My Monochrome Epiphany

 I spent the morning in Marin County, first at China Camp State Park, and later at the Marin Arts and Garden Center. These four monochromes were the result of consciously looking for interesting shadows. It turns out that I made images when the subjects were when the shadows made interesting shapes, or when the lighting created contrast between the subject and the background. The camera's LCD panel gave an instant monochromatic preview, one that would be relatively easy to finetune in post production.

Arbor, Marin Arts And Garden Center

Display, China Camp

Skiff, China Camp

Marsh, Richardson Bay

When I entered China Camp's long abandoned burger shack, I was confronted a shadowless. north lit environment created by skylight coming through the windows. Here, the separation of the subject, or subjects, from the background would need to be accomplished using color. It's quite a luxury to shift from a monochrome preset to one of several color presets where I could select the level of color saturation.

I had the white balance set to "auto", and did a white balance adjustment in post production. I think that the image was definitely a "color" proposition, since the subtle colors would not translate well into black and white. I used the napkins as my white reference. Incidentally, in 1955 scenes from the movie "Blood Alley" were filmed here, which explains the movie poster on the back wall.

For this shot, I took a few steps back to include the orange lantern hanging from the ceiling. The inclusion of the additional seats at the counter give a better sense of the whole room, rather than just the memorabilia on the far wall.

The weathered exterior and its faded painted signage seemed to be a shot that would benefit from a color interpretation.

While this shot does have some color, the aged wood is essentially grey in color. The yellow and green of the central bush would have been lost it the image was rendered in black and white.

This has been a good day for playing with monochrome presets. I guess I can put off buying that dedicated monochrome camera body for a little while.

Would I Really Buy A Dedicated Monochrome Body?

Upper Saturn Street, April 16, 2023

Twice Reflected, April 16, 2023

Telephone Pole, April 16, 2023

I was always told that one had to learn to "see in black and white", an abstract concept for someone who used black and white film out of necessity, rather than a means to an aesthetic end. I only saw subjects I wanted to wanted to record, and resigned myself to a monochromatic renditions.

Digital imaging changed everything. Film and processing costs were completely eliminated, and one could get instant feedback through the camera's LCD. Even my mistakes were cheap, courtesy of the Delete Button on the back of every camera. And with inexpensive software, one could edit those images without ever setting foot in a darkroom any time of the day or night. Still, there is a certain nostalgia that accompanies the memories of all-night printing sessions that came to a halt when my makeshift blinds in my makeshift darkroom began to fail, allowing slivers of early morning light to creep through the gaps. But if all that hassle could be eliminated, would I go back to black and white imaging?

Source: DPreview

Ricoh/Pentax has introduced an monochrome DSLR, the Pentax K-3 Mark III, for about $2,200.00. An interesting concept, but a camera that I won't be buying, as I am too committed to the Fuji X-mount system. Its introduction started me wondering that if I bought a dedicated monochrome body, how much use would it actually get? To find out, I started experimenting with an X-Pro 2 by setting the film simulation to Accros, Fuji's refined monochrome preset, and attaching an 16mm F 2.8 Fuji lens for improved sharpness. I just started using this camera, so nothing is conclusive. One major advantage to using a mirrorless camera is the ability to see the monochrome rendition before you press the shutter. This allows you to pre-visualize the final image before you press the shutter. This certainly allows instant feedback, helping one practice the "seeing in black and white" visualization.

I read that Ricoh/Pentax has stopped taking new orders for this camera because the demand has been so great and would resume reservations when all of the existing orders have been shipped. After seeing this level of enthusiasm, Fuji may take the hint an introduce a limited run of X-Pro 4 M (monochrome) bodies with modified sensors. Such a camera already exists, albeit a custom modification of an existing X-Pro 3,  The conversion is performed by Max Max, and at a price of $3,910, about the same price as a Leica Monochrom M. Both of these bodies make the Pentax look like a bargain. 

For the moment, I am content to experiment with Accros, and so far, I am not overly enthused. I will probably need to refine my post processing skills significantly, as all my attempts to produce a decent black and white image for digital publication haven't inspired much confidence in the concept.

Post Script Spoiler: Just on  a hunch, I opened up a file made by my Laowa 10mm F 4.0. I had selected the Velvia (saturated color) film simulation, with Sharpness, Highlight Tone, and Shadow Tone all set to +2. I used the Remove Color option in post production to simulate a monochrome original. The resulting photo surprised me, as it gave me an image that I actually liked. Granted, the back lighting and the prominence of the shadow influenced the look of the photo, but I'll be using these settings a few more times to see if these simple settings manages to convert me. In some ways, I feel that I made the image with a cold tone, high contrast glossy printing paper, the  "technique du jour" when I was pulling those darkroom all-nighters.

