PLANE OF SHARP FOCUS

The Amon Carter Museum is currently showing a collection of Richard
Avedon portraits. They also have photos which show the subject,
background, & camera locations for these portraits. The portraits were
taken outdoors using natural light. The camera he used was a 8x10
field camera which was located about 12 feet from the subject. The
camera height was about the same as the head of the subject and the
camera bed was angled down so the lens axis was in line with the chest
of the subject. The back of the camera was normal to the lens axis so
it was tilted forward relative to the ground plane. The photographer
had to stand on a box to view the ground glass. By examining the 40 x
50 in. portraits, the plane of focus is vertical and extends from the
eyes to the belt buckle. The portraits are not cropped and they extend
from the top of the head to a few inches below the belt. My question is
why is the plane of sharp focus verticle when the camera back is not
verticle and what is the advantage of the camera position he used?

Gary Shank
Received on Sat Dec 24 10:08:14 2005