-----Original Message-----
From: John Hudson <jahudson@xxxxxxxxx>
To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wednesday, September 15, 1999 9:59 AM
Subject: [OM] Black and white portraits
>Our son has asked that I take some posed and casual outdoors black and
>white portraits of him and his girl friend. I told him I have not done any
>b/w in almost 30 years but he is insistent! They are both in their mid 20s
>and will be good photogenic subjects.
>
>I have an Om4t and various lenses from 28mm to 135mm but no b/w filters
>other than u/v.
>
>Not wanting to disappoint my son can someone please advise me which:
>
>1. Filters I should get or borrow........ yellow, blue, etc
>
>2. Film is likely to be the most appropriate .........good for clear or
>cloudy skies and with good exposure latitude.
>
>Seems that my son wants to wear black and white and conjur up something
>like the 1956 "James Dean in a leather bomber jacket" look!
>
>Any other get-up-the-learning-curve-advice will be greatly appreciated.
>
>
>John Hudson
>
Dear John,
I would do it like this...
1. Lenses - 50mm for full body shots. Strongly recommend 85/f2 for frame
filling portraits. But then again, since U have such a wide collection of
lenses, no harm experimenting ... but watch out for the 28's , they tend to
'distort'....
2. Film - I'd use the Kodak T400CN or Konica VX400 or Ilford XP2 - all
ASA 400 chromogenic film. But watch out for the high speed in broad
daylite... cos this will demand...
3. Filters - Neutral density filters to bring exposure levels down to
manageable levels , Graduated Grey filters (if U have sky in your pics),
yellow to make clouds stand out more, and green to lighten leaves colour and
deepen a red rose... Soft focus filters to create moody effects and hide
facial blemishes...
4. Flash - if U have an F280.. it'll do wonders.... I've always used fill
flash... it helps a lot.. unless of cos, U intentionally want to have deep
shadows.... if they wear glasses, watch out for reflections if U are using
flash... a polarizer would help...
5 . Posing - get a book on posing.... watch out for open fingers, they
distract alot.... watch out for open legs, unsightly light coming thru....
Happy shooting..... if your first results aren't satisfactory, do it all
over again, since they are young lovebirds, they'll more than welcome the
idea....
TMLee
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|