Re: PLANE OF SHARP FOCUS

Hi Gary
This sounds like the Scheimpflug principle to me. I won't try to
explain it but look it up. It is when the front lens axis lines up
with the back lens axes and a invisible line from the plane of focus.
Check this out:

http://www.columbia.edu/~akj19/scheimpflug.html

Merry Christmas
Bruce

On 24-Dec-05, at 8:08 AM, Gary Shank wrote:

> 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 13:13:59 2005