M Wedding Shoot

[gpwhite]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Robust new evidence on line showing the great capability of the M as a top notch wedding photographer's tool!

 

http://www.overgaard.dk/the-story-behind-that-picture-0173_gb.html

 

Many of us have followed the 10-year evolution of the digital M through Thorsten's shots of Caroline (nee) von Overgaard, his lovely first daughter who was just married. Plenty of material here revealing that an MF, RF can capture these fleeting events quite well.

 

Thorsten, if you check in here, I was curious for one thing about the lovely event in Florida...  your own formal regalia was unique  . Is this a special tunic for the lands von Overgaard, accorded by the Danish Crown?

 

Congratulations!

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[sblutter]

I disagree with shooting every shot wide open.  Seems more about doctrine / misguided 'purity' than being in the moment with the client / wedding party

 

But, they hired you having seen your style - I'm sure they were satisfied

[Overgaard]

I disagree with shooting every shot wide open.  Seems more about doctrine / misguided 'purity' than being in the moment with the client / wedding party

 

But, they hired you having seen your style - I'm sure they were satisfied

 

 

I would remove the aperture ring of most my lenses if I could. That's my opinion and style decision on it.

 

I'll be doing an (I think myself) interesting article on this later as aperture is per definition a tool for sharpness. It was the way to achieve sharpness in the beginning; but now we have lenses that can actually produce sharpness wide open, and the aperture has become a tool for DOF.

 

In the meanwhile, before photography started and today's lenses, aperture has been confused for a tool for light control. Which it also is, but with great costs in terms of the image look. 

[Overgaard]

Robust new evidence on line showing the great capability of the M as a top notch wedding photographer's tool!

 

http://www.overgaard.dk/the-story-behind-that-picture-0173_gb.html

 

Many of us have followed the 10-year evolution of the digital M through Thorsten's shots of Caroline (nee) von Overgaard, his lovely first daughter who was just married. Plenty of material here revealing that an MF, RF can capture these fleeting events quite well.

 

Thorsten, if you check in here, I was curious for one thing about the lovely event in Florida...  your own formal regalia was unique  . Is this a special tunic for the lands von Overgaard, accorded by the Danish Crown?

 

Congratulations!

 

Thank you for posting gpwhite,

 

My "admiral" jacket is from a store in Hollywood that supply bands, artists and other crazy people with out-of-this-world clothing. It does make quite a few people wonder which war I participated in, and when :-)

 

There's a limited use for it, though.

 

I wonder if it would get me quicker through the airport security but I haven't tried that yet.

 

 

[Jeff S]

Personal taste regarding wide open shots, of course.  For me, Thorsten uses it for better effect than most....in many instances.  But I do struggle with some shots, for example the wedding (cup)cake(s), where I would prefer to see the entire subject (the cakes) in focus and the background not.  Instead I find myself checking around to see which cupcakes are in focus and which aren't (not consistently front or back), and it turns that shot into a gimmick....for me....I'd prefer just a bit more DOF.  

 

To each his own....as it should be. 

 

Oh, congrats!

 

Jeff

[gpwhite]

 

There's a limited use for it, though.

 

I wonder if it would get me quicker through the airport security but I haven't tried that yet.

 

 

 

Thorsten, if you do wear it through airport security, I would be sure to keep both hands high in the air at all times 

[gpwhite]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Personal taste regarding wide open shots, of course.  For me, Thorsten uses it for better effect than most....in many instances.  But I do struggle with some shots, for example the wedding (cup)cake(s), where I would prefer to see the entire subject (the cakes) in focus and the background not.  Instead I find myself checking around to see which cupcakes are in focus and which aren't (not consistently front or back), and it turns that shot into a gimmick....for me....I'd prefer just a bit more DOF.  

 

To each his own....as it should be. 

 

Oh, congrats!

 

Jeff

 

Yes, it is a matter of taste, like other art forms.

 

For me, if I compared side-by-side of the cupcakes at f/1 vs. f/4, I would find the f/4 version boring after a 30s while the f/1 always a mystery. Just my opinion/ taste.

 

After Thorsten's class, I shot all of my lenses wide open for a while, and I came to agree with him (and Peter Karbe) that Leica lenses present special character in both drawing and color recording wide open, and then devolve into plain Canikon iPhoneness by about f/5.6.

 

But I do like very crisp toast or bacon, what my wife characterizes as partially burned, so now I typically shoot one stop down...  or on the highest-shelf lenses, like APO 50 or 24mm Elmarit ASPH, 1/2 stop down.

[Jeff S]

 

 

For me, if I compared side-by-side of the cupcakes at f/1 vs. f/4, I would find the f/4 version boring after a 30s while the f/1 always a mystery. Just my opinion/ taste.

 

 

 

For me, not all pics need mystery.....too much, and that can become just as boring.  And if one needs to make parts blurry to make it 'mysterious', that's the gimmicky aspect to which I referred.  It's a cake.  Much harder to find a mysterious subject, or fantastic light, or intriguing geometry, etc,  and render that effectively, which is why photography can be much harder than the flick of an aperture.  And even harder at times to have extreme depth of field and to make all the elements in the pic come together effectively.  Different strokes...

