D700 + 1.7×TC + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8@ 210 mm — 1/640 sec, f/4.8, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Anthony and Gen and a Richard Scarry Book
Photo by Zak Braverman
Anthony had a short day at school today, so while he was there, I spent half an hour at the Heian Shrine again for all the 7-, 5-, and 3-year-old kids dressed up in fancy clothes for the “7-5-3 festival”, as I mentioned earlier in the week (and followed up on yesterday).
D700 + 1.7×TC + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8@ 270 mm — 1/800 sec, f/4.8, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Behold My Cuteness
D700 + 1.7×TC + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8@ 340 mm — 1/800 sec, f/5, ISO 220 — map & image data — nearby photos
as it is with so many photoshoots...
Hurry Up and Wait
Of course, there is the occasional pretty leaf...
D700 + 1.7×TC + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8@ 290 mm — 1/800 sec, f/14, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Twisted
After school, Anthony and I visited Zak so Anthony and his son Gen could play, and Zak and I could make boring small talk about cameras for a few hours.
Zak lives on the 15th floor of a building with nice views...
D700 + 1.7×TC + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8@ 120 mm — 1/800 sec, f/4.8, ISO 360 — map & image data — nearby photos
Ojigaoka Park
Otsu, Japan
Under those trees are the huge set of monkey bars briefly shown here, as well as other fun playground stuff. The river with the zipper-looking embankments was a place that Gen and Anthony played in last spring.
D700 + 1.7×TC + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8@ 340 mm — 1/800 sec, f/10, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Mowing Saturn
( or, baseball-field maintenance )
D700 + 1.7×TC + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8@ 340 mm — 1/1250 sec, f/4.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
“Otsu Mary”
(described here) bathed in the glow of a setting sun
The same golden light of the setting sun hit the frosted wall of windows in his building's “kids room” (an empty room where kids can tear around), filling the room with magical light.... a soft, golden glow. Anthony had been playing with Gen and some other kids, and had worked up a sweat and took his shirt off, so he was “glowing” inside and out. By the time I went and got my camera, it was mostly gone, but it was sort of like this...
D700 + 1.7×TC + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8@ 340 mm — 1/320 sec, f/4.8, ISO 360 — map & image data — nearby photos
Glow
After a delicious pasta dinner with Zak's special cooking-since-last-night stew-like sauce, Anthony and I headed home. But on the way, we stopped by The Eikando Temple, where their fall-foliage evening lightup event was starting (and running for the next few weeks). The dad of one of Anthony's classmates, Yoko-chan, told me about it and said that they were going this evening, so we stopped by to see them and the lightup.
It's early in the season, but already spectacular...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 50 mm — 1/40 sec handheld, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Bright Red Draws Out the Cameras
at the Eikando Temple, Kyoto Japan
The Eikando Temple is one of the most wonderful for fall colors. Most of the photos on this Bonanza of Fall-Foliage Desktop Backgrounds post were taken there, and this Colorful Leaves and Colorful Kimono shot from two years ago was snapped at one of its side entrances.
Kids, of course, couldn't care less, but they had a fun time playing...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 35 mm — 1/80 sec handheld, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Anthony and Yoko-chan Wrestling Play?
Conveniently, there was an area where they could run around without bothering anyone else, and they (Anthony, Yoko-chan, and her little brother Taro) did...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 52 mm — 1/25 sec handheld, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Silly Dance Play
I continue to be impressed by the low light prowess of the Nikon D700. All these shots are handheld in available light (or, in some cases, the lack thereof).
These leaves were backlit by a bright floodlight, so were less of a challenge... I needed only ISO 2800 for a reasonable shot...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/100 sec handheld, f/2.8, ISO 2800 — map & image data — nearby photos
A Few Different Oranges and Yellows
All the floodlights here are normal “white” incandescent floodlights (which actually puts a warmish glow on things.... a “white” incandescent light is not actually white, even though it may look that way). No color filters or anything. It's really pretty.
