Reader's Comments - Index of - Free

Portrait Photography
As far as doing soft focus in other formats, Rodenstock makes an Imagon lens for 4x5 view cameras. It has
perforated disks that you shove into the middle of the lens. Unfortunately, different softness and aperture settings
affect the focus so you have to focus with the lens stopped down. In medium format, people like the old Zeiss
150 lens for Hasselblad because it simply isn't all that sharp.
Film
Most people probably look better in black and white. If you want the sharpest results,
you'll get them with Agfapan 25, Kodak TMAX-100, and Kodak TMAX 400 CN.
Kodak's ancient Tri-X emulsion has enough grain that it may flatter certain subjects. I
don't really like Tri-X in the 35mm format; the grain is simply too obtrusive. Tri-X
works for me in 120 or 4x5 size, though.
If you're doing color, you'll want subtle tones, low color saturation, and low-ish
contrast. My favorite films are Fuji Astia, Kodak 100SW (ISO 100 slide) and Fuji NPS
(ISO 160 color negative).
See my film article for more on this subject.
At right: my grandmother Shirley on Tri-X.
Camera
Any 35mm single-lens-reflex will work fine. The snob 35mm rangefinders are
probably great, e.g., the Contax G2 or Leica M6 with a 90mm lens. The standard
medium format approach would be a Hasselblad and a 150mm lens. If you have a
flotilla of assistants like Annie Liebowitz, you could use the camera she uses: Mamiya
RZ67. If you have a lot of patience, a 4x5 view camera with 270mm lens isn't a bad
option.
The worst possible camera is a zoom point and shoot. Their lenses are far too slow at
the telephoto end. So you get f/10 instead of f/2.8 and your background is sharp
instead of blurry. Or you have to use the on-camera flash instead of natural light. It
really is a waste of film. See my point and shoot article for more on these otherwise
remarkable cameras.
Among the digital cameras, it is tough to do good work unless you have a true single-lens-reflex. The photo at
right was taken with a Nikon D1. As of April 2001, an excellent digital choice for portraiture is Olympus E-10.
[If you're in the market for a new camera, check the photo.net recommended retailers.]
Environmental Portrait
http://www.photo.net/portraits/intro (5 of 37)7/3/2005 2:16:41 AM