Several things to discuss today. The small, "cheap" Leica DLUX8, the "delete reflections" feature in Adobe's latest rev of Lightroom Classic, and David's Ice Light.

 

I'll start with my continuing review of the DLUX8; the small, agile and surprisingly good micro four thirds, compact camera from Leica. Like almost all new cameras in 2025 the files are more than satisfactory for any use you might have on the web. I included a black and white conversion from a .DNG color file above for one particular reason. The original file, exposed for bright sun on a white sign, plunged the bottom half of the frame into deep shadow. The people in the bottom third of the frame were in the shadow of the building to the left and this was taken in the last afternoon when the late Autumn sun is lower in the sky here. With a few clicks in post processing I was able to bring up a remarkable level of detail in those shadows. I used a brush tool in the selections menu to select the shadow areas. It was a big brush with lots of feathering. With the area selected I brought up the shadows and the overall exposure in this selected area. I used the clarity slider to bring back some of the missing midrange contrast. That's it. Three minutes of post.

I expect this sort of shadow recovery potential from full frame cameras with BSI sensors but it still surprises me to see just how much can be realized from a smaller, older sensor when the camera maker optimizes internal software correctly. 

The second image down from here is the same scene in the original color but with all the other tweaks made. My preference is almost always for the color images instead of the black and white images with the exception being in classical portraiture where color seems to me like more of a distraction. For street scenes it seems to me that color adds more information to the overall mix and so more to chew on. 

Just a note. These images were fun to take and are part of my near constant practice of taking photographs under different conditions and in different formats. They were not and are not intended to be portfolio pieces nor am I requesting critiques of the content and style. I'm adding them to this blog to show various technical features that we can use in our more serious work. This is like an afternoon of golf, but for photographers instead... Practice at the driving range of life.

The DLUX8, like its older Panasonic cousin the LX100ii, is a fun camera to carry around because it weighs so much less than a full frame camera with an attendant interchangeable lens. It's small and unobtrusive and, if you are Veblen-Paranoid you can always put a very small piece of black tape over the tiny red logo and everyone will most probably assume that you are carrying around a very cheap, entry level camera. But really? Nobody gives a shit about cameras anymore. Not out on a tourist street on a sunny day. There's so much else to look at. And all those people you think are judging you based on your camera? They are not. They are too busy thinking about their credit card balances at 19% or what they are going to have for lunch. Or that their shoes hurt their feet. But really, not about your camera. 

Color version of top image.

While I tend to reflexively use the 70mm (e) end of the camera's built in zoom lens it's nice to have a 24mm (e) end of the lens for those times when a wide angle is actually just right. I used the 70mm for the above images but when I, like a groundhog, saw my shadow I zoomed to the wide end to include the entire scene. Sometimes it's fine to shoot at 24mm (e) as long as you have stuff you want to include in the frame. 

I am currently appreciative of the Austin Motel. It's right in the middle of the prime shopping road in South Austin. Just south of Lady Bird Lake/The Colorado River and downtown. It used to be a seedy refuge for drug dealers and prostitutes but that was thirty or forty years ago. Now it's a lively and respectable hotel for hip tourists and was, this past Summer, the Austin epicenter for a Nikon product rollout and played host to a bevy of tattoo'd and pretentious "influencers." At the same time the Austin Motel has a very egalitarian feel to it. Rocky's walk up bar in the courtyard is funky and cool and only open til 10pm. Everyone is welcome to drop by and snag a mojito or some other fun beverage at the bar and then lounge on one of the outside sofas, sit around on puffy chairs or sit at umbrella crested tables and chill with friends. No pretention. No brand-checking involved. 

I'll be back here after the Thanksgiving weekend to see the Motel's yearly forest of fake Christmas trees while taking random photos and sipping a mocha from Jo's next door. A fun way to experience S. Congress. 

What I really like is what the Motel has done with the pool. They've turned a big, kidney shaped pool from a Texas motel staple into a "swim club" where anyone can buy a day pass, float in the cool water under the Texas sun and get refreshments from the bartender at the poolside bar. Last I checked a day pass was a measly $10. USD. So slow down on plans to build that pool in your back yard. You'll probably meet more interesting people here.

A camera note: The eye detect AF on the DLUX is actually quite good. While I was using it yesterday I noticed a hit rate for the camera of over 90%. Sure, it's wedded to a contrast detect AF system so it's not lightning fast but it's certainly fast enough for most work with happy humans. As far as metering goes I've come to expect that Leica have engineered in a little bit of underexposure in order to protect from the highlights burning out. It usually works just fine but once in a while I do find myself tweaking the exposure to a plus one third stop. It's a habit to try and nail exact exposure but since I like to shoot the camera in the raw mode it's really not necessary. 

