Sounds good. Even if it’s cloudy, make sure to have the sun behind you. The SX-70 is slightly limiting in certain aspects, but the results can be rewarding. If you’d like to experiment with portraits, you can shoot an object up close. It doesn’t matter what it is, just something that you think it’ll look good on a polaroid photo.

Also, the shadowy areas might offer you some negative space that’ll make your portraits pop (like the one from Chris). One of the polaroid limitations is that you can either have highlights or shadows. I think it makes more sense to focus on the highlights for a portrait. Anyway, enjoy shooting, and let me know how it goes!

I haven’t tried to take a photo of a person closer than say 3 meters to the camera. I will have to try getting closer when the next opportunity arises. The problem with the sun is that you usually want to take a pic of people with a specific background behind them. For instance, a few weeks ago, I was at a cafe with a few guys (for a reunion). When we left, I wanted to take a pic of 4 guys in front of a sign, “Hey Jupiter,” a popular cafe. At the time, I was going to take full-body shots so that everyone would be fully in the pic. But I didn’t realize that I had no film left 🙁 We will be meeting again in a couple of months. I am now thinking that I should take a closer photo. Get their top half in the pic with the sign in the background. Not sure what the sun will do on the day. If the sun is out, it will be behind me, but there are buildings behind the camera as well, so they may create shadowy areas. Thanks for the SX-70 photo tips. I will have to try out an infinity focus for myself at some stage.

John, your question is not ignorant at all. I have one of the oldest SX-70 cameras, and it, unfortunately, doesn’t have a split viewfinder. So, as you can imagine, it’s even more challenging to focus correctly. Add on top that the viewfinder is not totally clean, and you can understand that focusing can be difficult.

My SX-70 is not a Sonar model; therefore, I rely exclusively on manual focus. If you turn the focus wheel all the way to the right (I think), the camera is set to infinity focus. That said, you can have almost everything in focus (polaroids have limitations, hence the “almost”).
All that said, manual focus on Polaroid SX-70 is highly intuitive. By looking through the viewfinder and by turning the wheel left and right, at some point, you’ll see your subject being in focus (or: sharp enough). I know: a slight turn of the wheel might still show you your subject in focus. What to do then? Here’s the intuitive part. I guess you’ll then depend on your instant gut feeling and hope for the best.

I think it takes trial and error, John. Honestly, in the photos you see of Chris and Marianna, I did exactly that: I played a bit around with the focus until they seemed sharp enough through the viewfinder. Especially for Chris’ portrait, I went really close to him, perhaps less than an arm’s length. Marianna’s photo (I wouldn’t really call it a portrait) is a bit more distant. The best portrait tip I can offer is to go as close as possible to your subject, have a light source behind you (preferably the sun), and take your time to focus correctly. The photo might feel too staged, but polaroid cameras don’t have very fast shutter speeds.

Did you try shooting a polaroid on a sunny day (preferably late afternoon), with the sun behind you and being close to your subject?

George, this is probably an ignorant question, but how do you do an infinity focus with an SX-70 camera? Does your SX-70 camera have a split viewfinder? I would have thought that you would have focussed on one of the vertical poles by using the split viewfinder. However, I can’t see how you could have taken a better pic of that cafe area, so whatever you did was the best thing to do.

Also, can you give me a tip for taking good portrait shots? Do you try and find a vertical line to focus? How do you focus on a person? Both of the photos with your friends in it turned out great. The photos I take seem to be more blurry.

Thanks, John. So glad you like the polaroid from Piazza Grande: I was hesitant to include it in this diary. I used infinity focus and tried to stand a few meters away from the first object. I wanted to have everything in focus, even though the light was relatively poor at the moment. But I’m glad you like it because I wasn’t sure if the colors+setting looked good enough.