Favorite Portrait Recipes: Camera/Film/Dev Etc,

[John Bragg]

What is your ideal recipe for a portrait ? Choose your camera, lighting, film stock, development and any other variable in the equation... I like "simple" and tend to use Leica M6 and available light with 400 iso film (Tri-X or Neopan) @ Ei 200 in HC-110 1:63 or Rodinal 1:50. My brain is hard wired for black and white and this combination does it for me. How about you ???

[Ian Grant]

When I shot portraits commercially back in the early 70's I always used FP4 in ID-11, using natural light and a Pentax Spotmatic F or Mamiya C33. The ID-11 was replenished which gives results more like using it at 1+2 or 1+3. In low light I used HP5 but only if I really needed to.

Shooting rock bands, on the odd occasion where I shoot film I generally use Tmax100, sometimes 400 and process in Xtol, again replenished, although more recently I've started processing nearly all my films in Pyrocat HD.

Ian

[Michael W]

This week my favourite combination was

Penatx 67
Tri-X 400
skylight & open shade
Xtol 1:2
Leitz IIC
vintage Oriental warm tone grade 2
Dektol

[Kvistgaard]

Camera: The best I can afford :-)
Lens: 85 mm (that's 85 mm on a 35 mm camera, not MF)
Consumables: I've had great results with Tri-x rated at 320, developed in xtol.
Natural light, preferably. Otherwise a single 500w flash unit with a 60x80 (i think it is) softbox

[df cardwell]

It is usually an intuitive choice,
made at the last moment. not impulsive,
mind you, but having to do with how I feel about the subjects,
the conditions, all that.

My normal lunch is an apple and a bit of cheddar.
I suppose the photo corollary would be a Nikon F & 85/1.8,
APX 100 or TMY depending on the moment, or the light.
Xtol/Rodinal/Edwal12, depending on the .... feel.

It's ALWAYS an intuitive choice.

[TheFlyingCamera]

If we're not restricting this thread to 35mm, my favorite combination is Fomapan 200 (aka Arista.EDU Ultra 200), shot at 100, in 5x7 sheet film. Process in Pyrocat HD 1:1:100. I shoot an old Century Master studio camera with a 14" Seneca Whole Plate Portrait (aka Wollensak Vesta). Print in platinum/palladium.

[mabman]

In 35mm I've been practicing with an 85mm Jupiter-9 M42-mount lens (it's a Sonnar clone from the former Soviet Union), mounted to either a Bessaflex M42-mount camera, or more recently a k-mount ME Super with an adapter (the aperture-priority of the latter makes balancing fill flash, if required, a bit easier for me).

I normally use Kodak BW400CN for this - I've found it holds detail very well - very hard to blow out highlights even if fairly close up with a flash. Also the B&W "creaminess" works quite well for many people, especially female subjects and children.

Recently I acquired a Mamiya C330 with 80mm and 180mm lenses. Last weekend I was experimenting with performance portraits using the 180mm lens and XP2 (locally BW400CN in 120 isn't a big seller, I'm told, so it's not readily available). The film is out for processing - I'm very curious to see the results.

Overall, I'm still in what I would consider an experimentation stage - I had a local part-time pro look at what I've done, and his main criticism was that often I don't get the subject's eyes perfectly in focus, which can be distracting in a portrait - while I prefer shallow DOF he suggested a minimum of f/8 is usually "safe". I've been trying to perfect that, I guess practice makes perfect

Also I've acquired a whole lot of Tri-X in 35mm and 120, so I'm probably going to try more portraits using that, as well...

[df cardwell]

85mm Jupiter-9 M42

A lovely, lovely lens.

[Anscojohn]

80, 85, 90, 100, or 105 at F.4.0 in 35mm
FP-4 @ EI of 64, souped in replenished D-23
Open shade or bright natural room light

[Paul Howell]

Kowa 66 with 150mm 3.5 lens, northern exposure natual light, Trix professional developed in Polydal, I still have 5 or 6 cans, printed on Salvich Warm tone paper developed in Zonal Pro Warmtone developer.

Alternative would be Mamyia Uinveral with 150mm 5.6 lens. Same film and paper.