Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/11/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 04:10 PM 11/21/99 -0500, Thomas J. Donovan wrote: >Have any of you taken great portraits wide; & if so, what focal >lengths have you used? Any extra details, surrounding a great >"wide" portrait would also be appreciated. Tom, It's called negative space. don't fill the frame, use the environment to inform the viewer about the subject. That's what we call in the biz. environmental portrait. Arnold Newman is a master of is. His portrait of Igor Stravinsky using the top of the grand piano as a symbol for a musical note is just one example of this kind of "wide" portrait. Even up close to the face, an interesting portrait can be made. Don't get hooked into formulas. Portraits vertical shot with short telephotos. Use a 19, or your 180 and get in as close as you can. Down low. Just make sure every element of the picture contributes to the final image. Check out this page for something on Newman's work, plus a copy of the picture I'm talking about. http://www.agallery.com/newman.html >As an aside, it seems like HCB did a fair amount of portrait >work. Were those all taken with that *legendary* 50 mm >lens? It's hard to believe, on some of the HCB photos, that >they were taken with a 50mm lens ;-)! He also used 35mm and 90mm lenses. But the majority were with the 50. It's a much more versatile lens than many photographers give it credit. Eric Welch Carlsbad, CA http://www.neteze.com/ewelch The difference between RC-paper and fiber-based paper is the same as the difference between vinyl and leather. - John Sexton