Today was one of those “I hate where I live” days (in Kyoto, Japan) that I seem to be having a lot lately. A simple visit with some friends to the “Fall-colors Festival” at the preschool of one of their friends turned into a veritable feast of indulgent photographic delights.
The fall colors have been creeping up for the last couple of weeks, as I've shown in a few posts (here, here, here, and here), but it's definitely not yet even near peak. Still, there are some wonderful spots of color, and many of them are at the Eikando Temple (where, according to this post from last year, the colors were at a boiling point during the first week of December; here is their calendar of viewing events in English).
On the short walk to the Eikando Temple, we passed through the Nanzen Temple (scenes from which have appeared on my blog numerous times), where I looked up and took this shot....
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm — 1/4000 sec, f/3.2, ISO 400 — map & image data
Canopy of Color
At the Eikando Temple, as everywhere, most trees hadn't yet begun to turn, or if they had, it was slight, as in the next shot....
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 190mm — 1/500 sec, f/5, ISO 400 — map & image data
Whisper of Autumn
I tend to be drawn toward compositions that show opposites or differences, such as the mix of still-green and already-orange in the next shot....
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — 1/640 sec, f/4.5, ISO 500 — map & image data
Orange and Green
Along the same lines, this one shows not only the green and orange, but a branch that's already lost all its leaves. Combined with the sun hitting the green leaves in the background, and the wonderfully light blue sky, it all adds up to a shot that I really like....
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — 1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400 — map & image data
Orange and Green.... and Bare and Blue
With each branch on each tree advancing in color at its own pace, the cacophony of colors is delicious, as this pond-side shot hopefully shows. (Do you like how I was able to mix sound, sight, and taste into a single metaphor? )
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 23mm — 1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800 — map & image data
Pond at the Eikando Temple
There was one tree on the temple grounds that was so amazingly fiery red that it seemed to positively drip blood. It was orders of magnitude more deeply-rich than any other tree, so much so that I don't think there's a film or camera sensor that can accurately record the wavelength.
Human eyes could record the wavelength, and our brain could appreciate its rarity, and as such, there were a dozen bozos with cameras huddling under and around the tree. I laughed at their pathetic inability to put the camera away and just enjoy the moment, after which I elbowed my way into the scrum and took this shot....
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm — 1/2500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 400 — map & image data
Splendor at 475GHz, Back-lit
It's nice that I wound up with these and 100+ other images that I really like, and perhaps a few others might also appreciates them and the background-desktop versions I made, but really, how on earth can a guy get any work done under these conditions?
Please keep in mind that I'm not a professional photographer.... I'm just a guy with some okay equipment who went out for a walk and snapped a few pictures today. I had been thinking to spend the day writing my own Flickr export plugin for Lightroom, but oh well, so much for that. Maybe during winter, when Kyoto is decidedly less glorious.
(BTW, what do you think of the dark background?)
My favorite is the “Pond at Eikando Temple” Could be on a desktop or a greeting card. Gorgeous! Dark background seems to set it off.
Hey ho… I’ve had to change my desktop again (to the pond)!
I feel so sorry for you having all these distractions to hand. When do you get any work done?
I really like the first one – the Japanese laceleaf maple (I think –Peter?) And the black background is very good for photo viewing. Good idea.
I’m sure you’re right, Marcina.
There’s something very appealing also about ‘Orange and Green… and Bare and Blue’.
The only one that doesn’t do much for me is the second: sorry, but I don’t like the sun so near-central, or the flare spot, or the way the leaves on the left have turned into a red mush – I think I’d have tried to hold focus on them, or crop most of them off. But what a challenging shot to attempt!
All our autumn colour has long gone, now, we’re into the season of bare twigs and raindrops.
I like the dark background a lot. Nice pics, too! I’m in Hawaii at the moment, trying to figure out my circular polarizer, any tips? So far it’s been trial and error.
What issues are you having with it? It doesn’t work bi-directionally, so when looking through it while it’s not on the camera, be sure to have it facing the correct way.
When the rotation of the filter matches the polarization of the light, that light is blocked (or, at least, attenuated). Some kinds of reflection are partially or greatly polarized… those from water, glass, and plastics tend to be polarized, and as such, can be reduced by the polarizer if its rotated properly. Reflections from metal are generally not polarized, so it’ll have no special effect on them.
Thanks for the kind words about the post — I’ll have to try to use the black more often…. —Jeffrey
I love the red japanese maples.
Please don’t fry them with your 475 GHz microwaves.
🙂
475 GHz is a frequency of visible light, in the deep reds. —Jeffrey
475 THz is what you are looking for.
Really, who are friends to quibble over a few measly orders of magnitude, eh? 😀 —Jeffrey
I just stumbled across your site – so beautiful. I’m really in awe. I saved a bunch of images to use as my desktop background, hope you don’t mind. Anyway, I hope you continue the absolutely wonderful work!
– Alina (Canada)
As above I just found this site from random google searching and I am ever so pleased.
The work is excellent and I will shop here for new wallpapers for many years to come.
Many thanks.