Film camera for studio portraits

[TomB_tx]

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I never liked using flash for portraits. { preferred using floods so I could better judge the effect. Last time (10 yrs ago?) I needed to go a group of portraits I used LED floods with diffusers, which worked very well. Not as bright as flash can be, but nice effect.

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[erl]

13 hours ago, hansvons said:

Portraiture is all about the subject and the location. You can shoot brilliant portraits with a phone. It's the interaction of the person you photograph and yourself. It's not about photography gear, lenses etc.

Your MP, the 50mm and 35mm Summicron are perfect lenses for this genre, no need to acquire new gear. This will not improve the content. 

Don't use flashes. They are great for staged photos and professional models. Mere mortals will look like an elaborate passport photo. If that's your desire move on and buy the CM. If you are genuinely interested in authenticity (which separates the wheat from the chaff), learn how to focus lightningly fast the M and talk with your counterpart while taking snaps (when they think or smile at you, you release the trigger). Make them comfortable, move to different locations, snap here and there; at some point being photographed will become a familiar situation. Now you already have exposed 2-3 rolls. After a short while, the snapping and posing become boring. That's when you stop and talk about other stuff, leaving behind a relaxed and uplifting mood. 

Shooting portraits with regular people is a quick thing. Often the first shots are the best, sometimes the later ones are favourable. It depends on their personality. Shy people tend to open up over time, while extroverts tend to lose that certain something in the process and the photos become generic. 

Regarding lighting, it's all about eyelight. That's the trick of good lighting. All else is extra. Forget the 3-point lighting. It's for beginners and engineers. Select your location based on eyelight. When the eyes are vivid and tack-sharp, snap. That's why you need to be really good in focusing. If you want to know how classic lighting looks like, take a look at the Dutch Masters. 

Portraits work wonderfully with Portra 400. But shooting colour will add an extra layer that makes selecting the right costume/clothes even more complicated. As a rule of thumb, clothes that make the skin shine are preferable. Expose it at ISO 200 and you'll get delicate skin tones.

Kodak DoubleX 5222 is fabulous for portraits, as its made for cinema. It doesn't have that higher red sensitivity of Ilford stocks which brightens skin tones. However, Delta 100 allows for those high-resolving, jaw-dropping images that almost look like MF.  

Having great portraits printed large is super rewarding. 

 

 

With great respect for your expressed opinion, allow me to agree, only in part. As expressed, your valid points are very blinkered, to the exclusion of so many other valid options. At first reading your 'recipe' seems like just that. A recipe.

As a 'cook' (self appointed), I use many recipes, bearing little relation to each other. They generally produce very acceptable results, according to my diners. Portraiture, IMO, should be approached the same way. Over the years I have produced a plethora of portraits using nameless quantity of styles, and gear. Largely influenced by my subject and/or the situation. Flexibility, as in most aspects of photography, must always be at hand.

Allow me to include two random examples of what I mean.

1. An impromptu studio portrait, using one strobe and one reflector, against a portable backdrop. Shooting Hasselblad & 150mm lens.

2. A spontaneous portrait of gentleman I happened across, enjoying a cigar on the bank of a river. Leica 111f & 50mm lens.

IMO, both capture the essence of each personality.

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