Shooting with a Medium-Format CameraThe Kodak "OnFilm" series| 00:00 | So I started my career shooting
film, and I'm still doing it today.
| | 00:04 | I love digital, yes,
but I shoot film frequently.
| | 00:07 | I do it with a big 8x10 camera,
but I also do it with the medium format.
| | 00:11 | The individuals whom we photograph
for Kodak are all people who have worked
| | 00:15 | with Kodak motion picture
film, and do continue to today.
| | 00:19 | For this series, which is called On
Film, we've been doing one of them a
| | 00:22 | month for 20 years.
| | 00:24 | They are about 250 of them almost at
this point, and it's quite a history, but
| | 00:29 | it's all been done with film, and they've
chosen to do it all in black and white.
| | 00:34 | It's used in various places,
but American Cinematographer is one of the
| | 00:39 | magazines that you'll always find a cover,
a back cover rather, from this work.
| | 00:45 | Now we have different individuals here.
| | 00:47 | These are the contact prints. Look at that.
| | 00:49 | That's the size of the film.
| | 00:51 | We use a loop, because we look down
and we can see, make choices, and then
| | 00:57 | when we make choices
| | 00:59 | we mark them this way. And then
our finals, we take a set of these to
| | 01:05 | the client over at Kodak. We have got duplicates.
| | 01:10 | We've made two contacts of each.
| | 01:12 | I keep one, she keeps the other, and we
both mark up our choices. And when the
| | 01:17 | choice is made, I bring it back here,
| | 01:20 | we scan it, and we do whatever
retouching is necessary. And then what we do--and
| | 01:25 | you'll watch me do it a little later--
is we size it exactly to the size that's
| | 01:29 | going to be used, and we take it to them,
and we deliver it to them, as they used to
| | 01:33 | say as an old-fashioned
expression, camera ready.
| | 01:35 | I want you to come with us as we
spend the afternoon working with a great
| | 01:40 | cinematographer who is renowned and a
legend in the world of motion pictures.
| | 01:45 | His name is Owen Roizman.
| | 01:48 | He is responsible for films such as
French Connection and The Exorcist and
| | 01:56 | many, many more, a great man. And you
will watch as I come in and work with
| | 02:01 | him and try to keep it fluid because
my ultimate job is to get a great image.
| | 02:07 | I must be able to do it with this
camera, and the camera must be part of me,
| | 02:11 | so I can concentrate on Owen and speak
with him as I shoot. And part of the key
| | 02:16 | will be being able to put your head
into two places. You know what you have to
| | 02:21 | do technically and you should do it,
but you also have to connect with your
| | 02:27 | subject--very, very important.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Getting to know the Mamiya RZ67| 00:00 | So here we are in our studio,
and today I want to show you something about
| | 00:04 | medium format, something that's been
very important to me through my career.
| | 00:08 | And today we are going to start with
the RZ Mamiya, or some people call it the
| | 00:11 | R Zed, and this is the basic camera.
| | 00:15 | A camera like this is a little different
than what you are accustomed to seeing.
| | 00:18 | For one thing, we are looking straight
down like that, and you might have a
| | 00:21 | little trouble at first with it
because things tend to move the opposite way,
| | 00:24 | because there is a mirror
inside here that you're looking at.
| | 00:27 | However, we can use a pentaprism and
make it the same as what you are accustomed
| | 00:31 | to seeing with your 35
millimeters or similar digital camera.
| | 00:36 | The way I do it is I have focus here
and my finger is over here on this button.
| | 00:41 | That's where I take the pictures from.
And with this version of the camera, you
| | 00:45 | do that and that moves the film forward
and cocks the shutter each time. But this
| | 00:50 | is the really cool thing, look at this.
| | 00:53 | This is a bellows, and this is how we can
shoot and focus, and we can get very close.
| | 00:59 | I mean I can get in like
that close, which is fantastic.
| | 01:04 | And the other thing is the wheels are
on both sides, so you can focus from
| | 01:08 | either side. And beyond that, what's
super cool is if you have a locked-down
| | 01:14 | shot, like you are shooting a wonderful
landscape or something, you can actually
| | 01:18 | lock this, so it won't focus at all.
| | 01:21 | That's at times, again with a
landscape or something like that, very
| | 01:25 | comfortable to know you can do it.
Focus it perfectly and then lock it down.
| | 01:29 | So let me show you what the back looks like.
| | 01:32 | Here's the size of the film, 6x7 centimeters.
| | 01:35 | If you want to call it inches, it's
about 2 1/4 x 2 3/4 inches in size, but
| | 01:41 | typically called 6x7 today.
| | 01:43 | So on a 120 roll we get 10 frames
each time we put a roll in.
| | 01:48 | Let me show you one of those roll.
| | 01:49 | This is a standard 120 film, probably
the most common film used, and that's what
| | 01:54 | we put in this. Or you can use the same film--
| | 01:56 | it looks very similar to this--called 220.
| | 01:59 | We simply put it in here,
very simple, and not complicated.
| | 02:04 | There it is, and you tear this and
pull it around and slide it into the little slot
| | 02:11 | here. Okay, it's there.
| | 02:12 | See there are little arrows on the
film? At that point, I'm ready to go.
| | 02:17 | I bring it to there, and then I put this,
the back, back on to the frame, close
| | 02:22 | up, put the locks on.
| | 02:25 | Now I simply roll it forward, like that,
or there is a button I can push and
| | 02:30 | have it done automatically, and it
will stop at the right position.
| | 02:34 | Now, this film which I've just loaded
can go on to another camera. I can swap
| | 02:38 | it with another back.
| | 02:40 | I've got the slide in there.
| | 02:42 | There is a little lever on the bottom.
