Comments on: The Westin on Awaji Island

By: JasonP

JasonP — Wed, 12 May 2010 17:49:20 +0000

I DID catch the mirror… then checked the EXIF…. then assumed you’d had help from one of my new favorite people, “C.A. Phil” from Adobe

I’d given content-aware fill a try, but it didn’t seem to do well in this case. It was the first time I’d tried it (I use Photoshop so little these days), so maybe it was a mistake on my part. —Jeffrey

By: Grandma Friedl, Ohio, USA

Grandma Friedl, Ohio, USA — Wed, 12 May 2010 14:46:14 +0000

Marcel said just what I was thinking….how did he do that without his, or at least the camera’s, reflection? The effect was O.K., yet somehow not as realistic or believable as it would have been with a reflection. Photoshopping here really not necessary, possibly not preferable, but definitely allowable as “artistic fooling around”. (This opinion from a mother who knows little digital photography)

By: Marcel

Marcel — Wed, 12 May 2010 10:37:28 +0000

Hi,

I was pondering what about the vanity image was not quite right…how are you able to take an image of a mirror with out being in the reflection? Given the face on angle I would have thought it a removal job?
Please put my curiosity to sleep.

Marcel – Melbourne Australia

I was wondering when someone would notice. Yes, when I took the shot, I made sure I was easily Photoshopable out (that is, that I would be easy to retouch away using Adobe™ Photoshop® CS5™®©). —Jeffrey

By: JasonP

JasonP — Tue, 11 May 2010 22:12:08 +0000

Very well done with the first (says the guy who always tries to shoot the hotel room before the tidiness gets destroyed). I was wondering what method of “HDR” you used. I’d be interested to see the original as shot to see just how much you were able to recover.

I’ve been playing with the new HDR Pro in CS5 for a bit, with some decent results. I have several years worth of bracketed exposures that have never been processed because I’ve never been happy with the output of Photomatix (seems geared toward “The HDR Look” instead of realistic exposure blending) or the pre-CS5 HDR (terrible for tone mapping) so they’ve all been languishing in my LR database.

Lots of catching up to do!

As I mentioned in the post, mostly I just slammed fill light and recovery to the right in Lightroom. —Jeffrey

By: nils

nils — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:05:43 +0000

Great pictures, Jeffrey. I like the one of Anthony launching his plane the best.

I was at that hotel right after the 2002 World Cup, when the Westin was the training base for the England team and Beckham mania was in full swing in Japan (remember that haircut?). Throughout the hotel and adjoining shopping and dining facilities, there were signs hanging on chairs, “Beckham sat here.” Notes on menus, “Beckham ordered this.” Placards showing the approximate standing position of Beckham when he took in such-and-such view, and helpful signs showing which souvenirs he bought in the gift shops. Pretty wacky.

The thing I remember most, though, and this is probably why I haven’t been back to Awaji, is the crazy fast current that was sweeping past the island when I was near the shore. I don’t know if it’s only that fast at Naruto whirlpool peak times when the Seto Inland Sea is filling up or emptying out, or if it’s always that fast, but there was no way you could go swimming there without being swept away.

On the backside of Awaji there are some famous beach towns like the 5-color beach I heard about, so I guess it must be OK to swim, but as a person who grew up near the ocean, I always want to be able to dive in without checking the speed charts.

I’d like to go back on bicycle and do the Awaji “isshu” metric century ride.