Steps to shoot with the M6

[pixie]

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It's really simple!

Don't make problems, the Leica is for quick  shooting!

It can be way faster than a auto-focus camera..

"F", 3 F's. Find, frame, focus and expose!

Get a reading before and hope light same later.

Don't worry if over or under, see results..,

Make shooting a joy, not a scientific or art matter.

Photography is fun, more so with intuitive camera like a Leica M.

Don't carry lots of equipment, the body, a lens, lens shade and filter (lens protector)

Please use a strap, it's not a fall down throw away cell phone!

I meter either to stop action (fast speed) or for depth of field needed, use scale for idea.

See a possible and frame, while focusing,watch for balance in photo, press button!

HCB (Henri Cartier-Bresson) spoke of smelling/sniffing out images and reacting.

Enjoy

[250swb]

5 hours ago, pixie said:

It's really simple!

Don't make problems, the Leica is for quick  shooting!

It can be way faster than a auto-focus camera..

"F", 3 F's. Find, frame, focus and expose!

Get a reading before and hope light same later.

Don't worry if over or under, see results..,

Make shooting a joy, not a scientific or art matter.

Photography is fun, more so with intuitive camera like a Leica M.

Don't carry lots of equipment, the body, a lens, lens shade and filter (lens protector)

Please use a strap, it's not a fall down throw away cell phone!

I meter either to stop action (fast speed) or for depth of field needed, use scale for idea.

See a possible and frame, while focusing,watch for balance in photo, press button!

HCB (Henri Cartier-Bresson) spoke of smelling/sniffing out images and reacting.

Enjoy

Now I am confused. I mean for ffs 'hope' and 'don't worry' are the antithesis of working with facts that film photography demands. Or you could put in another way, when you know the rules you can break the rules, but not before understanding the consequences. I'm not completely sure the OP knows what the 'rules' are in film photography, so why are you trying to deflect him from understanding them?

Edited October 25, 2018 by 250swb

[pixie]

Photography for me is fun. Amateur or Professional, if i wouldn't enjoy doing a shoot, I would NOT.

You want rules, laws and methods. You study art, yes including painting, graphics, illustration and other photographers!

The basics of exposure, shutter speeds and perspective. 

Then you use your Leica for at least ONE year.

You will develop a method.

If you have an "eye" to see and discover, a style may develop..

A lot of things are intuitive!

When one rides a bike do you first study gravity, motion and windspeed.

Of course not.

One can take great photos with an automatic camera(phone or disposable).

Load the camera, use one make and speed. Ilford HP5+ for BW: 

Relax and enjoy..

Answer, of course I break some rules..

Edited October 26, 2018 by pixie
spelling

[ruca]

Some rules were made to be broken, I think .... of course the first step is to know these rules (and of course, I'm not sure I know them all!)

Since I remember I work in digital in mode totally manual, overexposing or underexposing according to my taste. Of course the rules of digital are not the same as analog. In my case 95% of the pictures are always taken overexposed.

This 2 years analogue adventure opened up new horizons and new ways of looking at photography, I have learned from my mistakes and found new ways to explore and test the specificities of each film and b&w.

With the M6 I think I have the possibility of explore this, of course for that to happen I have to know the limits of the machine. This is what I did not know and thanks to your help I know better now.

By norm I photographer b&w and exposing it for the highlights. In the last experiments with the M6 I overexpose the film by around 1 or 2 stop, but the results were not the best and I knew the error was probably in the way I was reading the light.

These exposing errors on film photos are usually easy to compensate with the editing process (the film allows this) but I was not satisfied with the results.

I also shoot with lensbaby (on film) and holga so I'm used to testing the limits and knowing how far I can go (and sometimes I go too far ☺️ )

thank you all

[jmahto]

4 hours ago, ruca said:

Some rules were made to be broken, I think .... of course the first step is to know these rules (and of course, I'm not sure I know them all!)

Since I remember I work in digital in mode totally manual, overexposing or underexposing according to my taste. Of course the rules of digital are not the same as analog. In my case 95% of the pictures are always taken overexposed.

This 2 years analogue adventure opened up new horizons and new ways of looking at photography, I have learned from my mistakes and found new ways to explore and test the specificities of each film and b&w.

With the M6 I think I have the possibility of explore this, of course for that to happen I have to know the limits of the machine. This is what I did not know and thanks to your help I know better now.

By norm I photographer b&w and exposing it for the highlights. In the last experiments with the M6 I overexpose the film by around 1 or 2 stop, but the results were not the best and I knew the error was probably in the way I was reading the light.

These exposing errors on film photos are usually easy to compensate with the editing process (the film allows this) but I was not satisfied with the results.

I also shoot with lensbaby (on film) and holga so I'm used to testing the limits and knowing how far I can go (and sometimes I go too far ☺️ )

thank you all

Responding to the highlighted (by me) text....

With negative film you want to expose for the shadows because anything lost there is never recoverable. On the other hand there is information in the highlights even if they are over exposed by couple of stops. Experiment with subjects having deep shadows and you will know.

Edited October 26, 2018 by jmahto

[ruca]

2 hours ago, jmahto said:

Responding to the highlighted (by me) text....

With negative film you want to expose for the shadows because anything lost there is never recoverable. On the other hand there is information in the highlights even if they are over exposed by couple of stops. Experiment with subjects having deep shadows and you will know.

I photograph and edit especially in b&w  .... there was a time where I liked to do that, we can say according to the rules, where everything in the photo is "visible", in which whites have information and blacks have information , today I like to do and see photography in another way.

I photograph overexposing or underexposing according to the situations.

As a rule it is overexposing because I do not mind losing information in the shadows (or in the opposite case, in the highlights) ... I just like to see it that way.

I like strong blacks and whites.

[jmahto]

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Yes, artistic considerations are another matter. I commented on technical aspect. 

[Nick Milner]

Hi all, this thread made me think about my process a bit. Whilst the camera itself doesn't care what order you do anything (except for having to advance the frame to enable the meter) I impose an order, and I generally impose the same order each time otherwise I sometimes make stupid mistakes. Apologies in advance that a process flow diagram is about as far away from "zen" photography as you can get!

For me it goes something like in the diagram. YMMV. This skips loading film, setting ISO and checking to make sure you're winding on properly and there is film left on the roll. It also skips logging images (on paper or in an app) so you can remember what you did later. Oh, and take the lens cap off!

Note that "Meter Desired Midtone" means what you want the midtone to be in your image while protecting the shadows, not what the midtone necessarily is in the scene you're looking at. Also note that choosing aperture and shutter speed doesn't necessarily mean choosing values that cause the meter to call correct exposure - this isn't a science.  Hope this makes sense - I'm not an expert.

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