Jeffrey Friedl's Blog » Cherry Blossoms in a Sticky Situation

by Jeffrey Friedl Sun, January 20th, 2013 1:05am JST (10 years, 5 months ago)

Blossom and Bug at the Kiyotaki Fudoin Temple (清滝不動院) last spring Kyoto, Japan -- Kiyotaki Fudoin Temple (清滝不動院) -- Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 360 — map & image data — nearby photos
Blossom and Bug
at the Kiyotaki Fudoin Temple (清滝不動院) last spring
Kyoto, Japan

You probably can't see the cute little stick bug unless you know what you're looking for....

desktop background image of a stick bug crawling on a cherry blossom, in Kyoto Japan -- Kiyotaki Fudoin Temple (清滝不動院) -- Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos

Desktop-Background Versions
1280×800 · 1680×1050 · 1920×1200 · 2560×1600 · 2880×1800

Continuing in yesterday's vein of revisiting old outings, this one goes back to late in last year's cherry-blossom season where I came across a little stick bug.

placing his body into the Plane of Focus -- Kiyotaki Fudoin Temple (清滝不動院) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
placing his body into the
Plane of Focus

Kiyotaki Fudoin Temple (清滝不動院) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos

He eventually wandered off to a leaf...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos

A pair of blossom shots, sans bug...

desktop background image of a cherry blossom in Kyoto, Japan -- Rim of Focus -- Kiyotaki Fudoin Temple (清滝不動院) -- Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Rim of Focus

Desktop-Background Versions
1280×800 · 1680×1050 · 1920×1200 · 2560×1600 · 2880×1800

The shot above is similar to this one of a less-bloomed blossom. I tend to try that kind of edge-on shot with this lens (a Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5), with other examples that come to mind including this, this, and this. The one above is perhaps the least strong.... I probably shouldn't bother posting it.

This next one is even less strong, but I like it for comparison with its focus just a tad further back so you can see detail on the petals, and get an interesting effect with the filaments of the neighboring flowers...

Back Focus ( focus is on the back curve of the petals ) -- Kiyotaki Fudoin Temple (清滝不動院) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
Back Focus
( focus is on the back curve of the petals )

July	13th,	2010	Cosina Voigtländer Macro APO-Lanthar 125mm F2.5 SL
April	11th,	2011	Exploring the Edge of Creamy Macro Bokeh with Lily of the Nile
April	15th,	2011	Revisiting the Road to Imabari: Stops #1 and #2
April	16th,	2011	Important Note for Nikon D3/D700/D300 Shooters Who Use Lightroom or Photoshop
May	25th,	2011	Exploring a Glass of Dainty Flowers With the Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5
January	19th,	2013	Revisiting December's Arashiyama Outing: Dynamic Vistas and the Suzumushidera Temple

You can submit a comment below | Posted under: Cherry Blossoms, Desktop Backgrounds, Japan, Pretty Photos, Temples and Shrines | Comments via RSS | Trackback

All 2 comments so far, oldest first...

Woah! I was shocked at first until I read “last spring”.
Those cherry blossoms were clearly not from Okinawa and anywhere else they shouldn’t bloom yet 😉

Stunning close-up shots! Thanks for sharing!

— comment by zoomingjapan on January 20th, 2013 at 12:04pm JST (10 years, 5 months ago) — comment permalink

Lovely! There’s a couple of stick insect species in Japan, but I haven’t seen many. Except for one tree in Tsukuba which was covered with them.
I suppose that you found it when composing a picture?

Yes, while taking the photos that closed the post. I don’t care for bugs, but this little guy was cute. —Jeffrey

— comment by Damien on January 20th, 2013 at 3:06pm JST (10 years, 5 months ago) — comment permalink