Another Cherry-Blossom Stroll on a Lazy Kyoto Sunday
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desktop background image of Japanese cherry blossoms -- Glowy -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/3200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Glowy
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It was a nice day, so I stepped out for a short stroll with the camera. Many cherry trees have lots of stems and few blossoms, like in the photo below, but some still have large complements of blossoms. With the photo above, I put the sun behind the blossoms and tried to expose for the blossoms, but the result wasn't particularly good, but on a whim I cranked up the exposure in Lightroom, and the result has a nice dreamy glow, as if I had applied the Funky Joy touch-up as I did here.

Part of the effect could be that the wind was whipping the branches around and I was mostly shooting blindly.

The Next Tree Over -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/2000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
The Next Tree Over
Here They Are Together -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Here They Are Together

Here are a couple more of the “over-exposed glowy” variety...

desktop background image of Japanese cherry blossoms -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/2500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
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desktop background image of Japanese cherry blossoms -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/2000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
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desktop background image of a backlit spring-green leaf -- Backlit Growth -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Backlit Growth
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My destination for the stroll was a yaezakura cherry tree, which features late-blooming mixed-color ultra-puffy blossoms that Martha Stewart might have designed. Blooming in late April, it is the tree featured on my “10 Gallons of Blossoms on a 5-Gallon Branch” post, and in this 2008 Kyoto Cherry-Blossom Preview. Today, in mid April, it had just started to bloom...

Just Getting Started -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/2000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Just Getting Started

The blossoms aren't necessarily all that attractive up close when they're blooming, but even less so as they're just emerging...

Sort Of.... Ugh -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/500 sec, f/11, ISO 720 — map & image datanearby photos
Sort Of.... Ugh

The one white blossom in that clump seemed appropriate for Exploring the Edge of Creamy Macro Bokeh, but it didn't come out all that well, but here's one where I did a good job of getting most of the edge in focus, so perhaps it's worth a try as a vertical desktop background...

desktop background image of Japanese cherry blossom -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
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Elsewhere on the tree was a long bare branch hanging down, ending in a clump of blossoms....

Looking Up -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1600 sec, f/4, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Looking Up

A different kind of tree not far away had lots of little growths on the stems.... not sure what's going on, but it looks like it's supposed to be that way, I guess...

Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1800 — map & image datanearby photos
Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/500 sec, f/16, ISO 6400 — map & image datanearby photos

Lines at the bus stops got long as others out for the area's blossoms and museums headed home...

Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos

Finally, I stopped by to check on the Lily of the Nile that I posted about a week ago. I noticed that it had collected some cherry-blossom petals...

Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos

But it was speckled with black bits of something that made me want to clean my computer monitor while inspecting the shots in Lightroom. In fact, I did clean my monitor, but the photos remained the same. So perhaps I'll wait until after a rain to check in on them again. But from afar, they always look pretty....

Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/2500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos

All 2 comments so far, oldest first...

The “little growths” on the other tree are its (male) flowers. They may not be as spectacular as the cherry blossoms, but they are flowers nonetheless. Instead of brightly colored petals or sepals for attracting pollinators, they have simple bracts which support a bunch of stamens (the stalked little green things sticking out of the cluster). The female flowers probably look quite different and are either on another branch of the tree, or on a different tree altogether. I don’t know the species though.

— comment by Anders on April 18th, 2011 at 6:51am JST (12 years, 11 months ago) comment permalink

I believe that the tree with “little growths” is keaki – Zelkova serrata. It is a lovely, large deciduous tree related to elms, and a very important and high quality hardwood timber tree in Japan. Lovely photographs, as always.

I am _so_ envious of that Voigtlander lens: some of us have to make do with a Tamron, optically not at all bad, but exude quality of construction, it does not !

— comment by Peter in Wales on April 18th, 2011 at 7:01pm JST (12 years, 11 months ago) comment permalink
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