My last thought (today, at least) about the DLUX is about power. Not the power of infinite vision but the power of the battery and the camera's use thereof. The batteries the camera uses are small, about 1000 mAh. But the camera seems parsimonious when it comes to power use. And, of course, you can enable extra battery stinginess in the power saving menu. Since most mirrorless camera use includes "pre-chimping" or getting your shot set up on the LCD screen or in the EVF the need for post shot chimping is negligible. Yesterday afternoon I shot about 350 raw files over the course of two hours. When I got back home the battery indicator in the camera menu showed over half full. That's great. That means, for me, that even on a long day of spirited shooting I need only bring along two small extra batteries to be confident of getting through the entire day without having to shut down for lack of power.  

For the archly paranoid about battery use I should mention that the camera can be charged and powered via the USB-C socket on the camera's side. If you are going from location to location in a car it's easy enough to top off the in camera battery during travel. 

I included the image above not (just) because I like the disjointed look of the wooden arms against the white plastic head and torso but because there was, when I took this image, a bunch of bright reflections in the window, one of which covered about 25% of the top and right hand side of the mannequins head. 

I'd read about the reflection erasing feature in Lightroom and gave it a try. Amazing that with one click all those distracting reflections were deleted and replaced with believable reconstructions of the underlying details.  Same with the image just below....

And, of course, I am a sucker for images with large swaths of red or blue...

Take a look at the black and white image directly above and the color image directly below. The lower image is the color original. But it started life with the same horizontal reflections that you seen in the black and white photo. I used the same Lightroom "reflection eraser" on the color image but not on the black adn white image. Mostly so I could show off the difference. And because reflections in a black and white image don't seem to bother me as much as reflections in color images. Who knew?

And, by the way, the images just above were shot at f2 with the lens at 70mm's equivalent. 

I think the bokeh, especially obvious in the color image, is calm and beautiful. Who

knew it would be so smooth in an m4:3 compact camera?

The two images directly below are the same frame. The top frame had the reflection deletion tool enabled while the bottom one did not. Again, not for the portfolio but to facilitate thinking about software tools and their potential applications for various kinds of photographs. Note the decluttering on the left hand side of the frame...

No editorial content. Just for fun.

Same.

And one more time...

there are things I like about the color image just above and things I like about the black and white version of the same image, just below. I'm happy to shoot in DNG+L. Jpeg (mono). I like having the choice but my personal preference, more and more, is for the additional information color provides. 

Yesterday it was a bit chilly. I stepped out of my "coffee comfort zone" and ordered a mocha instead of my usual, boring drip coffee. It was delicious. Too much sugar but delicious. A splurge in the middle of a fine afternoon of photos.

I was hoping to run into my friend, David, while I was downtown. I was not disappointed. He showed up at dusk at Jo's Coffee and we proceeded to catch up on events and share whatever insights we could muster. David shoots stuff with a Canon R5 and mostly the Canon 85mm f1.4 lens. It's a fast focusing combo with great color. Today he brought along a Westcott Ice Light. The long, bright LED light you can see right across Hope's dark shirt. He uses the Ice Light to add just a bit of fill to images taken late in the day and early into the night. After watching him use the device for a few random portraits, and then reviewing the results with him, I thought I might snag one myself. Then I stopped. As good as the device is (and it IS good) it's David's style of shooting but not mine. Still, it's fun to see a really great portrait photographer in action. He's got a way of disarming strangers and making them comfortable with the process of being photographed on the spur of the moment. It's a rare talent and I consider every encounter with David, when he's got a camera in hand, as a master's workshop in rapport. 

Now stumbling towards the Thanksgiving Holiday. Ben is still in Tokyo. B. and I are planning to have dinner with her extended family. I'm already picking out a formal, holiday camera. Something nice that will go with my outfit. 

One thing all those forays into camera and lens research has taught me is how to patiently and thoroughly learn just about everything about anything. My latest challenge? Medicare. I originally signed  up for an Advantage Plan five years ago. The plan just got cancelled in our area. It's gone at the end of the year. We didn't see this as a downside, rather, all my experts (Ben spent two years with an AI company that specializes in providing data etc. about healthcare to the U.S. Government) had long ago advised us to go with the traditional Medicare and add a supplemental policy. We didn't listen. But since out Advantage plan was cancelled we had one more chance to go traditional while adding a supplement plan without having to undergo medical underwriting. Also, one more chance to get a plan D drug plan without penalties. We have now mastered the paperwork and have joined the ranks of traditionalists. 

