Angles and Curves:

Depicting the nude in the 21st Century

Photography by
L. Egon Schiele

Berlin Zoologischer Garten: Eisbär

Technical information

Cameras and lenses

To record the photographs in the studio, generally I use a Mamiya RZ67 Pro-II camera, mounted on a tripod. With this camera, I use either a Mamiya-Secor Z, 150 mm, f/3.5 lens or a Mamiya-Secor Z, 110 mm, f/2.8 lens. For some shots usually recorded from high or low vantage points, I use a Yashica Mat -124G twin-lens reflex camera equipped with a Yashinon, 80 mm, f/3.5 lens.

Lighting

 For most static poses, several 500-Watt (3200-kelvin) flood lamps mounted in reflectors produce the lighting; and for dynamic poses, an electronic flash, e. g., White Lightning UltraZap UZ800, fired into a large silver-lined umbrella reflector, produces the lighting. Sometimes I use two electronic flashes. I use a Minolta Auto Meter IIIF to determine exposures.

Film and printing

Generally I use fine-grain, high-resolution, ISO 100, black-and-white film such as Kodak TMAX 100 or Ilford Delta 100, which is developed commercially, usually using Kodak TMAX Developer. To print the negatives, I use an Omega C67 enlarger equipped with a Nikon, EL-Nikkor, 80 mm, f/5.6 lens. I use resin-coated, variable-contrast enlarging paper usually manufactured by Kentmere or Ilford.

Digital representations

 I produce the digital representations of the photographs by scanning 8- x 10-inch or 8- x 12-inch enlargements. The scans have a nominal resolution of 400 ppi, which I record in TIFF. On this site, I display versions having very low resolution. Because the scanning and editing processes give rise to artifacts and to losses in the tonal quality, the actual prints are generally far superior in resolution and tonal quality to these low-resolution images displayed on this site.

Copyright © L. Egon Schiele 2005-2008. All Rights Reserved.