Today with all the thought about doing wet plate, ULF format work etc I thought about doing portraits this way also. Many times when you do wet plate of people in the field the photographer also uses an accessory flash hit on the subject (usually from a battery operated high end flash unit). I kept thinking of this, and how it would effect the look of the image.
I do not have a ULF camera and am currently not doing wet plate collodion work but I thought why not try it on 5x7. Here is the idea.
- shoot vertical 5x7 portraits at 1/2 face body to 1/4 face body compositions.
- add in in snippet of flash to give the photo of an edge, mixed with daylight.
- Possibly expose for daylight at F5.6 with the 210mm and add flash for f2.8 or f4 (underexpose).
- Possibly expose for daylight at F8 with the 120mm and add flash for f4 or f5.6 (underexpose).
This type of photo technique might give a cool looking edge to my portraits. I want the images to stand out in some way. I have always liked the look of direct flash on my subjects, adding in a bit of distortion with a wide angle lens might help also. I could print them on the Ilford cool tone fibre very contrasty, using the Durst condenser 5x7. I could be onto something here.
Will do some tests using this style and post them next week. Doing dozens and dozens of these portraits in the Mae Sot, Thai dump and Klong Toey Slum (Bangkok) might be in my future.
I do not have a ULF camera and am currently not doing wet plate collodion work but I thought why not try it on 5x7. Here is the idea.
- shoot vertical 5x7 portraits at 1/2 face body to 1/4 face body compositions.
- add in in snippet of flash to give the photo of an edge, mixed with daylight.
- Possibly expose for daylight at F5.6 with the 210mm and add flash for f2.8 or f4 (underexpose).
- Possibly expose for daylight at F8 with the 120mm and add flash for f4 or f5.6 (underexpose).
This type of photo technique might give a cool looking edge to my portraits. I want the images to stand out in some way. I have always liked the look of direct flash on my subjects, adding in a bit of distortion with a wide angle lens might help also. I could print them on the Ilford cool tone fibre very contrasty, using the Durst condenser 5x7. I could be onto something here.
Will do some tests using this style and post them next week. Doing dozens and dozens of these portraits in the Mae Sot, Thai dump and Klong Toey Slum (Bangkok) might be in my future.