 

Jeff

[epand56]

I think there is a time for f/1 and a time for f/4, f/5.6 or f/11. I like wide open pics, but I sometime prefer to have something more in focus. It depend on the picture I have to take more than on my taste. This said, I find Thorsten reportage quite appealing, much more than many other Canon cannon made wedding reportages. I particularly love the quiet beauty and the refined charm, very much what I expect from a Leica M, of the pictures.

 

Congratulations, Thorsten!

[bocaburger]

Any photographic maniuplation that renders a subject in a way the human eye doesn't normally see the subject in reality, can become clichéd if overused.  I'm thinking back to fisheye lenses and Tiffen effects-filters, and nowadays to iphone and instagram filters.  I'm a fan of shallow DOF, but not for every kind of shot. 

[Tailwagger]

Any photographic maniuplation that renders a subject in a way the human eye doesn't normally see the subject in reality, can become clichéd if overused.  I'm thinking back to fisheye lenses and Tiffen effects-filters, and nowadays to iphone and instagram filters.  I'm a fan of shallow DOF, but not for every kind of shot. 

 

Fully concur. I will remark though that one of the things I admire in Thorsten's work is that often he succeeds, where many of us tend to fail, to utilize shallow depth of field to create an effect that is indeed what the human eye sees, though the brain often doesn't always quite perceive.  All too often we lesser talents tend to use shallow DoF as a crutch with which to capture an interesting subject while filtering out a rather uninteresting background.  I think his best captures demonstrate how utilizing shallow focus can create a sense of space and dimensional depth that compliments and comments on the subject.  I find the final shot in the series preceding 'The dress' section, to exhibit that quality.  I particularly enjoy how the focus trails off on a line from the subject through the groom to the light fixture on the wall and the fact that the shallow DoF allows us to largely ignore the hanging towel. But in general, while I admire such captures, they do tend to make me irritable as almost immediately afterward I find myself spending a week or more perusing Noctilux and Summilux 75mm listings, all the while sitting on my hands and muttering over and over and over, 'don't press Buy It Now, don't press Buy it Now'.  

[bocaburger]

I agree, and I especially admire someone who can use it effectively with a rangefinder, because it takes imagination to previsualize what the actual capture will look like.  Not to mention the need to focus (such as on an eye) and recompose so the point of focus isn't always bullseyed in the center of the frame, while not moving the camera off the plane, so that point remains in focus after recomposing.  If the subject is moving, it's even more of a monumental feat.  Thorsten's work is great. 

[Tonkerdog]

As a Q wielding amateur, I thought the pictures were beautiful and mesmerising. Thank you .

[LichMD]

A lovely series which captures the beauty of Caroline's wedding day.

I too have taken Thorsten's workshop and my limited time with him and his work has stretched my mind and the way I want to make photos.

I agree with Tailwagger his use of f 0.95 creates depth and dimensionality that is quite beautiful.

Congratulations Thorsten

 

Jeff

[Herr Barnack]

Thorsten, if you do wear it through airport security, I would be sure to keep both hands high in the air at all times 

 

Nowadays there's no chance of being mistaken for either Michael Jackson or Muammar Gaddafi, so I'm not sure from where the difficulty with TSA would arise...

[brill64]

weddings, for me, are all about creating dreams & a wide open aperture succeeds in creating just that!!

 

..that fabulous jacket is very "Sergeant Pepper".

[Peter H]

weddings, for me, are all about creating dreams & a wide open aperture succeeds in creating just that!!

 

..that fabulous jacket is very "Sergeant Pepper".

A good illustration of how we're all different. I think wedding photography is about creatung and preserving memories, and the more clarity there is, the more detail to look back on, the better. I think there's room for both though.

[earleygallery]

A good illustration of how we're all different. I think wedding photography is about creatung and preserving memories, and the more clarity there is, the more detail to look back on, the better. I think there's room for both though.

Totally agree. The arty shots grab attention perhaps and offer a different perspective of an event whilst fresh in the mind, but wedding albums get shown around a lot in the weeks after the event and are then put away for years.

 

When they're dug out eventually, to show the children perhaps, people are interested to see what everyone looked like back then, the fashions, relatives who have maybe passed on perhaps.

 

Room for both but I personally think some more formal/posed photos of important life events are essential, if one is bothering with photos at all.

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[wattsy]

and then devolve into plain Canikon iPhoneness by about f/5.6.

 

 

I appreciate that you are exaggerating for effect but this kind of comment betrays a certain orthodoxy that I find unwelcome, even in a brand specific forum like this one. I also think it is factually wrong.

[zlatkob]

I appreciate that you are exaggerating for effect but this kind of comment betrays a certain orthodoxy that I find unwelcome, even in a brand specific forum like this one. I also think it is factually wrong.

 

I agree.  And Leica isn't the only brand with lenses that shoot beautifully wide open.  The Canon 35L II has stunning wide open quality, albeit in a much larger package.