Share your secrets for handheld TLR portraits...

Sirius Glass said:

He was using the 250mm lenses.

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Well, I can't fix that!

I used to be 5' 8" too. I think I'll just find short models.

Before I got a prism for my Rollei I would sometimes stand on a chair to raise the camera level. Problem with a low camera level is too much neck often looking fat. However the problem with a head height POV is big head small body.

Wayne said:

I used to be 5' 8" too. I think I'll just find short models.

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I used to be 5'-8 1/2". I had a back fusion and they scraped my pelvic bone and put the material in-between my vertebrae where I blew out my disc. The problem was they must not have put enough material in there because I came out losing 1/2". Us short guys count every 1/2"!

Take them in the morning people are taller then.

I am 5' 6", but my real problem is that I am too short for my weight.

Sirius Glass said:

I am 5' 6", but my real problem is that I am too short for my weight.

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Yeah, I know the feeling. The weird thing is that at the same time I'm getting too tall for my hair. It's getting too thin on top. I'm trying to make up for it though by growing hair from my nose and ears.

dpurdy said:

Before I got a prism for my Rollei I would sometimes stand on a chair to raise the camera level. Problem with a low camera level is too much neck often looking fat. However the problem with a head height POV is big head small body.

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Use a longer lens?

I use a richoflex and Lubi2. Not what I'd call the top shelf TLR selection but it does the job.

I always focus with the little magnifier. I stick my myopic eye right down into it, and focus, sometime I double over, sometime I bring it up to my eye. Then I compose and if needed refocus. I've got some very nice photos off the Lubitel 2.

I over heard while I was focusing a kid asking his mom 'Is that man peeing through the fence?' I was going to turn around so they can see the camera but I don't think the kid would have known what the strange looking gadget with Russian script on it was.

Wayne said:

"Share your secrets for handheld TLR portraits... "

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When I shot portraits with my TLR cameras, here is what I did...

1. Used two TLR bodies (Mamiya C220 and C22).

2. Mounted 180mm lens, prism finder, and pistol grip on one body for shooting half-length, head & shoulder, head, and face portraits handheld and eye level.

3. Mounted 80mm lens and waist-level finder on other body for shooting 3/4 length and full-length portraits handheld and waist level.

4. Also used two 35mm bodies (two Nikon F2 bodies)

5. Mounted 105mm lens on one F2 body for shooting half-length, head & shoulder, head, and face portraits.

6. Mounted 50mm lens on other F2 body for shooting 3/4 length and full-length portraits.

7. Used the 35mm cameras to shoot warm-up photos and test shot photos.

8. Rarely needed to use more film than the two rolls in the 35mm cameras and the two rolls in the TLR cameras for each model. However, I also had a third 35mm camera and a third TLR camera loaded with film just in case I needed more.

I've used a C33 and C220 for portraits, use the prism or Porro finder so you can shoot at eye level, as others have said, it's not flattering to shoot up someone's nose. Also you can use the 135mm or 180mm for shoots. And remember since this a TLR watch the parallax. One other advantage, a TLR with a red filter on the taking lens is a hell of a lot easier to focus than a Hasselblad! (Much easier to see what you're doing under dim modeling lights.)

With my Yashica Mat 124G around my neck, most times, I find I can steady it pretty well just by pulling down on the camera slightly to make the strap taught around my neck. After doing the head wobble to get the horizon straight, a nice steady pull on the trigger does the trick.