Printing the Image - Leica M11
There’s one image from the M11 that has been on my mind lately and I’ve been trying to figure out why. The more I would look at it, the more I wanted to print it to see if that would help out my thinking. And given that the 60 megapixels from the M11 is the closest in number to the 50 mp from the GFX 50s ii, I figured it might give me an idea of the type of detail we’d get with that camera (we know the GFX 100s with its 100 mp sensor has insane detail). The Q2MR with its 47mp camera wouldn’t be a good comparison because with the absence of a bayer filter and no need for demosaicing/interpolating colors, it isn’t an apt comparison. So I decided to print the image that I kept returning to whenever I opened up Capture One
When we first started printing back in the US, after we’d tested several different papers, I made a fairly substantial purchase of paper from Red River. I so enjoyed the look and feel of their Paolo Duro Soft Gloss Rag, which reminded me so much of the F surface fiber papers I used to print with in the darkroom. When the boxes arrived and I opened one during a print session, I realized it was Paolo Duro Smooth Rag. All of it. I checked the original order confirmation (plus I’d taken a screen shot of the order form), sure enough, I’d screwed up. I promptly ordered a bunch of RR PD Soft Gloss Rag (double and triple checking my order before hitting the purchase button). Since then we’ve been sitting on a large stash of nice smooth rag paper that, given the success of Ann’s recent print session for a couple of images on rag fine art paper, I decided to use for these prints. In part, it would allow me to print a pretty large image without wasting a rapidly diminishing supply of my favorite Paolo Duro Soft Gloss Rag.
I printed the image as large as I could on 11X17 paper and the results were very telling in a number of respects. First, the smooth rag paper can really hold detail. It’s not too textured (though a bit more than the paper Ann had used - a paper from Breathing Color) so you really can see the details. Second, there is something about prints that differ from monitors that not only give a life to an image, but allows you to see things and details that are much less noticeable on a monitor. Take for example, did you know the tram driver is looking right at me?
Here’s a crop from the image above. I couldn’t tell it from my monitor (and when full screen the image is larger than the print size), but in the print, he’s looking right at you and you notice it.
Another thing the print revealed to me that isn’t so obvious from the image on the monitor is that I made the image using a panning technique. Not that I remember it precisely, but I must have focused on a point in the middle of the street, then framed the tram and followed it as it was coming towards me, and then snapped the shutter when it hit the intersection. You can tell this because the tram is very, very sharp to the eye. Everything else, is just a bit soft (and the moving car to the left is a blur). That makes the tram stand out from the rest of the image (and the driver’s face immediately catches your eye - our eyes are drawn to faces in images, particularly to the eyes). Perhaps that’s why the image wouldn’t let me go and the tram seemed so alive even on the monitor. Riddle solved?
Well, I couldn’t just work on and print one image, so I had selected and further developed an additional couple of images. The one below was another one where I didn’t know why I found it so appealing but I did. And oh, is the print beautiful. One would expect that the shop windows and lit shop signs would glow from a print. And given that the image has those primary reds, blues and yellows that Leica cameras are known for reproducing (Leica lenses are known as the Kodachrome of lens character [if you’re into film photography, you know what I mean; if not, well, sorry]), it’s not surprising that the bikes, clothing and street signs seem to separate from the page.
But somehow the grey wall just glows! Whether it’s the moisture on the stucco or the quality of light, this is the one image of the day that I’m not so sure that any other lens manufacturer could reproduce. Fujifilm lenses would produce stunning colors, but not quite like this. It definitely has that Leica look (and I guess it should with a lens and camera combination that tops 10,000 €).
The last image I decided to print was one that I enjoyed making and was pretty sure it would reveal a lot. It did. The detail in the texture on the near wall to the left, the vines on the restaurant wall in the center and the various bushes and flowers throughout the scene were enough to tell me that 50 mp is plenty of detail for landscape work. Even zoomed into 100 percent every leaf, vine and petal is super sharp. Also, the fine art rag paper even managed to reproduce the sheen and metallic reflection of the pipes to the right. It’s quite impressive.
Overall, it was another good printing session. I get to enjoy some prints of images I hadn’t expected to print and I learned quite a bit about some paper I have on-hand. Not bad for messing around!