We've been accumulating stuff we want to get rid of that's too big to put into the normal trash.... stuff that's become trash (an old couch, a large broken lamp, ...) or that we just don't need anymore (a photo printer, Anthony's old bicycle, an old LCD monitor...). There was a lot, and it was finally time to deal with it.

I searching on Yahoo! Japan (大型ゴミ 処分 京都) and picked 京都 不用品回収センター　とくとく, and I don't regret it.

I gave the guy a call, he came over an hour later with a little truck, and we looked at what I wanted to get rid of, and for each thing he told me whether he'd take it for free and if not, how much it would cost. I just wanted to get rid of everything, and was shocked when he told me the total fee would be only ¥7,800 (US$85). I was expecting 3×〜4× that amount.

He left with a very full truck, and I gained a commodity that in this country ranks in value behind only time and health: space.

If you're in the Kyoto area and want to get rid of stuff (and can speak Japanese), I highly recommend this guy.

This post is just a bunch of ultra-thin-depth-of-field shots taken with a Nikkor 300mm f/2 lens, at its maximum f/2 aperture. These all date back to 2011, after I first got the lens.

I have a category on my blog of articles with photos taken with this lens, but I'm prompted to post a collection like this after not being all that happy with the super-thin-depth-of-field shots that I shared the other day in “Kyoto's Souren-ji Temple at f/1.2”. Many of the shots on today's post aren't all that great either, but some are nice, as were the 300mm/f2 shots I posted the other day in “Thin on the Depth of Field, Thick on the Cuteness”.

(My favorite photos with this lens are on “The Kind Of Shot That Ultra Thin Depth Of Field Was Made For”.)

The shot above, taken an hour or so after I first got the lens, illustrates something many of the shots I've chosen for today illustrate: focusing on one small object, throwing the rest of the photo out of focus, often just doesn't work.

The focus in the shot above is the pair of shoes, but it really should be the lady facing the camera. I posted a similar shot of the same scene in “Street Photography (Sort of) In Roppongi Hills”, but not focusing on the photogenic lady facing the camera was a mistake.

This next shot, though overall somewhat boring, is a better use of the thin depth of field...

A busy shot, but I like the guy's slumped shoulders in contrast to the snazzy sports car.

More shots from Kyoto Station that first evening I had the lens appeared on “More Street Photography at 300mm f/2” and “Kyoto Station Evening at 300mm f/2”.

This is Pierre Nadeau, Japanese swordsmith, testing a friend's bike. I tried to follow focus as he approached, and with such a thin depth of focus I'm lucky I got anything at all, so I don't mind so much that he's barely in frame.

Zak plays shakuhachi as Pierre and Stéphane enjoy.

This next one is a perfect example of the lesson I'm learning in looking at this group of photos, that selective focus on a small object in the frame just doesn't work well...

It's hard to tell without clicking through to the larger version, but the focus is on the baseball in the water, which is there because the guy failed to get to it in time. (Other pictures in the sequence are on “Big Lens at the River: Focusing on Disappointment.”)

A couple of fun shots with more appropriate use of thin depth of field...

I've tried a number of times to get an interesting shot of fall foliage with this lens, but I've yet to get one. Here's one (of many) failures...

Compare to this shot and you'll see that I've still got progress to make.

I came outside (from my first meeting with my only Japanese niece) to see this sunset, so I very quickly grabbed the lens from the trunk and snapped a shot. The utility pole is ugly, but better than it would be at a smaller aperture.

Then there was the Gion Matsuri, Kyoto's largest and most important festival, Two months after getting the lens. This was its first real workout in my hands.....

Gion Matsuri is a month-long festival of events, with street parties the three nights before the main event (a procession of huge wooden floats). I went out each of the three nights that year, with many resulting blog posts starting with “A Thin Slice of Big Crowds at Kyoto’s Gion Matsuri Festival”, mostly with this lens.

Among those many photos are some of my favorite shots, highlighted on “The Kind Of Shot That Ultra Thin Depth Of Field Was Made For”.

I do this next shot all the time.... focusing on the screen of someone's camera...

...but in this situation the background was just too far out of focus, so you can't tell the situation unless you already know what it is. For comparison, here's a shot moments later with the focus further away...

A few wider shots... not sure that f/2 is doing much here...

Then we jump past the summer to a near-miss by a typhoon, a couple of shots that didn't quite make it into “Typhoon Was Mostly a Non-Event in Kyoto”...

For some reason I brought the 300/2 when I met Zak for coffee, and had planned to get some candids of him as he approached, but he saw me across the river right away.

Inside, I switched to a 50mm f/1.4 and tried the “focus on one small object” shot...

This time it seems to work better. A bit.

In “Kyoto's Souren-ji Temple at f/1.2” the other day, I shared some ultra-thin-depth-of-field shots taken with a 50mm f/1.2 lens. A thin depth of field can be distracting, or it can make for a great effect — one that I'm quite partial to — but I didn't think the shots on that post were all that strong... just odd/different (and colorful).

So, for today's post, I was thinking to share some better examples, but I ran out of time to do the writeup I wanted, so instead I'll just share a couple of cute shots that happen to have a pretty thin depth of field, taken a couple of years ago with a Nikkor 300mm f/2 lens, at f/2, an hour and a half after I first got it.

The photo above, taken free-standing while hand-holding the 8kg (18lb) lens, was taken one second before the following shot....

That's actually a crop from a larger original that appeared at the time on “Street Photography (Sort of) In Roppongi Hills”.

The girl is slightly out of focus, but the bird's eye is dead on. It's completely lucky, of course, as I wasn't in shape and had no experience with the lens, but I'll take it. It's one of my favorite photos.

20 minutes later a similar scene looked to unfold...

... but the bird flew off much quicker, apparently having learned his lesson.

Continued here...

Going back into my archives again, to last April's visit to the Suntory Whisky Distillery in Yamazaki, 20 minutes south of Kyoto. It's Japan's oldest whisky distillery, and offers free tours daily.

Here's one photo to remind you of the initial post...

One thing I didn't cover in that is the photogenic “Whisky Museum”, housing more than 7,000 samples of whisky and assorted spirits taken over the years.

The distillery is near a train station, and you have to cross the tracks near the front gate...

I don't really care for whisky, but I love the smells around the place, and its very photogenic, so I hope to go again soon (followed immediately by a trip to Suntory's nearby beer brewery, where I do like the product. 🙂 )

This is a followup to “An f/1.2 + f/5.6 Pair” from two months ago, from an outing introduced the prior day in “A Few Pretty Pictures from Kyoto’s Middle-of-Nowhere Sourenji Temple”. I'd left off with the promise to show a few more f/1.2 shots, so here we finally are.

Nothing here is really that compelling, or even makes good use of the ultra shallow depth of field that f/1.2 affords. Whatever might be notable is more due to “strangeness” than “interest”, but it's a bit off the beaten path so I'm posting them.

This kind of shot is cliché, but I like it (also seen recently here), but I'm still trying to get a good one.

Like I said, there's nothing too compelling here, and I don't think any of these pictures are really enhanced by the ultra-shallow depth of field. This says more about my inability to make the best use of the tool than anything bad about the tool.

For what it's worth, I think like “Morning Constitutional” the best, but that has nothing to do with its shallow depth of field.