[Leica] Cape Cod in Winter

[tedgrant at shaw.ca (Ted Grant)]

Richard S. Taylor showed:
Subject: [Leica] Cape Cod in Winter
Subject: Cape Cod National Seashore #2.

Ok Richard, 2 for the price of one! ;-)

Winter # 1.:
>>>They were all taken with a 15mm Heliar on my M3 and, remembering
Ted's dictum to get low as much as possible with this lens, deep knee
bends were the order of the day.<<<
http://gallery.leica-users.org/CAPE_COD/4_00A_0136_web
http://gallery.leica-users.org/CAPE_COD/4_09A_0145_web
http://gallery.leica-users.org/CAPE_COD/4_05A_0141_web

These 3 worked well because you filled the frame without any tilting and 
throwing everything off kilter. The 15mm lens is a beauty, there isn't any 
doubt about it if one handles the camera correctly. And there in lies the 
secret of successful 15mm and other super wide lenses... holding it 
correctly. Vertically and horizontally.

Those who whine and bitch uselessly about super wides and the distortion, do 
so because they haven't got a clue how to hold the camera properly, nor 
anything about composing for maximum wide angle lens effect. Without 
distortion!

Richard showed more:
>>>...Finally found some time to work on more of the photos from my visit
to Cape Cod National Seashore a week ago Sunday.  M3 15mm Heliar Fuji
Press 400 unless noted otherwise.
>>Fences 1 - Race Point.
http://gallery.leica-users.org/CAPE_COD/5_20A_0192_web<<<

I much prefer the fences without people and looser cropping simply because 
the tighter cropping completely takes away the 15mm lens effect. The super 
strong foregrounds that take you right into the scene.

Crop it tighter and people? It's just another snap shot kind of thing.

>>> Stairs - Marconi Station.
http://gallery.leica-users.org/CAPE_COD/3_27A_0268_web<<

I think if you shoot too many of these you might have to carry barf bags!:-) 
Jeesh great effect, one to keep in mind for a future "stair opportunity." 
:-) Did you try a vertical angle? Like straight down the stairs but 
vertical? The very bottom of the frame is the edge of the top step and 
straight down tight! Yeehaw all the way to the bottom! ;-)!

 >>>>>Fences 2 - Race Point.  After many tries to crop out the flare in the
upper right and coming up with nothing worth showing, I decided to
make it a design element.  I like the semi-spotlight effect in the
center of the frame and including the sun makes sense of it.
Besides, this is what I saw when I took the picture.<<<<<
http://gallery.leica-users.org/CAPE_COD/5_16A_0188_crop2_web<<<<

Sometimes when the initial motivation includes the sun in this manner I 
always go for it and edit later on the light table. Some folks think they 
know it all, select one angle and that's it. Wrong! Because later they'll 
very nearly always say... "oh gee I should've!"  Pity! :-(

I try any number of variations as long as each does something for me 
visually. You can't make them happen on the light table if you think of it 
later. However, trust me no matter how many angles you try and think you've 
got them all covered..... on the light table you'll say... "Dang! Why didn't 
I see that at the time?"  ;-)

>>>I like it in color, too.
http://gallery.leica-users.org/CAPE_COD/5_16A_0188_crop2_c_web<<<

Not bad, but I feel the B&W has a better feeling to it. The colour looks 
like a good tourism happy snap, the B&W has greater feeling, mood and visual 
strength.

Keep them coming, simply because the 15mm is a magical lens for creating 
interesting photographs, certainly when you consider the main stream world 
picture snappers use a 50mm lens (or there abouts)  for all their picture 
taking.

ted