Close up portrait with Leica M6 and 50mm lens

[a.noctilux]

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1 hour ago, 250swb said:

The OP could take a step or two back so the DOF isn't as critical and crop to the final composition.

What Steve wrote here can be tried in practising along with other many tricks to learn to use.

[davidmknoble]

It not be what you want to hear, but probably the only way to really understand how the lens and camera works together is to use a tripod.  Take out movement of the camera, because no mater how steady you are, the close focus areas of the lens (1m as you suggested) have such slim deapth of field (0.9 to 1.0m as you suggested), that moving a very little bit changes the focus point.

0.1m is 10cm, so however slight, the movement of the body when breathing or pushing the shutter will affect the DOF.  So, using a tripod just rules out that problem, no matter how good you are. Then, take some shots focusing on the ears, the eyes and the nose.  See the results and you can begin to determine what works for your setup and preferred distance.

I do agree, using a digital M helps with instant feedback, but film tends to work better in slim DOF because of the thickness.  

[George Stoichev]

Dear all,

I know the practice is everything, but the smart people try learning from other’s experience too.

I do practice and see results, but instead of wasting many rolls and get many bad results, I prefer also to know about your experience and here your advices.

[otto.f]

So I’m curious what your next is after all the responses here

[250swb]

Well, if it was a professional photographer in the age of film there would be two alternatives, use an SLR so you can see directly how focus and DOF is affected in a close up portrait, or as I’ve said with a Leica M stand back for more DOF and crop to the final composition.
 

Focus on the eyes and recompose for the shot is never going to be accurate anyway because the distance changes slightly when you do it. So practically speaking you could go on forever and never find a perfect formula given all the variables, and reducing the variables is what a professional photographer does. So try bracket focusing a lot, or adjust expectations of what you can nail in single shots with a Leica M.

 

[davidmknoble]

@George Stoichev, from my experience several things help.

First, almost all Leica M lenses are less sharp when focused near the close end requiring a few stops to resolve the finer/finest details.  In my experience stopping down two stops from wide open is a much more pleasing image (some APOs and the 90 Macro excepted).  For the Summicron 50 V, I use f/4.0 for close portraits.  I also pull the subject further from the background allowing a more pleasing out of focus area.

Second, if I am only looking for small prints and just capturing some relaxed images, I hand hold with FP4+ or TriX (I shoot those at ISO 80 and 200 respectively).  If I want a posed shot with a bigger enlargement, I use a tripod.  After using the S system for 6 years and shooting 120mm film, the tiny movements inevitable when hand-holding cause blur in enlargements.  The tripod captures the finer details that make the image sparkle more.

For a 50mm, my experience has been with people, that slower shutter speeds blur their inevitable movements.  That is fine if you want that look, and I have shot some documentary with that in mind.  However, for the 50mm I would use no less than 1/60 and preferable 1/125 for close in portraits.

Finally, because of cropping for certain frame sizes, I alway allow additional room on the edges.  This comes from square 120mm format where cropping is a must unless you print a square image (which I like for many landscape and portrait shots).

This has been my experience.

[George Stoichev]

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One of my errors is that I want to fill the entire frame with face, but with 50mm it ia not a good idea and leads to what I sometimes (rarely) get.

[davidmknoble]

14 hours ago, George Stoichev said:

One of my errors is that I want to fill the entire frame with face, but with 50mm it ia not a good idea and leads to what I sometimes (rarely) get.

Yes,  a 50mm will probably cause distortion of the nose and face for a face only shot.  You are likely too close (it’s been a long time since I’ve done that with a 50).  A 75-90 is a better face only lens, IMHO.