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Helmut Newton was another Rolleiflex portraitist.
Portraits with TLR
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Notice that that camera was a gift to Avedon. He may never even have used it.
Own Richard Avedon's one-of-a-kind Leica M6!
Bonhams is offering a rare chance to own a piece of photography history as Avedon's Leica is auctionedwww.digitalcameraworld.com
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And what a wonderful composition. Look how the wrist forms a space above the rectangle and the woman onthe right gazes into the perspective of the image. The seperate legs so beautifully positioned. Tonal graduations. Need I go on?
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Who is the subject of the portrait? The model? Helmut? Or most probably, June? Group portrait, although they are all in separate planes, occupied with different things...?
Definitely Newton. The butt comes second.
As the saying goes "a poor workman blames his tools".......
Wikipedia: A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant.
MattKing
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Portraits come in all sorts of flavours.
Queen Elizabeth II according to Cecil Beaton:
And Pablo Casals according to Yousuf Karsh:
I'm curious @RezaLoghme - how much experience do you have using a TLR? Does any of that experience include photographs of people?
Queen Elizabeth II according to Cecil Beaton:
And Pablo Casals according to Yousuf Karsh:
I'm curious @RezaLoghme - how much experience do you have using a TLR? Does any of that experience include photographs of people?
"It's not the ships, It's the men in them."
And he always wore a trench coat when shooting nudes.
Or the Paris exterior visible through the window? I think Newton is also ironically picking on some classic examples for studio-scenes here.
Yes with a lowly Rolleiflex 3.5 (the very early one, let me check the model designation). Oh, and a Lubitel.
I think it was this one.
And this one:
Lomography - Lomopedia: Lubitel 166 Universal
The last of the Lubitel series of cameras manufactured by LOMO, the Lubitel 166 Universal was introduced in 1980 and manufactured until 1993. Find out more about this classic Russian TLR in this installment of Lomopedia!
The pics you posted, were they taken with a MF TLR?
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Oh dear here we go again! what camera is best? What format should the camera have? So on and so forth.
In my early days when I was at the bottom of the learning curve there was only one camera that was ever used for portraiture in the club I belonged to. Well one type of camera and that was a 120 film twin lens reflex of almost any make. Oh yes I remember there was one member who used a Bronica SLR which, when the shutter was tripped made the models jump with the noise. There was no use of a eye level prism just the standard waist-level finder and the camera was always on a tripod, and using a cable release. The 75mm - 80mm lens was ideal for natural perspective.
Most of the portraits were semi-classical in style with the subject on a seat or leaning against a support of some kind and the lighting was ALWAYS flood lighting. Flash as we know it now was not really an option because there was no sensor to control the exposure. The flood lighting also allowed the photographer to control the shadows and highlights before the actual shutter was tripped. There were hardly ever any failures!
When it came to competitions although some of the images were similar in style it was always tense to see who would come first - it was never certain.
The quality of the B&W printing had to be seen to be believed. Always on double-weight, fibre base, (resin coated came several decades later) Kodak Bromesco warm tone, and by golly it was warm unlike the what passes for the current Warm-Tone sold by manufacturers today.
What I am attempting to get over to others it is not the camera, lens, film, printing (wet or dry) it is the person behind the camera with the skill, and insight how to get the best out what they were using or photographing.
In my early days when I was at the bottom of the learning curve there was only one camera that was ever used for portraiture in the club I belonged to. Well one type of camera and that was a 120 film twin lens reflex of almost any make. Oh yes I remember there was one member who used a Bronica SLR which, when the shutter was tripped made the models jump with the noise. There was no use of a eye level prism just the standard waist-level finder and the camera was always on a tripod, and using a cable release. The 75mm - 80mm lens was ideal for natural perspective.
Most of the portraits were semi-classical in style with the subject on a seat or leaning against a support of some kind and the lighting was ALWAYS flood lighting. Flash as we know it now was not really an option because there was no sensor to control the exposure. The flood lighting also allowed the photographer to control the shadows and highlights before the actual shutter was tripped. There were hardly ever any failures!