Yoko-chan's daddy suggested that I make a brief stop over at the Nanzen Temple (where I visited last weekend with Thomas) because, he said, the line waiting to enter that temple's evening lightup event would make for a good photograph...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 40 mm — 1/20 sec handheld, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Waiting to Enter the Lightup Event
The Nanzen Temple, Kyoto Japan
He was right.
So, that was my Saturday. How was yours? 🙂
Quite a nice Saturday you had. Great images as always. I think my favorite is Mowing Saturn.
Since you asked, I spent Saturday shooting some bright colors although not leaves. Most of the leaves here in the UK are fallen, and my cherry tree has left a giant mess for me to clean up. But it was pretty while it lasted…
WOW, those are some amazing shots. The specific one you linked to…. was that all ambient? The lighting is just gorgeous. How did you get access for all those shots? —Jeffrey
From the first picture, of the boys:
D700 + 1.7×TC + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8@ 210 mm — 1/640 sec, f/4.8, ISO 6400
You got an extra 10mm out of that lens… no fair, you already have glass we all covet!
“Thou shalt not covet your bloggers glass.”
The extra 10mm is due to the TC… I had the 70-200 at about 125mm, it seems.
Enjoying the start of fall in Kyoto from a distance. Thanks for sharing.
Me, I spent my Sunday (very similar to Saturday, except where it’s not) doing some reversed lens macro photography in Santa Rosa, CA. Finally got a decent spider shot!
Well, now, let’s see it! —Jeffrey
When I view “Mowing Saturn” and “Otsu Mary” next to each other like that, it reminds me of the style of photos we often see in the Big Picture web site.
Wow, as a fan of The Big Picture myself, I recognize that as high praise, indeed. Thanks! —Jeffrey
“The specific one you linked to…. was that all ambient? The lighting is just gorgeous. How did you get access for all those shots? —Jeffrey”
I wish it was all in camera! My laptop doesn’t like processing files in Photoshop. It is the result of a stack of 3 or 4 photos. I set the camera to get a 2 second exposure then locked the remote release before, during, and after the afterburner resulting in about 25 photos. I picked the three or four where the burner was on and the whole aircraft was leaning forward (so I didn’t have to try to fix the alignment where it was leaning back) and stacked them using the “Lighten” blend mode. This got me all of the flashes on the other side of the jet and let the flashes from others on my side to act as a fill for the jet.
The clouds were moving pretty quickly and ended up being blurred after the stacking so I took the best sky from the stack and masked the rest out… then back into LR for the final slider adjustments and upload with your plugin 🙂
Access was the easy part! The Lightning Preservation Group is a small group of aviation enthusiasts that were lucky enough to acquire two English Electric Lightning jets when they were decommissioned in the 1990s. They keep them in running order (but not flying due to Civil Aviation Authority laws) and hold several events through the year to finance the project. They’re also rebuilding an alert shed from another decommissioned RAF base and are at the point of building up funds to put doors and sides on. They finally got the roof installed last year.
Very nice… the stacking-in-Lighten-mode trick sounds useful… I’ll have to remember that. Excellent results! —Jeffrey
Well, now, let’s see it! —Jeffrey
Fair enough! You can find it here.
Taken with a reversed Nikkor 24mm f2.8 AI-S using a “milk jug” diffuser and D200 on-board flash.
Wow, very nice, certainly better than my macro work. —Jeffrey
Wow, very nice, certainly better than my macro work. —Jeffrey
Hardly! That’s some well-controlled depth with that lens (and perhaps just a bit o’ skill, methinks). I like the softening fore and aft with the fly. With such a short working distance, I can’t believe it held still for you.
Thankfully the little spiders aren’t too squeamish for the closeness of the reversed setup. I wonder if the lens looks like a giant spider eye to them?
I have a Sigma 105mm macro lens coming in soon, looking forward to doing some side-by-side shots with the 24mm Nikkor. Hopefully with an extremely cooperative spider. 😉