Lift it off and I can just swap the back
| | 02:46 | that rapidly. And just some other things.
| | 02:49 | Let's put a lens on this camera. Very
simple. And I just put this on here.
| | 02:54 | We have a little dot, very similar
to all your SLRs, a similar camera, but
| | 03:00 | one thing is different.
| | 03:01 | There's a 50 on this 6x7 format, because
the film is about twice the size of a 35-
| | 03:07 | millimeter frame, the image
created by a 50-millimeter lens would emulate
| | 03:13 | or be very similar to what you get
with a 25 on your 35-millimeter camera.
| | 03:17 | Much wider, so this is a wide-angle lens.
| | 03:21 | Let me show you the version that
we actually use of this camera.
| | 03:24 | I'm going to get one of them out,
and once more, I'll put it back on the camera,
| | 03:28 | Nothing complicated about it,
a little lock down there in the bottom.
| | 03:32 | There is a slide we pull
out, put it in the back.
| | 03:37 | Now, what do we have here?
| | 03:38 | We have the same camera, with the same
movements, but we have a motor on the
| | 03:43 | bottom which advances the film.
| | 03:45 | That's my secret, one of the secrets,
because we can shoot just bing, bing, bing
| | 03:49 | like that, and no time lost advancing the
film. And this is a pentaprism up on top,
| | 03:54 | which is how I prefer to work.
| | 03:56 | Let me put on the lens we
use more than anything else.
| | 03:59 | You will see me use it when I
shoot our subject in a few minutes.
| | 04:04 | This is a zoom lens.
| | 04:05 | Lenses like this are not that typical
on a camera this size, but this one--
| | 04:10 | remember the focal lengths, the numbers
| | 04:12 | are all different--goes between 100
and 200 millimeter. And what that does,
| | 04:18 | it allows me to work quite quickly and
easily. And as I am doing here, I can
| | 04:25 | focus very easily with this,
and then I can also zoom. It's great.
| | 04:31 | One lens does just about everything.
And then ultimately, I want to show you the
| | 04:36 | last very cool little trick here.
| | 04:40 | We have the possibility
just of rotating the back.
| | 04:44 | So I am shooting horizontally.
| | 04:46 | I instantly want it vertical. That's it.
| | 04:48 | I don't even have to mention it with my subject.
| | 04:50 | Now you might wonder why I work with
a camera like this medium format film
| | 04:55 | camera versus my 5D Mark II or
similar digital camera, or why not put a
| | 05:01 | digital back on here?
| | 05:03 | Well, some clients want film--yes,
believe it or not, they want film, I mean
| | 05:08 | from all over the world.
And don't walk away from film.
| | 05:11 | Some people say, "Oh, you still have to shoot
film? Do you know how to shoot film?"
| | 05:15 | I urge you, if you're really interested
in photography and want to take it the
| | 05:19 | full max, know how it all works.
| | 05:22 | So that's a quick tour of what we are
going to be working with today. Very good.
| | 05:27 | It's been very good to me and I love it.
| | 05:29 | I've used Rolleiflexes and Hasselblads
very well in the past, but I love this,
| | 05:34 | and I love not having a square format.
| | 05:37 | This is not digital.
| | 05:39 | Yes, you can put a digital back on it,
but I love it with its medium format film.
| | 05:44 | That's the way I generally use this camera.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Preparing for the shoot| 00:00 | So here is our setup.
| | 00:01 | This is the wonderful camera we are
going to work with, which I have done
| | 00:05 | through the years, always, on these images.
| | 00:08 | We have a special tripod here.
| | 00:10 | It's good for medium format because the
camera is heavier, and this is the 100 to 200 zoom.
| | 00:17 | It allows me to make more
than one picture very quickly.
| | 00:20 | I can shoot one waist and up and then
quickly just swing over and I have his
| | 00:24 | head and shoulders in a second.
