Portraits with TLR

[Pieter12]

Have the subject hold a small ball of crumpled tin foil next to their nose. It will be easy to focus on. If there is not enough ambient light, you could shine a flashlight beam on the foil. But if there is so little light, you might have a hard time getting a decent exposure, too.

 

[eli griggs]

flashlight is normal flashlight that you keep it in the house. Typically when the light is dim its difficult to focus on ground glass then you shine a bit on the subject face...

I use continuous video light

View attachment 410753

This looks to be a Lume Cube type LED, of which I've pretty much built a full system, two Pro 2.0, one smaller "Go" panel, two square, waterproof cubes, two knock off cubes with barndoors, filters, honeycomb, funnel, etc.

For close-up and fill light im very happy and have a system of Vivitar 283 and 285 strobes for more power.

Light is always relevant and workinh with the light as it is, rarely calls for maximums or, for instance, Speeding Black Line strobes, etc.

Learning to work with your kit is half the battle of great shots, the rest just requires your imagination and practice.

IMO.

Eli

 

[Pieter12]

Is this a lighting thread now?

 

[Vaughn]

A portrait taken back in the mid-80s. Among many things, I ran a trail crew for the US Forest Service for all of the 80s. This was taken while working in the wilderness. I'll remember his name late tonight or in the early morning hours.

While I work mainly with large format cameras, the Rolleis have proven to be good portrait cameras for me...mostly to photograph my triplets as they grew (using color negative film). And mostly in the landscape, but closer to the camera than my work with the boys and the 8x10 (B&W).

Trailworker, 1980s
Yolla Bolly Middle Eel Wilderness Area, CA

Rolleiflex 3.5, 10x10 silver gelatin print, photographed with iPhone.

 

[Vaughn]

One more from that time.

Larry hit the beach in Vietnam as a marine in the 60s. Great man and hard worker -- went on to work in Wildlife Mgt. Taken at the cabin we worked out of at the edge of the wilderness.

Same camera, etc. as above.

 

[Cholentpot]

One more from that time.

Larry hit the beach in Vietnam as a marine in the 60s. Great man and hard worker -- went on to work in Wildlife Mgt. Taken at the cabin we worked out of at the edge of the wilderness.

Same camera, etc. as above.

If you don't mind me saying, this is a wonderful shot.

 

[LibraryTroll]

Hi,

I want to get more experience with portrait photography. Still no Pentax 67, but I have a beautiful Rolleiflex 3.5F with Rolleinar 1 and 2.

I have a Rick Oleson spilt screen ground glass in my Rolleiflex.

I lean on the coupled lichtmeter (yes I know....). I also use only natural light.

In some pictures I made, if found it hard to focus, and some portraits are slightly out of focus, maybe due to too open aperture, but don't know for sure.

Anyhow, tips and tricks are welcome!

Thanks in advance!

Hello,

I felt the need to circle back to the original question. It seems to have gotten buried in "helpful" responses. Yes, we all should remember that sometimes we just need to practice with the equipment that we have. (What's the saying? The best camera for the job is the one in your hand.... or something like that.) Would portraits be easier with a different camera or lens combo.... yes, no, maybe, and it depends on the person! Some people just can not abide using TLRs for whatever reasons. Totally fine! I hear that some people don't even like the form factor of a Hasselblad... total heresy, but okay, fine!

My introduction into medium format photography was my grandfather's old Yashica MAT-124 so I have had a soft spot for TLRs ever since he gave it to me. You have a very capable camera, which sounds like you have kitted out nicely. I have a similar setup with a Rolleicord Vb. I have used the Yashica Close-Up lens sets and Rolleinars. They take practice. Tripods do help since I find that the focal depth is still rather shallow when using close-up lenses even at smaller apertures.

I recently used a Rolleinar #3 and chased around a bunch of bees on garlic chives -- handheld! Yeah, stupid I know, but it was rather good practice in patience. Results were okay. I would not call them great photos. It was a challenging practice exercise, and one fully confirming how much a pain the ass it is to chase bees with a Rolleicord, Rolleinar 3, waist-level finder, and all while handheld. I found this exercise challenging in other ways too like my aging vision. I have an adapter that allows me to use Hasselblad prisms or chimney viewers. I would probably use this in the future while I'm in the field.

Sample Photos (if I can get them uploaded): 1. Cat portrait w/ Yashica MAT-124G and Yashica Close-Up Lens #2; and the rest are Garlic Chives / Bees w/ Rolleicord Vb and Rolleinar #3