Fishbone

Five layers of various iceformations....and a fishbone.

Flowing water

A static object with a dominant colour, surrounded with motion blur makes for an eyecatching image. There were several framing options that would all have been ok, landscape, square or this one! To enhance the colour of the stone further, I desaturated the colour of the water slightly. [50/2 Summicron]

Pedro Martinez

Outside the tiny village, Pedro Martinez, there are mountains with a very peculiar look. But with only a 50 Summilux on the camera it was ofcourse difficult to isolate the mountain and I needed a nice foreground to lead the eye all the way through a long distance. I followed the river and suddenly there was a very green field in a perfect spot and the icing on the cake was this ploughed brown square part sticking into the picture to break normality! Once there, it is a straight forward shot. I underexposed half a stop from measuring the green field. [50/1.4 Summilux]

Paco, the Crocodile

Paco is Europes largest crocodile and he lives in Torremolinos, Spain. He is mighty impressive with his 600 kg and almost five metres long. There are 300 crocodiles in the park of which Paco is the father to 95%. Imagine that...being 80 years old....

Five minute break

Lines, lines, lines. I look for both horizontal and vertical parallel lines are being straight. Without lensmovements there is only one single position for the camera to achieve this and that is where I am not looking up nor down on the vertical pillars. So, either up on your toes or down on your knees to see where you get the vertical lines straight! The horisontal lines you need to stay at a 90 degree angle not to get the slightest perspective for these lines. Quite tricky to find and hold the camara at this one spot without a tripod. I did it here, but I took my time and had to recompose several times. Luckily the person was on a five minute break so once I was happy with my position I simply waited until he did something slightly out of the ordinary to spice the image a little. [50/1.4 Summilux]

Sierra Nevada

The Sierra Nevada mountain range above Granada is a favorite place to be. Grand landscapes to be found everywhere you look. The mountains in the background descends to the right and therefore I looked for a position where the trees will come in from the right bottom corner in order to balance the background. I also could have choosen to not include the snowcovered slope in front of the trees, but having only trees in the foreground would have decreased depth and the vastness of the landscape would be lost. [50/1.4 Summilux]

Marbella Club Beach

I'm back :) I have been in Spain for almost 3 weeks and this image sums it up pretty much! Day in and day out with "relaxed" activities and pure enjoyment. The Leica has been on my shoulder quite often, but not all the time...all in all there are plenty of raw material that will be looked at, organized and a few posted here. Nice to see you again!

Wired

The colours have been dull for a long time with winterconditions and fog. Typical black and white light. The yellow warning sign on this pole was therefore that little something to catch attention. A tight framing, deadstraight lines of the pole and the purposful placement of the wires to the left was my concern.

Take off

The one legged bird takes off across the water. The contours appear clearly with the smooth one-tone grey behind the bird, no distractions. Follow the line at the bottom of the wall, top left of the wall and top right of the wall. Now, draw an imaginary line across the wings, that line is a continuation of those other lines. This actually helps to make it a well balanced composition. [Summilux 50/1.4 asph]

Rock solid

The bluegreen colourtransition complements the one dominant colourtone of the rocks. To get the glow from the rocks I spotmetred the lighter parts and have not compensated from raw since the darker parts make for a natural contrast and adds depth. [Summilux 50/1.4 asph]

Closed

The 50 Summilux asph allows for impressive and smooth rendering of OOF areas. With extremely shallow depth of field it is of the greatest importance to place the focus exactly in the right place, to enhance a story, mood or composition. [50/1.4 Summilux asph]

The couple

Charles and Jane Wood love each other. Charles is standing straight and tall no matter windspeeds or what nature throws at him. Lovely Jane who is filled with joy and happiness for being planted right next to her lifelong companion, leans in towards her man to show affection and constantly remind him of her devotion. They are certain that for the next 150 years they will grow stronger and closer of each other for every year that passes. Now, that is what I call true love.

Out of focus portrait

Out of focus portraits are quite unusual, but ofcourse not unique (what is nowadays?). It is more common with motion blur though, rather than a posing person which is deliberately out of focus. I was with my daughter in the local playground and the three wooden walls were put up at a perfect distance of one another for this kind of portrait. The Summilux fully open gives me perfect sharpness on a flat surface (yellow wall) in the foreground, while the next step backwards (purple wall) is unsharp but still with wooden details and then at the back everything is out of focus with a smooth rendering. With a clear three step depth of field makes the photograph pop with a 3d feel. [Summilux 50/1.4 asph]

The Ridge

A small ridge on the beach and low angle of the sun made a sharp definition between sunlit sand and shadow. I could have choosen to have the dividing line perfectly horizontal, but in this case I thought it was a more unusual composition putting it diagonal corner to corner. Conformity is broken by the water and makes it more alive. Ridiculously simple, yet interesting.

A thousand forms

Architecture without lensmovements? Perspectivecontrol is indispensable for a serious workflow in architectural photography. However, if you do not have this possibility and are reluctant to fix everything in PP, then, one approach is to exaggerate tilting lines enough to make a statement that it is not an attempt to reproduce reality, but rather creating a pleasing image with a myriad of lines and forms. [Summilux 50/1.4 asph]

Summilux 50/1.4 ASPH

What a lens! The quality feel is outstanding. The weight only is remarkable for such a small lens - yes, I opted for the chrome version. Focusing is smooth as butter, the aperture ring is perfectly distinct. Just holding it in my hand reinforces confidence and putting it on my grey M9 makes it the most beautiful camera on the planet in my humble opinion :) Optically it is a masterpiece and I truly feel very lucky to own it. I look forward to get to know the Summilux intimately and share plenty of photographs with you.

