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Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 58 mm — 1/500 sec, f/11, ISO 2800 — full exif
Month-Early Kyoto Cherry-Blossom Preview
( sort of )
We woke up this morning to find the pleasant surprise of a fresh coating of snow on the trees. It looked remarkably like the cherry was in bloom, which seemed particularly apropos because last night I was thinking that today I should write up a “Cherry Blossom Preview” post (as I've done occasionally in years past... searching my blog table of contents, I find this, this, and this).
Compare the view above with real cherry blossoms from the same vantage point, either in this post or at points during this cherry-blossom timelapse also from my balcony (in which you can scrub your mouse from side to side over the last image to see the timelapse effect). Or, similar views here and here.
Back to today, there wasn't much snow, but enough to make the branches look pretty...
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — 1/320 sec, f/6.3, ISO 450 — full exif
Deep in the Shade
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — 1/800 sec, f/6.3, ISO 400 — full exif
Out in the Open
And when the sun came out behind some, it was a different kind of pretty (that I didn't quite capture in the photo)...
This guy surprised me when he popped into view with a sudden control-tower flyby. Nothing's really in focus (I didn't have time in the split second before he passed to switch to a continuous-focus setting), but even so I like something about the result...
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 290 mm — 1/500 sec, f/6.3, ISO 800 — full exif
Buzzing the Tower
There are a lot of gray herons around, so it's hard to tell who's who. I wonder whether this bird was the heron in some of my previous posts (here, here, here, here)....