Took some research and the deft guidance of a professional. At least we prevailed before the deadlines. 

All good here. 

Portrait. In the studio.

 

I read an article which said (paraphrasing) that to be happier one should be smaller.

 

The intention of the article had nothing to do, really, with physical size of a person but rather with overcoming the urge people feel to be more noticed, more involved in their own self-promotion, and trying to be more visible. For many people there is a constant hum of thought that tells them that everyone around them or connected to them is paying attention to them all the time. That their every move is being judged and ranked. That to be successful one should leverage this constant attention. Each public facing person having at least a small measure of narcissism in their mix. Standing in an imaginary spotlight. 

The article suggests that we take life far, far too seriously and our own trials, tribulations and successes, and events seem to us to be monumental; profound, worthy of everyones' attention. We presume that for each success and failure  experience we trail along with us an audience captivated by our progress and our stumbles. 

But, in fact, we are very, very small organisms in a very big world, surrounded by billions of other organisms (humans), many of whom presume they too are capturing the narrative of what it's like to exist. 

The author of the article makes the point (https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/11/happiness-confidence-grandness-humility/684988/) that we all seem to feel that to be happier we have to make ourselves larger.

The stress of constantly having to perform for an audience that doesn't really exist anywhere outside our own minds can be overwhelming. And a delusion. As my friend, Frank, has often told me as part of his advice about retiring and aging, is that the happiest people are the ones who easy accept their own irrelevance. Or in common parlance: Stop caring about what other people think. Or to drill down better: Stop caring about what other people think who are, in reality, not thinking of you at all.

The author of the article mentions that one of the most popular courses on many college campuses is Introduction to Astronomy. It gives students/people a much more reality based perspective on their place in the "universe." A tiny speck, on a tiny speck amongst trillions and trillions of other specks. With an existence so brief, when measured in cosmic time, as to be almost instantaneous blip between life and death. The thought puts a lot into context. Mainly that the things which seem so important and pressing in the moment matter not very much in the grand scheme of things. If at all.

It's a fun article and dovetails, with some rough fits, with a novel I recently read by Ian McEwan, entitled, "What We Can Know." Wherein the main character is an academic living in a future 100 years from now in which much of the world has been destroyed. The story is his search for a poem written in our present, performed for a small, familial group and then lost; never to be found again. The narrator however is unable or unwilling to give up the search.

We compulsively look to the past for clues about what might happen in the future while forgetting to just savor the moment we are in now --- a moment, like all others, that will pass all too quickly. 

I recommend reading the article about happiness since I am discovering that finding my own irrelevance is, in a way, more comfortable. Having unstructured space is freeing. Having time for yourself is to have the ultimate in  affluence. I'm not quick to recommend McEwan's latest novel as I found it in some ways to be oppressively over-produced. Cynical. And in some ways, dark. Tangential at best to this discussion.

But I do recommend embracing the idea that the audiences we think we are playing for in our everyday lives are nowhere near as attentive or engaged with our own small stories. They have their own internal stories to follow. When you are out of sight you are out of the minds of most of your friends and acquaintances. This is not a value judgement but the reality of being a transient part of a unfathomably huge and boundless universe within universes. The less we worry about what we imagine other people are thinking about us the freer and happier we seem to become. And the more in touch with reality we become.

That's one of the ideas that I think about as I reach into the boxes and boxes of DVDs containing so much work that has become so irrelevant to the enjoyment of my life and then take extra joy in throwing it all away. No one will care if a headshot of a Dell employee from 2003, or another product photo of a beige computer monitor, on a shiny CD disappears forever ever.  Given time it will certainly do so quite capably on its own. All this work will cease to exist and usually quicker than we, as the authors of it, expect.

A long note to myself telling me not to take everything so seriously and not to think that everyone is riveted by my opinions and theories. When it comes to making "Art" the only person I have a responsibility to is me --- and I may be the only one paying any attention to my work and my life, and that should be okay too. 

Fun with color.

 

I'm busy setting up the studio to photograph one of my friend's large paintings. I've been testing my favorite lenses and seeing how well they work with the "high resolution" multi-shot mode on a Leica SL2. The camera generates a 180 megapixel file but it really looks more like just a doubling of resolution. On a stout tripod the effect is really nice. We'll hit the paintings tomorrow. 

He wanted to pay me for the time/expertise (one of my first jobs for Texas Monthly Magazine was shooting oil paintings of western scenes at the Humanities Research Center. Yes, I used cross polarized lights) but since I decided to be retired I suggested that next time we're out for dinner with our spouses he'd be on the hook to pick up the check. Works for both. 

