Last Shoot of the Year

Get the Light Close – edit completed

Tomorrow is my last shoot of the year and is a studio shoot with three lovely ladies.

I am hoping to push my photography more this coming year, I have been playing it safe and the images are a little similar.

I am already start to short list ideas and models for the first three months and I look forward if not producing great images at least learning more and getting my skill up to the next level.

Merry Christmas

Leica Summicron 35mm

Once again Christmas come round again. Its been a very light year on the photography front. A bit of street photography and some corporate shoots, as well as a few studio shoots including my farewell shoot with the delightful Mrs B.

We had quite a day experimenting with different glasses, looks and lighting. I think a glasses project may be a focus for 2019.

The Night Before Christmas

On the Biking Blog “Ride it like you stole it!” which is sadly no more by Dave Dragon, there was a poem “The Biker’s Night Before Christmas”.

Crossing the Ford

I have posted this before but as this is my last post before Christmas I thought it was worth posting again.

“Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the pad,

There was nada happenin’, now that’s pretty bad.

The woodstove was hung up in that stocking routine,

In hopes that the Fat Boy would soon make the scene.

With our stomachs packed with tacos and beer,

My girl and I crashed on the couch for some cheer.

When out in the yard there arose such a racket,

I ran for the door and pulled on my jacket.

I saw a large bro’ on a ’56 Pan

Wearin’ black leathers, a cap, and boots (cool biker, man).

He hauled up the bars on that bikeful of sacks,

And that Pan hit the roof like it was running on tracks.

I couldn’t help gawking, the old guy had class.

But I had to go in — I was freezing my ass.

Down through the stovepipe he fell with a crash,

And out of the stove he came dragging his stash.

With a smile and some glee he passed out the loot,

A new jacket for her and some parts for my scoot.

He patted her fanny and shook my right hand,

Spun on his heel and up the stovepipe he ran.

From up on the roof came a great deal of thunder,

As that massive V-twin ripped the silence asunder.

With beard in the wind, he roared off in the night,

Shouting, “Have a cool Yule, and to all a good ride!”


Leica Fotos App

Most of Leica’s current crop of cameras can be linked to your mobile device of choice via wifi.

While I do not make use of the remote control features, being able to quickly download the photographs from my Leica M without having to take it out of its case, removing the bottom place etc, is useful.

We used to have an app for each camera but now Leica have released Fotos. A general gallery and remote control app that works with all their cameras.  With the latest firmware release for the Leica M, even creating an adhoc network became easier, as the camera just shows a QR on the back, which the app sees using the camera in your mobile device and your all paired and setup.  The app supports multiple cameras and is easy to use.

There is however an issue.  I could not get the app to download my photographs.  It turns out that the app has to create a custom album on you mobile device which must be called Leica.  I already had a album called Leica on my phone.  This the app did not like and kept crashing until I deleted my album.

Maximising Dynamic Range

The key to maximising dynamic range is to shoot at the base ISO of your sensor and nailing the exposure to protect what your really interested in.

Some scenes are too much for any camera so you have to pick and choose, protect the shadows or the highlights the choice is yours.  Picking the base ISO of your sensor seems the easy part.

Any exposure other then the base ISO results in reduced dynamic range and more noise.  We are used to cameras now with extremely high dynamic range and an extraordinary high ISO values and low noise, the problem is that camera manufactures now seem to think they know best and make adjustments, Sony seem to have the best high ISO performance but thats because of aggressive noise reduction that hides key detail.  It would be better to give the photographer the choice and leave the noise reduction to either a menu option in camera or for the photographer in post production.

Leica has a similar issue with the M10.  A number of users have reported blown high lights at the base ISO of 100.  At 200 the dynamic range seems better.  It turns out that the base ISO of the the sensor in the M10 is about 160-180 ISO.  Now 100 is not far off but it is a pull setting and using an ISO setting of 200 gives you better dynamic range.  Unfortunately the base ISO is inaccessible.