What setup do you use for shooting portraits. Tripod and ball head Or L Bracket

[rollsman]

  I am using an L bracket to shoot portraits. I go from Horizontal to vertical by remove the camera and use the L bracket to  Vert and Horiz. position   Just curious to see what other ways are without removing the camera.  I know the Hasselblad H5D is a heavy camera,  Thank you

[docholliday]

For portrait work, I either use a huge ballhead on studio stand or geared head. The best portrait shooters don't touch the camera when shooting nor are they behind the viewfinder. You determine the orientation of the shot you want, light it correctly, frame it and lock the camera, then stand next to or in front of the camera with a remote.

Direction is what makes a good portrait, not the gear. I almost always have the 150, 100, or 120 on the H body, clamped down. I've tweaked a Hahnel wireless trigger and hold it in my hand, then interact with the subject. Have a conversation to loosen them up, give them direction on how you want them to feel, look, or act. Then, sit back and wait for them to give the proper expression. The key to focus is to 1) be sure that your backdrop is far enough away (mine is usually 6-10ft behind the subject), 2) know your lens well enough that you can determine the minimum acceptable focus zone based on the chosen f-stop, and 3) know how far your subject can lean forward, backwards, or sideways and still be in frame + focus.

Shooting large format portraits on an 8x10 really drives home the "don't stand behind the camera" technique. You get it framed, focused, and set. Then, come out of the dark cloth with a long cable release and get to work. I used to have an air bulb release modified for foot release. That way, I'm sitting a stool next to the camera and I'd drop my heel an inch to fire. No telegraphing the shot to the subject, who was waiting for the 5000w/s of strobe to fire.

When shooting fashion work, I usually have a 32" or 40" monitor on a rolling stand between me and the subject. I'm not even checking the viewfinder after initial setup. The shots are tethered and feedback to the large monitor so I can see what the output is. I can look at the monitor and then right up at the subject/model to give direction. I've also drawn on my monitors with grease pencils or dry erase markers to make annotations on where items should line up if the output requires exact placement.

[rollsman]

Thank you so much all the info and I believe I have a wired remote for the H5D    All what you mentioned I do now.  Greatly appreciate it and your time as well   

[rollsman]

  With using AF will the wireless still work ok and not lose focus?

[docholliday]

My Hahnel wireless remote has a half press for AF. However, as with most portrait shooters using this technique, we don't use AF at all. We use zone focus. We figure out the depth of focus and where the subject must be to be in the zone. Once figured out, it's as simple as directing the subject to lean back of forward slightly.

[rollsman]

  Ok  I got it.  Thank you

[rollsman]

Thank you for your responses.  Happy Holidays