Member Jack MacD

Hi all … haven't posted much recently because the S2 and I have been pretty busy … and we still are.

So, just a few images to post that may be of interest to fellow S2 shooters. More to come when time allows.

This wedding image was a real bear to pull off … by the time we got to the location and finished the usual formal stuff with the S2, is was pitch dark out. So I took advantage of the available darkness by having my assistant take the strobe out in front of them and using the SF58 in the hot shoe for a touch of fill. Shot with the 35 wide open at ISO 640, the only issue was the camera absolutely refused to auto focus … the battery powered Quadra strobe has a weak modeling light and was of no help at all trying to manually focus. I solved it by auto focusing on the overhead light and recomposing a bit.)

While I did end up with some noise issues when I opened up the shadows in post, the file was so big and pliable it really wasn't much of an issue at all. This will be printed centered on 17″ X 22″ paper.

I also recently did a studio session with a champion body builder creating images that'll be use for various applications. The session was shared between my tripod mounted H4D/60 shot tethered to the computer using the HCD/35-90 and HC/150N lenses, and the S2P using the 35 and 70 lenses shooting more freely hand-held untethered to a CF card. Frankly, except for the file ratios, it was not easy to distinguish the files … a testimony to the S2, which punches past it's meg count IMO. Very basic lighting techniques were used … most were done with a highly polished silver Mola 33.5″ Beamm without a diffuser … the shot
with the Symmetry type was the S2 using a a 6′ Profoto strip light with a 4″ strip cover. The other “Back” shot was done with the H4D/60 just for comparison (but the color version is a composite of a B&W overlay layer pulled back to 25% opacity, which accounts for the slightly more muted color. The same color & B&W composite technique was used on the S2 color “Bicep” shot, except I set the B&W layer slightly more aggressive than on the the Hassey shot.

-Marc

Thanks for the feedback guys. More info for those interested in details:

By “simple Lighting set-up”, I meant the use of minimal lights … the tools used are admittedly pretty sophisticated. If you think camera gear is a black hole sucking money up like a vacuum cleaner, do NOT get involved in lighting. It is very similar to MFD … you can get to a certain level fairly quickly, then every incremental step upwards exponentially cost more and more cash. However, as I advised another S2 users wanting to set up a lighting kit, why pay $40-50K for a S2 system, then go cheap on the lighting? The lighting tools and technique are actually more important than the camera used. High quality ighting is especially important with these cameras, which love crisp clean light to really perform to their maximum potential. The S2 was supposedly originally designed for exactly this type use of lighting … or so they keep saying (fashion, etc.) But we NEED those leaf shutter lenses to really use the S2 to its maximum abilities!

The body builder shoot was my first session of that type, and was surprisingly more difficult to do than I had anticipated. So I agree with David K, it is much harder to do than it looks. For one thing, these guys can't hold those poses for very long, at least not at the peak muscle pop, and it is exhausting to do it for a couple of hours, so time is limited. I had all kinds of different lighting ideas, and was able to do only a few. You really have to work fast, so next time I'll have an assistant to help me.

While I do agree that pulling off that wedding shot in the tunnel isn't something that an Uncle Bob would/could do, the one shown below is even harder to pull off. Optional creative stuff can be experimental, and if it doesn't work “oh well” … but there are certain shots you HAVE to do and there are no second chances, regardless of how cliche' and boring we may feel they are. Clients don't know enough to realize what that certain conditions can pose serious issues … like a huge wedding party formal that has to be shot in the dark. We often don't have control of when or where a shot has to be taken, but it has to be done. I pulled this one off because I looked up the sunset time before hand, and knew it would be in a courtyard which further darkened the scene. Without the Quadra set to 400 w/s I wouldn't have been able to pull it off with the S2. I had about 10 minutes to arrange the people, set the camera and lighting and pull off the 4 or 5 shots to assure everyone's eyes were opened and they where all looking at the camera. Lighting was directional held high on a painter's stick camera left with a Elinchrom Varistar Umbrella type softbox kit , with a SF58 TTL speedlight in the hot shoe aimed more camera right to make up for the light fall-off from the directional strobe … and to provide general overall fill. Hand-held S2 @ ISO 640, dragged the shutter @ 1/30th to open up the background, S35 @ f/2.5

Thanks to Leica, I had a loaner S35 overnighted to me so I could shoot my wedding last Saturday while my 35mm takes a “spa vacation” in Germany for a stuck aperture (a known issue apparently). Otherwise … back to work for the rest of the kit!

Good thing too, because it was some pretty tight location stuff, so the 35 and 70 got the most play. I took three cameras and of 456 keepers, 301 were from the S2. For me, that is the first time ever that a medium format camera has absolutely dominated a wedding shoot. I should add that it didn't alter my approach or style at all (as some folks have speculated it would for them). I was just as spontaneous as usual and the camera was just as fast as I wanted it to be when doing that sort of shooting … and of course, it's great for the more posed stuff. Plus, and this is a BIG PLUS, the files were closer out of the camera than most other's I've used … even better than the Sony A900. This significantly shortens post time when dealing with so many files at once. One last post processing note … like any MFD file, the S2 images are much easier to work with for actions and special treatments because there is so much information going in.

