Can't Stop Shooting on Film

If you're passionate about film photography take a look at this three minute video

Can't Stop Shooting on Film

And if you want to discover the joy, nostagia and art that film cameras and film photography have to offer, check out this one-day workshop

Exploring Film Cameras

Tsunami survivors, Hebron Orphanage, Andreh Pradesh, India, 2005 All rights reserved © Dale Neill

Tip - How to achieve Remrandt Lighting in Portraiture

Rembrandt lighting is achieved using light coming from the side of the face and body. The angle is usually somewhere between 6o and 90 degrees.

The effect is one side of the face is fully lit and the shadow side partly lit, ideally with a small triangular patch of light under the eye on the shadow side.

If the photographer positions himself and camera so that the lit side is towards the camera it makes the face look broader and plumper. This is called Rembrandt Broad lighting.

With exactly the same lighting, if the camera is now re-positioned to point at the shadow side of the face, the emphasis is on the dark side with the small triangle of light. This produces a far more theatrical, dramatic lighting effect and makes the face and body look narrower and slimmer. This is referred to as Rembrandt Short lighting.

The Fremantle Portrait Prize offer more than AU$10,000 in prizes including a AU$5000 cash First Prize for the best portrait. Entries are $15 each and close on 8 July 2013. All proceeds to the Arthritis and Osteoporosis Foundation of Western Australia. Click HERE for details.

To learn more about Portrait Lighting and Techniques join Master Photographer Dale Neill in his next UWA Extension Portrait Workshop on 6/7/11 July 2013. Click HERE for details.

The Perfect Portrait Lens

The great French photographer Jeanloup Sieff shot many of his portraits using just the one lens - an 85mm prime. You might ask why?

There are two things I look for in choosing the ideal portrait lens. First of all it needs to be a prime lens and not a zoom lens. 

Prime lenses provide me with a big aperture and control of background blur and Bokeh. Most prime lenses are able to pass between four and eight times more light than a zoom lens. This means prime lenses can be used in low light situations and still maintain a fast shutter speed, resulting in increased sharpness.

Because of a prime's superior light gathering properties the photographer can also choose a lower ISO which reduces the risk of visual noise. This results in superior print quality.

The second major factor is the actual focal length of the lens. A photographer needs to be sufficiently close  to their subject to communicate without shouting but not so close that hey encroach on the subject’s personal space.  Of equal importance is subject-lens distance.  if you get too close to your subject you will steepen perspective and distort facial features. Few subjects, other than circus clowns would appreciate this!

An 85mm f1.4 prime lens addresses those two requirements, providing sharp images, flattened perspective and superb bokeh.

To learn more about lenses, cameras and portrait techniques join me on my next UWA Portraits - Memories Forever workshop.