Greg Williams added to Leica Lux as an Artist

[mdrips]

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Well, the Leica Lux app has been "upgraded".

There is some redesign of its functionality and Greg Williams has been added as the first person in the "Artist" Look category.

News releases claim that this is a "cinematic" filter.

Personally I do not admire Greg Williams or  Anna-Lou Leibovitz. They are both photographers who have photographed a lot of celebrities. That has been the foundation of their entire reputations.  For some bizarre reason, people see these photos of celebrities and think that the photographer is talented. I think Williams has some talent and Leibovitz has about zero, but I cannot admire them as both of them are literally just a step up from paparazzi.

I am not jealous of either of these photographers.

Elliott Erwitt took some famous photos of Marilyn Monroe, but his career covered a broad amount of subjects way beyond just celebrity photos. Yet I cannot envision an artistic style based on his work that could be incorporated into the Lux app. In my personal opinion, Erwitt was the master photographer of my lifetime.

This ends my rant about celebrity photographers and the new Lux app update.

[RQ44]

He gets his own Leica preset? Who is this Greg Williams anyway? Is he supposed to be something special. 

Edited May 17 by RQ44

[SrMi]

On 5/17/2025 at 2:24 PM, RQ44 said:

He gets his own Leica preset? Who is this Greg Williams anyway? Is he supposed to be something special. 

Easy to find out with a search engine :).

[RQ44]

On 5/24/2025 at 4:07 AM, SrMi said:

Easy to find out with a search engine :).

I did a few days after posting. The only thing special about his photos are the people in them. Many of his photos are all delivered by the subject. Anyone in this forum could do what he does if not better. Perhaps Leica should have chosen a more impressive photographer to emulate their look. This williams guy just seems like a normal Joe. Not impressed.

[SrMi]

2 hours ago, RQ44 said:

I did a few days after posting. The only thing special about his photos are the people in them. Many of his photos are all delivered by the subject. Anyone in this forum could do what he does if not better. Perhaps Leica should have chosen a more impressive photographer to emulate their look. This williams guy just seems like a normal Joe. Not impressed.

I would rather have a Salgado preset, but Greg has already collaborated with Leica before (Q2) and his B&W post processing style seems something that people like to emulate.

[TL3]

Regardless of whose name is attached to it, I am enjoying the new looks nonetheless.

I read that Salgado became a Canon shooter during his digital era, so I imagine he wouldn’t have been a prime candidate for an artist look.  A shame I am just discovering a lot of his amazing work now with the news of his passing.

[RQ44]

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On 5/25/2025 at 10:28 PM, SrMi said:

I would rather have a Salgado preset, but Greg has already collaborated with Leica before (Q2) and his B&W post processing style seems something that people like to emulate.

Now we are talking. Greay suggestion.

[wattsy]

I'm not a fan of celebrity culture (though I do like fashion photography, which might be considered a subset of it?) nor am I a fan of Annie Leibovitz's over produced portraiture but to suggest she has "zero" talent is ludicrous. Anyone who has enjoyed a career like her's could teach anyone in this forum a thing or two about photography.

I don't know much about Greg Williams and have only heard of him through his connection with Leica marketing but he seems to also be highly successful in a very competitive marketplace. His photographs look fine and I think it is very easy to underestimate how much more is involved in being successful in this field of photography than just turning up and clicking the shutter.

[alanjones]

On 5/28/2025 at 1:22 PM, wattsy said:

I'm not a fan of celebrity culture (though I do like fashion photography, which might be considered a subset of it?) nor am I a fan of Annie Leibovitz's over produced portraiture but to suggest she has "zero" talent is ludicrous. Anyone who has enjoyed a career like her's could teach anyone in this forum a thing or two about photography.

I don't know much about Greg Williams and have only heard of him through his connection with Leica marketing but he seems to also be highly successful in a very competitive marketplace. His photographs look fine and I think it is very easy to underestimate how much more is involved in being successful in this field of photography than just turning up and clicking the shutter.

I totally agree. While Annie Leibovitz's work may not be to everyone's taste, her skills cannot be questioned, with some iconic shots within her portfolio. 
As for Greg Williams, in addition to his other work, he has been an official  photographer for the James Bond movies for over twenty years. 

[S Maclean]

On 5/16/2025 at 2:10 AM, mdrips said:

Well, the Leica Lux app has been "upgraded".

There is some redesign of its functionality and Greg Williams has been added as the first person in the "Artist" Look category.

News releases claim that this is a "cinematic" filter.

Personally I do not admire Greg Williams or  Anna-Lou Leibovitz. They are both photographers who have photographed a lot of celebrities. That has been the foundation of their entire reputations.  For some bizarre reason, people see these photos of celebrities and think that the photographer is talented. I think Williams has some talent and Leibovitz has about zero, but I cannot admire them as both of them are literally just a step up from paparazzi.

I am not jealous of either of these photographers.

Elliott Erwitt took some famous photos of Marilyn Monroe, but his career covered a broad amount of subjects way beyond just celebrity photos. Yet I cannot envision an artistic style based on his work that could be incorporated into the Lux app. In my personal opinion, Erwitt was the master photographer of my lifetime.

This ends my rant about celebrity photographers and the new Lux app update.

Interesting how we see things differently. To say Leibowitz has no talent truly contradicts everything my eyes see.  Yes, there are some Vanity fair etc etc very lazy (for her) spreads, but even those are of a very high level IMO. She may have capitalized on a look, (and why not? we all have to pay our rent), but her body of work speaks volumes.

 

As for Greg Williams he is also very talented, but IMO slightly more predictable... Or put another way, in current photography, more photographers shoot like Williams than Leibowitz. Great images, beautiful treatments, slightly more trendy. Just my opinion.

[S Maclean]

On 5/25/2025 at 5:53 AM, RQ44 said:

I did a few days after posting. The only thing special about his photos are the people in them. Many of his photos are all delivered by the subject. Anyone in this forum could do what he does if not better. Perhaps Leica should have chosen a more impressive photographer to emulate their look. This williams guy just seems like a normal Joe. Not impressed.

There's an art to having subjects open themselves to the camera. Technicaly Platon could not be simpler, but he broke through by how he captured his subjects....not so much for wide lense-distorted-High Key-over developed one light at 45 vertical degree photos-

I do agree that there are many photographers shooting in that style...succesfuly too. Still, Why be -ittle his accomplishments? he's not pushing anyone out by being successful, he is just being successful. Some of these guys do have access to those celebrities and personalities, but as someone that comes from the film industry I can tell you those celebrities do not give their time and image to anyone.  They know the images are going to define their pbkic persona and make sure they choose photographers that can capture what they want to project (Vincent Peters).  More unique is the photgrapher that breaks throguh and captures tha actual person (Platon)

Edited June 17 by S Maclean

[zlatkob]

IMO, every photographer mentioned above is outstandingly talented and deserves every bit of recognition and praise they've received. We should learn from them.

The Greg Williams filter in the Lux app looks good, but it is by subscription only. However, there's a Greg Williams filter that can be added to the more recent Q and SL cameras via the Fotos app at no extra cost.