Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/10/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>David Allen Harvey shoots Kodachrome 200 in florescent light pushed to 500. >The magenta cast pretty much corrects for the green. He got into Magnum. So >he knows what he's doing. > >There are as many photographers as there are solutions to any photographic >challenge. Ted does it his way, and being such an award winning >photographer, respected throughout the world, that says a lot about the way >he does things. He's not speaking ex-cathedra. He's just a passionate guy. Pretty much corrects for the green. Pretty much hardly. Shooting Kodachrome 200 in fluorescent light and pushing to expect a magenta cast to offset the effects of the fluorescent light may give interesting effects, but there are so many different types of fluorescent lights that such a technique can not be recommended for reliable indoor colour photography under fluorescent lighting. The fact that DAH got into Magnum, or that Ted is an award winning photographer matters not either. Why is it that there is such appeal to hero worship in this discussion? It is a fallacy to suggest that just because some guru does something one way then everyone has to do the same thing. One of the nice things about photography is that it is so diverse. Delightful results can be obtained using a wide variety of techniques. Several people have taken issue with Ted regarding his condemnation for using flash with an M camera. He claims that the Leica rangefinder cameras have to be used only with available light, and if anyone can read the available light properly, given the right amount of experience and proper technique, then flash will not be necessary. Anything else will spoil the results. Leica Ms are made for natural light. Period. Ted is an accomplished photographer, no doubt. His experience had allowed him to find techniques that work for him. As others have pointed out so well, there are ways in which artificial lighting can be used which will produce pleasing results. Artificial lighting does not have to produce artificial-looking photos. Color balance is certainly an issue. So is balancing light ratios. I suppose that using a reflector to direct more light into the shadows might also be regarded as a taboo if one were to be so dogmatic about their lighting technique. Different strokes here folks. It is OK to do things differently. Photography would be too boring if there were only one "correct" way that it could be done. This doesn't have to turn into a slugfest. _ [o] -GH