Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/10/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Late input Arne. I absolutely loved the photos, in particular the Stelvio series. I would go so far as to say that they were as good and interesting as any I have seen on-screen. I agree with Nathan that a bit of editing would be great for the viewer. Though I like the story that the long series tells, the sense of getting to know the landscape and your fellow travelers, it takes some time to get through them all. I was struck by your eye for composition and was particularly impressed with your use of the 19mm lens. I also felt the contrast range was extraordinary in a number of those pictures, with the blackest blacks ranging to the various grey and white tones. I am not typically this interested in landscape photography. The kind of pictures that Nathan shows are more similar to those that I typically take. But the Stelvio series grabbed me. Keep doing it, your way. John McLeod - ----- Original Message ----- From: Arne Helme <Arne.Helme@stelvio.nl> To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> Sent: Monday, October 15, 2001 11:48 AM Subject: [Leica] New Photo Site (followup and comments) > Thanks to all of you who provided feedback and comments to my previous > posting in which I announced the availability of my new web site. In > the following I summarize the feedback I have received and add some > comments on my own. > > Jason Vicinanza suggested that I should use smaller scans that would > fit 1024x768 screens including frames, menu bars, etc. In addition he > informed that the home page link did not work. I will re-edit the > Foetus collection and make smaller scans . They are clearly too big > for 1024x768 screens (too bad the new ones will appear as thumbnails > on my 1600x1200 TFT screen...:-)). The home page link was wrong as > there is no real home page yet. To be fixed. > > Kyle Kassidy and Nathan Wajsman both suggested that I could have done > some tighter editing of the series. As they are now, each series is > just a collection of photos. There is no story being told. Will do. > > Oliver Bryk mentioned that the Stelvio pass has 48 pin turns and not > 45 as I said. Note that on the pictures one can only see the upper > half of the turns. Further down in the valley below there are just > about as many pin turns. The bicyclists had a hard time... > > Nathan Wajsman missed photos of the the brave souls bicycling up the > pass. I primarily went to Passo Dello Stelvio to enjoy myself and > make landscapes photos. My colleagues (the bicyclists) went there to > enjoy themselves too --- in their own way. > > John Brownlow wrote that Jim Foetus didn't appear to have aged. > Also, from my memories he looked exactly the same way as he did during > his Euro tour of 1987. I spoke to him after the concert. He is > definitely still going strong! > > Henry Ambrose asked if I carried all my R gear on a bicycle. Luckily I > did not bring a bicycle. I carried the equipment in a Lowepro Top > Load Zoom Pro AW camera case + chest harness. > > Michael Yoder asked me about the use of the orange filter and the high > contrast in some of the photos. The filter was one part of the > solution while Vuescan provided the other part. I tweaked the > contrast using the gamma and black/white point settings until I had a > photo that represented my impression of the scene. I set Vuescan's > color scan tab to Neutral to allow for a maximum stretch of the > contrast range, and from there on I carefully select the other values. > > Pascal Heynman asked whether there where occasions where I wished for > something wider than the 2.8/19mm. Actually, no, I did not. The 19mm > was wide enough for me. I find it rather challenging to fill the > foreground with such wide (and wider) lenses, and I already have a > huge collection of "empty" photos of various landscapes. > > Andrew Nemeth and others commented that some of the landscape shots > would be nice in color. I intend to add some color photos to the > Passo Dello Stelvio collection. Unfortunately, I have no color photos > from the Foetus concert. > > Andrew Nemeth also asked about flare. I deliberately kept the sun out > of the shots to avoid flare. There are simply to many undesired side > effects of flare and I don't want to provoke flare more than > necessary. > > Otto Anshus commented that the photos made with the new Summilux R > 1.4/50mm have a nice appearance. I agree with him. It is a truly > remarkable lens. > > The use of a tripod would have enabled me to facilitate longer shutter > speeds to provide me with more depth of field. Because I usually > focus at infinity for most landscape shots, I could have had the > foreground in some of the photos more sharply rendered. Generally, in > landscape photos I don't find it disturbing that the foreground is not > 100% sharply rendered. On this occasion it went OK without the > tripod. However, I belong to the minority of the LUG that cannot hand > hold steadily at shutter speeds slower than 1/250s-1/500s without > seeing image degradations... > > Most chromes were under-exposed between 1/3 and 2/3 stop. This turned > out to be great for landscapes, but a little too dark for the > portraits. > > Some of you commented on non-professional (amateur) vs professional > scans and scan quality. I would like to point out that I have used > Vuescan for about two years and spent quite some time and efforts on > learning its behavior. As I noted in my initial posting, I am not > into Photoshop and such things. By keeping things simple (read: only > allowing a few parameters to be modified --- and Vuescan only provides > a few parameters) I manage to obtain good quality scans not only for > web publishing, but also for printing. The scans do also exhibit a > high level of clarity at other resolutions. > > A few final words. It *is* time consuming to produce high quality > scans. In my initial posting I wrote that the photos that I have > published express *my* interpretation of the scenes. That's simply > not possible without being involved and controlling the process. > There's an analogy to traditional darkroom printing here. My current > digital working method is designed to complement my darkroom > activities. I strive to obtain comparable results (interpretations) > with both mediums. Simplicity (as also is the case with Leica M and R > cameras) is the solution to better imagery. So much for digital > perfection. > > Regards, > > -- Arne > Arne Helme > Email: Arne.Helme at stelvio.nl (^" at "^@) > Work: +31-33-4697340, Fax: +31-33-4697341, GSM: +31-620135827 > M&I/Stelvio bv, Zonnehof 41, 3811 ND Amersfoort, the Netherlands > -- > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html > - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html