I am working on my 8x10 available light portrait technique. Yesterday I tried the Mido holders for the first time and used my 8x10 Deardorff to make some vertical and horizontal portraits. I had limited success, there was some fogging on a few of the shots but I think that was because I did not load the film and insert the dark slides correctly. I also had a big fog line but I think that was because I mishandled the holder in the field. Shooting the larger 8x10 was much more cumbersome even with the Mido holders and I found the dark cloth a real pain in the ass to use. I usually shoot my Linhoff 4x5 which has a very compact reflex hood, shooting the larger 8x10 with dark cloth and focusing loop felt sluggish. Of the shots that were not fogged I had 2 horizontals and 2 verticals, the verticals were razor sharp but the horizontals were fuzzy. I have a long long way to go before I will be anywhere near competent shooting this machine. I am also wondering if I should shoot the 8x10 Masterview or the Deardorff. I will use one film and one lens with the camera, the lens is the 250mm Fuji F6.7 W, and the film will probably be Ilford HP5 (I would perfer to shoot Tri-x but its about 35% more expensive).
Am going to make another attempt at some 8x10 portraits today when I shoot my father for the series "My Father At 80". I was planning on only taking the 8x10 but with my failures yesterday I wanted to make sure I got something good of my dad, he is taking the time to come out to do this shoot and I owe him some quality work. I will also take my beloved Linhof 4x5 and will work on a few new technical options with this camera. I am trying to refine my shooting for the next Asia trip, today with my dad I will use a different smaller tripod, a 90mm lens to do the portraits instead of the normal 150 and graphmatic backs not the regular 4x5 holders. The lighter tripod is because I am worried about the durability of my standard tripod (had to glue it together in Thai a few trips back), the 90mm is because I want to experiment with getting a slight bit of distortion into the portraits and see how that looks, the graphmatic backs are a weight and space saving attempt. I want to simplify my 8x10 and 4x5 tools as much as I can, so I can truly learn then, then concentrate fully on making important pictures. Hopefully 8x10 shoot will go better and I will also have the opportunity to work on some new 4x5 stuff.
Shooting the 8x10 is a real bitch, I really admire the great photographers who made such powerful people photos with such a unyielding camera, folks like Edward Weston, Sally Mann and Jock Sturges.
I will keep plugging away until I get this right, once I want to do something I tend to not let go until I get it right.
Am going to make another attempt at some 8x10 portraits today when I shoot my father for the series "My Father At 80". I was planning on only taking the 8x10 but with my failures yesterday I wanted to make sure I got something good of my dad, he is taking the time to come out to do this shoot and I owe him some quality work. I will also take my beloved Linhof 4x5 and will work on a few new technical options with this camera. I am trying to refine my shooting for the next Asia trip, today with my dad I will use a different smaller tripod, a 90mm lens to do the portraits instead of the normal 150 and graphmatic backs not the regular 4x5 holders. The lighter tripod is because I am worried about the durability of my standard tripod (had to glue it together in Thai a few trips back), the 90mm is because I want to experiment with getting a slight bit of distortion into the portraits and see how that looks, the graphmatic backs are a weight and space saving attempt. I want to simplify my 8x10 and 4x5 tools as much as I can, so I can truly learn then, then concentrate fully on making important pictures. Hopefully 8x10 shoot will go better and I will also have the opportunity to work on some new 4x5 stuff.
Shooting the 8x10 is a real bitch, I really admire the great photographers who made such powerful people photos with such a unyielding camera, folks like Edward Weston, Sally Mann and Jock Sturges.
I will keep plugging away until I get this right, once I want to do something I tend to not let go until I get it right.
