1. In Portrait Photography, Size Matters!
In Portrait Photography, Size Matters!
In portrait photography, size matters! Today’s photo tip is about the size of our photographs.
Have you ever wondered how the 8 x 10 size came about? I did and I did a little research.
(Years ago.) If my sources were correct – and I think they were – here is how it happened.
Back in the day, before point and shoots, SLR’s and DSLR’s we had large format,
view Cameras. Large format refers to the size of the negative.
Those are the ones you see in those old photos – taken back in the 1800?s. You know; the one
with a HUGE camera, mounted on a tripod that probably weighed in at over a hundred pounds.
The photographer would stick his head under a black hood so he could see well enough to
focus the Image. The image was upside down by the way. That is actually the point to an SLR –
to flip over the image, so you see it right side up in the View finder.
Then, once he was focused, he would come out from under the hood and remove the Lens cap
– count off the seconds needed for the Exposure – and then replace the lens cover.
If he needed more Light, he would hold up a big tray covered in chemicals (I didn’t research
this, but I think it was gunpowder) and fire it off at some point during the exposure.
By the way, exposures were LONG! These long exposures created problems of their own! The
subjects were usually not able to hold still that long, so for formal portraits, the photographer
actually had them sitting in a chair with braces going up their backs! They couldn’t move, even
if they wanted to! Ever wonder why those old portraits looked so stiff?
Finally, the shot was done. The film was in a light proof slider that the photographer removed
and took into the dark room for developing into a negative.
That negative was typically 8 x 10 inches in size and the light sensitive paper was sized to
match. The photographer made what is called a contact print.
A contact print means that there was no enlarging or cropping. The print was made directly from
the negative and was the same size as the negative. (BTW – for a long time, negatives were
made of glass.)
And that is how the 8 x 10 size came about. Later, using the same size ratios they began to
crop and enlarge and the 4 x 5 and the 16 x 20 were born.
As technology progressed, the size ratios of the negative changed, but the size of the light
sensitive paper didn’t. It is still based on the old 8 x 10!
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2. So, be sure to leave a little extra room around your portrait photography – and other photos – to
allow for cropping. The modern cameras shoot in different height to width ratios and need to be
cropped to fit the 8 x 10 ratio. If you don’t allow for that, you could lose important aspects of you
photograph.
If this daily tip was a nice review of what you already knew – GREAT! If it taught you something
– you need my “On Target Photo Training” course. All of it, right now!
http://ontargetphototraining.com/KinOrder1
Dan Eitreim
Dan@OnTargetPhotoTraining.com
P.S. I can open the door, but YOU have to walk through!
http://ontargetphototraining.com/KinOrder1
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