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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 4500 — map & image data — nearby photos
'Bout That Time Of Year Again
On the family outing to some nearby still-snowy mountains the other day, we noticed that the maple trees are starting to bud, with an odd rust-colored fringe...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 5600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Fringed In Rust
Up close, it was easy to see what was happening...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Dreamy Buds
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — 1/1000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Extreme Closeup
¼ of a 1:1 macro shot
Elsewhere along the drive we found a tree with big, pink buds.... likely plum.
I don't know for sure whether they're plum, but it's likely because we're well into plum-blossom season. Even two weeks ago another Kyoto blogger posted about plum blossoms in Gion, and in prior years I've posted about them as early as late January.
The plum-blossom season winds down early, just in time to make way for cherry blossoms to have center stage.
Plum blossoms are usually pink... depending on the variety, anywhere from a faint whitish pink, to deep, rich, retina-searing day-glow pink. But perhaps there are true white plum as well, as I saw a tree with white blossoms at Shouzan during yesterday's outing with Vaughn.
While on the subject of trees, here's one more item from the family outing the other day, I noticed one tree that definitely stood apart from the rest...
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50 mm — 1/800 sec, f/4.5, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
Lake Biwa and Weird Tree
Lots of trees have no or few branches for most of their height, but this one got crazy with the branches once it decided...
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 58 mm — 1/800 sec, f/5, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Lots of Nothing, then Crazy-Packed Branches
with, by the way, the susuki grass mentioned yesterday near the camera in the foreground
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — 1/800 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Arboreal Rat's Nest
Couldn’t see that tree clearly enough, but it appears to be some kind of cone-bearing evergreen that has died, perhaps suddenly. Maybe girdled, maybe poisoned. Cones look too big to be a deciduous Hemlock. I would love to know more about it. Are you going back there anytime soon?? Peter, any thoughts?
Fringe Rust– In the past you have mentioned your disdain for the ubiquity of telephone poles in the Japanese landscape. This photo is hindered by the encroachment of man: Parking lot, random pole, light pole, and the very severe blue sign (Is that bus parking only? -A guess.) Otherwise.. the beginning of an interesting strata type shot (Sky, pines, cedars, maples, snow).
You were shooting very high ISO… any reason?
I wanted a fast shutter speed when shooting the buds at extreme macro (I was standing on a snow pile holding the camera with one hand and trying to steady the swaying branches with another, so especially at full 1:1 macro, things were very jittery). While doing this, I thought to get an “establishing shot” of the rust fringe, and was too lazy to move to where I could get a clean shot. The one I posted, with the sign and parking lot, was still the result of some effort… there are light poles and cars just out of frame. —Jeffrey