Flamin' Red

Back in February, as I was busy laying down plans for the Euro road trip, I'd lined up Holly (she models as Ivory Flame) for a shoot on the outward leg. I was also in the process of securing my first Leica. With no shoots booked before the trip, I knew I'd rather not hit the road not knowing how to use the camera.

For the uninitiated, it's a very, very different beast to almost anything else on the market. The few buttons and dials it does have are minimal, to say the least, in their indication of their function.

So, as it transpired, Holly was heading to Derby for a studio day at Phil's great little studio, The Boardroom. As luck would have it, she had a 2-hour slot available still, so booked it I did! I knew I could use the time to learn on the go with the camera (having pre-warned Holly) but I'd also get to know Holly a little better as well so that we could hit the ground running in March.

A final element of all this was I wanted to see just how good a natural light shooter the SL2-S was. Most cameras I've owned, even the higher end ones, have struggled past ISO 6400, and I'd seen many reports that the Leica was usable even up to the circa 25k mark.

So 2-hour shoot, excellent model, great space for natural light, new camera and me. Needless to say, nothing disappointed. Holly was lovely and great to work with. The studio which I'd only partially used natural light before, was, as usual, a great canvas on which to create.

Interestingly, the Leica produced pretty clean and filmic like RAW files even up to ISO 10,000. Whilst not an apples for apples comparison, my last natural light work had been on a December afternoon with a Nikon D750 and the Leica files were way cleaner and more usable. Despite both cameras being a 24MP full frame sensor technology.

Anyway, the two hours flew by and we romped through 5 outfit looks. These images are from the stunning red ballgown/evening dress that Holly brought along.

Supporters get access to the remaining 11 images in the set, and BTS content, below.