The skin

Woman's skin often is the symnonyn of soft, warm, and perhas smell? It is all what a car will need to have. A car, in most cases, built from rigid steel, cole metal, and mostly run on petro, the reason usually man look at the car also looks for something to comfort? Or just a bad excuse?

This one, again the shot made on Alfa Romeo Brera, with Taylor, Canon 1Ds III + EF 50/1.2L.

Perspective

Shooting a beautiful model with car is always a fun work. Challenge is the the car and model each calls for attention and you need a good balance between them.

Shot with Canon 1Ds III + EF 50/1.2L, I stop down to f/11 to allow enough depth of field for me so I did not have to use either a TS-E lens or on a technical camera that is slower to work with, although most certainly uou get superior result. Another choice could be using the Hasselblad's unique HTS 1.5 on their H3D camera, which I have it with me on the shoot, byt somehow did not use it. Anyway, the 50/1.2 Canon proved time after time a great lens, a lens I use whenever I could.

I have the model, Taylor, lean her back to the car so I can shoot in an angle with her flection cleray viisble, and I frame the picture with the alloy wheel much closer to the viewer and the Alfa logo clearly visible, but not over taking the attention of Taylor.

Color

Color photography becomes a more flexible tool in digital capture, although it may not contribute to better image, which is the photographer's job rathern than the tool's job, without question it is more convenint, especailly in tethered captured, the photographer sees the result in almost real time.

It is never easier to become a photographer in this digital era for many photographers, but it is also ever more challenging for many.

Leica M9, big camera in a small package

A Leica M camera in life is a lot bigger than its physical presence, and an M9 justify this saying in ways it never did. Depend on whose making the calculation, some said a DSLR of 6 million pixels comparable to the 135mm film DSLR, some said you need 10 million pixels DSLR to do that. Few would argue that at 18 mega pixels, full frame 24X36mm sensor, will meet or surpass the medium format in film day. Small format, big picture finally came realized?

Whatever it is, few would doubt at 18 million pixels, full frame sensor, a Leica M9 is anything less than those legendary M predecessor. Picture quality? yes (on most counts)! Historical signicance? May be not. Those M made the history were in a time Leica hardly has any serious competitor, today, Leica usually trails. It might introduce a camera to saty at top, briefly, before atop by usually another Japanese camera, from camera makers whose product development path a lot faster than Leica. Or from another league, the medium format digital backs with price decline quickly to be a threat to Leica.

But why should we bother on historic making? A Leica is a Leica, people loves Leica not because it is a Leica; people loves Leica because Leica being itself, and makes people likes it. Hardly any other camera in history has such consistency in looks, phylosophy and craftmanship as Leica, and coax so many love from wide range of users. I have already owned a M8, love it, and it is not a perfect camera, but then I never ask for a perfect camera. An M8 in specification sheet seemed far behind Leica M9, but I would not hesitate to use M8 today, and certainly would not hesitate to use an M9.

And how good M9 is? Very goog, very very good, for what it is. A small camera, straight forward, it makes you shoot picture, rather than confused between hundred other custom features the camera ccan offer. Pixel to pixel, the M9 is easily as good as the other cameras I also use, such as Canon EOS 1Ds III or Nikon D3X, but is it better? May be not, but may be not worse either. M9 is a diferent camera, as those M camera in the history, they are just different.

About landscape

This is an image took in Bayanbulak, central Xinjiang, China. I use a Nikon D3 mounted with AF-S VR 70-200/2.8G IF-ED on tripod to get this night image. The D3 is well known its ability to capture low noise images, which in this image deliver the strength it was known for. However, the subject remains to be the image itself, the landscape.
What are the elements of landscape image? Quite many, and most landscape photographer can spread a long list, the light, the shadow, the near, middle and distance land features, the tress, the rocks, the ocean, the lake, the mountain........they are all right! Indeed, there is no right or wrong in photography, what's difference is the approach of each individual.
Back on this image, I have a composition of large portion of image focus on night sky, the lower mountain range forms the horizon, what I tried to express is the expanse of the mountain, and the sky is the reference in describing the size of mountain, and because of the large seemingly emptiness in the picture, I position the picture with the curve of mountain off the center, to increase the imapct of image. But what else?
Loneliness perhaps? Not that I was lonely, but to short human life, the mountain seemed lonely. The mountain stands there, slowly evolving, what seemed to be a freezing mount to mountain in fact also mirroring countless generation changes of human beings.