When it came to competitions although some of the images were similar in style it was always tense to see who would come first - it was never certain.
The quality of the B&W printing had to be seen to be believed. Always on double-weight, fibre base, (resin coated came several decades later) Kodak Bromesco warm tone, and by golly it was warm unlike the what passes for the current Warm-Tone sold by manufacturers today.
What I am attempting to get over to others it is not the camera, lens, film, printing (wet or dry) it is the person behind the camera with the skill, and insight how to get the best out what they were using or photographing.
This is what a TLR is capable of. In this case a Rolleiflex Automat. I personally prefer the perspective when the subject is seated.
Somewhere around 5.6, minimum focus distance and handheld.
Scan of darkroom print.
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They're both sitting
And like you said, seated.
I'm sensing an overall theme to TLR portraits. Personally I live TLRs I have a bunch of them, no Rolleiflex yet but a bunch of other ones. It's a different mindset when shooting a TLR from an SLR. Not better, not worse but different. I've found that as an adult shooting my kids the TLR can be pretty handy. As long as they hold still.
TLR/SLR oder Waist Level Finder to prism?
Too dogmatically defined. While it is frequently associated with the head or face, the main point of the word is its relation to portrayal.
portrait(n.)
1560s, "a figure, drawn or painted," a back formation from portraiture or directly from French portrait, from Old French portret (13c.), noun use of past participle of portraire "to paint, depict" (see portray).This recent photo of mine was rejected from a flickr portrait group, presumably because the face is not very visible, so while you are not alone in your view that it must include the face, it's also not universally accepted.
Well I did not write the definition.
www.merriam-webster.com
"a pictorial representation of a person usually showing the face"
www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com
"a painting, drawing or photograph of a person, especially of the head and shoulders"
www.britannica.com
"a painting, drawing, or photograph of a person that usually only includes the person's head and shoulders"
Dont think the definition is too far off...
Definition of PORTRAIT
picture; especially : a pictorial representation of a person usually showing the face; a sculptured figure : bust; a graphic portrayal in words… See the full definition
www.merriam-webster.com
portrait noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com
Definition of portrait noun in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
Portrait Definition & Meaning | Britannica Dictionary
PORTRAIT meaning: 1 : a painting, drawing, or photograph of a person that usually only includes the person's head and shoulders; 2 : a detailed description of something or someone
Dont think the definition is too far off...
I can see nothing wrong with this picture. It is different certainly, and clearly a female and there is nothing offensive about it. I think they are being a bit too 'picky'. Perhaps the lady has a disfigurement that she didn't want shown and didn't want photographing from the front. They need to get out a bit more!
Hmmmm. The more I look at it the more it appeals.
No disfigurement, just a different angle invoking a different emotion (at least to me). I like to experiment and get bored with always following the rules.
I have a TLR in my camera Arsenal but it does not get a lot of use. I bought an almost mint TLR Yashicamat complete with a Rollie ser1 yellow filter and hood around a year ago. No it isn't a Rollie but the filter and hood fit. It is working beautifully. The meter is a bit iffy, (Battery problems) but a Minolta Autometer 3 is a more accurate substitute.
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It's a different mindset shooting from a waist level finder than an eye level prism.
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That's the great feature of the mid to late Rolleis, the sport finder with the eyelevel mirror to focus and the open sport finder to frame. Easy to switch between waist level and eye level compositions at the creative whim of the photographer.
Using an entomology dictionary might lead us to think a urinator (19th century) was a modern day swimmer. Notwithstanding the two are often done simultaneously.
Also cherry picking can support the opposite point. left behind-
Especially a picture or representation of the head and face of a person drawn from life.
Also cherry picking can support the opposite point. left behind-
Especially a picture or representation of the head and face of a person drawn from life.
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