Smile.

Film, Inspiration, Kodak Portra 400, Mamiya RZ 110mm F/2.8, Mamiya RZ67 Professional Pro II, Portrait

The Butler Did It.

Inspiration, Leica 35mm Summilux ASPH FLE f/1.4, Leica M8 (CCD Lives!), Life's Little Moments, Portrait

A play about a wealthy Socialite, an act of betrayal, a tenacious Detective, and of course… a (nervous) Butler.

A Childhood Production.

—Peter.

Hair Dryer.

Inspiration, Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH f/1.4, Leica M9(P)/M-E (CCD Lives!), Life's Little Moments, Lighting - Westcott Ice Light, Portrait, Q&A, Teaching point

I always have a difficult time capturing her, when she’s aware of the camera.

This time, I was able to photograph surreptitiously, with the help of the Ice Light (on the table).

—Peter.

The Theory of Ridiculity.

Inspiration, Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH f/1.4, Leica M9(P)/M-E (CCD Lives!), Portrait, Teaching point

E = mc²

Luiz Paulo published in LFI!

Guest Post, Inspiration

Long time friend and contributing photographer to this site, Luiz Paulo, has been published in the latest addition of LFI.

Congratulations Luiz!

—Peter.

The Beautiful Game in motion.

Film, Inspiration, Kodak Portra 400, Mamiya RZ 110mm F/2.8, Mamiya RZ67 Professional Pro II, Portrait, Sports, Teaching point, The Beautiful Game

The Mamiya RZ67 is a large camera.

But it’s fairly nimble at field level.

—Peter.

Saturdays.

Inspiration, Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH f/1.4, Leica M9(P)/M-E (CCD Lives!), Life's Little Moments, Portrait

Scared of the dark.

Inspiration, Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH f/1.4, Leica M9(P)/M-E (CCD Lives!), Portrait, Print, Teaching point

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”

―Plato.

Pure Joy.

2014, Favourite, Film, Inspiration, Kodak Portra 400, Mamiya RZ 110mm F/2.8, Mamiya RZ67 Professional Pro II, Portrait

Prelude to a Curse.

2014, Favourite, Inspiration, Leica 35mm Summilux ASPH FLE f/1.4, Leica M8 (CCD Lives!), Portrait

Recent insight: M8 vs. M9 for B&W, and the negative “Efex” of Silver Efex Pro.

Inspiration, Teaching point

Conventional internet wisdom states that the Leica M8 is a better camera than the M9 for B&W file conversion — True or False?

The answer: True… but barely.

My old B&W conversions with the M8 were more pleasing than the ones I subsequently obtained with my M9/M-E, but now I realize that the less pleasing M9/M-E conversions were mostly secondary to my use of Silver Efex Pro. Lately I’ve been doing straight de-saturation of my M9/M-E files, and they look more natural and almost as good as my M8 files. The M8 still wins because of its greater IR sensitivity — this allows for slightly better B&W output.

For all practical purposes, however, the M8 and M9 sensors behave almost identically (for both B&W and colour). This shouldn’t be too surprising, given how the sensor in the latter evolved from the former.

Which makes me want to re-state something I’ve been saying for years: the M8 was the most under-appreciated and underestimated digital camera ever.

If there’s anyone from the original Kodak KAF-10500 (APS-H 10.3-megapixel) CCD sensor development team reading this, I sincerely thank you for your fine work.

—Peter.

[Upcoming Insight: Film vs. Digital].