The Key To Taking Great Portraits On The Bronica Zenza ETRS Is

Posing is an active affair, it is much more than just getting your subject to stand or sit somewhere. As a photographer, building a rapport with your subject or client is just the start. You must be highly observant, see how they move, watch the light and shadows, the head at various angles and critically be confident in telling your subject to ‘hold it’ when the look is perfect! 

Getting the recommended settings input before you start shooting will give you the best chance of getting the desired outcomes you want.  Automatic light metering systems on vintage cameras often work on the ‘average’ principle. That is certainly the case with cameras such as the Pentax ME Super. This means that the scene you are shooting will be made of equal proportions of light and shadow. It will have taken into account the extreme highlights and shadows calculating an average reading. For most cases this is a win, because there is no such thing as perfect exposure. 

Using a dedicated light meter such as the Sekonic L858D allows you to take an average light meter reading or even a spot one. For shooting portraits, spot metering is ideal because it allows you to decide exactly which area of the subject should be exposed for. 

The ultra close up portraits are a great example of how to get rid of negative space and really push yourself to create something new in each shot. Every shot was carefully choreographed to give a different look and feel and I think this selection really shows this well.  

Two things are important. First, detail is valuable only if it helps add the impression you are trying to get across. If it doesn’t it will just send mixed messages and become lost. For example, shooting in a studio with a plain backdrop will in most cases lead to a great shot however when you have spent time setting up a whole set your image may not come out as well. 

Secondly, you must have mastery over the camera you are using. In particular, you know how to manually control settings in your camera and the film you are using is capable of capturing what you are looking for. 

The characteristics of films make them react somewhat differently in low light conditions, as opposed to bright light. The most important thing to focus on is the shutter speed, lens aperture and type of film being used. Knowing these will determine what you will be able to produce or not. Here’s a little project for you. Shoot a subject at every single exposure combination your camera’s lens and shutter will allow. Through this process you will learn so much more than worrying about busting the bank to pay for another lens that will give you a negligible increase in performance. 

Very rarely will you find one exposure perfectly right for every corner of your picture area, but quite often you will find the most extraordinary exposure right for a certain part of your subject. Take the final photo for example, I know this is not in focus but I think it's a great shot with the taxi in the backdrop, the wet reflective floor and the lines with Rebecca moving.

Have you shot with the Bronica Zenza ETRS or similar Medium Format cameras such as the Mamiya? Which one was your favourite picture from this video? What do you recommend shooting with or how to use this film for projects! Let me know in the comments below, thank you!

Check out my last video on CineStill 800T here, see you there! 

You can grab a copy of the book here

Expired Film on Yashica Mat 124G

Whatever you may have heard, shooting film is generally quite an expensive venture. So why not try and find a way to make it just a little more affordable than usual? With that in mind, I went off searching for expired film. I had for a while wanted to shoot on Velvia Fujichrome 50 but I hadn’t really set an intention of specifically looking for this film when I went about researching. After googling expired film online and then venturing through eBay, I looked through quite a lot of different rolls available online. At the time, I knew I wanted to shoot Medium Format so at least that narrowed the search down to 120 film roll.

eBay became the main source of expired film researching. In a way, it is pretty lazy but made logical sense with the ease of the search process. Anyway, I narrowed the search focus to £10 and this helped to filter the results. Lots of different rolls available from Black and White to Colour Reversal films. Film stocks which were recently expired were generally the most expensive. As a rule of thumb, as the age of film increases the cost of film decreases. However, the bidding process online I feel adds an inflated price to the film stock which is based more on desire than in actual practical value of what is being bid for.

Velvia Fujichrome 50 is a well-respected and well sought after film. If you’re serious about your photography at some point you have purchased this film for your own use. After much research about this film stock on online forums and discussions with fellow film photographers I was quite excited when I first came across this batch of expired roll from 1998/99. The images showed generally well looked after boxes of the film and whilst I didn’t know how well they had been stored (Refrigerated film is the most sought after!) it fit my price point for £10 so I threw it in the virtual basket and parted ways with some sterling electronically.

I wanted to explore something away from the city so chose a seascape location that I had never been to before. Eastbourne looked like a good shout and had some variety which would fit in nicely with some film photography. Every journey is made more enjoyable with some company, so Lucas joined along for the drive down. I packed up my cameras and asked Lucas to bring along his Yashica Mat 124G which he had been raving about for a while now. He had been given this camera from a friend of his he found it lying around and thought Lucas would probably make better use of it. I figured why not? Just see what happens with the Velvia?

Traffic was quite heavy on the way in and admittedly I had not really planned out a route to a specific point. A bit of fly-driving led us to some fortuitous free parking near the beach. The weather however was holding up and plenty of good light with some cloud. We headed out and dumped our gear on to the beach. After scoping out the options we metered up and then Lucas pulled out the Yashica Mat 124G. The wind was picking up so with his back to it, he briskly loaded up the film in the cold breeze.

The Yashica had been through a lot. It reminded me of when I took my Nikon for a service a few years back and the delight to which the shop keeper had for seeing such a worn camera. The camera’s scratches are just a testament to the quality of the product but also that it was used for a purpose. It wasn’t just a keepsake. I dialled in the ISO settings and adjusted the shutter speed in line with the on-board light meter - it was working just about right when matched with my handheld light meter.

The TLR format gives you a totally unique experience. Adjusting to the waist level finder is fun along with everything flipped the other way! At first you have to adjust and get used to the setup. It can be quite easy for you to walk around with the camera like a duck with its head stuck in the sand - but with a view! Be careful, if it’s your first time walking around with one, you can easily lose awareness of what is around you.

Seeing things from a new perspective got me moving and interacting with my surroundings in different ways. It almost feels like you are more connected to your frame and along with the limit of 12 shots on the roll you take much longer and think more carefully about the shot you are about to take. If you don’t own a TLR but would like to get an idea of partially what it’s like you could hold your phone or SLR at waist level and click away (mind you that would not be the same experience in many ways!).

Given the age of the Yashica, I wasn’t surprised to find there were some issues with shutter. A few times I was left thinking whether the shutter was still stuck inside and whether I had overexposed the shot or not? Other times it worked just fine. Seeing that I have some spare roll, I’ll need to give those a whirl to see if my hypothesis is correct! That’s for another time, however. I didn’t venture too far with the camera; time was limited as it was late afternoon. I focused on getting some street style snaps of people walking by and then took a few of the buildings along the walkway before turning back towards the ocean to finish off the roll.

All in all, it was a fun experience, I’m quite pleased with the outcome, even though it was just 3 shots. The shots themselves had lost their colour rendition but a little tweak in Adobe Lightroom into Black and White really made the images grainy and textured. The images communicated of a time gone by and I really loved what I got!