[Leica] Leica Portraits Facebook

[Bernard Quinn]

Sonny,

Once in a while someone over there posts an outstanding portrait. But most of the time they seem to have allowed themselves to be trapped by their technology, their culture, and their arrogance, which comes from being young, I expect. 

Much of the work just shrieks portrait made with a 50mm lens. As any LUG member will tell you it is tough to get close enough with a 50mm lens on a rangefinder to fill the frame with a head shot. Simple answer. Crop or reframe. Works every time. 

I am not sure who the audience for these photos is. My suspicion is that it is the annual meeting of the Asian Big Boob Society. The result they achieve is all too often portraits with two conflicting centers of interest. Simple cure. Make up your mind what your shot is about. If you are going to shoot porn, shoot porn. It will not hurt your leica. If you are going to shoot portraits, shoot portraits. Tell a story about your subject. And there lies another issue. They might might want to give some thought to what some of their work says about whom they photograph. 

The other possibility is that the problem is me. Perhaps they are speaking a new language of portraiture which I am too out of it to understand. But I have spent too much time on my side of the viewfinder to find that fully convincing. 

My bottom line is that just because you can shoot at f1.1 doesn’t mean you should or that it is a good idea. That so called creamy, buttery bookeh they crave rapidly becomes a creamy, buttery distraction if you are not careful. I think one also needs to make some decisions regarding what your picture is about. The subject or the background.

Please forgive me. I tend to be old school and hard core about these things.

Barney 

Make America Kind Again!

Barney Quinn, WK3Z
301-775-1386



> On Sep 9, 2019, at 10:39 AM, Sonny Carter via LUG <lug at leica-users.org> wrote:
> 
> I unfollowed that list and I can't tell you how much better I feel.  The
> criteria seems to be, get a shot in focus while wide open.   That usually
> puts the subject dead center in the frame, because they shoot with
> rangefinder cameras.  No re-frame, no crop.   'bout drove me crazy.   When
> I said something about it, I was called rude and a troll.
> 
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Sonny
> http://sonc.com/look/
> Natchitoches, Louisiana
> 1714
> Oldest Permanent Settlement in the Louisiana Purchase
> 
> USA
> 
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