between the plane of the film and the paper. You can easily throw the focus in any direction you want... or in multiple directions if you shim the paper creatively. I've done this a few times recently with slide film... putting some angle between the slide and some b&w duping film, and then contact printing the dupe.

 

[Ian David]

Yes, that head clamp is exactly what I am looking for, Keith. Probably nobody sells such useful things (although it looks like something my dentist may have hidden away somewhere) - so I guess I should build one. It would need to be pretty robust in case my sitters start to struggle...

I would definitely prefer to do the shallow DOF with the camera, rather than the enlarger if possible.

 

[keithwms]

P.S. A *very* easy way to do this is with 35mm... using a longish fast AF lens or just a manual lens with focus confirmation. E.g. the nikon 105/1.8 gives extremely shallow DOF. Let's see, I think that's what I did for this (on the left) quick handheld shot. Getting the focus right is very easy, and if you screw up one frame, hey, it's 35mm roll film, who cares. You can 'bracket' the aperture if you wish. If you do your shooting to slide (e.g. astia or scala or some other dr5 processed b&w) then you can make a 4x5 or larger dupe neg on b&w and off you go.

Beware that super-isolated DOF has become quite the fad lately, but... I'll admit it is fun to play with.

P.S. For ultra shallow DOF with no focus difficulties, I also use the Nikon 50/1.2, it's great fun.

 

[removed account4]

ian

the thing to do is get your set-up and practice with a friend &C ..
kind of like a dry-run ...
have the person sit, do some sort of chit-chat as you focus and all that stuff
... have them pose ... and see how things work for you.
the hardest part of any portrait is making the person
not realize they are in front of a camera ( or maybe not )
and getting your "routine" down so you can focus their eyes ( or maybe not ),
notice everything as you lock your focus ...
then stand next to the camera and get them to do what you want , so they aren't fidgeting around while
you focus + refocus &C ...
what fstop are you hoping to shoot at ? you have a little bit of leeway
sometimes ... ( even wide open! )

ha! Like Karsh pulling Churchill's cigar from his mouth.
John, what are the plastic eggs for?

Slightly ot: graflex slr are great for this type of photography.

the plastic egg is that thing tied to the end of a string, and it is just barely long enough
to touch the sitter's nose ... you know, like 3rd grade picture day

and i agree the graflex slr is the ideal camera for portraits like this!

 

[gerryyaum]

You can try the "string" trick, where you literally hold a piece of string between the sitter and the lens, figure out its precise length for the focus. Then, when you have the dark slide out, you can check the distance between the lens and the sitter to be sure they are at the plane where you have the focus with the proper length of string.

Love this idea..thanks ...when I shot some tight heads recently I was always worried that they had moved as I was running back behind the camera again after adjusting aperture....this string thing should help

 

[raucousimages]

I use the string trick all the time but i use the corner of the closest eye, not the nose. Some of my portraits have the eye in focus but the nose and ear are out of focus. I love the look of an extremely shallow DOF.

Another trick if you have the movements is to us a a generous amount of front tilt to give yo just a horizontal line that is in focus then do the same with rear swing to give a vertical line in focus. The overall effect is a spot in the center in focus and the rest of the image is out of focus.