Leica 50mm Summicron f/2

Pat from Jackson-Triggs.

Leica 50mm Summicron f/2, Photo Shoot, Portrait

Pat is an amazing tour guide from the Jackson-Triggs Niagara Estate winery, situated in Southern Ontario’s world-renown Niagara-on-the-Lake wine region.

The Jackson-Triggs winery is a state-of-the-art facility that is both functional and beautiful and when you take a tour there, you will be greeted by friendly and knowledgeable staff.  Every facet of the wine-making process will be explained, beginning outside in the vineyard, moving inside to the production facility, and ending with a (yummy) wine tasting at the Grand Reserve Tasting Bar.

If you want to experience a wonderfully humerous and educational guided tour of the winery, do yourself a favour and seek out Pat next time you find yourself at Niagara-on-the-Lake.

(please click on any of the images below)

Both images taken with the Leica M9 and 50mm Summicron @ f/2.

The merry-go-round.

Inspiration, Leica 50mm Summicron f/2, Teaching point

It’s challenging sometimes to photograph something you’ve photographed before and produce something with a fresh perspective.

I often look to change things up by photographing at different times of the day (or night), under different sorts of weather.  It’s mostly about the light and the way it paints everything it touches.  A simple park bench can be boring under flat light but can be absolutely poetic with the red-orange back-lighting of the setting sun behind it.

Sometimes I’ll change my angle or point of view.  There are actually many variables involved, and many opportunities to introduce change.

When I was shooting this Merry-Go-Round, I was doing it at the same time of day, in the same season, and using the same camera and lens I’ve shot previously.  So what to do?

I decided to play with the shutter speed to create a blur effect, shooting at 1/4 sec.  The aperture was set to f/16.  I panned a little bit to follow the action so that some of the elements in the image were recognizable and not just blurred blobs.

I don’t know if I succeeded in making these interesting, but I like the effect, and I enjoyed revisiting a familiar scene in a slightly different way.

(please click on any of the images below to view)

All three photos taken with the Leica M9 and Leica 50mm Summicron @ f/16.

Bright, midday light.

Konica Hexanon 60mm f/1.2, Leica 50mm Summicron f/2, Leica 75mm Summilux (Canada 🇨🇦) f/1.4, LFI Master Shot, Teaching point

Harsh light washes out colours and details, and creates blown highlights and deep shadows.  The latter two are unflattering to faces, so I try to avoid shooting in bright midday light when photographing people.

Sometimes though, the moment inspires and emotion wins over technical perfection.

[Photography Pearl:  An emotionally appealing, but technically flawed, photograph will always trump a boring, but technically perfect one.  If an image connects with the viewer, it has succeeded.]

(please click on the images below)

↑”Springtime” (Leica 50mm Summicron @ f/2).  [This image was chosen as a Leica Fotografie International (LFI) Master Shot].

↑”Mother and daughter” (Leica 75mm Summilux @ f/1.4 with a 3 stop ND filter).

↑”The contortion of play” (Leica 75mm Summilux @ f/1.4 with a 3 stop ND filter).

↑”Not homeless, just tired” (Konica Hexanon 60mm @ f/1.2).

All images taken with a Leica M9.