It all took place in a relatively small backyard crammed with 60 or 70 people … but there were beautiful gardens, and with careful framing and choice of focal lengths, I managed to make it look more spacious. The other challenge was the nuclear sun … and that I creatively wanted to avoid using fill if at all possible. In fact, I used none. The dynamic range of the S2 files were helpful with this. This was true even though I used ISO 640 quite a bit that day to keep the shutter speeds up for spontaneous shots, and shots with the 120 and 180

Posed and candid example below: I set up the Bride with white umbrella crossing the bridge … as we were leaving I turned back to see what everyone was laughing at … it was her Uncle mocking the whole bridge shot … which I quickly grabbed a shot of : -) Both were with the 35mm @ ISO 320

The Pear picking shot was done with the S70 @ ISO 640 … I've read where some people have said they don't like the Bokeh of the 70 … what's not to like?

-Marc

Had a weekend free of wedding work, so we all took off on a 4 day road trip to N. Michigan for a bit of fun in the Traverse City area … including some tastings in the wine region, and a few fishing villages along the “Big sea shining water” for wonderful smoked fish and photo ops.

Our little Chi “Schnuffy” has a real fondness for Ice Cream, but only allowed on vacation … her pal Ginger with the pink nose took a liking to it too … blonds DO have more fun, LOL! The girl working on her computer seemed oblivious to the natural beauty around her … maybe she needs a few weeks in an urban environment to remind her : -) Except for the fisherman cleaning his nets, these aren't my kind of photos … but hey! I'm on vacation! BTW, the Bumble Bee was shot with the 180, not the 120 macro.

Very contrasty scenarios most of the time, but the S2 handled it well for the most part.

Everything was great, but I discovered my S35/2.5 isn't stopping down at all. It autofocuses okay, just no stopped down shooting. All my other lenses work fine so it isn't the camera. Grrrrr. Gotta send it in pronto.

-Marc

While I've posted this content on GetDpi in a shorter form, I thought to expand on my comments and provide more detail.

This is my first season using the S2 for professional wedding photography. I've been using it for portraits and some commercial photography as well as personal work since getting it, but this blog is specifically about on-going experiences shooting weddings with a S2 and all four currently available Leica S optics.

Initially, I viewed the S2 as the “go to solution” for the more controlled parts of a wedding shoot, the so called fashion/portrait portions that are more likely to be printed large and framed. While my primary wedding style is photojournalist which is usually done with either a Leica M9 and/or a Sony A900, in my market it is inevitable that I must take at least some posed or structured images. Previously, I had occasionally taken a Hassedlblad H kit with me for this more formal shooting … and can say with certainly that the S2 promotes “take with” more readily than the more bulky H system does.

Shown are typical posed portraits as done with the S2, which is NOT specifically what sells my approach to weddings, but is what I call a necessary evil in order to get the job in the first place. It isn't a reason to select me over other shooters, but without these samples it is a reason to not select me … again, in this market.

Specifically, I use the S2 for “environmental type portraits” which fare best when printed larger … 17″ X 22″ or larger. NO screen view can do justice to how detail and tonally rich these S2 images are when printed. The shots shown here where the environmental surroundings is the dominate element are examples of this.

After a few weddings I ventured out into more spontaneous candid type shots that define my style, and will continue to do so as I become faster and more versed with using the camera while shooting in such a hectic, “you get one chance” environment that the typical wedding represents. Most of my weddings include multiple locations and everything is on crushing schedule. If something doesn't work then and there without fussing with it, it gets an immediate vacation in the SUV in lieu of something else.

So far, the S2 seems up to the task, and my goal will be to shoot primarily with the S2 and M9 which IMO produce very similar looking files and assures a certain continuity to the look and feel of the over-all client wedding portfolio.

At each wedding I take three S lenses, one on the camera and two in a Think Tank Lens bag. This keeps me mobile while moving from one “environmental” location to the next. Typically it is the 35, 70 and either the 120 or 180 depending on where we will be shooting. The most used lens is the 35mm for groups and for shots that include a lot of the place we are at. The next most lens is probably the S120 macro … the ring shot shown was done with the 120, and it should be noted that this was not staged but real time during a ceremony … you step in, Bam! and get out. The 120 focused quick enough to get this shot.

I have experienced some perplexing AF situations that I am trying to track down before my next wedding shoot. Some images shot at more of a distance with the 35mm using quite high shutter speeds and even stopped down to 5.6 or 8 are inexplicably soft.

So, the point of this blog is to report the progress I'm making in slowly bringing the S2 on-line as the main shooting cam. It took me a whole season of weddings to swap over from Nikon to Sony before trusting the Sony as the solo camera system. Obviously, the S2 will have to be backed up by something else … for now that is a Sony A900. It is far to expensive to back-up the S2 with another S2.

NOTES: For me it is VERY important that Leica alter the ISO choices on the S2 to allow more refined selections … jumping from 320 to 640 to 1250 limits the ability to select what is needed and not any higher than needed.