And frequently something like that really helps,
| | 00:28 | because again, I hate to stop and be
changing lenses if it's avoidable.
| | 00:33 | I will stop if I need to get like a 50
wide-angle or something, but short of that
| | 00:38 | I try to do most of it here, because
again, always, Owen is the one who is going
| | 00:43 | to get my attention here today.
| | 00:44 | Actually, Jer, could you push the table
and chair from the camera to your right?
| | 00:51 | Okay, thank you. I am good.
| | 00:52 | I just wanted to do that so I have a
little more room here in this space.
| | 00:56 | Normally, I don't have my subject--
today it's Owen--sit in until we are pretty
| | 01:02 | much ready, because I don't want to
wear him out with this. Sometimes people
| | 01:06 | say, "I'd like to sit in," but I mean
I want to save Owen his energy and everything
| | 01:11 | for when we start shooting.
| | 01:13 | So Jer, would you sit up a little
higher please, maybe turn to the side.
| | 01:15 | Yeah, that's cool, and lean your arm on there.
| | 01:18 | That's good. See, there is a
possibility of a picture right there.
| | 01:21 | Since this is film, the only way we
can fully anticipate what everything
| | 01:25 | will look like, how the nuances of
lightning and everything will work, is
| | 01:29 | with the Polaroid back.
| | 01:31 | Since this camera allows the
magazines to come off and on, we just put the
| | 01:34 | Polaroid on like this and there, it's locked.
| | 01:38 | We pull the slide out, and we have
a Polaroid camera basically here.
| | 01:43 | Now, I want to say some
of the reasons I do this.
| | 01:46 | One, I don't worry about exposure.
| | 01:48 | We get the exposure pretty accurately
with our meter. So we know the exposure,
| | 01:52 | but I wanted to see how the lights
are working, because we are working with
| | 01:55 | electronic flash, with spotlights,
and various power from different heads
| | 02:00 | coming from the power pack.
| | 02:02 | Ultimately, I want to see exactly
what all the lighting looks like, but you
| | 02:06 | know, the other remaining thing, very
important: Frankly, I can often enthuse
| | 02:11 | a subject about the picture as I get excited
and I look at the Polaroid and say, "Look at this.
| | 02:16 | This is great, take a look!"
| | 02:17 | And I give it to them to
look at and that's part of it.
| | 02:20 | So okay, okay, great!
| | 02:23 | Okay, now I think it's about 20 seconds or
something. What is that, 30 seconds?
| | 02:27 | Female speaker: Yeah.
Douglas: Might be slightly gray, because I'm pulling it too soon.
| | 02:29 | Douglas: No, it looks good.
Jeremy, you should go in the movies.
| | 02:32 | You see, so there is the effect, right there.
| | 02:34 | You can see the effect of the
| | 02:35 | spot on the background,
and so we are up and ready to go.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Shooting a softbox portrait| 00:00 | Douglas Kirkland: Hi Owen!
Owen Roizman: Hey Douglas!
| | 00:01 | Douglas: Hey how are you?
I am glad we can do this today.
| | 00:03 | Owen: Oh yeah.
Douglas: We have done once or twice before;
| | 00:05 | Douglas: I've been in front of your
lens I think a few times.
| | 00:07 | So Owen, we are going to do a Polaroid.
| | 00:09 | Turn away from me just a little, yeah.
| | 00:11 | That's right, maybe a
little more, yeah. That's cool.
| | 00:13 | That's nice, nice, nice, nice, great!
| | 00:16 | If you don't mind, try the
opposite side, swing the other way.
| | 00:18 | You know, by the way, it's interesting,
| | 00:20 | I like this side of Owen, because you will
see a different look on different people.
| | 00:25 | Frequently, like I have with my part I
think on my hair this way, and if I was
| | 00:30 | on this side, it might not be as good
as if I was on that side. But you don't
| | 00:34 | have to tell your subject about that;
just observe it. Say to yourself, "Which is
| | 00:39 | the best side?" Don't get into a big
conversation about it, because remember,
| | 00:43 | your subject may be very nervous.
| | 00:45 | Nice, one, two, three,
good. See how easy that was?
| | 00:48 | Okay, this time I am timing 30 seconds,
this time, so in a half a minute we'll
| | 00:53 | see the result. And I feel pretty secure
that this is going to work, so Miranda,
| | 00:59 | could I have, yes, reset the diaphragm a
little lower, and give me a roll please.
| | 01:04 | Thank you Jeremy. And now, if Owen,
or I, or anybody who is working with me
| | 01:13 | doesn't like the Polaroid, we will make changes.
| | 01:16 | The Polaroid is square.
| | 01:18 | It's not framed vertically, as I am
doing here, because most of the work that
| | 01:23 | I do on this campaign, in fact, I think almost
all of it--oh, there we are--has been vertical.
| | 01:31 | Okay, here we are.
| | 01:32 | Okay, what I like is this is
our blocking shot, so to speak, because
| | 01:39 | I will allow you to move around a little
and everything as we get moving and shooting.
| | 01:43 | I like the separation we are getting from
the back light, and it's gray over here,
| | 01:48 | just from the distance it is for
marquee. And yes, you are right to observe
| | 01:54 | that reflection on your glasses.
| | 01:55 | I have been watching it very
carefully, and how much fill light do we want?
| | 01:59 | I want some, but I don't
want it to be a one-to-one.
| | 02:02 | I don't want you to be flat.
| | 02:03 | But what I will do probably with my
camera as we shoot is come in tighter,
| | 02:08 | and you will be free to move around,
but this basically shows you what our square one is.
| | 02:16 | Owen: Great! Looks good to me Douglas.
| | 02:18 | Douglas: Thank you. Am I hired? Can I keep my job?