Truly, my early commitment to purchasing a true monochrome digital body will be put to the test. 

Zone Focused Morning Walk

 

All of these photos were "zone focused". The lens was set to F 8.0, and the distance set to .5 meter. Based on the depth of field scale for this lens, everything from .3 meters to infinity "should" be in focus. Exposure was Aperture Priority, with the Velvia film simulation.

While the sharpness and/or critical focus weren't/wasn't precise, it was fun to just take photos with the care-free optimism of an ten-year old holding a red Sabre 620 camera with its precious twelve frames of roll film. And certainly better that anything I could have done with a plastic Diana or Holga..

Zone Focusing On My Laowa

Zone Focusing: I continue to improve my "A-Game" for using manually focused lens. Channeling my best Cartier-Bresson, I am trying to capture that Decisive Moment, and coincidentally, trying to reduce the time required to focus my ersatz Leica, a.k.a. my Fuji X-E1. Fuji's own lenses lack distance and depth-of-field scales, and while the autofocus function works well, the camera must be pointing at your subject long enough for the camera to lock on target. To be true to the moment, the camera-subject distance should be set before the camera floats towards the photographer eye, capturing the photo in a single fluid motion. Or so in my dreams.

Original image can be seen here.

I was introduced to an interesting, Leica-screw mount lens, the Voigtländer Snapshot Skopar, by my friend Shawn. This 25mm F 4.0 lens featured a click stop on the focusing ring at 1, 1.5, 3 meters. The handy "stick shift" (arrow) allows the shooter to set one of these three distances by feel alone. This would allow one to set the distance without looking at the camera, well before the arrival of that Decisive Moment. The lens's small maximum aperture provides a rather generous depth of field when wide open, and much more when stopped down a bit.

When I first saw it, I was enchanted. I could easily obtain an adapter so that it would work on any of my X bodies. The only thing that stopped me was the focal length. At 25mm, it effectively becomes a 38mm lens, a useful length, but long enough to warrant more precise framing when in actual use. Unfortunately, I do already own a 17mm lens, a TT Artisans  F 1.4, which would provide a similar outlook as the 25mm on a full-framed body, but it has neither to compact size, nor the cachet, of so novel a lens as the Snapshot. It goes without saying that the Skopar did have both a distance scale and a depth of field scale, as would any lens without rangefinder coupling. Alas, a more modern iteration of this novel lens concept shall have to do. For the moment, the best contender is the Laowa 10mm.

Vanishing Distance Scale: In my last post, I installed a Cat Labs Rubber Focusing Tab on my 10mm F 4.0 Laowa lens. It has improved my ability to focus in the cramped control environment of this pancake lens, and  decreased the occurrences of finger photobombing. Unfortunately, the Focusing Tab completely covered the distance scale. To  make matters worse, the infinity stop doesn't wasn't properly set, which is to say that it is capable of focusing the lens past infinity. When focusing through the electronic view finder (EVF), I made it a practice to rotating the focusing until it stopped, and backpedaled a bit to bring the lens back to the right side of infinity. It's easy enough to remember, right up to the moment when you forget.

Zone Focusing is a technique that takes advantage of the depth of field provided by short focal length lenses. If you look at the left photo (above), you  can see a Depth of Field Scale engraved on the non-rotating portion of the lens. In this photo, the  [∞] (left photo, down arrow) is aligned with the [8] (left photo, up arrow), which means that any subject at "infinity" will be in focus. To determine the nearest subject that will still be in focus, I simply locate the [8] located to the left of the scale, which marks the closest subject that will be in focus. While difficult to see, the nearest subject distance at this setting would be 0.3 meters. Finally, if I look at the Focusing Index, you can see that it is aligned with a subject distance of 0.5 meter. Using a gold Sharpie marker, I made a smudge just above the 0.5 setting on the knurled portion of the focusing ring. I finally replaced the rubber Cat Labs Focus Tab.

In use, I would set the lens to F 8.0 and align the gold dot with the Focusing Index (right photo, down arrow), and know that everything from 0.3 meters to infinity will be in reasonable focus. This zone focusing technique is reserved for those times when there isn't time to properly focus, or if one just wants to capture images "in the moment".