Rolleiflex and Portraits

[Ektagraphic]

Thank's for all of these refrerences! They are all great inspiration!

 

[Chris Lange]

avedon used to use the rollei extensively, too.

 

[Ektagraphic]

Does anyone have any personal examples that they would like to share?

 

[2F/2F]

avedon used to use the rollei extensively, too.

Indeed (and much sheet film as well).

...but Avedon was an exceptionally skilled portraitist. (Never mind the photography part.)

It's [almost] all about YOU, not the camera. Do what you can with what you have. Working on your skills as a portraitist is immeasurably more important than hemming and hawing over what camera is suitable for your work. This means thinking conceptually and visually as one unit, and being able to work with subjects. It is YOU, not the camera.

 

[Ektagraphic]

I guess I just need to get my ass out of the computer and off into the field

 

[MattKing]

The are only two things special about using a Rolleiflex for portraiture

The first isn't actually particular to the Rolleiflex - it is related to using the waist level finder.

Using a waist level finder when you shoot portraits does require that you learn a slightly different approach, because the process of viewing, composing and focusing has a bit of a different flow to it as compared to the same process using an eye level finder.

Now before anyone points this out, I'll do it first - there are lots of other cameras that you can use a waist level finder with, and you can get a prism finder for the Rolleiflex.

The second thing special about using a Rollieflex for portraiture?

It is a Rollieflex

 

[Ektagraphic]

I have become somewhat accustomed to working with the waist level viewfinder and it has become easy for me know so I don't think that it will present much of a problem and I think I prefer it to an eye lever finder usually......I do have the flip up magnifier to be able to look close to check focus and such....

 

[MattKing]

I have become somewhat accustomed to working with the waist level viewfinder and it has become easy for me know so I don't think that it will present much of a problem and I think I prefer it to an eye lever finder usually......I do have the flip up magnifier to be able to look close to check focus and such....

Has your experience with the waist level format included portraiture?

I ask that mostly as a rhetorical question, because IMHO the most important attribute of a good portraitist is their ability to make a connection with the subject, and to have that connection show itself in the resulting photographs.

Working with a waist level finder affects how we make eye contact, so if that connection with your subject is to be established and maintained, it does require a specialized approach.

After all, the top of the photographer's head communicates very little to the subject of a portrait.

Hopefully this won't discourage you, but will instead give you food for thought, because I think that if you are interested in portraiture, and are willing to work on it, you and your Rollieflex can create wonderful work, that you will enjoy and be proud of.

 

[Ektagraphic]

I actually haven't really done much formal portrature with a waist level finder so you bring a very valid point I will be doing some experimentation very shortly when my Rollei gets back from repair.

 

[MattKing]

Be sure to note my last edit to my previous post - and have fun with your experiments!

 

[Q.G.]

Has your experience with the waist level format included portraiture?

I ask that mostly as a rhetorical question, because IMHO the most important attribute of a good portraitist is their ability to make a connection with the subject, and to have that connection show itself in the resulting photographs.

Working with a waist level finder affects how we make eye contact, so if that connection with your subject is to be established and maintained, it does require a specialized approach.

After all, the top of the photographer's head communicates very little to the subject of a portrait.

Using a waist level finder, you look up at the subject. All it takes is a flex of the neck.
Something people hiding behind a piece of metal with a peep hole to peep through usually do far, far less.

So if anyone of these two types of finders is more likely to get you connecting with the sitter, i's the waist level finder.

 

[WRSchmalfuss]

A Rolleiflex is a great portrait camera.
So is a Tele Rolleiflex. I use both and
love both.

The twin lens Rolleiflex'es are getting still produced in Braunschweig/Germany, and the new firm selling them still excellent in Russia, Japan, and in the Asian theater. My favourite for portraits would be the (new) Tele-Rolleiflex! Unfortunately, an expensive dream!

 

[Trask]

I saw a film of avedon shooting portraits -- he'd put his Rollei on a tripod, positioned in front of the subject who was in front of the backdrop. Avedon would focus, then stand to the side or behind the camera with a long cable release and interact with the subject. He'd fire the camera when he wished, advance the film, maybe check focus or framing, but in general once he'd set the camera he'd spend most time talking to the subject.

