Chicagohenge

September 24, 2020 by Ming Hung in Chicago, Cityscape, Photography, Sunset

Hello! It has been a few months since I posted anything on this main blog page. The reason? The Two Ls: Laziness and Lack (of content). Here is some content I actually shot this week. The Autumn equinox was just a few days ago. During the Spring and Autumn equinoxes (give or take a few days) the setting sun will line up along the East-West streets, and the resulting scene between the buildings in downtown Chicago is pretty cool. I do not own a long enough lens to get close so I chose a cinematic presentation for my images. This was my first time shooting Chihenge so it was a learning experience. I will know what to expect next time. I only took a handful of shots and am leading this post with the best one, so there is no real reason for you to keep going, lol.

This was the first shot as the sun started peaking out from behind some buildings. I did not know beforehand where the sun would appear relative to the horizon. Then I noticed the gal in the middle of my shot move up so I knew it began. My friend and I walked up and down Michigan Avenue and looked down each East-West street to see which view we preferred. We settled on Jackson Boulevard because the Sears Tower could be seen in the shot. That is if we were on Michigan Avenue. But because of where the sun appeared we had to move off Michigan Avenue, and the skyscraper was obscured by closer buildings.

The other reason we ended up on Jackson Boulevard was because there were a lot of people camped on the steps of the Art Institute of Chicago to watch the “henging” along Adams Street. There were fewer people on Jackson so we could properly social distance while shooting. I color graded each of my images differently for some variety. In the above image I got some of the other shooters out there. They would dart to the middle of the street when there was no traffic. I did the same thing where I was, and preferred to stay back to use the elevated train tracks as a framing element.

I had my Monochrom246 with me so I took just a few shots with it. Next time I will have a camera set up to capture some motion blur when the trains go by. It was not this dark, but I like some drama and moodiness. Thank you for visiting.

Click images to view on black.

Ode to "Chinese Whiskers"

July 16, 2018 by Ming Hung in Animal Life, Photography

When photographer Marcel Heijnen moved to Hong Kong he noticed that there were cats in many of the shops, and he started a book project resulting in 2016's "Hong Kong Shop Cats." He has since expanded the project to include cats in outdoor markets and to dogs as well. Cats are kept in shops because they are seen as creatures of luck (a guess), or because they keep the mice and rats away, or for both reasons.

Heijnen's project brought back memories from my childhood of seeing cats in shops here in Chicago's Chinatown, as Chinese immigrants brought the practice of keeping cats in shops to America and elsewhere. The practice waned here as the years went by and I saw less and less cats in shops as I grew up. I was also going to shops with my mom less and less. I only go to such shops with my now-elderly mom when she needs a ride.

I drove her to an herbal shop a few days ago. She was at the counter talking with the shop owner and making a purchase. I did not notice the cat for the first five minutes I was in the shop. It had the chance to observe me. When I turned and saw it I immediately brought the camera to my eye. My original exposure was slightly under, as I forgot my camera was set at ISO 200--a little low for the setting. I made a quick shutter speed adjustment and took this shot.

I believe that having manual focus allowed me to take this shot. Animals notice the beam or signal emitted by cameras with auto focus, and they will look or run away. I got some decent eye contact from my subject that I may not have if I was shooting with AF. Sometimes low-tech is better.

I tried to crouch down to get a shot at a different perspective, and perhaps a better one than the first. However, I am not as quick as a cat. It decided to jump down and come over to greet me. Head to chinesewhiskers.com to see Heijnen's work.

Click images to view on black.

Exploring Colors

May 31, 2018 by Ming Hung in Photography, Chicago, Colors

I am still very pleased with the colors produced by the Leica M9-P's mid-2000s CCD sensor. In the images above and below I used different presets to add warmth and saturation to really make the colors pop. Buildings under construction are not places normally associated with being overly colorful, but these two were really showing off. It is a little hard to see, but there is an American flag hanging from the yellow crane in the image above. It was Memorial Day weekend and the crews were off.

There is a soft and "quiet" quality to the images that also add warmth of a different kind to the images. They are more inviting.

This image was not processed with any preset, throwing off the theme of this post a bit. There is still a lot of warmth in the image and the complementary colors work. This is/was the home of photographer Victor Skrebneski, who was born in Chicago in 1929. Many credit him for launching Cindy Crawford's career. Skrebneski has produced many well-known images during a remarkable career. There used to be a car--I think it was a Benz or a Jaguar--with plates that simply said "V" on them. I wonder if he still lives here.

Click images to view on black.

Qualities of the Leica 50mm f/1.4 Summilux

May 14, 2018 by Ming Hung in Photography, Black and White, Leica

I recently purchased a 1970s-era 50mm Summilux to go along with my Leica M9-P. I went down to my aunt's and uncle's yard today to make some images, as there is always something of interest to capture. The shot above is of a structure they built for the vines of melon plants to climb this Summer. The M9-P's CCD sensor rendors some nice color. I applied a Kodak Gold 100 preset to give the saturation a slight jolt. Very pleasing colors. Even more pleasing is the transition from what is in focus to what is out of focus--so smooth!

