Cherry Blossom Trees Abstract

May 08, 2020 by Ming Hung in Nature, Plant Life

There are cherry blossom trees in Jackson Park around the Columbian Basin just south of the Museum of Science and Industry. They have been there for several years now, but I have not always gone to see them, and the conditions here in Chicago have not always been great for the best blooms. Timing a visit is also a factor.

Either my timing was bad, or the blossoming was not great, as the trees did not look all that impressive on this visit. I have never gone to Japan, Washington DC, or anywhere else where people have cherry blossom tree viewing events. Chicago is not known for that so I do not have experience in this. I have seen some amazing pictures of blooms on the web, but amazing this was not.

The trees are not planted very densely. There were no pink flowers either. As the scene was not very impressive I decided to go with a monochrome look and opened the lens aperture all the way for a more abstract look. Manually focusing on a small flower moving in the wind with a rangefinder was proving difficult for my aging eyes so these images are not all that great either. But I made the trip over there so I was not leaving without a few shots. These three are the ones I like the most. None of them are very satisfactory. I will have to try again next year.

Please let me know what tips you may have on getting the most out of the annual blossoms.

Click images to view on black and visit me on Instagram below.

Look #up . #Light and #shadow .
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#ming_monochrom #bw #bnw #bnwphoto #bnwphotography #instabw #monochrome #blackandwhite #Leica #LeicaMonochrom #Monochrom #LeicaMonochrom246 #leicagram #theleicalook #leicalove #leicacamera #leicap

Metal flower. #Blacksky .
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#ming_monochrom #bw #bnw #bnwphoto #bnwphotography #instabw #monochrome #blackandwhite #Leica #LeicaMonochrom #Monochrom #LeicaMonochrom246 #leicagram #theleicalook #leicalove #leicacamera #leicaphotography

Two #lines and an #airplane . A couple #lights around the work area.
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#ming_monochrom #bw #bnw #bnwphoto #bnwphotography #instabw #monochrome #blackandwhite #Leica #LeicaMonochrom #Monochrom #LeicaMonochrom246 #leicagram #theleical

We had a relatively mild winter without much snow or ice, and a lot of rain so the #water level of #LakeMichigan was pretty high. There was much flooding on Lake Shore Drive and some streets and homes along the #lakeshore . I haven't been to the lake

Some #architecture today. This is the #glass filled atrium of one of the convention center#buildings during C2E2. That was back when we had conventions. A whole lot of #lines #light and #shadows here. I really dig this space.
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#ming_monoch

Machinery in Monochrom

April 09, 2020 by Ming Hung in Black and White, Leica, Industrial

It was a slow night at work and I took the Leica M Monochrom in to the garage and explored our aircraft tow tugs. There is so much interesting detail in these machines. I did not have a tripod so I shot nearly every shot with the lens wide open at f/1.4 so there is not a single shot where everything is in focus. I chose, instead, to isolate certain details in some of the images.

The above image is my favorite of the series. In retrospect I could have closed the aperture a bit to get more of this shot in focus since there was not as big a difference in depth in subject matter here. I also did not do much to sharpen any of the images beyond the default sharpening that was applied in Lightroom. I wanted a film-like feel, but I did not add any grain to the images either, if that makes any sense.

It is funny that we refer to vehicles in the feminine. But then we might also refer to a large machine as “Big Boy/Guy.” This is one of our larger machines.

I love the way this lens renders images and depth of field. There is a three-dimensional quality. I should use my other vintage lenses more with my Fujifilm X-Pro2 more often to get qualities like this. I am not in to the razor-sharp, perfect images that modern lenses produce. They look too clinical. I like a bit of imperfection.

Click to view images on black.

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.

Click images to view on black.