Using F11 for 100% of my Leica MDA Photos - Hyper Focal Focus Question

[grahamc]

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5 hours ago, 250swb said:

There are all sorts of rules that can be broken accidentally or intentionally as long as they work together and add to a narrative. Consider this photo by William Klein, technically it's a dogs dinner of elements a photo club would mark down as faults, parts are vastly over exposed, there is motion blur, and the foreground people are out of focus. Yet in the visual chaos the eye is drawn to the old woman with crossed hands and the man wearing two hats. It's a photograph that isn't clear as to exactly what's happening, but the viewer isn't short of stories they can imagine.

https://www.michaelhoppengallery.com/artists/66-william-klein/overview/#/artworks/11698

 

Fantastic. Thanks for sharing. love William Klein’s work and also his whole attitude.  He seems to maintains he wasn’t tremendously experienced from a technical point of view when he photographed New York the first time and welcomed imperfections, blur and even “accidents”. No doubt sheer talent, an amazing eye and connection with his subjects carried him through but it’s extremely inspiring nonetheless.  
 

There’s a part in “the many lives of William Klein” when asked his opinion on the fact that “everyone has a camera these days” where he seems to express a fondness for the Avant-Garde results that everyday people get when they don’t have a clue what they are doing, and that you would never see such images from pros.   Of course he could be joking but it’s a cool insight ha 

Intentional (creative) imperfections are probably more my goal right now but nonetheless it’s very motivating and inspiring to hear such stuff :)
 

 

[i8z]

11 hours ago, 250swb said:

And I also agree.

There are some very good reasons to use hyperfocal focusing in the right circumstances, and a photographer like Garry Winogrand did use it with his 28mm lens. But taking his images as an example the first thing is that the primary subject of the image is still always sharp and through composition it isn't ambiguous what a viewer is supposed to be looking at. But if the image isn't sharp or lacking an obvious composition it is only the photographer who can remember what the point of the picture is, a casual viewer is left floundering. If photography is going to be more than just a process then the photographer has to use the visual language of photography to give some clues to a viewer, and while there are a multitude of famous images that are OOF the framing is invariably used to make it clear where to look and what to take from the image, but it's a tightrope act of skill to pull it off by the time it comes to the final print.

I have studied Winogrand for years, his work is amazing and I frequently get lost in his photographs. I didn't realize he was using hyperfocal focusing, thank you. 

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[250swb]

3 minutes ago, i8z said:

I have studied Winogrand for years, his work is amazing and I frequently get lost in his photographs. I didn't realize he was using hyperfocal focusing, thank you. 

Not always, but in milling crowds who wouldn't? It's horses for courses, but on top of that he wasn't doing photography just for himself where failure can be shrugged off, he was working for papers and magazines where sharp photographs were expected, so using the best technique at any one time was important.

[Kriehuber]

vor 7 Stunden schrieb i8z:

I have studied Winogrand for years, his work is amazing and I frequently get lost in his photographs. I didn't realize he was using hyperfocal focusing, thank you. 

Since he used a M2 and ( more prominently a M4 ) he used a extern 28mm viewfinder ( the one from Leica ). In a couple of interviews he says how important it is for him to always look through the viewfinder when taking the picture. 

Thats why he focused via hyperlocal or to be more precise, he focused by feel ( feeling where the focus tab is on the lens ), Because when shooting the scenes he shot, there is no time to focus through the rangefinder and then to compose through the external viewfinder. Then the moment would be gone and out of focus and since you can focus precisely without the rangefinder when shooting at f5.6 . f22 ( on the Elamrit he used ) using the external finder was a really easy solution to get good framing. That way he could archive good focus and nice framing, while being extremely fast. 

[spydrxx]

I was taught a little differently than some of you. For "street" photography, I was taught to assume I would get the central subject in reasonable focus, but to determine in advance what the approximate subject-camera distance would be...and set that distance on the lens. Then either let the subject walk into that distance, or do the walking myself. In the attached photo, I knew raising the camera would adversely affect the subject's expression, so I preset everything, used the M4's built in timer, and casually walked by my subject with my camera on a shoulder strap at hip level. Leica M4/35mm Summaron 2.8

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Edited September 23, 2021 by spydrxx
forgot to list camera info

[grahamc]

16 hours ago, spydrxx said:

I was taught a little differently than some of you. For "street" photography, I was taught to assume I would get the central subject in reasonable focus, but to determine in advance what the approximate subject-camera distance would be...and set that distance on the lens. Then either let the subject walk into that distance, or do the walking myself. In the attached photo, I knew raising the camera would adversely affect the subject's expression, so I preset everything, used the M4's built in timer, and casually walked by my subject with my camera on a shoulder strap at hip level. Leica M4/35mm Summaron 2.8

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Nice.  yes I tend to do similar , in terms of focusing if I am in a location then I set a convenient / realistic range starting with where I think my subject will be .  eg 3m-10m, etc etc .  But when 'not much is happening' in down time, or when walking between potential locations I set the focus point to ' oo ' in case something quickly pops up and could be at any distance.   I suppose we all focus the rangefinder also when there is time.  Good results here from your stealth technique - it's an ongoing battle of imagination on the street that's for sure  

Edited September 24, 2021 by grahamc

[grahamc]

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This is a shot that I was talking about earlier in the thread, I have just got this back from the lab and was worried he may be much more blurred with motion. only after I left the scene I realised I was shooting 1/125 which I thought may not have been quick enough .   But I am happy with the slight blur. There was time to focus as he was cool with being photographed . 

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Edited September 24, 2021 by grahamc

[Ernest]

On 9/21/2021 at 6:49 AM, 250swb said:

There are all sorts of rules that can be broken accidentally or intentionally as long as they work together and add to a narrative. Consider this photo by William Klein, technically it's a dogs dinner of elements a photo club would mark down as faults, parts are vastly over exposed, there is motion blur, and the foreground people are out of focus. Yet in the visual chaos the eye is drawn to the old woman with crossed hands and the man wearing two hats. It's a photograph that isn't clear as to exactly what's happening, but the viewer isn't short of stories they can imagine.

https://www.michaelhoppengallery.com/artists/66-william-klein/overview/#/artworks/11698

 

Thanks for the link to Klein!

[Ernest]

MDa Summaron-M 28mm
Such a light point-and-shoot.

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Edited November 26, 2021 by Ernest

[Ernest]

2nd Street Shore
MDa Summaron-M 28mm Portra 800

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[Danner]

16 hours ago, Ernest said:

MDa Summaron-M 28mm
Such a light point-and-shoot.

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Perfect street-shooter, right there.