Today was also another day of turning down work from several clients. I thought it would be emotionally difficult but it really wasn't. The secret is to have several photographers whose work I like so I have people to recommend for those clients. One person I recommend to most of my former corporate clients is Charles Quinn. He's really good with people and his work is also good. Kinda fun to draw a line in the sand and maintain it. I just don't want to leave the clients hanging if I can help it. 

The shoulder is healing quickly. The cold is on its way out and I'm feeling much better. Reading too much and doing to little else this week. But it's all okay. Trying to save up energy for the holidays. 

I almost bought yet another lens today. I still might follow through. It's such a nice idea for a lens.... Or lenses.

Such a good look for a 70 year old man. Call my publicist!

First of all, I am reprising my "Kirk in Hats" images here to remind myself to always, always cover up when possible if going out in the sun. It's been a full week now since I had a quick bout of surgery to remove a cancerous spot on my left shoulder blade and it's been a lot less fun of a week that it could have been, but at the same time, much better than it might have been. I didn't see the size of the incision when the surgeon finished stitching me up but, damn, it's almost 2.75 inches in length. Since one has to clean, treat and re-bandage this kind of surgical incision daily it's been a logistical pain in the butt. The crappiest part is... no swimming until the 29th. Bah! Humbug.

I did all my own "wound" care for the last bout of surgery but that was on my face. Hard to miss it and easy to treat it. But...not only can I not turn my head around 180° to see this one, I can't effectively reach it either. Which basically means I have to depend on others once per day to keep this recovery rolling.

I hate that. But whatcha gonna do? 

Since I'm not swimming or running I'm participating in what is a favorite pastime for many, many photographers; surfing the web and thinking about buying stuff that looks like a lot of fun but at the same time is stuff I really don't need. Not that this has ever stopped me from making impulsive purchases followed by months and years of looking at stuff I've only used once or twice whenever I open a drawer to get a more useful piece of gear out. So, what are we considering today?

There are two lenses I have halfway convinced myself I might need for some vague, future project. The new Voigtlander 90mm f2 APO lens for M mount and the Thypoch 75mm f1.4 lens, also for M. Each has their own charm --- or at least it seems so when reading the specs, reviews and odds and ends. But here's the rub. There are no more clients and so no lens is really rationizable in the same way it would have been just a year ago. Then there would have been at least the presumption that at some point I might need a specific lens's unique and charming view of the world. Now? Not so much. But that shopping pattern seems hard to break... 

Here's the real problem in both instances: I already have lenses at each of those focal lengths for both the M system and the L mount system. And they are lenses that I haven't historically used as much as I have other lenses. Other focal lengths. 

I am considering the 90mm for the dopamine hit one gets from scoring a lens with "APO" in its name. There is some spot in my brain that lies to me and tells me that it would be beyond cool to have a set of Voigtlander APO lenses ranging from 35mm to 90mm nestled in a small bag, getting chummy with a couple of rangefinder cameras and all of us exploring the great Southwestern United States on an epic but gear efficient road trip. Three lenses to handle everything. The ancient Leica rangefinder trilogy of 35,50, 90. And viewfinders to accommodate all three focal lengths. With nifty frame lines. 

I have both the Voigtlander 35mm f2 APO and the 50mm f2 APO so the 90mm just makes some sort of convoluted common sense. But then there is the mysterious allure of the 75mm f1.4 Thypoch. I could see myself doing some variation of the great adventure with the 28mm, 50mm and 75mm Thypochs. Two  of which I also have sitting here on the desktop. They are only impatiently waiting for the 75mm to join them. All of them being f1.4 lenses is like catnip for an older generation of photographers...

A singular benefit to all these lenses is that M mount lenses can be adapted to any modern mirrorless camera, across brands. If you buy rangefinder lenses because you thought you might leverage the M series cameras to become the next Robert Frank or Henri Cartier-Bresson but have since decided that the whole act of rangefinder focusing doesn't suit you it's nice to know that you can use the lenses, with inexpensive adapters, on Sony, Canon, Nikon, Sigma, Panasonic and Leica L mount cameras instead. 

While you won't look as cool and trendy as you would sporting an M10P or an M11 monochrom you'll still look pretty savvy. And fashionable. Well, unless you use them on a Sony... A conflicting aesthetic and conflicting operational ethos there....

I'm currently leaning toward the 75mm Thypoch because in the swirling mists of the past I owned and used the Leica Summilux 75mm f1.4 on an M6 and loved the focal length. It's also short enough so the finder frame lines are workable. The Thypoch is fast but an added benefit over that older Leica lens is that the Thypoch has a floating element design that preserves its performance even at very close focusing distances. And that's really nice if you end up using it with a Visoflex on your M or with an adapter on something like an SL3. It's also about $100 lens than the Voigtlander 90mm.

