Photographing Children With Large Format

[MattCarey]

I have to admit, I cheated...

 

[GraemeMitchell]

Silicon lube is a GREAT idea for holders/back! Getting in is never aproblem, it's pulling out where I trip up.

(Ray Bidegain good to see you on here. We met a few times when I lived in Portland. I was Steve Steckly's assistant, but also frequented Tim Diggles horse shoe tourneys. Your platinum work is beautiful.)

 

[SuzanneR]

Yesterday was a boring day for me and my kids. They are home all summer, and we've been going to the local pool. I'm getting al little weary of the pool scene, so I decided it was time to try out this wobbly old 8x10 instead of yet another afternoon at the pool. I bought it from another APUGger last winter just for yucks!!!

Anyway, I figured the only way to get the kids into it, was to involve them in the whole process. So, they came into the darkroom when I loaded the film holders. Then we took everything outside. Set up a couple of chairs. I focussed... found I needed to find a missing screw to keep the front end of the camera reasonably still. Then I let the kids have a look through the ground glass. Mom!!! You're upside down!!!!

I figured, I needed about a 4 second exposure. I'm probably deep in reciporcity failure territory, but what the hell! The lens doesn't have a shutter, and the cover is attached with a hinge. I'm pretty sure it doesn't close all the way because I have some fogging.I had a feeling that might happen, and it seemed impossible to pull the dark slide, and keep the lens tightly covered! Then... the momentous occasion to make the exposure, and the whole camera moves as I open up the lens!!

After dinner, the kids come with me into the darkroom, and endure about 12 minutes in total darkness processing the film. One sheet was black, and one, YAY! has an image!! This morning, I went back into the darkroom with them. They made photograms, and I made a quick print of our one successful exposure. We printed on some out of date RC paper I have on hand. Don't want to get the good stuff out when they are there. You can never be sure if a sudden urge to run out the door overtakes them when you have your box of expensive paper open!

Attached... the spectacularly sh*tty result! Dust, fogging, and camera shake all rolled into one!! Nonetheless, a very productive photographic day!

 

[Ray Bidegain]

Silicon lube is a GREAT idea for holders/back! Getting in is never aproblem, it's pulling out where I trip up.

(Ray Bidegain good to see you on here. We met a few times when I lived in Portland. I was Steve Steckly's assistant, but also frequented Tim Diggles horse shoe tourneys. Your platinum work is beautiful.)

Graeme:

when did you move to NYC? you have kickin web site full of nice work.

Ray

 

[kwmullet]

POP print from a 4x5 neg shot with my anniversary speed graphic with the bellows cranked way out. Too close for using any kind of viewfinder, I just chased my (then) three and a half month-old daughter around while firing off a grafmatic full of HP5 and pointing the (handheld, at about 1/25 sec I think) camera where I think the plane of focus was.

I've decided the lines next to her face are uneven development from me being foolish enough to use Diafine in a Yankee tank.


-KwM-

 

[df cardwell]

Ray

Wonderful

 

[Nathan Smith]

I've done this once - it was my first trial of my Eastman 2D 5x7 with a 4x5 back and Dagor lens. We were going through the "goofy forced smile" phase, so I showed her a picture of the Mona Lisa and asked her if she could smile like that. She worked really hard to copy it

It's in my gallery (there was a url link here which no longer exists) so I won't reload it.

I hope to do a lot more of this, my kids are starting to get used to having a camera pointed at them on a regular basis so they're becoming little supermodels.

Nathan

 

[SuzanneR]

With the glaring exception of mine, the photographs in this thread are FANTASTIC!!

Well worth the effort to get the little ones in front of big cameras!! Can't wait to do some more!

 

[removed account4]

hey there

i photograph my kids from time to time with a big camera, and while i have done this with a 5x7 and press camera, in somewhat static situations, i have found it WAY- easier to make kid-lf-portraits with a graflex slr. it is so much easier to look down and push a button in real-time, rather than do the focus, close shutter, stick film in release shutter thingy

they were all taken with avail. light ...
(i've posted all but the middle one before ... )

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added later
==============

i just realized that i didn't really tell any of the circus act of the actual taking the pictures.

the first one was taken on easter sunday. we were all on the back porch before heading off to easter dinner. we decided that it might be a nice time to take some family photos, since the sun was nice and it reflects really nice off of the vinyl siding

i had the camera up pretty high -- maybe 6' ? and i was standing on a chair. our daugher enjoys reading, so she just sat there wondering when i was going to take the photograph ( her mom is a lot faster ) ... so when i was ready i just asked her to do whatever she wanted to do, so she just started reading one of the many junk mail catalogs we have ...

