Dragon Lights Festival

June 03, 2018 by Ming Hung in Art, Colors, Culture

There was a Chinese lantern festival in Chicago at the end of April-beginning of May. This was a festival based on the idea of Chinese lanterns. These exhibits were not made of paper and they were lit electrically. Different companies and organizations sponsored different lantern displays. At the time these images were taken I only had one lens for my Leica M9-P, the 35mm Summicron, so I did not shoot very many images with depth like the one above.

I timed my arrival in order to get images during blue hour, just to have a little bit of interest rather than just a black sky.

I took this shot in to the light to see the qualities of flare from the 35mm Summicron. The colors from the M9-P's CCD sensor are still blowing me away. See the little baby turtle following?

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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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Vivian Maier

July 21, 2017 by Ming Hung in Urban Exploration, Art

I dabble in street photography. I am a recent dabbler so I do not know very many of the masters of the genre. However, the relatively recent discovery of Chicago-area nanny Vivian Maier's work sort of opened the door to street photography for me. Maier was a prolific shooter, and often had the kids she took care of in tow. Her work is brilliant.

Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra created this beautiful, colorful tribute to Maier. Her work was mostly shot on black and white film so I also made a monochrome version.

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Color Street Photography

April 05, 2017 by Ming Hung in Street Photography, People

I generally prefer producing and seeing street photography in black and white. However, sometimes color works. I guess monochrome gives images that "classic" street photography look, but I do not think photographers should say this should be one way and that should be another, but to just concentrate on creating the best image they can. There are too many rules. Rules are great guidelines--especially for those learning photography--but each artist has the freedom to do a variety of things for any given shot.

As I approached this couple I fired off a shot as they were setting up for a selfie (or is it celfie?). I captioned this image the way I did because at a quick glance the man's profile reminded me of famed comedian Jerry Seinfeld. I liked this scene because of the blue of the sky and in the two glass buildings, and the muted colors of the other buildings and the couple's clothing.

I was fortunate that this woman walked by because I wasn't waiting for any particular shot. I saw her and I saw--I'm pretty sure subconsciously--the golden light from the restaurant and I tilted my camera that was hanging by my navel toward the woman. I am still a bit shy about shooting street photography with the camera up to my face. I fire from the hip over half the time. It's something I have to work on.

I noticed this man as I was waiting to cross the street. I hoped that when I got to him that he would still be preoccupied with whatever he was doing on his phone. He did not disappoint. And he was standing right in the middle of the sidewalk! What attracted my attention was his outfit. To many people a plaid pattern is loud or tacky. I would not say that this man's plaid jacket was particularly loud in that the colors are not vibrant, and so it meshed well with the drab, gray day.

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