Trying Colour Again

Rob MacKillop

Edinburgh Correspondent
My favourite camera of all the ones I've had is the Leica Q2 Monochrom, and I've been trying various colour cameras to see if I can work them intuitively (because thinking hurts!) and like the result. Often I've liked results, but not the process. So, the obvious thing would be the colour version of the Q2, but they are expensive. However, Ffordes in Invernesshire sent me a second-hand Q2 at a great price, and I used it for the first time on this morning's walk. It is a breeze to use - couldn't be simpler, and the lens (as with the Q2M) can slip into macro mode - very useful for a fixed-lens camera!

I still find colour hard to work with, and remember former member, Julian de Coursey's incredible colour images. But I now have my two dream cameras, and will get to work trying to understand and perhaps one day master colour! Well, you've got to have a dream...

Just test shots of different colours. All jpgs from the camera (I forgot to check what the previous owner had set for), but with a little tweaking, mainly lifting Shadows a little.

green.jpg



orange.jpg



orange2.jpg



flowers.jpg



bush.jpg



brig.jpg



yellow.jpg
 
The colour rendition is rather nice and the shot of cow-parsley is rather nice. I've never been one to stick with natural colours in images and am happy to bend them about to suit. I think my favourite colour photographer is Saul Leiter and am very drawn to the way he observed and rendered hiow images.
 
Yes, Saul Leiter is The Man for colour. He understood it better than anyone, I think. I’m searching for something in colour, but haven’t found it yet. But the journey is an enjoyable one.
 
They are looking good. I do love the first one, the lighting gives so much depth to the structure of the leaf.
 
Quite beautiful colours rendered in these images Rob. I've become rather attached to color images myself the last 6 months or so. Shot quite a few rolls of colour while living in Seattle. (Haven't developed any yet.) I agree about Saul Leiter. But for me it was more about his sense of composition that appealed.
 
Yes, the yellow shot through the rain-soaked window, with a guy standing in front of the yellow, is a magnificent composition as well as a great use of colour. And I do think colour is better with film.
 
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