[Leica] IMGs: Beauty of M9 colors at night (Bangkok portfolio)

[Richard Man]

Thanks

On Tue, Oct 7, 2014 at 3:44 PM, <mitcha at mac.com> wrote:

> Richard - there is a long thread here:
>
>
> http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m9-forum/292708-m9-colors-night-best-way-shoot.html
>
> ...parts of which are worth reading if you are interested in trying this
> technique. In particular, read Jim Kasson's posts and the links to his
> blog: he's done a lot of work and explains and shows conclusively why it's
> better with the M9 to shoot at ISO 640 and push in LR 4 or 5. (He answers
> your questions).
>
> Also, I'll post here the steps in shooting and processing that I suggested
> as a starting point:
>
> Exposure
> At ISO 640 start (with the Elmarit 21mm ASPH) by exposing at f/2.8 and a
> shutter speed of 1/60 or 1/90, and (with a Summicorn-28) by exposing at
> f/2.0 and a shutter speed of 1/120 or 1/180. The aim is not to blow out the
> highlights. On a dark night, I find that I don't need much depth of field
> because of the rapid drop-off in light intensity.
>
> Lightroom 4/5 Post-Processing
> 1. Click Auto in the Exposure Panel and use this as the starting point.
> 2. Adjust the Exposure Slider to the point at which you like the look.
> 3. Press "J" and see whether any of the highlights are blown out.
> 4. If necessary (from Step 3), pull back on the Highlights Slider.
> 5. I like to pull back the Black Slider to negative numbers so that
> picture has a look that I like.
> 6. Click White Balance Eye Dropper in an area you want to be neutral grey,
> but I don't like to neutralize the colors completely because I want a
> "real" look from the lights in the picture.
> 7. Try moving the Clarity Slider between +10 - +30. (I find that
> increasing Clarity creates a good feeling of light in a high contrast
> scene, but sometimes this may not be necessary or even may not look good.
> 8. If you increased Clarity, you can probably pull back a bit on the
> Exposure.
> 9. In the Noise Reduction panel, after setting the View to 100%, move the
> Color Slider to the right until the color noise disappears.
> 10. Still at 100% View, move the Luminance Slider to the right if
> necessary to remove more noise, but be careful no to go too far. Some
> pictures will not need any Luminance Slide increase.
>
> - - Mitch
>
>
> Subject: [Leica] IMGs: Beauty of M9 colors at night (Bangkok portfolio)
> From: richard at richardmanphoto.com (Richard Man)
> Date: Tue, 7 Oct 2014 14:46:02 -0700
> References: <54EB6482-CDDC-4F8B-852F-18D151AE3B4E at mac.com>
> Very interesting. Thank you for sharing. So underexpose and then push it to
> Lightroom is presumably better than just running up the ISO? Is it the
> theory that with jacking up the ISO, you are increasing the signal at the
> sensor end, whereas "push processing" just rely on the the sensor's ability
> to capture the shadows?
>
>
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