Sun in Splendor

The Leica Users Group ( LUG ) -- a list-serv/mailing-list -- is an online community in which I have sometimes participated. When I have, I really enjoyed it. (Lately, however, I have been spending time on Flickr .) Many photographers do not like it because its discussions so very frequently stray "off-topic" -- way off-topic. Members of the list -- "LUGgers" get so, umm, passionate , that the list has, in the past -- been shut down until participants cooled off. But it's the freewheeling nature of the list, and the passion, and the sense of engagement and love and support for an activity -- photography -- that keep me coming back to it, despite the insanely protracted message threads. I actually like the digressions -- there are interesting people on the LUG and -- like most really interesting people -- they are curious about the world around them, not just their own tools and hobby-horses, so with every digression comes piquant observations and candid rema...

The expression, "to hose the Doris" is paparazzi argot for "keeping the button pressed and taking as many frames as possible — in the shortest time — of a female celebrity." [ The Online Photographer ]

Amsterdam HDR photos High Dynamic Range Imaging (HDR) photos of Amsterdam. Be sure to view this one full size, and check out the birds. If you like it be sure to check out the whole set . [ mmeiser blog ] Here is a superb explanation of the why? as well as the how? of HDR Imaging, as a response to a limitation of digital cameras — The dynamic range dilemma. As digital sensors attain progressively higher resolutions, and thereby successively smaller pixel sizes, the one quality of an image which does not benefit is its dynamic range. This is particularly apparent in compact cameras with resolutions near 8 megapixels, as these are more susceptible than ever to blown highlights or noisy shadow detail. Further, some scenes simply contain a greater brightness range than can be captured by current digital cameras of any type. The "bright side" is that nearly any camera can actually capture a vast dynamic range — just not in a single photo. By varying the shutter speed a...

Kevin Bjorke points describes John Paul Caponigro's method for converting color digital images to black and white : "His method was different from what I have been using, and I like it a lot." It uses Adobe Photoshop adjustment layers. [ Bjorke * BotzBlog ]

Photographs are the evidence of your engagement with the world , writes Stu Willis. "The camera lies when you lie; it reveals truth when you unearth it. Photography is a metaphor for living; the camera an instrument of consciousness. Find the frame." Ways of Working is a series of 10 articles on how to take great street photographs. [ blimps are cool ]

The Leica Users Group The Leica FAQ John Brownlow Kyle Cassidy 's The Truth About Leica Cameras Ralph Gibson Leica Camera Wikipedia entry on Leica

Inside my Fear , originally uploaded by FotoRita . For more photo goodness, Visit my flickr photostream . Accompanying this marvellous image by FotoRita is this text (here machine-translated from the Italian original: "I have thousand reasons for being angry with same me. One between all, the inability to listen to me. Why they are scappata? But yes, I have made like always, I have let go the taken one before jumping in the empty one. This is the just occasion in order to put tacere the daily voices that by now insist on my nervous system unstable weak person and. I can myself be earned a paradise piece! They only angle of perfect world for me where to defend my being woman, and where the cosmic delirium goes to get lost. Well, I can return behind. I say while I dry up an eye with a cleanex. I turn to me, I try to move a first step and via, the sidewalk that begins to turn whirling. Nothing to make, for a long time to be straight me is impossible. The rimorsi do not hel...

Happy , originally uploaded by piecesofme2005 . For more photo goodness, Visit my flickr photostream . A beautiful, relaxed photo , nicely configured in black-and-white, by PiecesOfMe2005 . On Flickr

Scarlet Ibises , originally uploaded by Dirk-Jan . For more photo goodness, Visit my flickr photostream . Marvellous photos by Dirk-Jan on Flickr -- have a look ! technorati tags: photo , photograph , bird , suriname , flickr Blogged with Flock

The Romans called the rugged coastline of western Brittany, Finis terrae . Finistère, the end of the world, where even today, time appears to have come to a standstill. French photographer Michèle Le Braz set off with her Leicas M6 and M7 to capture the soul of the Finistère country and its people in timeless black & white. [ Leica e-magazine ]