I have a treat for all of you Leica guys and gals. Here are a couple of images taken by Mr Joseph Hughes while he was taking a course from a great friend of this site, Thorsten Overgaard. Jospeh had the chance to photograph Thorsten’s daughter Caroline with the M9, 50 Noct and the Leica S2. Wow, what a kit! Anyway, thanks for sending these along Joseph and while we are on the subject of Thorsten Overgaard be sure to check out his online course HERE. He also started a new course recently on workflow and color management. Great stuff! Anyway, onto the images which are a great inspiration!
From Joseph:
“Steve—
I am in Aarhus, Denmark and had the opportunity to shoot Thorsten Overgaard’s 14 year old daughter Caroline this week. What a great model! No doubt we will see her on the international stage one day.
For the past week or so, I have been in Denmark to learn the “proper and best” use of my Leica equipment from Thorsten Overgaard. What an incredible course. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is serious about photography, regardless of camera type. Light, composition, workflow, it has all be a tremendous help to me.
Thought you would like to see one of the many “albums” of photos using the S2 and M9 along the beach and in the park. Most shots were wide open with both cameras (f2.5 for the S2 and f.95 for the M9). No doubt the depth of field on the Noctilux is special but the S2 is providing similar benefits for wide open shots. The only “fill” light was from a handheld reflector, a flash was not used. (More details below.)
The S2 is a real treat to use, and it’s easier for me to think of it as a 35mm camera than as a “studio camera”. The camera is incredibly versatile and convenient for location or street shooting. No studio for this camera!
Thanks for the time and effort you spend on the website, it has become a great information source for me. My decision to purchase the M9 in December was based on your reviews and other information on your website. The decision to take the “Thorsten Overgaard Leica Course” was largely based on information initially found on your website. Keep up the great work!
1st shot – Noctilux at 1.4. 2nd shot, S2 at 2.5.
I like the last photo. I think it makes a great example/argument FOR post processing. I’m not saying that I’m all for it… but in the same way that we now ENJOY photography there was a time when these pictures would have been drawings. In the same way… on the last photo, I’d love to see the bluer part of the sky pasted over all that gray in between the subject’s head and the top of the photo. It would also be neat to see the bra strap removed. It screams out amateur but not in a good way. If the photographer had the subject pose without a bra then the photo would be too subjective moving toward tittilation and not the ambiguity (which is nice) that it has now. All this in my humble opinion. Thanks for the content and thanks for this blog.
If these had been just head and shoulder shots, they would have been fantastic. As it is the background dilutes the effect.
Honestly? I find these two images the least inspiring ones of all Daily Inspiration posts…
IQ – excellent
composition – weird
invention – none
not loving these, nice shots but a little flat and dull imo.
Ouch…tough crowd here 🙂
Composition wise, these could be better. I see both as possibly nice head and shoulders shots with some cropping involved. The second one has just too much sky and I find it distracting. It would have worked better as a close up in landscape orientation and with the rule of thirds (or diagonals) applied.
Quality wise, what can I say? The first one has the imprint of the Noctilux with that razor thin DOF and the second one, I could never guess it was taken with an S2. Nice files, but $30+K worth? Not quite sure there. Just my constructive criticism and honest opinion.
Ahh man.. i hate it when i see young girls with scars (arm) like that. I hope it was just caused by some thorny bushes or something. Beautiful girl though.
I disagree wiht Pascal and Martin, I think the images are fantastic. Shots are terrific.
Wonderful IQ, but the images remind me of the striker (this is football…) going for a goal with just the goalkeeper to beat. What does he do? He aims for the centre of his vision, the goalkeeper.
Again, wonderful though the IQ is, why fully open? Closing down a stop usually gives a better shot. IMHO.
I agree with Pascal, it just reinforces what I’ve always believed, great cameras alone will not produce great images.
Rendering of lens are nice, OOF to, but theses are boring pictures to me… Just nothing to talk about but boring…Sorry