The Daily Photo- January 10th, 2016.

Leica M3

You have to know its quirks. You have to pay attention to it. You have to take into account all the things that it can’t do. But, when I picture a camera in my mind, I picture the Leica M3. I love the quirks and the limitations. No battery, no meter, no screen. It doesn’t distract you from the act of taking photographs.

I wanted to light the camera in a way that flattered the texture of the metal and the black vulcanite material, but most of all I wanted I wanted to keep it classy. I got some glass from a picture frame and some black paper to go for that classy “Cigar Aficionado” look. For the background, I used the black side of a 5 in 1 reflector to make it appear like a seamless black. The black reflector also acted as a negative fill, keeping the highlights in check and keeping the fill-light low.

The key light was the 24″ Promaster Softbox with an LP180 at 1/4 power. Having a large diffuse source up close like that was great for setting the tone of the main highlights, I put a bare LP180 to the left to paint in some fill on the far left-end of the camera and send some cross light. I moved the bare LP180  back a about 3 feet from the Leica to make the fill-light from the left a little more direct.

Also, I had my trusty old LP160 in the front with a flashbender bouncing some fill-light and helping maintain the reflection.  The Rogue Flashbender was bent to prevent throwing too much light into the front of the Leica’s lens, and making it too bright. I just wanted some soft light on the black vulcanite stuff.

Gear used:

• Sony A7II body
• Sony 24-70 f/4 FE OSS
• Promaster 24″ softbox
• 2x LumoPro LP180 speedlights
• 2x Cactus v5 triggers
• 2x LumoPro LP605 compact light stand
• 2x LumoPro LP633 umbrella swivels
• Rogue Flashbender

See you tomorrow!