Portraiture Without a Shutter!?!

I've been doing a few portraits with my LF camera, using a 300mm barrel lens with polaroid (52) as well as film. I'm discovering now how much I miss the luxury of short shutter speeds I got with shuttered lenses! Since I'm using a barrel lens I have to get exposures down to 1-2 seconds, which makes capturing spontaneous expressions practically impossible! What is the best method of creating portraits, given this limitation? It's a completely different kind of experience for a sitter to be aware and be able to move (though he/she shouldn't) and think DURING an exposure. Much more pressure... I know, for instance Avedon coaches his subjects it a way to produce the objective/constructed reality/fiction expression that he wants to create, but I haven't found much in the way of reading or guidance on how to go about this... My normal method is to simply build rapport with a sitter, and capture (with a fast shutter speed) a brief expression that embodies something about what I think about the sitter, but that becomes much more difficult when I have to ask the subject to sit still for seconds at a time. How should I approach this?

See my answer on PhotoNet.

 

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href="http://www.photo.net//bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000qlz&top

ic_id=

23&topic=photo%2enet>link</a>

Well, my link to PhotoNet didn't work, so here's my answer:

 

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Think you have problems? Try painting a portrait sometime.

 

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Three options:

 

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1) Buy a 35mm.

 

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2) Gain an understanding of why our greatgrandparents looked so morose

in those old pictures and make more like them.

 

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3) Go with the flow. Your subjects will need to be relaxed, both

mentally and physically to handle these exposures without looking

stiff. And I think you are going to have to redefine your idea of

rapport. Your subjects are going to have to feel completely at ease

posing for you - not just amused by your presence. Look at traditional

(painted) portraiture forinspiration - as the attached picture by my

favorite artist, John Singer Sargent.

 

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http://www.photo.net//bboard/big-image.tcl?bboard_upload_id=29984

1) Take a look at Packard shutters.<p> http://www.hubphoto.com/

packardshutters.htm<p>

I have never used one myself but the website explains a lot.

Apparently they fit in front of or behind of the lens.<p>

2)I have taken a few "portrait" type pictures with 4x5 camera and

availible light with shutter on "b" so I know it's not convenient but

it can be done. You are limited in the types of poses you can ask your

subject to assume, but when I look at the work of some 19th century

portraitists, I don't see this as a liability...<p>

August Sander worked for most of or all of his life with barrel lenses,

no polaroid and film with an ei of 12 or so and his pictures are

fantastic.

I'll be getting a Packard in about two weeks, but even then I'll have

to manufacture a device to mount it in front of the front standard:

it's a tele lens, and the rear diameter is 3 1/4", far too big for

the smaller Packards I could fit inside. The smallest Packard that

fits the lens is a 6" model.

In the meantime, I'm going to experiment with shorter times and open

flash. The most significant change I'll make is to stop working with

Polaroids--that way I can concentrate less on getting the exposure

perfect and concentrate on the subject. I'll fix any exposure errors

when I print.