Owen: Yeah.
| | 02:21 | Douglas: Thanks. Now what happens if you lean
on a hand? No, I mean like so. Yeah, don't--
| | 02:30 | by the away, anything I ask you to do
that does not feel comfortable, just let
| | 02:34 | me know, because the object here is to make you
feel comfortable. Okay, just, that's good, that's good, that's good.
| | 02:39 | There is frame one, now, okay great!
| | 02:42 | And notice, I keep talking. I am not quiet.
| | 02:45 | Oh, what you did, I just observed what you
did there. Yeah, I love that. I love that. Yes, yes, yes.
| | 02:50 | Now this is beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.
| | 02:52 | Yeah, I just saw a natural move,
and it's a wonderful one. I love that.
| | 02:56 | I am coming in tight, because
I want to get it really tight.
| | 03:00 | I am on the long end.
| | 03:01 | I am at 200 on the zoom, and you will see
me focusing out there. Okay.
| | 03:07 | This is good! This is a hotbed.
| | 03:09 | I feel good! Oh, I feel really good.
| | 03:11 | And Miranda, can you give me the
1x4 multiplier, please?
| | 03:14 | I want to just go to a slightly longer lens.
| | 03:15 | I am putting the 1x4
multiplier in, and I'll increase the
| | 03:19 | exposure one stop with it. What does it do?
| | 03:21 | It makes the 200-millimeter lens become a 280,
| | 03:28 | Douglas: okay, and so one stop open.
Miranda: So you're on eleven and half,
| | 03:31 | Miranda: so I'm thinking you want eight and a half,
| | 03:32 | Douglas: Yeah, thank you. You know, it's
interesting how things evolve. And again, I am talking to you
| | 03:38 | Owen, as well as my other friends out
there, because--this is nice. This is nice.
| | 03:43 | This is what really
excites me about photography.
| | 03:46 | I am may be photographing the most
beautiful woman in the world, or a friend like
| | 03:50 | Owen, but at this moment when it's
really clicking, I really truly get excited.
| | 03:57 | See, you'll notice me tipping the camera.
| | 04:00 | Nowhere is it written that everything
has to be up and down, because especially
| | 04:04 | on a portrait like this, it's where
the excitement--just imagine if you were
| | 04:09 | cropping a print or something.
Well, I am doing that in the camera.
| | 04:12 | This is very, very special. Okay.
| | 04:15 | Now ask yourself Mr. Photographer--
that's me at this moment--
| | 04:18 | I always do, everything is locked
down and wonderful. Owen is great.
| | 04:23 | Everything he is doing--if you
stay there, I'd appreciate it, but I am
| | 04:26 | watching everything he does.
| | 04:27 | Oh, consider what else, what
happens if you push your glasses up for a
| | 04:31 | moment? Just push them up.
| | 04:33 | Look, yeah, yeah or put them up.
Just lift them up, just lift them,
| | 04:39 | Yeah, yes, yes, one hand,
that's nice. That's nice, that's nice, that's nice.
| | 04:43 | Now we found another picture here.
| | 04:45 | And so, ask yourself a number of
questions as you're shooting at this point.
| | 04:50 | You say, is there something?
Lift a little higher please, push them up
| | 04:54 | a little. Yes, yes, yes, yes,
yes, yes, yes, that's wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!
| | 04:58 | I am going to go wider. Just stay there,
Owen, if you can, and then I'll do a Polaroid.
| | 05:02 | What I am doing is seeing the great
picture, but I am also saying to myself at
| | 05:08 | all times, is there something I
should be looking for beyond this?
| | 05:12 | And that's part of the key. I am happy
| | 05:16 | again once we see the crop vertically,
and I've got a closer version as well.
| | 05:22 | Douglas: I hope you like it--I do.
Owen: Yeah!
| | 05:28 | Douglas: and then we have a closer version when we come in
| | 05:30 | really just on your face,
because you have a great warmth in here which I love.
| | 05:36 | Owen: It's very nice. Terrific, thank you.
Douglas: So, thank you!
| | 05:37 | Douglas: You know, we have done
this two or three times before.
| | 05:41 | I think today, strangely, and I mean
this genuinely, we are going to have the
| | 05:45 | best pictures ever.
| | 05:46 | Owen: Thanks, well, we're finally learning.
Douglas: Yeah, exactly, we keep practicing.
| | 05:50 | Douglas: Here I am 20 years later, I should,
because I think you were one of the first
| | 05:53 | guys I photographed in this series,
an early one, and then I photographed you
| | 05:57 | Douglas: once or twice later,
Owen: Yeah.
| | 05:58 | Douglas: with your son, Eric, is that his name? Yeah, it was great!