I also find 90mm lenses harder to use (composition within smaller frame lines) on my rangefinder cameras without wanting an optical viewfinder in the hot shoe or at least an EVF in the hot shoe. 

I already own and rarely use the Voigtlander 90mm f2.8 APO Ultron lens. It's small and nice but maybe a little too small and dainty when used (with an adapter) on a big camera like the SL2. I've used it so infrequently that it seems to caution me against getting yet another lens in that focal length. But it's this same cautioning that keeps me from immediately ordering the 75mm I talked about above. Because I already have the Voigtlander 75mm f1.9 lens and while it's not the absolute best performer at its minimum focus distance it is small and light and ... already paid for. 

And speaking of duplication we've got a 75mm f2 AF lens for the L mount gear as well as two different 90mm lenses. One AF and one older MF. So, really, shopping is just an addiction for people who, for medical reasons or sloth, can't get out the door and use the cameras they already have. 

Sorry to burden you with this but... That's the nature of this blog. Sometimes it veers into gear talk. 

Stuff comes in waves. So last week it was the surgery and this Sunday, almost instantaneously, I came down with a weird head cold. Runny nose forever which then, on Monday evolved into a hearty cough and now both of those symptoms have mostly subsided and I'm now left feeling a bit ragged. When stuff like this happens the only comfortable thing for me to do is to type and type. And scroll through the B&H website, the Leica Store Miami and KEH. Sad, isn't it?

Ready for that trip to Costco.

included as wishful thinking. Someday, someday.

Running on a beach in Vancouver with a black umbrella. It rains in Vancouver. It rains a lot in Vancouver. And it gets chilly in the winter while it's raining a lot. I imagine that's why there are so many good coffee shops and more than a handful of great donut emporia. Gotta have a pastime....

Austin, Texas Autumn Skies.

 

In an age in which privacy is important we have come to appreciate mannequins. Mannequin Photo Workshop coming soon!!! (Not really....).

 

I reinterpreted my doctor's orders and did a long walk. I took a camera with me. I took my black and white sentiment with me as well. I am wearing an old pair of pants that always fit me perfectly. They still do but now they have spots and splashes of green paint that won't wash out and around the bottom of the trouser legs is some discoloration caused by mishandled bleach. I just couldn't bear to throw the pants out because they fit so well. So comfortable. I've incorporated them into my "street photography uniform" since they seem... worker-esque now. An old, long sleeve t-shirt on top. Some scuffed Birkenstocks on the bottom and I'm good to go. The walk was very productive. So far it's generated images for four blog posts. Amazing what one can accomplish in an hour or so of walking, looking and not worrying about...anything. 

Hey, if you want to see an interesting, current, black and white movie you might be interested in: 

Nouvelle Vague. It's a movie by Richard Linklater (Slacker, Dazed and Confused, Boyhood, etc.) and it's a fictional look at the making of French director, Jean-Luc Goddard's breakthrough, trendsetting 1960s movie, Breathless. Breathless was a movie that changed cinema in a profound way. Handheld camera, black and white, nearly square format, no real script, gorgeous stars. Everything. And Linklater does a masterful job of getting the feel of the older movie reimagining just right. Absolutely just right. 

Admission: I have a copy of "Breathless" in my library. Love every second of it. 

The new movie, Nouvelle Vague just dropped on Netflix. Watch it as many times are you want. A warning for those living in red states: It's mostly in French (a foreign language) and it is subtitled. To get the full value of the movie you need to be able to read.... or understand spoken French.

On to the mannequins... >

Virtual mannequins .

See the reflection on the top right of the mannequin's head?

I used the reflection removal tool in Lightroom on a similar image below

 and with one click removed the entire refection. 

It's seems to have worked flawlessly...

Reflection on head totally erased and replaced with the underlying image.

Loving the Grateful Dead t-shirt.

And the vague attempt at making the glasses fit.

A critic who is unamused. 

A committee meeting at the East Window. 

We will not be at war with Switzerland!

Hurray. 

I'm sure you've been Breathlessly awaiting an update on my medical progress. All good here. Family and staff changing bandages. The sutures look fabulous and will no doubt generate many tall tales about bar room knife fights when I take my shirt off for swim practice. Everything is healing nicely. My GP inspected the work of the specialist and gave his two thumbs up. Guarded optimism everywhere. 

Lots of time to blog. With an edge. Buyers beware. (for the snooty amongst us: Caveat Emptor!).