Portrait

The Christmas Portrait, 2018 Edition.

2018, 7Artisans 50mm f/1.1, Beyond 200 feet of My House™, Favourite, Inspiration, Leica M10, Portrait, Prosophos Custom Lightroom Presets, Q&A, Street

This also happens to be Test Shot #3 of Undisclosed Lens #7, stopped down this time in order to get everyone in focus (the first two test images were shot wide open).

Of note, after only a day’s worth of experience with this lens, I was confidant enough to use it for a group portrait.

As an aside, we had a relatively warm Christmas week this year, hence the absence of snow.

—Peter.

↑ Leica M10 + Undisclosed Lens #7.

Oh the irony.

2018, Favourite, Inspiration, Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH f/1.4, Leica M10, Portrait, Prosophos Custom Lightroom Presets, Q&A, Teaching point

Today I finally figured out how to properly process my Leica M10 files (the irony is that last weekend I announced the end of this blog).

After months of experimentation, I created a custom preset in Lightroom that strikes a nice balance between punching up the contrast and colour, enhancing skin tones, and preserving detail.  The overall effect is subtle, which is what I want.

Most of the commercial presets I’ve tried result in cartoonish effects (specifically, with respect to colour shifts and detail obliteration) that are painted over with digital “grain”, so I’ve avoided using them.

Here is an example of my preset in action:

(click for a larger view)

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Here is another example:

(click for a larger view)

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I can’t wait to work with this (and possibly fine-tune it some more).

By the way, I want to thank all of you who took the time to write to me, both on this site and via email, with words of encouragement.  I am very grateful for your kindness.

—Peter.