 

[df cardwell]

I guess I just need to get my ass out of the computer and off into the field

Something like that, but so do we all.

 

[Rolleiflexible]

It's [almost] all about YOU, not the camera. Do what you can with what you have. Working on your skills as a portraitist is immeasurably more important than hemming and hawing over what camera is suitable for your work. This means thinking conceptually and visually as one unit, and being able to work with subjects. It is YOU, not the camera.

Of course this is right. But the final image is in part
a function of the camera, and its characteristics and
its limitations.

I prefer the Rolleiflex for a lot of reasons, some just
because I feel connected to it emotionally -- I find it
a beautiful work of industrial design. But there are
functional preferences as well. When I want superior
optics and biting clarity, the Rolleiflex is the obvious
choice. And the Rolleiflex offers other advantages.
For example, the leaf shutter is quiet; there is no
mirror slap; the design of the camera permits hand-
held exposures at quite low shutter speeds. And
the finder permits photos at angles that would be
difficult to shoot with a direct finder. As an example,
I am attaching a photo I took of my wife and son as
they lay on the bed -- I held the camera over them
from the side, I believe the exposure was around
1/15 @ f/4 or thereabouts. I could not have gotten
this angle or this exposure with many other cameras.

 

[df cardwell]

Rollei Portraiture Hints

1. Hints that work for some folks are useless for others !

2. A Rollei is super quiet and truly instantaneous. It is at it's best with emotional intimacy.

3. The square format encourages you to place your subject within a greater context.

4. Today's films are so incredibly good that there is no limit to what you can achieve.

Have fun.

.

 

[markbarendt]

I guess I just need to get my ass out of the computer and off into the field

That goes for all of us.

 

[Ektagraphic]

When I develop these photographs to give them to people, when an 8x10 is ordered is is more standard to print the full frame on the 8x10 leaving a boarder around it, crop in the darkroom to fit the page or cut the square out after?

 

[2F/2F]

Kee-ripes, man!

IMNSHO, you really need to quit sweating the small stuff, and attack the core of the matter: Learn how to work with light. Learn how to work with people. Learn how to work with your camera/s. Learn how to express yourself with visual language.

It does you no good whatsoever to treat the minute details such as print sizes with as much respect and attention as you are treating them until you can work with light well, work with people well, work with your camera/s well, and gain a good head of steam toward crossing (demolishing?) the line between technique and concept. Being able to do those things is the only thing that will define you as a photographer (and sell your photos).

The things that matter - that really matter most for you - are far more basic that you are making it seem.

So, PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE, and forget anyone else and what they think. That is the key. Have some cajones!!! Barrel through it! Go at it! Screw up! JUST DO IT. The only way you will do OK in your endeavor is to just start practicing and doing what you can with what you have, and letting go of your insecurities about what other people think. FUCK 'EM. Just shoot, and judge, and you will learn most of what you need to learn as far as the technical things go. You will either find your own answers, or you will suck. It's as simple as that. Photography is best learned via experimentation and trial and error...and you have to be OK with sucking to get there.

 

[fotch]

Hey, take it easy, he is asking questions, nothing wrong with that.

 

[Uncle Bill]

I've shot portraits with a Rolleiflex with a 75 f3.5 lens with great success both indoors and outside.

 

[markbarendt]

When I develop these photographs to give them to people, when an 8x10 is ordered is is more standard to print the full frame on the 8x10 leaving a boarder around it, crop in the darkroom to fit the page or cut the square out after?

When in doubt refer to your post #30

 

[Ektagraphic]

2F/2F...That post put a smile on my face .....I actually did get some of the family out into the yard this afternoon to experiment and I had a great time. It's a work in progress.

 

[benjiboy]

Come to think of it many of the Worlds most famous photographers became legends photographing people with Rolleiflexes.

 

[dpurdy]

Dead Link Removed

Anyone who subscribes to the New Yorker gets to see occasional new portrait work by Steve Pyke on his old Rollei GX