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From: auer@azstarnet.com (auerbach)
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 00:09:26 -0700 (MST)
Subject: Re: Revival & Platinum portraiture
>Gary said :
>
>There are some of us out there who use large format for platinum
>portaiture and never see beyond wide open at F9.
>
Terry said:
>Serious question.
>
>If these are head and shoulders I assume that you use the limited depth
>of field as part of the aesthetic.
>
>Sorry if the question seems naive.
>
Not at all Terry,
I do a lot of tight head shots with 8x10 and 11x14 formats. That is not
the time for light tripods nor short bellows draw. My Wisner 11x14 has
over 40 inches and a Raja 8x10 box I use has almost that much as well.
I principally use a 450 Nikkor M lens, f9. When I have f22 light, two
stops of bellows factors brings me back to f11. Sometimes f9. That is
usually at a fifteenth of a second or so. My depth of field when I
fill a head 1:1 or close, is about one half inch. Approx 1.5
centimeters. When I back off to about 10 feet, and 3/4 body shot, my
depth of field increases to a couple of inches. Much would change if I
could use even f22 or 32. But I can't afford to lengthen my exposure
times due to body movement of my subject.
My second lens that I use is a 24 inch (600) f11 Goertz artar. It has
great coverage and a longer throw, but is so dark thru the ground glass
it is only functional in bright sunlight, which isn't always where I
want to be when I do my portraits.
In smaller format, (4x5) I used two different lenses that I became very
attached to. One, is a 300 mm Heliar, and the other is a 300 5.8 Imagon
by Rodenstock. With the diffusion disks. Both these lenses are designed
to be used as wide open as possible for the abberant behavior that
causes the softness. When stopped down for landscape shots, both of
these lenses are quite sharp.
The long focal lengths of the lenses used at the turn of this Century
all produced this very short DOF when wide open. It is different for
smaller format shooters. F9 on a 75mm lens will give better depth of
field but still not much when you are at 1:1. It can become difficult
for small format cameras to soften a back ear with selective DOF
especially if flash is used. No problem for me.
Yea, I guess I like the look, especially when printed in platinum. It
was early Steichen work doing platinum and gum bichromate in combination
that really fired my jets. I've gotten half way there.
You asked a simple question, sorry I couldn't give you a simple answer.
Gary Auerbach
http://www.ibs-net.com/platinum.htm