Well, the portrait of Jesse in the backyard has created interest. I have received a few requests via email, some via pm, even one telephone call from overseas, as well as some very nice comments from this thread. Im flattered, thankyou very much. Most wished to know, how this portrait was done.
Jesse was one of our houseguests early last year and late last year. We (my wife and I) have a rule, we always photograph houseguests. Some houseguest pictures are great, some are not so great, and some are pure records.
The third photo session with Jesse, was on a very warm summer day just before Christmas, a few days before she was leaving. She had some ideas, I had some ideas and my wife had ideas.
I ran three rolls of film through my F3 over a period of about an hour with different lenses and set-ups. The final part of the day was with a 4x5 and we shot 4 sheets of TMax 100, this picture was the final sheet and also the final picture of a very successful day.
We (all three of us) really had a fun time, final pictures are nearly always the best, everyone is relaxed, and we all know the routine. With LF pictures that include people, I find it is nice to have a situation where the subject can relax and be in a position whereby they can hold still easily during the exposure and not move too much between setting focus, and tripping the shutter.
That is why the picture has her resting on a garden table. The light is filtered sunlight coming through the trees in the background, there is no reflector, I let the background highlights blow out and burnt them in a bit in the darkroom.
Shen Hao 4x5 with a Fujinon 150 lens, TMax 100 1/8 of a second @ f22. There was a ½ stop bellows factor. The film was exposed in the landscape format, my prints are landscape, but this paper size requires me to print this in a portrait format.
Film was developed in D76 1+1 (rotary).
The print itself was interesting, it is a straight print, but there was a 1/16 of a stop difference between a good print and a bad print. If I printed 1/16 of a stop more, her face was perfect, but her hair went really dark and detail became like that immediately above her eyes, almost black.
By pulling the exposure 1/16 of a stop, her hair retained detail, but the highlights on her cheekbones and across the bridge of the nose are almost lost and blown out. This is the print, all of you have!
Mick.
Ps:- I'll add the picture to my gallerie shortly.
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