I often make the short drive up to the Shogunzuka overlook to catch the sunset or just enjoy the nice view, but it's usually to the public overlook, and only a few times to the actual Shogunzuka gardens next door (500 yen to enter... about $6). I should go more, because it's quite pretty in its own right, and the views are wonderful. Last time I went was about two years ago when my friend Ram was in town. I went today, and though it was quite pretty, you could definitely tell it was two weeks deeper into spring than [...]

I've had a number of posts recently about the Cosina Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 and the ultra-creamy bokeh it has in close-up macro shots, as featured in "Exploring the Edge of Creamy Macro Bokeh with Lily of the Nile", and other recent examples here, here, and here. All those examples were taken in less than ideal conditions, with the camera held by hand while the flower or whatnot jiggled in the breeze. So today when I noticed some nice fluffy dandelions by the river, I thought to bring some home to give the Voigtländer a whirl with the benefit of a [...]

If you're not really into digital photography, you may have never heard of Scott Kelby, but he's quite the media dynamo in the on-line digital-photography world. He founded a Photoshop user's club some years ago, and seemingly has never rested since. As an example of his business savvy, rather than launching the club with a self-limiting name like "Tampa Photoshop Users Club", he smartly called it the grandiose "National Association of Photoshop Professionals", and it took off. Since then, he's got writing credit on dozens of books and instructional videos, and leads a whole self-titled media machine (Kelby Media Group) [...]
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I've covered the first day of our short trip to Imabari City earlier this month here, here, and here), and one event from the third day (a visit to the thrilling Towel Museum, here, here, and here), so now I'd like to start filling in the second day of the trip.

It started with the breakfast buffet at our hotel, the Imabari International Hotel. But only the non-dieting non-ballerinas in our party opted to partake, so it was just Anthony and me for breakfast, as Fumie suffered for her art....

We made our way to Sunrise Itoyama (サンライズ糸山), a business [...]

It was a nice day, so I stepped out for a short stroll with the camera. Many cherry trees have lots of stems and few blossoms, like in the photo below, but some still have large complements of blossoms. With the photo above, I put the sun behind the blossoms and tried to expose for the blossoms, but the result wasn't particularly good, but on a whim I cranked up the exposure in Lightroom, and the result has a nice dreamy glow, as if I had applied the Funky Joy touch-up as I did here.

Part of the effect could [...]