Rush

A graphical approach where the image is not obvious at a first glance. The static rails in focus is ofcourse a giveaway and as soon as one realise that it is a moving train, then it goes from abstract to an everyday scene. This is a good exercise to shoot urban scenes with a mind set to "abstract". [50/2 Summicron]

Cold

The point of focus is in a high contrast area with dark wood and bright ice. If the dynamic range is there to give both highs and lows life then the area in focus becomes the whole base of the image. The mood factor comes from the shallow depth of field and the slightly desaturated colours to enhance coldness. Note that I have been careful not to break the horizon with the icecovered pillars. [50/2 Summicron]

Blue hour

There is a certain calmness to the blue hour that commences as soon as the sun falls beneath the horizon. Exposure is quite tricky and I bracket up to 1.5 stops. A tripod is indispensable for two reasons, the first is obvious with longer exposure times than is recommended to handhold. The second reason is that it is difficult to compose with precision, you need the horizon to be deadstraight and you need to centre the landing, note the closest ironposts left and right are both at the very same position at top and bottom. This is almost impossible handheld with such a small margin for error. [24/3.8 Elmar]

Sara

I love creative lighting in portraits. The light in this series is far from exciting though, so this is definitely not a study in lighting technique...Here the main aim was a basic, relaxed, light and the concentration was to capture some lovely 6 year old expressions. One has to be fast since every "face" of a child only lasts for a split second! With a basic light it is even more important with correct exposure and focus in the right places.

Three in a row

Foggy conditions is almost like carrying with you a giant backdrop, smoothing out the surroundings. This image looks quite obvious from a framing point of view, but the truth is that I shot several exposures walking around the whole area from various positions before I saw this particular one. As soon as I layed eyes on the scene irl, I thought that this will be a personal favorite. There is a light sepia tone but it works well having a blue tone or strict greyscale, anyhow, I file it under black & white. [50/2 Summicron]

Roquetas de Mar

Long exposures can be striking. Often, not always though, it helps to have static objects to maintain a steady base where movements flow around. This photograph was shot late and I cannot remember the precise exposuretime (The photograph is 12 years old) but I believe it was 1 minute. However, I do remember that just as I was to take my gear to the car and drive off, the police came down to the beach and I had to open up all my bags and had to explain in detail why I was there. When they were satisfied that I only had cameragear they let me go. I learned days later that the police had a tipoff of a major drugdrop somewhere along the beach and then ofcourse I looked suspicious being all alone in a remote and quiet place.....

Lord of the Manor

This shot was planned. One person letting the cat go behind the rock to the right and another to my left calling for it and waving treats around! It took several tries but finally it all came into place. The cat is called "The Lord", hence the title :)

Leaf under Water

Leica M9 as a studiocamera? Why not? I have used large format Linhof and the mighty Fuji GX 680 III in the studio extensively and although I love lens movements, the M9 is pure pleasure to work with in the studio. It looks a little odd with such a tiny camera on a sturdy tripod, but workwise it is lovely - fast and accurate. Technical quality of the files is stunning. I am totally hooked and look forward to many sessions indoors as well as outdoors. [50/2 Summicron]

Frozen Red

Repetition of objects - let them run out of the frame to indicate infinity. The more plain the suroundings, the better. Be careful where you place the first object and then use the rest to form a pattern or lines. Do look around the edges of the frame to exclude any intrusive objects. [50/2 Summicron]

The Landing

This is a standard boat landing with nothing on it. How on earth could this be worth photographing? Well, most ordinary things and scenes around us are potential images and can in fact be quite dramatic if you plan your shot carefully. The main trick is to keep the camera in the bag and use your eyes to constantly analyse and evaluate possible images as you walk. Every 100 metres or so I usually do something odd, I make a full circle of where I am standing, slowly, to see if there is anything of interest from this point looking backwards as well. When you do take out your camera, stay calm and think of options before you just blast away 6 exposures. To me it is a personal sport to use as few exposures as possible, but still creating good photography. [24/3.8 Elmar]

Castillo de Castellar

The typical composition from this position would be a vertical frame. Staying horizontal means that there is a lot of air embracing the narrow path and allows for greater calmness and still presenting a deep perspective.

On Guard

This image was shot in 1996, long before I had even considered going digital. It was in a gardencentre in Estepona, Spain. This is a special image to me since it was the startingpoint of producing photography art transfered to canvas and selling for a profit. Almost imediately I was asked by an interior decorator if it was possible to have it in another colour? I thought about it and came to the conclusion, why not! and gave the interior decorator several alternatives from the very same original. This has since been my signature with colourscheme flexibility for matching interiors. It was many years ago I lost count on the number produced from this image, but I can safely say that it has served me well. The blue original being the most popular. The colour alternatives of On Guard here.

White

This winter has really given the swedish photographers a chance to practice white backdrops and low contrast shooting. Now I also know that the M9 works fine with gloves which is great news! Conformity and grouping of textures is somewhat easier with so much white around. Note that the white balance is often slightly off at the auto setting on most cameras in these conditions!

Here's another portrait from a distance, the person placed dead centre to symbolize the enormous amounts of snow in all directions. In this particular scene a standard closeup is ofcourse also a go since there was a true joy in her eyes, digging herself deeper into a snowcave...[50/2 Summicron]

Lizard

I saw the little sweet lizard run into the small cave, I couldn't resist and put the camera on a tripod and waited for a few minutes. And suddenly it come out and I shot half a dozen exposures when it ran off, I liked this one!