Owen: Yeah, yeah.
| | 06:01 | Douglas: Eric, his son, is a wonderful cinematographer
as well. It runs in the family. Anyway, great!
| | 06:07 | Okay, let's go out.
Let's take a break and do another setup.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Shooting a profile portrait| 00:00 | Douglas Kirkland: So what we are doing here is
quite a different look than we have done with
| | 00:04 | the soft boxes a few minutes ago.
| | 00:06 | We have one soft box here on the bottom
acting as a fill light, but fundamentally,
| | 00:12 | we have this one sort of lighting, I'll
call it coming-from-heaven-up-above
| | 00:17 | lighting, which will become Owen's profile.
| | 00:20 | One and a half there,
and I want this much weaker.
| | 00:25 | Douglas: Now, would you weaken this? Have you weakened this to a maximum?
Miranda: Are they split?
| | 00:28 | (inaudible speech)
| | 00:30 | Douglas: Okay, then the next thing we will
do is walk away with this. It's that simple.
| | 00:35 | You have all of these controls.
| | 00:36 | Actually, as strange as it may seem,
our key is really right there.
| | 00:41 | It's 11 1/2 there, in the shadow here.
| | 00:44 | Now, it's more like it, it's 8.3.
| | 00:47 | That's what I want, a full stop less there.
| | 00:50 | And now let's see what we
have here in the background.
| | 00:51 | It's going to be pretty bright. It is bright.
| | 00:55 | It's 16.3, which will be just fine.
| | 00:59 | Okay, I think we are ready for--first
let's bring our subject in. Okay, this is,
| | 01:05 | I like what you are doing
very much, very much, yes.
| | 01:07 | Okay, now pull your glasses off
and just keep them in your hand there.
| | 01:12 | Yeah, that's great. That's nice, nice.
| | 01:14 | I love what you are doing. You can even
look down there, like you just did there.
| | 01:17 | Owen Roizman: Do you have this in the shot?
| | 01:18 | Douglas: Yeah, it is okay. It's fine. It's fine.
It's okay, nothing is wrong. Okay, nice, wonderful.
| | 01:23 | There is the Polaroid.
| | 01:24 | I want you to see what we were doing.
| | 01:27 | Douglas: It's a different look.
Owen: Yeah. Mmhm.
| | 01:30 | Douglas: It is going to be quite nice.
Owen: Yeah, it is nice.
| | 01:34 | It's a very different type of lighting.
| | 01:36 | This key light up here gives us this
back-light look, and of course, Owen sat
| | 01:41 | down in an absolutely perfect way,
and I love it. Guys, can you give
| | 01:46 | me one grid wider on the
background please, one click wider?
| | 01:50 | I want to make this background
spotlight bigger, which we can do.
| | 01:55 | But I love the way you are seated there,
so it's a very elegant, very special look.
| | 02:02 | I hope you are not
uncomfortable without your glasses.
| | 02:04 | I mean you can wear glasses too.
Let's do a few both ways.
| | 02:08 | Owen: Most of the time the only time I put
them on when I am in front of a camera is
| | 02:12 | just to hide the bags a little more, but I
know you've got that well taken care of.
| | 02:17 | Douglas: Great, nice!
| | 02:18 | Look up a little higher Owen. Yes, yes,
even higher. Yeah, yeah, even up on the
| | 02:21 | wall, yes, yes, nice, nice, nice, yeah, yeah.
| | 02:24 | Now you can look a little
happier for me, yes, yes, nice, nice.
| | 02:28 | Now bring your glasses over and put them on
actually, if you don't mind, since you--God!
| | 02:34 | You look like you could be
President of this company in a minute.
| | 02:38 | Okay, now pull your glasses off and
just hold them near your face, if you don't
| | 02:43 | mind, and yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,
yes, a little happier, drop them a
| | 02:47 | little there in front of your face,
yes, yes, yes, nice, nice, nice, nice.
| | 02:50 | I am going wide to the wide shot again.
| | 02:53 | I am using that zoom lens, and I am
going to see Owen's hand, even on the table.
| | 03:00 | I love it, so I am getting two
pictures out of one, basically.
| | 03:04 | Now I see on my left I am just
running out of background, and I am electing
| | 03:08 | to cut it as close as I can because I
know either I can also fix it in the
| | 03:13 | Photoshop if I have to.
| | 03:15 | Okay, now let's put a Polaroid in right now.
| | 03:17 | I want everybody to see what we're--
if you don't mind, stay there for just a
| | 03:20 | second, Owen, please.
| | 03:22 | I want to do a Polaroid immediately,
so everybody can share what we've done
| | 03:26 | and immediately see it.
| | 03:28 | I wouldn't necessarily do that again if
I had a nervous young man or lady there,
| | 03:35 | but with you--yes, yes, yes, yes.
Okay, great, 30 seconds please.
| | 03:42 | Okay, Owen there you are in the Polaroids.
| | 03:44 | I am cropping this as it will be cropped,
but I think it looks pretty cool.
| | 03:48 | And then I get in, I zoomed in,
again just to your head and shoulders, but
| | 03:52 | these are the early ones, because I
wanted to check the overall light. And this
| | 03:56 | is, I mentioned that
there was something on the edge.
| | 03:59 | Douglas: When it's cropped vertically, you won't see that.
