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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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