The light was gorgeous and the clouds were perfectly placed to make this composition harmonious.
Something not readily apparent in this image: it was very windy (look carefully at the leaves). I took a second image a few moments later and promptly deleted it… the clouds had already shifted.
Capturing a walker/jogger/runner in mid-stride is always desirable, as it adds a dynamic component to the image, and it opens up the figure for a more pleasing composition.
In this case, when I zoom in, I can see that both of his feet are off the ground… this serves no real purpose (for this particular image), but it’s an example of the sort of “freezing” of time that photography does so well.
Yesterday, I posted this image, taken with my Leica M9…
(please click on the image to view)
…and asked you to guess which lens was used. Many of you were generous with your time and responded.
I appreciate the effort (and guts!) of all of you who took the time to record your best guess.
Moreover, reading the analysis behind each choice was very interesting and educational (I urge those of you who haven’t read through the comments of the original post to please do so).
The test image below marks the debut of my Voigtländer 75mm f/2.5 Color Heliar LTM.
The lens was discontinued a while ago, but I was fortunate enough to find a “new-old stock” one, which arrived yesterday.
Over the years, I’ve read quite a bit about this lens and how it compares quite favourably to the Leica 75mm Summarit (a wonderful lens in its own right — please see my user report here).
What piqued my interest was the reported performance-to-size ratio — I’m always looking for small and lightweight lenses that are capable of powerhouse performance (which, as far as I’m concerned, represents the ethos of the Leica M system).
Having now seen it, I can definitely state that the Color Heliar is indeed incredibly light and and incredibly small. Some performance trade-off must have been made in order to achieve this state of airiness, but in my limited time with it, I just don’t see it.*
In a word, the Color Heliar’s performance @ f/2.5 is impressive.
I’ll try and post another test shot — including 100% crops — tomorrow.**
—Peter.
(please click on the image to view)
↑Leica M9 and Voigtländer 75mm Color Heliar @ f/2.5.
_
*More often than not, the more sought after — and more expensive — Leica counterpart lenses will excel in the areas of build quality, micro-contrast, flare resistance, sharpness wide open, corner performance, etc… but sometimes the differences are very subtle and some of those qualities, for my type of shooting, are not critical.
**Please note that I have no intention of writing a review, I’m just sharing the information I gather during my evaluation of this lens.
If you’re interested in improving your photography, but can’t attend one of my 1-on-1 teaching sessions, I’m now offering an email-based Photo Critiquing Service.
Incidentally, this image was processed in Lightroom 4, because my copy of Aperture 3 crashed and wouldn’t re-start when I was processing images for a client. It’s the first time I’ve used LR4 (the first image I processed with it was this one) and the experience has been positive.
My copy of Aperture is finally back up and running, but Lightroom has earned a permanent place in my post-processing toolbox.
Currently, my favourite lens, for both digital and film.
I’ve previously criticized it as being too perfect, but after years of both embracing and neglecting it, I’m beginning to realize that it’s just perfectly balanced.
To see all of the images I’ve captured with this lens, please see here.
Isn’t this image great?… It’s an impromptu street portrait taken yesterday, while we were on our photography lesson walkabout.
Now, I can’t promise that everybody will be able to take as nice a shot as this after spending 2 hrs with me (Alex is a natural), but I do promise that I’ll try to improve your photography skills to the best of my ability.
So, if you’re interested in signing up for a no-pressure, one-on-one photography shooting session with me, please click here.
I’d like to thank Mr. Tom A. Smith, the Events & Education Manager of Leica Akademie NA, for inviting me to be guest speaker at the Toronto workshop this past weekend.
I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and was able to meet John Parkyn, a frequent comment contributor to this site, as well several other passionate photographers.
I received this email from Mark this morning and his enthusiasm was so infectious, I just had to make it today’s post. And of course, the images speak for themselves.
Well Peter,
I did it!!
Thanks to your direction and encouragement, I have developed my first roll of B&W film.
Attached below are a few of the results.
I realize they are scratched and full of flaws (flaring and such…) but…I think they are incredible!
I realize I am biased, however; I wanted to take the time to thank you for your efforts in getting me (and hopefully many others!) to this point.
There is nothing quite like the feeling that producing something like this brings…
I am now certain that I am “The (second…) Most Interesting Man in the World” (Dos Equis anyone?? I’ll leave the top spot to you…for now.)
…Mosquitos refuse to bite me, purely out of respect. I can now live vicariously through…myself.
🙂
Anyway, these are shot on a Zeiss Ikon, with a 50 lux 1.4; mostly at 1.4 or 2 with an ND Filter. The film is T-max 400, and they were scanned on the Plustek 7600 (currently on special at B&H!)
Anyway, all the best…I hope we can meet in person some day soon.
Mark, these are so full of LIFE. Wonderful work my friend…
If I had a small part in making this happen, I am honoured.
Mr. Tom A. Smith, the Events & Education Manager of Leica Akademie NA tells me that there is still one spot left for this workshop, so if you’re interested in attending, please see here.
If you can’t attend this weekend, but reside in the Toronto area, please note that I offer practical one-on-one teaching sessions on a year-round basis.
Tomorrow I will post Part 3 of my series, How I Process B&W Film.
In this final article, we put it all together, and I will list my step-by-step instructions on how to use the equipment discussed in Part 1 with the solutions prepared in Part 2.
Prosophos 