Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/125 sec, f/2.5, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Stone Lantern among Fall Foliage
last autumn at the Enkouji Temple (圓光寺), Kyoto Japan
In today's post we dip again into the deep archives of my very-photogenic November of last year, where on the 15th of the month Paul Barr and I visited two temples in northeast Kyoto, the Shisendo Temple (producing this post and this post), and then the nearby Enkouji Temple (圓光寺).
It was my first visit to the gorgeous Enkouji Temple in many years, and though I got many nice shots, so far I've only shared those from inside the garden-viewing room, last month in “Impossible Shot at Kyoto’s Enkouji Temple: Garden *and* Garden-Viewing Room at the Height of Fall Colors, Devoid of People”. So today I'll finally share a few more.
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos
View from the Street
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 160 — map & image data — nearby photos
Greeting Visitors
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
Photo Op
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
Neapolitan
The path from the street winds up and into the mountain for a short while, landing at an entrance area.
I neglected to get a wide shot of the entry area when we arrived, but here's one from later in the day when we left. It was a blustery day, alternating light drizzle and harsh sun, and this parting shot was immediately after a rain, when the late-afternoon sun came blinding through...
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/100 sec, f/7.1, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
Purchasing a Ticket
entrance to the Enkouji Temple (圓光寺)
After entering the temple area you're greeted by the main garden flanked by buildings with (among presumably much else) garden-viewing rooms, but if you walk past all that and hit the path up the mountain behind the temple, you're greeted with a wonderful view of the temple with the northern Kyoto as a backdrop. This is back earlier in the day not long after we arrived:
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/400 sec, f/3.5, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Enkouji Temple from Above
As I said, the weather was dynamic, and so therefore was the light. When the sun came out the colorful leaves of the main garden were plunged into a decidedly unphotogenic harsh light, but the wider view offered some opportunity....
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/1250 sec, f/3.5, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Bright and Hazy Day
( at least for the moment )
Enkouji's garden is not huge, but it's got quite a personality, with each area having its own vibe...
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Central Garden
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 8000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pond
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 10000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Bordered by Bamboo
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/400 sec, f/1.4, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
Side Building
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Mossy Area
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Well-Carpeted Mossy Area
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Main Garden-Viewing Room
from across the garden
This last shot is very similar to “Quiet Contemplation” from the long-photogenic-November post, though with its own vibe. They garden-viewing room the girls are sitting in is the same one from the “impossible shot” post.
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 4000 — map & image data — nearby photos
More Main Garden
I've much more to share from that trip, but that's the gist of it for now.
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 360 — map & image data — nearby photos
Heading Home
To be continued...
I love the first picture! I like the atmosphere and the colours of the picture, in particular the reds. I find very difficult to exactly reproduce the reds in Lightroom. Which camera calibration do you use? The standard ones provided with the software or do you create a calibration profile every time using the X-Rite software?
It’s probably your screen (the physical screen and/or its color profile) more than the camera profile in Lightroom, but I tend to use “Camera Standard”, though “Adobe Standard” is very nice as well. It’s on my todo list to build a system where I can use camera-specific profiles via the X-Rite color checker without having to build one per shoot, but I haven’t done that yet, so I’m still using the generic ones. —Jeffrey
Great collection of images. I noticed that you used the 125mm mostly, and also your 24mm & 50mm. How do you manage these lenses on a rainy day like this one?
I’m careful when I change them. The Voigtländer 125mm is not weather sealed and it has external focus, so I’d never use that when exposed to any kind of moisture, so I’m under some kind of covering if it’s actually raining. On a nice day, I’ll switch lenses as many as 50 times, but the Voigtländer is by far my favorite. —Jeffrey
Lovely… oh so lovely! 🙂
Pictures from the past well worth a look
http://www.vintag.es/2013/03/19th-century-photos-of-tokyo.html
Hi, I noticed that most of your pictures were tooken by a high ISO even in a day with sun, especially the picture of bamboo, peaked at ISO 10000. I as a beginner, was always told not to use a high ISO, in order not to make the quality bad.
Everything’s relative. Lightroom is fantastic at noise reduction, and the D4 is fantastic at not making noise in the first place, so they give a lot of latitude. 10k ISO is normally a bit higher than I prefer to go, but it was dark, and shooting hand-held with the no-VR Voigtländer 125mm makes me want to keep a fast shutter. Still, I wasn’t really paying attention, and if I had, for that bamboo shot, I would have probably dropped both the shutter and ISO a bit (say, to 1/300th at ISO6400). But I just had it on Auto-ISO and wasn’t paying attention. —Jeffrey
Red leaves are very beautiful and this temple is worth visiting! The contrast between leaves and the moss is attractive. You had better show the way to go to this temple.
Then, why don’t you go to east Kyoto, where many temples are? I recommend you to visit Senkoji temple at Sagano.
Here is how to go to Senkoji temple.
1.Go to Arashiyama by bus.
2.Cross Togetsu bridge.
3.Walk along Hozu river.
4.Enter in the mountain, going up stairs.
Good suggestion… I’ve been there! (This photo has the map location under it). This is that it looks like from the north side of the river. —Jeffrey
I like your pictures very much! I have been to Enkoji a few times and took pictures myself but it’s really pleasant to look at yours and find some interesting new points of view. The colors are gorgeous!