Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/02/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Dear Ted........ Thanks fo rthe reply..... I am glad you reminded me....... I shall make a concerted effort to use wide open and inject more feel into th epics.... Actually I was happy about the sharpness cos I just acquired the R100/2.8 and couldn't wait to see its excellence . A lot of the holiday shots, being outdoorsy and landscpe etc ,.... were already at infinity..... so the sharpness was unavoidable - so to speak..... About the infocus and outfocus effects, yes..... now that you mentioned it, especially the macro shots stood out..... but I also tried shooting wide open at f2.8..... that of my 2 year old daughter...... the pics have a lot more feel and 'depth' ..... tho' I struggled a lot at getting the eyes in focus....... I did the same with my R28/2.8 and the effect is even more pronounced..... yes I like the pics at wide open..... I find taking pics of my kids challenging...... very satisfying when it alll falls into place......... I must confess I shot most pics in Program mode........ >Is this because you were stopped way down rather than using wider apertures >and isolating scenes and sections to capture the mood of the scene? > >I've always found shooting holiday stuff, that if you shoot everything >around the proverbial and recommended "f 8 - 11 and be there" you'll end up >with an awful lot of "postcard images without feeling" Sharp as hell and >correctly exposed. But dead and dull and boring postcard images. > >Or you shoot by personal feelings illustrating your re-actions of the >loction and not the post card shooters idea of "a perfect post card" photo. > >You know what some techies say, "To get the maximum sharpness for your >lens be sure to stop down to 8 or 11". With this method you have the >potential of killing the mood and feeling of the location. Besides we're >using Leica, so what's the big deal about not shooting wide open? > >Don't get me wrong, there are times you need to be stopped down to f22 for >max. depth of field for a particular scene. However, I work as much in the >same method as I do on paying assignments, "Using the widest possible >aperture and highest possible shutter speed!" Everywhere that I do not >require a great depth of field for a given situation. > >If you haven't tried this, why not give it a go. A few frames around the >home town. Be sure to shoot both stopped down and as wide as possible on >the same subject for comparison, then see how you capture a different mood. >Besides, soft out of focus backrounds can be far more pleasing than the >raggedy assed "everything must be sharp" which shows all the clutter in >perfect sharpness! > >ted > > >Ted Grant >This is Our Work. The Legacy of Sir William Osler. >http://www.islandnet.com/~tedgrant > >