Camera & Lens Q & A

One of the top portrait photographers in the country says that he shoots all his portraits at f 16. Do you think that is too small an aperture for portrait work. He says he wants all his proofs tack sharp. He caters mainly to the senior high market. Most of the traditionalist would say to shoot at about f 8.
Thanks a million for your feedback.
Jon

Dear Jon:
Your question suggests that you have not explored the full range of possibilities with your camera and lenses. The photographer you mentioned is a great fellow, but I strongly and respectfully disagree with his philosophy on using a single f-stop for all of his work.
In my classes, I teach my students to be creative. I frequently get asked the question of what f-stop I use for my portrait work. My response is always the same. I say hold on a moment and go and get my camera. I read off of the lens to answer the question. f 2.8, f 4, f 5.6, f 8, f 11, f 16, f 22, and f 32. I look up to the class and say “those f-stops”. I am totally serious about this! They laugh anyway. The designers didn’t put all of those numbers on the lens barrel just to decorate it! They are there for your creative use.
This business of choosing an f-stop because the proofs will be more in focus is just a way of limiting your creativity. YOU are the one who focuses the camera. You make the images sharp. At high f-numbers you will have nearly everything in sharp focus. This may or may not look good. A soft muslin background generally looks quite wrinkled unless you decide to deliberately throw it out of focus by using a larger aperture such as f 4 or f 2.8. The idea that some of the f-stops of a lens are sharper overall is true but to such a small degree that it makes no practical difference at all. When a photographer indicates the use of a high f-stop such as f 16, what he or she is doing is using an f-stop with a long depth of field which will enable them to work very quickly without the need for critical focusing. Doing a ton of seniors in one day is the biggest reason for this procedure. When you have two or three changing and running in and out of the camera room at the same time, you have little time to stop and focus. You just use a tiny aperture and anything in the area of where the camera is focused on will be usably sharp. I personally would never want to work this way but that’s me.
You should have no difficulty controlling your lights especially in a downward direction. The use of diffusion panels, neutral density gels, barn doors and light feathering are all mechanical ways to control you lights. Mechanical control of light is totally reliable because it is as I said, mechanical. You didn’t say what lights you were using but I firmly believe even without knowing that you can achieve wonderful results simply by taking a little time to learn a bit about the science of light. Your prime focus should be on understanding how to control the many elements of light that will allow you to achieve pretty much anything you come up against.

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Camera height for full length portraits

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I am new to doing studio work but I already love it. I am a little unsure about the correct camera height when doing a full length portrait of someone. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Marie

Dear Marie:
When creating a full length portrait of a subject who is standing, there are a few rules or guidelines you may wish to follow. You must first ask yourself a question. Is the subject tall, average or short? Tall subjects rarely want to look taller but average and short people usually want the help if we can give it. If we desire to create a portrait that will be as natural looking as possible, then I recommend placing the camera at a height approximately level to the waistline. This will not change in a significant way how the subject appears. If on the other hand the desire is to make them appear taller or more statuesque, you will choose a slightly lower position for your camera perhaps level with the hips or even slightly lower. This lower position for the camera will slightly increase the size of the lower body while reducing the apparent size of the upper body and head. Your lens will determine how exaggerated the effect is. A longer lens will make the effect less noticeable while a wider lens will exaggerate it. A higher camera position will of course suggest a shorter subject. Your visual judgment is the determining factor in this situation. In the end, it always comes down to the simple question that we photographers must ask ourselves. How does it look?
THE THREE QUARTER VIEW
This view is nothing more than a compromise between a full length and a head and shoulders only portrait. The bottom of the frame usually begins half way between the knee and the hip joint. It is important to remember that we never crop at a joint. Creating a portrait that crops through joints will make the viewer feel somewhat uncomfortable when viewing it. It has an unnatural look and feel. Always try to crop in the middle of a limb rather than through a joint. For this view, place the camera at the height of the bust line or center of the chest. Higher to shorten the subject and a bit lower to add height. As you get in closer to the subject it is important to remember that you never want to look up the nostrils. Avoid a camera position so low that it creates this situation.

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Lens and focus concerns

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Scott,
I have just found your web site and will be forever thankful. I have been reading the questions and your answers. One questions I do have is this. Under equipment you listed that you truly liked your zoom lens. Do you find this lens less sharp than a fixed length. Lately I have been very discouraged. I have two fixed focal lengths that bring in very sharp pictures... I also have two very expensive zooms that don't seem to come close, whether on auto or manual focus. Should there be this much of a difference... it appears to me that the fixed lenses have more detail in them. I mean, is it me. I love these zooms for candids at weddings.. they are fast and I usually do not miss a thing, but sometimes it can be very deceiving as to what is in focus.

One last question.... have you ever used a magnifier for over the eyepiece, to help with focusing? I am considering buying one. I am one of those people who unintentionally hold there breath and it will make your vision blurry sometimes. And there are times I take pictures for several hours and my eyes get tired. Would appreciate any information you can give me or advice.
Thank you, Julieann

Hi Julie:
The sharpness issue for lenses is really a non issue at all. Photographers as a group tend to love to talk about lens sharpness. The truth is, unless you really have a badly built, off brand lens, any significant focusing issues are most likely coming from you. I have zoom lenses for my Nikon digital camera. I also have fixed focal length lenses. I have never concerned my self about lens sharpness. Perhaps it's because I am a fanatic about focusing critically for every shot I take. Too many photographers trust autofocus for everything and there are times it is not entirely accurate. I certainly use it but only when I absolutely have to. I still enjoy being fully in control of the image making process.

Are there differences in lenses? Sure there are but they are really small differences that you would have a hard time detecting unless you enlarged the image to an extreme size. True, there are bottom of the line lenses that are not nearly as sharp as the more expensive ones but even these will do for many less critical situations where you are not going to enlarge the images to wall size portraits.

When it comes to something as important as focus, I want to control precisely what IS and IS NOT in focus. If your zoom is a one touch zoom (focus and zoom on the same ring) it is easy to lose focus while you are zooming, especially if the focus changes during the zooming action. I like zoom lenses that have separate controls for zoom and focus. I can zoom in and out and the focus remains constant. It's a great feature that really gives you creativity and speed.

I have indeed used an eyepiece at one time. A magnifier is helpful to focus on distant objects but the eyepiece I preferred was one that slipped over the view port on the back of the camera. It would unscrew to allow insertion of small magnifying lenses. What I did was take my older glasses and grind down the right lens and mount it into this eyepiece. I have astigmatism so it was necessary to rotate the eyepiece when I rotated the camera for a vertical or horizontal image. To maintain the proper rotation of the lens relative to my eye, I simply put a drop of liquid paper at the top of the piece that held the lens. All I had to do was rotate the eyepiece 90 degrees to keep the dot pointing to the ceiling and I could see remarkably well without having to wear my glasses. I dislike wearing glasses but I insist on critical focus.

Finally- please breathe. Get into the habit of breathing normally when making images. When it's time to make an exposure, gently let the air out and squeeze the button to make your exposure. At the low point of your exhale you will be really still. Never hold your breath while doing photography. You will become more shaky as you strain to keep from breathing. Once you practice letting the air out and squeezing the button at the bottom of the relaxed exhale, you will be able to hand hold some pretty long exposures. I have done down to 1 second before with minimal movement. Half second is fairly reliable with this procedure, so do remember to breath! : )

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