Portrait Settings 1/8th exposure - technical question

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dancook

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This is a portrait taken with the new Fuji GFX medium format camera, and it was taken at 1/8 second..

http://fujifilm-x.com/fileadmin/user_upload/cameras/GFX/gallery2.jpg

FUJIFILM GFX 50S | GF63mmF2.8 R WR | 1/8sec. | F14 | ISO100



Are you forced to go this slow with medium format?

I've seen long exposures of collodion wet plate photography in natural light, but this isn't on that scale.

Are the strobes being used to freeze the frame, or does the model have to hold very still in each pose whilst the camera is on a tripod?

thanks
 
My guess is the model is in a dark spot and only lit by the flash. But there's still a risk that subject movement would ruin the background effect.

Personally I don't understand the choice of settings. Nothing about it says f14 to me, even with med format 5.6 would do the headshot.

But to answer the simple question; No, there's no need for such a long exposure.
 
Phil V said:
My guess is the model is in a dark spot and only lit by the flash. But there's still a risk that subject movement would ruin the background effect.

Personally I don't understand the choice of settings. Nothing about it says f14 to me, even with med format 5.6 would do the headshot.

But to answer the simple question; No, there's no need for such a long exposure.
Click to expand...

Thanks Phil, I wondered if there was some special technique I was missing :)
 
If there is then I'm missing it too :(

You're obviously aware that larger format means less DoF, but we don't normally hit issues till we're on huge formats, and digital MF is still quite 'small' in the grand scheme of things.

I'd never have chosen those settings for that image, in fact I'm not sure I believe them.
 
The reasons to drag the shutter like that would be to superimpose a sharp frozen "strobe image" over a blurred "ambient image." Or to bring up a dark BG that the strobes aren't illuminating. It doesn't look like the first, the second is possible.
Of course, dragging the shutter to lift the BG increases the risk of motion blur elsewhere.

Exposure is exposure... it is format independent.
 
Its interesting because the image is suggestive of movement in both the hair and the fabric going over her left shoulder.
To the point where i may be misunderstanding the use of flash to freeze the subjects.....is it possible for the flash to freeze any hair movement when the shutter was only 1/8th of a second? I would expect there to still be an element of movement?

Happy to be educated here though by those in the know.
 
stupar said:
Its interesting because the image is suggestive of movement in both the hair and the fabric going over her left shoulder.
To the point where i may be misunderstanding the use of flash to freeze the subjects.....is it possible for the flash to freeze any hair movement when the shutter was only 1/8th of a second? I would expect there to still be an element of movement?

Happy to be educated here though by those in the know.
Click to expand...
Flash photography is like photographing fireworks... If there is no other light in the image then the "exposure" is determined by the location/duration/strength of the light source. Most speedlights at full power have a duration equivalent to about 1/250 SS and get a lot faster at lower power settings. Studio strobes vary a lot more...

In this case, if the exposure is black w/o the strobes then the hair would(could) be frozen by the flash duration. But if the purpose was to drag the shutter speed so that the ambient exposure is not black, then the "ambient exposure" would(could) record motion blur.
 
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