There are interesting things to see in the sky as well. This was a shot from underneath the structure as a Boeing 737 flew by on its approach to an airport not too far from here. I probably should have taken another shot like this wide open to see what the result of that would look like. Perhaps next time.

I shot the lens wide open in every shot except the one with the airplane, and at ISOs between 160 and 400. Image quality is impressive. The approximately 40-year-old lens is in excellent condition. Sharpness is crisp if I nail focus, and I have to really nail it but I do not always do. Even wide open it is sharp, with no extreme vignetting. I prefer to add my own vignettes.

I am enjoying the characteristics of this lens. Those characteristics are particular to this lens, and have been built over four decades or so. The images have a warmth to them--not in terms color temperature. The images are more inviting than those produced by modern lenses that offer extreme sharpness in all areas of the frame.

The biggest drawback to this version of the 50mm Summilux is that the minimum focusing distance is over three feet. Close focusing would have allowed for some shots of some plants sprouting, or even some closer detail shots of the different materials and textures of the objects in all my images above. It is still a great great lens, and I look forward to many years of use to come.

Click images to view on black.

Colors of the Leica M9-P

April 12, 2018 by Ming Hung in Photography

I learned photography back when there was only film. I shot with Nikon F-system cameras. Fujifilm Superia, Kodak Portra and Tri-X, and Ilford 3200 were the films I shot the most. I am not one of those people who can look at an image and instantly tell you what film it is. I cannot tell that many films apart. And so when it is said that my Leica M9-P's CCD sensor simulates at Kodachrome profile I do not know exactly what that means.

I have been spoiled recently by the wonderful color reproduction and film simulations of my Fujifilm X-Pro2, as well as spoiled by the camera's wonderful EVF. Prior to purchasing the M9-P I had watched a few videos about the camera and its sensor. One reviewer even said that to get the best results I would have to overexpose a bit, which is not what a lot of people do with digital cameras. Couple that with highlight clipping and that presents a minor challenge. The X-Pro2's EVF has definitely made me lazy, but I am enjoying the slow process again.

I have done a little shooting since I bought the Leica a month ago, and the following are just a few images that show off the M9-P's colors. They are very pleasing and I do not have to do much at all to the DNG files--mostly contrast adjustments via the curve tool.

This first image was taken in a hallway in an abandoned part of the building where I work. The auto white balance kept the image pretty true to life. The indirect sunlight coming through the door at the end of the hall was cool, but the light from the "STAIRWAY" sign is pleasantly warm. I believe I shot this wide open and the focus was on the door frame in the center of the hallway on the right so there is not sharpness throughout the image. This was also shot with Voigtlander glass. The remaining images were shot with Leitz glass.

Again I left the camera on auto white balance. This scene is a bit cool to me, but the sun was right up above rather than lower in the sky. I titled this shot "RGB" because you can literally see the colors red, green, and blue as your eyes go across it. I was really after the yellow of the machinery in the center of the frame as well as the viaduct columns to the right. It was only lucky timing that the truck drove down the ramp and made this turn, giving me two additional colors to look at.

Looking down on flowers looking up at me

The image above and below are from a visit to the Garfield Park Conservatory this afternoon. It was a good place to capture some color.

In the 1987 movie "Predator" when the protagonists first shoot and injure the alien it left its luminescent yellow blood on the leaves of the jungle plants. Every time I see a plant like this I am ALWAYS reminded of that movie. Silly, I know.

Those are just a few samples. I have found that performance is indeed poorer at relatively high ISOs compared to modern cameras, and the images get a bit muddy if I have to use a lot of noise reduction. But if properly exposed, well lit, and in focus the colors are beautiful and image quality is superb. I need to get some shots of people next to see how the M9-P renders skin tones. Stay tuned!

Click images to view on black.

Leica M9-P and Leitz Canada Summicron 35mm f/2 lens (shot with a Fujifilm X-Pro2 and a Leica-wannabe 7artisans lens)

My Leica Journey Begins!

April 09, 2018 by Ming Hung in Photography

So I recently plunged in to the world of Leica camera ownership. I bought a used Leica M9-P. It has the full-frame CCD censor, which has a Kodachrome-like color profile. I chose this one because the dealer had the sensor replaced so I would not have to do it myself in the future, as Leica is no longer replacing them for free. I really really wanted the M Monochrom, but even a used one is way outside my budget--for now! Another reason I chose the M9-P over a cheaper regular M9 is because of its stealthy look: no red dot on the front, nor any other logos. There is the "Leica made in Germany" script on the top plate, but I put tape over it. It is a very clean nondescript body for those who don't recognize Leica design.

The Leitz Summicron 35mm f/2 lens is one that was made in Canada back in 1970-something. I went the Canadian route to save a little money. The German versions of the lenses are significantly more costly. I have not manually focused a camera for quite some time, and I find it a tad troubling for my aging eyes. When I do nail the focus the images are sharp! The sharpness definitely falls off a bit around the edges, but that is fine. It is nowhere near as sharp overall compared with modern lenses, but I want the character unique to this old lens.

