Well, I just got back from the photo shoot. It was a lot of fun, and I really appreciate the advice I got from all of you who responded.
I am including some photos I took with my Pentax *ist DS, but I'll tell you the truth - although I love my DSLR, these photos were terrible. I was really displeased with them. I don't know why - I used the DSLR all over Gettysburg two weeks and go and it did great service.
I ended up taking with me, besides the DSLR, my Bessa R, Bessaflex TM, Canon T60, and some lenses and film.
The local fire department showed up and closed the street down, then fired up a generator and put some kliegs on the scene. Not very 'white' light, but bright. The local Arts Council fellow brought some 'real' 5700 K continuous lights with softboxes, but I thought soft boxes were supposed to be much closer to the subjects. In any case, I was able to meter and shoot Tri-X at EI 400, so no pushing required.
I used the Canon T60 with an ancient Canon FL 55mm f1.2 - shot mostly wide-open, sometimes stopping down to f2.8. I expect it to be very soft, but that should benefit skin, I think, and lots of bokeh. I also used a home-made Canon FD mount Schneider Xenotar 80mm f2.8 LF lens that I like as a portrait lens on 35mm. I used my Bessaflex TM with a Pentax SMC 50mm f1.4 - shot wide-open and then stopped down as much as 5.6 depending on the lighting conditions. I did shoot one roll of Kodak Gold 200 (I actually screwed up and shot it at EI 400) and four rolls of Tri-X.
I will drop off the Gold 200 tomorrow and try to scan the results, but they may not be much. I think I'm going to get some good results from the Tri-X, but it will have to wait until Sunday before I can soup it up. D-76?
Well, that's it. I never shot the Bessa R, sorry guys! I don't know why, it just stayed in my bag. And so did the DSLR, after the first few shots were so nasty, even on the tiny LCD. Sorry that's all I have to share with you now.
About 30 photographers showed up, about 10 from my photography club. Most everyone was shooting huge DSLR's with monster lenses. A few Nikon film SLRS. Some compact film and digital point-n-shoots. One cell phone camera. And a guy with a digital point-n-shoot that turned everything into an Andy Warhol-type image, which he greatly preferred to reality. One other person was shooting B&W film, she was also using Tri-X 400, but in an SLR with TTL Flash. One person shooting Fuji 1600 color print film, I believe. She was the most creative of all of us, actually, she went up the models and asked them to pose this way and that, set up her shots and took them - most everyone else formed a big semi-circle around the models and just hammered away, some never even went to new positions. I tried to be creative, we'll see when I get the B&W souped and scanned.
Anyway, thanks for reading this, thanks for the advice. In the end, I would have been just as happy with a single SLR and fast prime lens, no flash. But who knew? I'd never done this before.
Oh, and everybody used my ladder - it was a good idea after all.
Best Regards,
Bill Mattocks
