Photographing Children With Large Format

jimgalli · Aug 9, 2006

Great thread and great fun.

Done with Kodak 8X10 2D / Packard shutter / Bausch & Lomb 15" Plastigmat Portrait lens. I had the camera set and focused on the toy 4 wheeler, film in place, dark slide removed. I asked both grandsons to hop on for a photo but Caedon's exuberance was completely unexpected. That's when it's nice to be ready. Cadunka went the packard!

Lovely Annie is my neice. She's 12 and a little self conscious but when asked to just ignore me and keep reading her book, she complied. Wolly 12" Velostigmat on the Kodak 8X10 2D

First few minutes of grogginess right after a nap. Caedon sought refuge in his dad's arms and I had time to aim the 5X7 Kodak at them. 15" B&L Projection Petzval / Packard shutter.

With the Packard you sometimes have to forego a perfect negative that would print how you want it to on Platinum. Often they are overexposed and flat. To my way of thinking that's not too high a price to pay to 'get the shot' with the vintage lenses and equipment.

BradS · Sep 20, 2006

Another of my favorites....

Wollensak 127mm Raptar, Crown Graphic, 320TXP, HC-110 (1+39)

naturephoto1 · Sep 20, 2006

Hi Brad,

Nice image. And really really sharp for a scan. I didn't know those Wollies were that sharp. How does it enlarge?

Rich

Alex Hawley · Sep 20, 2006

naturephoto1 said:
Hi Brad,

Nice image. And really really sharp for a scan. I didn't know those Wollys were that sharp. How does it enlarge?

Rich

I agree, great shot Brad.

Rich, I can speak for the Wollies. I have a 135 for my Graphic View and its given me some of my best shots ever. They are really underated IMO.

Nicole · Sep 20, 2006

I am so impressed with the work shown here. Jim, incredible!!

Alex Hawley · Sep 20, 2006

Nicole, we're waiting for you to jump in here!

Nicole · Sep 20, 2006

Alex, all good things come to those who wait.

Alex Hawley · Sep 20, 2006

Fair enough Nicole!

papagene · Sep 23, 2006

Wonderful thread... thanks Alex for starting it. Now I have to go and try and dig up some lf (4x5) shots of my girls when they were much yopunger.

gene

BradS · Sep 24, 2006

naturephoto1 said:
Hi Brad,

Nice image. And really really sharp for a scan. I didn't know those Wollies were that sharp. How does it enlarge?

Rich

Hi Rich,

Thanks. The little Raptar is an interesting lens. It's coverage is really quite inadequate for 4x5 (just barely covers even at this distance - forget about infinity) but I continue to use it because of the unique look it produces. It is sharp when stopped down - like anything...I guess. It's a 4/3 design so, it should be competitive with comparable tessar derived lenses.

I've not had this neg printed. I should.

DrPablo · Oct 9, 2006

I'm pretty new to LF, but I was able to get this and one other on my 4x5 (Kodak Portra 160NC). This is my brother's family, and my niece is 5 and nephew 2. I had them sit around there while setting up the camera, arranged the toys in the foreground, and didn't ask them to smile until the film was in and I was ready to trip the shutter.

I printed a 24x24" canvas transfer of this for my brother's birthday.

MattKing · Oct 10, 2006

Paul:
What a great shot, and a great and thoughtful gift!

Bet you had a lot of people watching you.

DrPablo · Oct 10, 2006

Thanks, Matt!

Yes, I did attract a bit of attention, but hey, at least I looked like I knew what I was doing!

BradS · Oct 11, 2006

Paul,

Fantastic photo. Thanks for sharing.

Brad.

SuzanneR · Nov 5, 2006

I've decided to make a bigger effort to work with LF for portraits, and today I've been playing around with type 56 (sepia) polaroid, 4x5 camera, a monolight and softbox, which is totally new for me. Tthe kids get to "pop" the shutter. Thought I'd share what we've got so far, because they want to make more!!

This has been big fun today!

I've edited this post to add a third image... granted, I didn't quite line things up, and I'm not really in the frame!

matti · Nov 6, 2006

Nice! I really like the third picture.

/matti

Alex Hawley · Nov 6, 2006

Very nice Suzanne!

catem · Nov 6, 2006

These are great, Suzanne. The first I especially like, and the others are intriguing ...looks like a good start, hope to see more.

Cate

SuzanneR · Nov 6, 2006

Thanks so much everyone. This was so much fun to do, and a very different way to work for me. I loved it!

Although, it's easy to make stupid mistakes! For example, if you put the polaroid back in, well... backwards, you won't get a pic! Oh.. and keep the rollers in the polaroid back clean, or you'll get a faintly fogged image. Especially when it's particularly good one of you and your older son! But I have this one where he exclaiming "blast off" as he presses the shutter!!

Vaughn · Dec 14, 2006

I am doing a series with my boys...

I have three 9 year old boys and I have been photographing them with my 8x10 for the past 7 years or so. In the landscape, generally very small (no larger than an inch tall on an 8x10 neg. -- often much less)

Exposure times are usually in the 30 sec to one minute range, but occassionally less. Some movement is expected and is fine with me -- part of the process and the passing of time.

The end results are platinum/palladium prints.

I have a neg here on my desk I just took of the boys at the base of Bridalvail Falls in Yosemite (during a Thanksgiving-break trip) -- looking forward to printing it! Exposure was 15 seconds. Taken with a 210mm lens, the image of the boys are 5mm tall on the negative. I should have worked out hand signals better before hand since they could not hear me over the falls and creek.

Not the usual child photography with a view camera -- but fun. I'll keep the series going as long as the boys are willing!

Vaughn

brummelisa · Apr 2, 2007

I take only portraits with my LF (4x5") and almost only children.
The thing that I love the most with just LF and portraits of children is that usually the children (in life) are super-happy and can't stand still. But when they are being photographed with LF they can't stand still and usually they won't even smile (I never say that they should smile or not) they just stand there and I think that the power in such images are much easier to get when using an LF.

/ Marcus

David A. Goldfarb · Apr 2, 2007

Sometimes the ones that "don't work" have an odd way of working. That's my sister trying to manage our son on the left (3 months) and her twin girls (about 4.5 months).

walter23 · Apr 3, 2007

Can't you just hit them with a tranquilizer dart or something?

Vaughn · Apr 3, 2007

David A. Goldfarb said:
Sometimes the ones that "don't work" have an odd way of working. That's my sister trying to manage our son on the left (3 months) and her twin girls (about 4.5 months).

I did a series of manipulated SX-70 photos of my triplets before they learned to crawl -- it was great! You could place them anywhere and they could not get away! Once my boys learned to crawl, it was like sweeping ants -- yeah, you can get them into a pile, but they won't stay in one!

Vaughn

David A. Goldfarb · Apr 4, 2007

Triplets, good heavens!

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