Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/10/29
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I don't have the book you speak of in front of me, but I was thinking about the question you raised while taking my walk today. My favorite H C-B image is "Greek Girl Ascending Staircase" (or something close ot that). I've never seen a fine print of the image, but in books it appears to have about 32 tones of gray. I could be a posterization. The elements are mostly large masses, and lots of detail would probably be distracting and pull the eye away from the beauty of the design and composition. The need for sharpness depends a lot on the image and the photographer's intention. As it is, I like lots of detail and accurate, high-contrast rendering. If I had H C-B's eye, it might be different. A good teacher once told me to think about puttings images or designs on paper--not about cameras and technique. I'm sure there is a wide range of opinions on this one. Joe Stephenson - -----Original Message----- From: Alexey Merz <alexey@webcom.com> To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> Date: Thursday, October 29, 1998 2:58 PM Subject: [Leica] HCB vs. modern lenses >-Mark Walberg writes: >>So, I was looking through the HCB Aperture book last night, too - I've >>got it out from our local library. I wonder how some of those pictures >>in there would look if taken with a current generation, sharp as my old >>barber's freshly stropped blade Summicron, with every last bit of flare >>suppressed. I think many of those pictures would still look great. >>However, there are definitely some that would suffer from all that >>crisply rendered detail, which would distract your attention away from >>what makes some of these pictures great. > >I think that a lot of us on this list own that, or other, HCB books. >Maybe it woud be interesting to be more specific? *Which* images would >be stronger with more detail, or with a lens displaying reduced spherical >aberration? While sharpness may be overrated, it's clear that a lot of >HCB's images work through the *regional* control of focus vs. out-of >-focus and movement-blurred vs. frozen areas. The Aperture book contains >abundant examples - the photo of the crowd surrounding the Pope, with that >one woman's passionate, almost crazed eyes completely dominating the >photo - that image will be with me forever. The portrait of Matisse, with >its blurred foreground, is another. > >On the other hand, one of the last photos in the book, of the leg and >fist jutting out of the prison cell, was clearly made with a more modern >lens, and I think it would be weaker if it were less harshly rendered. > >-Alexey >.......................................................................... >Alexey Merz | URL: http://www.webcom.com/alexey | email: alexey@webcom.com > | PGP public key: http://pgp5.ai.mit.edu/ | voice:503/494-6840 > | Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the > | first woman she meets and then teams up with three complete > | strangers to kill again. > | -- TV listing for _The Wizard of Oz_, > | in the Marin County, Ca., newspaper >