Elegance in Kyoto’s Tenjyuan Garden

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/250 sec, f/1.4, ISO 640 — map & image datanearby photos
Animatable Wigglegram (9 frames) — sweep the mouse from side to side to view 3D effect
写真の上をマウスであちこちに動かすと「3D」な感じが出ます。

Poise
at the Tenjyuan Garden (天授庵), Kyoto Japan
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I shot more than 3,500 frames today — 70 gigabytes of raw data — for about 470 potential wigglegrams. Above is one.

These two ladies from Osaka had wonderful kimono and wonderful smiles. I didn't want to impose on them much, so set up the shot and took it within seconds; despite the rush, I'm happy enough with the result.

大阪から来はったお姉ちゃんたち、ポーズしてくれた有り難う。

I actually had 17 frames in the sequence, but the marginal improvement in appearance is not worth double the bandwidth, so I'm using every other frame.

My shooting technique has a long way to go, but what I really need is a rig with 10 full-frame SLRs, each sporting a 24mm f/1.4 lens, so that I can have all 10 frames taken at once. I find that movement in the scene as one wiggles from side to side is distracting, and makes it feel more like a very short video clip instead of “being there”.

I thought about perhaps using a bunch of GoPros, but I want a big (e.g. f/1.4) aperture for this.

Don't know where this will go, but it's fun (though today, at least, exhausting).

Continued here...


All 8 comments so far, oldest first...

If you had 10 or more identical DSLRs firing off at the same time you would be creating the Matrix effect. You’d be able to “turn” around a frozen fountain of water…
You’re just a few DSLRs short, I think 😉

— comment by Henk on November 21st, 2012 at 11:34pm JST (11 years, 11 months ago) comment permalink

These “wigglegrams” are quite interesting, but I see your point about them being more like a short video than “being there”.

What I thought might work (at least with static objects) could be a curved rail on a tripod. It would of course have to be leveled before shooting, but this way the camera would follow a predictable curve (maybe around the nodal point). There could also be stops marked on the rail for accuracy.

Don’t know how it would work in practice, but it wouldn’t be for fast shooting for sure.

— comment by Janne on November 22nd, 2012 at 12:34am JST (11 years, 11 months ago) comment permalink

I’m not so sure — I think if the scene were truly static, it would take away from the sense of being there. In real life I can’t move my eyes instantly, so I expect the scene to change a little as I move.

There, I just saved you thousands of dollars. You’re welcome. 🙂

— comment by Mark Sirota (Philadelphia, USA) on November 22nd, 2012 at 1:24am JST (11 years, 11 months ago) comment permalink

You might not like the motion but I find it more personal. The way her head bobs and she blinks gives it a feeling of reality rather than a freeze frame – Chicago IL

— comment by Rob Edgcumbe on November 22nd, 2012 at 1:28am JST (11 years, 11 months ago) comment permalink

Not to carp, but aren’t those kimonos pattern-wise, more suit for spring?

— comment by Bob Barlow on November 22nd, 2012 at 9:00am JST (11 years, 11 months ago) comment permalink

Nice, plus the girl on the right is winking at me! 🙂

— comment by Damien on November 22nd, 2012 at 10:30pm JST (11 years, 11 months ago) comment permalink

Very nice effect, reminds me a little bit of Bladerunner when Deckard looks at a ‘photograph’.

— comment by William on November 23rd, 2012 at 8:04am JST (11 years, 11 months ago) comment permalink

Just found your blog and am inspired by your work!

— comment by Tom Robinson on January 4th, 2013 at 12:05pm JST (11 years, 10 months ago) comment permalink
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