I learned to shoot before digital so I have mostly been judicial with my shooting. There are some who believe that since we have digital memory and we do not have to pay for rolls and rolls of film that we should just blast away. I am not debating that philosophy. It just is not for me. Shooting with Leica will slow the process down for me a little more, and that is what I am looking for. Well, I did not really have to buy a Leica to slow things down, but it is a part of it. I also recognize that I will end up with fewer keepers.

I have not shot anything special to this point, but I do have some observations on the camera's performance. The DNG files are quite saturated right off the bat because of the CCD sensor. I do not have to saturate images like I would working on RAW files from my other cameras. In fact I feel like I need to dial it down a little, or just use a very even hand in working the images. I will endeavor to shoot something to take advantage of those colors soon. The only negatives are that low light performance at high ISOs is atrocious and the LCD sucks, lol. I can live with that.

On to some sample images! The three color images below are warm and colorful, especially in the scenes where there is a lot of colors.

You can see some pretty good depth in the two images below when I have the subjects in focus.

Click images to view on black.

Solar Eclipse, August 21, 2017, Chicago

August 23, 2017 by Ming Hung in Photography, Nature, Astronomy

Chicago was not in the path of totality, and it was a cloudy day so I nixed the plan I had to photograph the event. Instead of leaving a little later for work I went on my commute as usual, leaving my tripod and longest lens at home. The following images were shot from the parking lot at work over the course of about ten minutes whenever the sun peaked through the cloud cover. The moon was already on its way away from the sun, but I got something.

I did not have eclipse glasses so I just stuck the camera out of the car window and used its LCD screen. I had an eclipse filter on my lens, but I did not use any long shutter speeds. These images were shot at ISO 3200 even though I did not need that amount of sensitivity. I felt that there would be plenty of people making great, clear, sharp pictures of totality and the different phases of the eclipse so I wanted to differentiate the images I was taking. The result was these grainy, toned, dramatic images.

I wish that I was able to catch this a bit sooner for a thinner crescent shape.

Three tones, three different moods. All of these were shot with a 150mm full-frame equivalent lens.

Click images to view on black.

One Year In

April 10, 2017 by Ming Hung in Photography

I have been using the Fujifilm X-Pro2 for a little over a year now, and it has been the best shooting experience I have ever had. Many have likened it to Leica's system in looks and feel. I would not go that far, but I will agree with what has been described as an "organic" shooting experience for the Fuji X system. I look down on the camera and my exposure triangle controls (for ISO, aperture, and shutter speed) are right there. I can have all my settings down before I even turn on the camera.

I learned to shoot in the film days, and the first camera that I used that made me want to go out and shoot with it was the Nikon F2. I owned some non-memorable cameras before and after it, and that F2 was brilliant. Fast forward a decade and I made the jump to digital. Canon's 5D mark II was the camera that I have used most. It was a terrific camera. I was content. Then mirrorless cameras started coming out. A friend of mine bought Fujifilm's X-E1. I liked it, but not enough to replace the 5D. But the 5D really started weighing on me. I was getting tired of carrying the size and weight of the camera and gear, especially when shooting all weekend at conventions. Then I discovered the Sony a6000. No, it did not look professional at all, but bang-for-the-buck it was one of the best deals I have seen. It had some great features all packed into a tiny body. And Zeiss lenses! Yet it was not enough to get me to sell my Canon gear.

Then Fujifilm announced the X-Pro2. I had never even noticed the X-Pro1, but I started reading about the X-Pro2. Then I started reading and watching review articles and videos. I was sold before I even touched the camera. I ordered one. I was excited. When I got it I was in love. The rangefinder style fit my way of shooting, and brought me back to my childhood, using my father's Konica. It was not long before I sold my Canon gear and fully bought into the Fuji X system. This camera makes me want to go out and shoot. What camera(s) have made you want to go out and shoot?

I shot this image with the Sony a6000, lol.

Click image to view on black.

GAS - Gear Acquisition Syndrome

March 26, 2017 by Ming Hung in Photography

I have owned a fair amount of cameras and lenses over the last 15-20 years. I am not a collector of any cameras, as I do not have any vintage gear sitting on my shelves. Even my favorite cameras are gone. But no matter what brand and system I was using at any given time I had GAS. Many photographers suffer from Gear Acquisition Syndrome. Those of us who suffered had to have gear--the latest and the greatest. I could not afford the latest and the greatest, but I did buy my fair share of gear that I never needed, only wanted. Having a lot of stuff has not made me a better photographer. That was something I had to learn the hard way--too bad for my wallet.

My current kit consists of one body, the Fujifilm X-Pro2. And less than 10 lenses, lol. I mostly carry the two "Fujicron" lenses, the 23mm and the 35mm. They are both F2 and weather-sealed like the camera body. The lenses are tiny! I have pared down my day bag to just the camera and these two lenses and a few miscellaneous items. In the past I felt I needed to carry more lenses to cover a wider focal range, but my body ached. I had to learn to just "see" in one or two focal lengths, and that's how I operate now. The Fuji X system is really "knocking it out of the park" for me.

Click images to view on black.