the second one was taken a few weeks ago. he was just looking out the window at the front yard one morning, and the light seemed nice. i had chrome film in the holder, and a brass lens on the camera, so it was going to be trial by fire. i made believe i was taking a few frames before he was relaxed enough for me to make the actual exposure - which was a guess - i estimated the fstop of the lens ( between 5 and 6), and figured if wide open at 1/15S was good enough ...

the third one was on the front lawn. at that time i had no idea what any of the speeds of the shutter were. ( since then i have had the speeds checked) ... i just guessed that there were kind of slow, so i ran around chasing her around. then she turned around and ran to me. i siezed the moment and caught her eye so she looked UP.
the black and white photos were processed in ansco 130 and are nice and not too too dense. there is a kind of tonal shift when i use that developer on sheet film that doens't happen with other developers i have tried or roll film and the prints have a creamy olden look to them.

not sure if this is the sort of explaination you were looking for alex, but i guess i tried to explain something

--john

 

[df cardwell]

My niece has her picture taken often - her dad is an LF shooter as well !

This is a 2x3 portion of a 4x5 image I made with a Deardorff and 250 Sonnar.​

.

 

[eubielicious]

Here's a not very good example of a picture I took a while back after a christening. Actually the original negative was OK (apart from the strip of sunlight on the wall) but I did a contact print the wrong way round (left should be right and vice versa) and scanned it on a mucky cheapo scanner...

The 8 kids on the picture are all Helen's and perhaps just getting them all in the same picture at the same time was a minor miracle. I did like the fact that they all have different expressions on their faces!

Euan

 

[eubielicious]

I should mention that this was shot with my 4x5 Speed Graphic using HP5+, can't remember the shutter speed/aperture etc...

 

[Dirk-san]

This is an interesting topic, nice to read & look at the previous poster's comments and photos.

I think that when doing LF, with kids or without, it is important to throw all your preconceptions about taking pictures overboard and start anew. If you cannot or don't want to do that, perhaps it is better to stick with the 35mm or digital for child snaps, but I prefer to work for it and be surprised (and often frustrated).

 

[Alex Hawley]

Really wonderful work all around. Thanks to everyone so far for the nice discussion too.

 

[df cardwell]

DIRK-SAN
this is beautiful

 

[raucousimages]

I cheat. I us my children to set lights and pre focus the camera so when the kids come in I can work fast. With adults it is the other way. I don't have lights set and might not even know what format I am going to use. It is a very colaborative effort. But with kids when they are done...I'm done so I must work fast.

 

[Will S]

Here are a couple I've done letting the kids photograph each other. These negative scans are a little wierd, but I think the prints came out OK.

 

[Amund]

Since we`re all sharing...
Gowlandflex, handheld. TXP

 

[argus]

Amund,
that's a splendid image. The boy almost looks sculptured.


When our daughter Mieke was less than one that old, I took the LF kit to hospital. Natural light with some TL tube backing.

Dead Link Removed

Moments like those deserve to be photographed in a decent manner.

G

 

[glbeas]

Attached... the spectacularly sh*tty result! Dust, fogging, and camera shake all rolled into one!! Nonetheless, a very productive photographic day!

Looks a little like the spring holding the film in place is a bit weak. Did you have the darkcloth over the back when you pulled the slide? Also theres some threads somewhere here talking about using a "sock" type lens cover for shutter work. You could probably make one and have an easier time with that old lens. I just wish I could get kids in front of my camera! Mine are all grown and the two grandbabies live an hour and a half away.

 

[Robert Budding]

Here's a 4x5 shot with a 150mm lens.

 

[Dirk-san]

Here are a couple I've done letting the kids photograph each other. These negative scans are a little wierd, but I think the prints came out OK.

I like the look of these, esp. "imperfections" of focus. I hope the prints look similar.

Dirk

 

[GraemeMitchell]

Lovely stuff. This has been some of my favorite stuff I've seen on this site.

Will S. do you remember any of the details from those (film, lens, etc)?

 

[Ray Heath]

yeh, it's not easy, but great fun

how about, homemade box view camera, magnifying glass for lens, late afternoon, paper neg at ISO 12, 6 seconds @ f4.5

 

[Will S]

Lovely stuff. This has been some of my favorite stuff I've seen on this site.

Will S. do you remember any of the details from those (film, lens, etc)?

Yes, that is Polaroid Type 55, the lens is a Caltar IIN 135 I think. If not that it is a Symmar S 150. I can't remember which I had on, but I think the Caltar. I had it open all the way at 5.6 or stopped down just a little because I was metering at 40 for the type 55 and I wanted to keep the shutter speed up around 60.

Thanks for the nice comments. I've read and heard others say it, but I've really been impressed with how the sitter reflects back to the camera what the photographer is feeling/thinking. It's made me rethink how I relate to the subject when I'm using medium format and 35mm cameras.

Best,

Will