Owen: Right.
| | 04:02 | Douglas: But that's where we began.
| | 04:05 | You know, the interesting thing is I've been
doing this for 20 years--here, take that one home,
| | 04:10 | Douglas: it isn't folded, if you like to.
Owen: Thank you!
| | 04:12 | Douglas: What's your impression of this
overall campaign that Kodak has conducted?
| | 04:19 | Owen: Yeah, I think it was wonderful!
| | 04:20 | I mean especially in the light of the fact
that we like to all see film stay in vogue.
| | 04:27 | It was such a great medium.
| | 04:28 | It is such a great medium still,
and you made it so comfortable for everybody.
| | 04:32 | I wanted to ask you a question. Were you
ever intimidated by the fact that you
| | 04:35 | are photographing people like cinematographers,
like us, who really know what you are doing?
| | 04:42 | Douglas: Truly no. You know what I do
if I feel a moment of intimidation?
| | 04:47 | I think to myself, my gosh!
| | 04:50 | I handled Dietrich when she was kind of
wild, and I was certainly nervous as a
| | 04:55 | very young man in 1961 when I
photographed Marilyn Monroe. And then I've
| | 04:59 | gone all over the world, and if I can manage
those days, I can certainly get through today.
| | 05:05 | And so I do talk to myself that way in my head.
| | 05:09 | Now what do you think?
| | 05:10 | You've been on both ends of it,
as cinematographer as well as stills. Do you have any
| | 05:15 | philosophies like that?
| | 05:16 | Owen: Well, I mean the main thing I am
going for is I want to get the personalities.
| | 05:20 | I want to get into their souls.
| | 05:22 | To me, the way you do that is through the
eyes. The eyes are the most important thing.
| | 05:28 | So I always try to light in--when I am
lighting, I try to have in mind how the
| | 05:34 | eyes are going to look.
| | 05:34 | Douglas: It's interesting!
I was watching your eyes.
| | 05:36 | That's why I kept moving this light and
everything, because I wanted to see the
| | 05:39 | Douglas: sparkle in both eyes, not just in one, and I did.
Owen: Right.
| | 05:43 | Owen: Then of course, I think okay, what's
going to be the best light for this face?
| | 05:48 | Because every face is different, as
you know. And so I start with the eyes,
| | 05:53 | then I think about the face and the
personality, and what kind of expression
| | 05:58 | is going to bring out
that personality that I know?
| | 06:01 | If it's somebody whose personality I am
not sure of, I'll start to play around
| | 06:05 | with them and ask them to do silly
things and things like that, to see how
| | 06:08 | their expressions look.
| | 06:09 | Douglas: Did you find some of your
subjects are nervous and stiff?
| | 06:12 | Owen: Most of them are. It's amazing that
cinematographers get in front of a camera and they
| | 06:18 | don't know what to do.
| | 06:19 | They are stiff, and it's a
matter of loosening them up.
| | 06:23 | Douglas: You've got a harder
job than I have Owen. You really do.
| | 06:26 | Douglas: You have head, and anyway--
Owen: It's all relative.
| | 06:30 | Douglas: Anyway, it's On photography. We love it,
and the On Film series that I've worked with Kodak on, and with
| | 06:36 | friends such as Owen,
has been very gratifying for me.
| | 06:41 | Anyway, so we want to make the most of
the opportunities we have, and I want to
| | 06:45 | say one other thing.
| | 06:46 | You make the images. Just lighting
Owen today, I feel really energized.
| | 06:52 | I mean, the soft boxes were
great, and that's a wonderful look.
| | 06:57 | But again, there is a different type
creativity in what we've just used.
| | 07:00 | You have such possibilities.
| | 07:01 | Use them, make the most of it,
and keep enjoying photography.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Softbox portrait critique| 00:00 | I feel the shoot with Owen went
really well. He is a great subject, and I
| | 00:05 | want to really just show you some of the
things that we did, and go through the process.
| | 00:09 | We shot with a Polaroid to begin
with, because that's the only way you can
| | 00:13 | really see what you are
getting with a film camera.
| | 00:15 | Let can't look in the back of
the camera. It's not there.
| | 00:19 | So we do Polaroids like this, and when
we do Polaroids, we look at a number of
| | 00:23 | things--first the lighting.
| | 00:25 | Here I'm using two soft boxes.
