1 post tagged “mini camera”
There is a Chinese restaurant in the parking lot where I work. It was recently painted and I have been wanting to photograph the rich colors on my way home from work for some time. In the evening, when the sun is low on the horizon, the colors really jump out. Today, I took advantage of the light and took out my little camera. As I was photographing the kitchen side where the flag is, the owner came out and asked me why I was taking photos, was I from the management or leasing company etc. I neglected to introduce myself but I did tell him that I worked just a few yards away at the computer company that had all the vans in the parking lot. He smiled and said it was ok. I explained further that I had been wanting to take photos of the new paint for some time.
While he and one of his employees were watching me from their door, I took a couple of photos, including them in the composition. One of them you see here.
As I moved around to the front of the restaurant, the red, yellow and black paint on the wall really stood out and the turquoise with the yellow beam against the blue sky harmonized so nicely; but the shot was missing still something. Just then two birds flew onto the roof so I quickly took a few photos before they flew away.
The photos you are looking at are not straight, pure-as-the-driven-snow, unretouched images that came right out of the camera—these photos have been retouched, cleaned up, post processed or whatever you want to call it. In addition to being a photographer, I am also a photo retucher. I want the photos I take with the new DCC Leica M3 Plus to be as good as possible. I am not here to show what the basic image that comes off the camera looks like—at least not yet, perhaps in another post. I want them to look the best they can so I will post process and retouch if necessary so you can see what is possible.
I will try to indicate what enhancements I have made to each photo in the blow-up description. You just have to click the text link below the image to see this information.
I realize there are a few Leica-street-photography-purists out there that this may not sit well with but you have to understand, like brushing teeth, putting on deodorant and selecting a nice combination of clothing to wear; the same holds true for photos for me. As a photo retoucher/photographer, I cannot go out the door without cleaning-up first. I hope you purists understand that and will start to brush your teeth as well.
The important thing to note though is that unlike the DCC Leica M3, the
Plus version produces a much better image to work with. I mentioned in
a comment to Lee in my first post "My First Leica" that I was having
some sharpness issues. I installed a firmware update and that seems to
have taken care of most of the problem although in scenes containing
extreme contrast, such as the stars in the flag, you can see some
ghosting. I tried to remove it as best I could in the photo above.