There is one, the key soft box,
| | 00:28 | that's really just above the lens,
and that's the overall light. And then there is
| | 00:33 | another one that's very weak down below,
and you can just see a little twinkle
| | 00:36 | in his eye from that one. But in the
background, about two or three yards back, we
| | 00:41 | have a spotlight on the background,
just to give this slightly bright glow and
| | 00:46 | darken the edges slightly.
| | 00:48 | But there is one remaining element that
I want to talk about because I felt it
| | 00:52 | very much as I was looking through
the camera, and I had to make choices.
| | 00:58 | Right here you'll see a shine on his glasses.
| | 01:01 | Now 20 or 30 years ago, before we had
Photoshop, like we have it today, or maybe a
| | 01:06 | little more than that,
| | 01:09 | I would've had to make a choice: can I
accept that or would I try it and get him
| | 01:13 | to wiggle the glasses
around or take the glasses off?
| | 01:17 | I wanted to keep the shoot going
smoothly because I knew that later with
| | 01:21 | Photoshop, I can remove
that shine on his glasses.
| | 01:24 | So that's an elected choice,
and it keeps the continuity going.
| | 01:28 | So that was what I got on a Polaroid.
| | 01:31 | So there is the lighting, and then we
had the film processed, and we made what we
| | 01:37 | call--or had the lab make at
least--what they call a contact sheet.
| | 01:41 | What is a contact sheet?
| | 01:42 | Basically it's when they lay all the
negatives on photographic paper, put it in
| | 01:47 | a printer, and make a group shot
like this of all the pictures you took.
| | 01:52 | And you get these back and you have a loop, or
magnifying glass, and you look at them carefully.
| | 01:57 | I like these very much,
and my choices were these three.
| | 02:02 | And the interesting thing, I like the
tightness of these, but some are them, when I
| | 02:06 | was looking through the loop, I saw that
there was slightly more warmth coming
| | 02:11 | in that picture here, so that was my choice.
| | 02:15 | It wasn't quite as close an image as I
would've liked that I had in some of the
| | 02:19 | others that I'd shot.
| | 02:20 | Those didn't have quite the same feel.
But again since it was medium format, I
| | 02:25 | knew I could safely crop in without a
problem, and that's exactly what I did.
| | 02:31 | And this is our scan here,
and now we've digitized it.
| | 02:33 | We are into the digital world, and this is
where we can do our tweaks and refinements.
| | 02:38 | So the first thing I knew I needed
to do was fix this little shine in the
| | 02:43 | glasses because that gave
me this wonderful image.
| | 02:46 | Now what I wanted to do is lighten all these
lines, not take them away, but keep it real.
| | 02:52 | Just make them, diminish them and make
them more gentle, because we don't want
| | 02:57 | people to look like an egg.
We want them to look real, but we don't--
| | 03:01 | The interesting thing is the human eye
tends to see fewer wrinkles than the camera,
| | 03:06 | so that's where we delicately
use retouching to soften them.
| | 03:10 | At this point, the most major change
I thought I should make was to add
| | 03:14 | vignetting because it
directs the eye in the center.
| | 03:16 | That is the final
refinement, or elevation, of an image.
| | 03:20 | This gives it a very special
professional artistic feeling.
| | 03:25 | It gives me this solid black down
here, and you see that little shine is
| | 03:29 | removed from the watch.
| | 03:30 | This is the final image.
| | 03:32 | I am giving Owen a print that he'll
probably have on his coffee table for, or
| | 03:36 | piano, for many years,
because I know he'll like it.
| | 03:39 | This is my favorite image, but let's
look at what it looked like in the ad.
| | 03:44 | It looks really cool because we've got the shape,
| | 03:46 | we have the space here to put his
signature in, and there is the ad.
| | 03:51 | That's what I care about, and
this is the wonderful thing.
| | 03:53 | I'm so delighted to be a work with
medium format and make pictures like this of Owen.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Profile portrait critique| 00:00 | Another of the looks I created with
Owen was what I call a classic profile
| | 00:05 | look, done with direct light.
| | 00:07 | Here's one of our Polaroids, and I
did this first with his glasses off, and
| | 00:10 | there's just a very kind look on his face.
| | 00:12 | I love this man, and that's the kind of a
guy he is, but that's what we want to get.
| | 00:16 | So here's another version, for example.
But ultimately, I decided it was probably
| | 00:20 | better without the glasses on. But I
tried them both ways, so here it is, and the
| | 00:25 | Polaroid is our last look before we
take pictures. Unlike the digital camera,
| | 00:29 | there is nothing looking in the back.
So let's go and look at what the contact
| | 00:32 | sheet looked like when it came through.
| | 00:34 | But at a certain point I thought,
"Let's try his glasses on, because maybe it looks
| | 00:39 | more natural with his glasses," and I
looked with a loop, or magnifying glass, and
| | 00:44 | ultimately, I look carefully obviously
and always focus and everything, and I
| | 00:49 | selected this one. And what I loved
about it was there is a warmth and a
| | 00:54 | naturalness about his face. And when I
was shooting I remember vividly bringing
| | 00:59 | this back spotlight in so it
just got the light into his eyes.
| | 01:04 | There is a sense of twinkle, and that's--
you know, often when you're at the camera,
| | 01:09 | you can sense just one little
millimeter one way or number makes a difference,
| | 01:14 | and that's what I felt in the camera.
And that's also what I felt this image
| | 01:18 | brought is that warmth that this man really has.
| | 01:21 | So from this point, we did a scan on it,
we used an Imacon scanner. And this is
| | 01:27 | basically image, but I want to share
with you is now something special, as a
| | 01:31 | photographer, photogrative
photographer, that I looked at Owen, whom I have a
| | 01:36 | great affection for, and as I have
mentioned also, I always want everybody to look
| | 01:40 | as good as possible.
| | 01:41 | So I want to mention a couple of
things that I did, why I did them,
| | 01:45 | and you know another thing is I will never
normally tell anybody that I've done these things.
| | 01:49 | So I look critically with a critical
eye, as I do through the camera often, and I
| | 01:54 | saw that Owen's ear there looked a little big.
| | 01:56 | Now when I was shooting it maybe I
would have, could have put that in a little
| | 01:59 | more shadow or something.
| | 02:00 | I can still do it here. And the another
thing I had to think about was, will it
| | 02:05 | fit the format, because the image space
that I have available is comparatively
| | 02:11 | narrow, but more importantly than
anything, anybody who is over 40, which I
| | 02:17 | am kind of over 40, little of this happens.
| | 02:19 | So the ear is made small.
| | 02:21 | Now again, I don't talk about
these things; I just do them.
| | 02:24 | If somebody says to me, "Did you do any
work with my picture?" I always deny it.
| | 02:27 | I say, "No, no, no. That's just you, you're
wonderful," because truthfully they don't want
| | 02:31 | to see the unretouched
version. Don't show it to them.
| | 02:34 | I had to bring his hand in, again, to
fit the format, and again you get this
| | 02:38 | wonderful warmth again
that you can get with film.
| | 02:41 | You can't quite match that any other way.
| | 02:44 | And then it goes on to the final image.
| | 02:46 | I feel it all works.
| | 02:47 | I unfortunately had to cut off the
fingers a little to fit into this
| | 02:50 | shape, and that's one of the things we
as professionals really realize when you
| | 02:54 | are working sometimes for publications,
and certainly advertising: you do have
| | 02:57 | to conform to a specific format, and
we've done, we added some black to the
| | 03:02 | bottom so we could expand it. And then
of course I always get a signature to
| | 03:07 | put in, and I was able to put that in
quite easily after the fact. And I feel this works.
| | 03:13 | This is my friend Owen, and this picture,
this ad will be seen worldwide
| | 03:19 | and I feel it's successful. It's the look of
the direct light on Owen, and it's a
| | 03:26 | really a profile. And again, I just watch
the light come into his eyes, and I feel
| | 03:31 | that, for me, is the success of this image.
| | 03:33 | I love working with the medium format
camera on an image like this, a great
| | 03:37 | picture like this, and it really always works.
| | 03:40 | That's the beauty of film and the medium format.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Composing an image for layout| 00:00 | In publishing you have to think of
the final destination of your image.
| | 00:04 | I want to give you an example.
| | 00:06 | We start with a template on the Kodak
series, and frankly, what we do is this
| | 00:12 | helps us recompose and get the
refinement of the final image.
| | 00:16 | I give you as an example, we have a
mask, a channel mask, which is here.
| | 00:21 | Now what this means is the picture
will fit into this precise area, and that's
| | 00:26 | what we are working around. And this
is really quite empowering and wonderful
| | 00:30 | to be able to do this.
| | 00:31 | This is like a dream for me,
because this did not always exist.
| | 00:34 | So there is the image, the final
retouched image that I have all the way I like.
| | 00:40 | Now we can put this into the ad, and
there you have it, but what I don't like is
| | 00:47 | that it's too big, but we still have
the capability of moving it around and
| | 00:51 | recomposing. For example, we can make it smaller.
| | 00:54 | Now, this works better, and we have space
to put his signature across the bottom,
| | 00:58 | which we need to do. And again, you're
seeing this kind, beautiful face right in
| | 01:03 | the center where I like it.
| | 01:04 | Great, it is so empowering, and these
are the best of times, and again, with the
| | 01:09 | 6x7 format, you have such capability.
| | 01:13 | I want to show you something else
that's really wonderful and truly exciting.
| | 01:17 | See that picture we had there a second ago?
| | 01:20 | We have the capability to recompose it,
and we can enlarge it without any real
| | 01:25 | loss, because we're starting with this
large piece of film, by today's terms,
| | 01:30 | and we can bring it up.
| | 01:31 | You have no grain, or noise if you
prefer, and no deterioration of image because
| | 01:37 | probably this piece of film was even
bigger than 35 millimeter, coming from a
| | 01:40 | medium format in the beginning.
| | 01:43 | So we have the image here, as I love,
except there's one thing that I care
| | 01:49 | about, artistically.
| | 01:50 | I know that something isn't quite
right because this line here, from a
| | 01:55 | composition standpoint, should commence
right here and come up here, but we can do that.
| | 02:00 | We can rotate the image.
We have all that capability.
| | 02:04 | It's quite extraordinary what we can do,
and again this is a result of starting
| | 02:09 | with a medium format image, and this is
where the richness and power is of what
| | 02:13 | we have available to us today.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
