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Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/2500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Heading To Naoshima
between 直島 and 宇野市
We're on a three-day weekend trip to Naoshima (直島), an island just off the coast of Okayama, about four hours' drive south-west from Kyoto.
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/3200 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Long Trip
start to finish the ferry ride was 15 minutes
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 28mm — 1/160 sec, f/11, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Wake
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 48mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 160 — map & image data — nearby photos
Settling In
at Benesse House
We're staying at Benesse House, a modern-art museum and hotel.
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
The Room
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 28mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 140 — map & image data — nearby photos
The View
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — 1/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
The Sunset
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — 1/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
The Bridge
The Great Seto Bridge, 17km Distant
That bridge is the subject of this post from a year and a half ago.
The hotel doubles as a modern-art museum. Modern art is not my cup of tea at all, but this place feels more like I'm in a video game (Doom, circa 20 years ago), so it's actually fun.
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/1.4, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Stark
Very, very , very stark hallway
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/1.4, ISO 4500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Positively Gaudy
by relative comparison
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/1.4, ISO 1400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Approach to the Hotel Lounge
the left two orange panels are the door
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/1.4, ISO 1800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Looking for the Lounge
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/1.4, ISO 2800 — map & image data — nearby photos
The Lounge
Hours later, I'm sitting here trying to get this post done before it closes at 11pm and I lose connectivity
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/1.4, ISO 7200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Outside the Lounge
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/15 sec, f/1.4, ISO 10000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Hide and Seek
at the Big Squash
Apparently, the Big Squash is a famous landmark. You can see it jutting from the shore in “The View” above.
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/13 sec, f/1.8, ISO 10000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Big Squash
at 10k ISO
Most of these shots at the hotel were while making our first stroll in the dark... I'm sure it'll look different (and I'll have higher-quality photo) tomorrow in the daylight.
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Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/160 sec, f/4, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pot
a very, very valuable pot by Koji Kamada (鎌田幸二)
Kyoto friend Zak Braverman was asked by his friend, pottery artisan Koji Kamada, to take photos of some recent pieces. Knowing I'm into photography, and of late trying to up my game on artificial lighting, Zak kindly invited me along.
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/1000 sec, f/4, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Zak, Making Do
framing tests before we break out the tripod
I prepared everything I imagined I would need for, well, what I imagined I would be shooting, but upon arrival I quickly realized that my imagination differed significantly from reality, and we were totally unprepared. Specifically, I was unprepared for 1) the need for dark backgrounds instead of white, and 2) pottery that had direct reflections, like a mirror.
We ended up cobbling together the most incredible kludges to try to get some kind of reasonable lighting, all the while I could feel the authors of “Light — Science and Magic” rolling in their graves (which is all the worse because they're not even dead).
We (or, at least, I) failed miserably for the kind of shots that they were looking for, but I'll be much better prepared if I ever get a chance to do it again.
Still, some of the shots are nice enough for the lower standards here at Blog Chez Jeff, so here are a few from today, starting with a basketball-sized pot that costs more than my camera...
Now we move to a kouro, an incense burner (香炉)....
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 0.4 sec, f/11, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Incense Burner
by Koji Kamada (鎌田幸二)
The finish on Kamada-san's pots are incredibly detailed with artifacts of the production process (artifacts that are apparently the whole point of the production process). Photos don't do it justice, but here's some detail...
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/30 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Ever So Slightly Purple
Then we had two tea bowls, one for winter and a wider, more shallow bowl (that allows its liquid to cool more quickly) for summer. First summer...
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tea Bowl
by Koji Kamada (鎌田幸二)
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/1000 sec, f/1.4, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Showing Results to Mrs. Kamada
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Winter Tea Bowl
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/200 sec, f/4, ISO 4000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Exquisite Detail
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Soft
@ f/2.5
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/4 sec, f/22, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Same Thing
but @ f/22
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 0.4 sec, f/11, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Hyper Detail
for this macro, put the light directly to the side
Update: Here are some of Zak's photos from the session.
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Nikon D4 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 handheld — 1/800 sec, f/2, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Dandy Hat
Jidai Matsuri (“Festival of the Ages”) 時代祭
Kyoto, Japan
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — 1/4000 sec, f/3.5, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Wider View
via a wider lens on a second camera body
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 handheld — 1/800 sec, f/2, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Movin' Along
back at 300mm on the main camera body
I did something yesterday that I'd never done: I went out shooting with two camera bodies.
I often go out shooting with one body and many lenses, changing lenses upwards of 70 times on a long and interesting outing, and this works well for what I like to do, but when I added the Nikon D4 to my Nikon D700 at the start of the summer, I specifically thought it might be nice to have two bodies when out among the festive crowds at Kyoto's Gion Matsuri festival, one body with the huge Nikkor 300mm f/2, and another with a wider lens for the occasional “establishing” or “context” shot.
With two-body shooting in mind, sometime back in the spring I bought a Peak Design “Capture” camera belt mount system. It's a smartly and lushly-fabricated piece that oozes quality, and the color palette aside, it feels like something Apple would design.
I've never used it.
Not long after receiving my Capture unit, I got an out-of-the-blue email from the folks at b-grip, about their belt-mount product, asking if they could send me one because perhaps then I'd blog about it. I replied “Sure, why not?”, and eventually got a box full of belt/backpack camera-carrying accessories from their Japanese distributor.
I'd never used them, until yesterday.
When accepting b-grip's offer, in my mind I created an obligation that, good or bad, I must indeed write about it. And if I'm going to write about it on my blog, I want to have real-world experience to share, and therein lay the problem: I soon realized that in most situations I photograph in, I'd feel like a total dork with an extra camera jutting out from my hip. (Conversely, I feel just fine with my hip-mounted camera bag, though perhaps ignorance is bliss.)
Gion Matsuri would have been a great opportunity, but it turns out that I didn't get the chance this year because Anthony had just broken his finger. So, I refrained from using either belt-mounted system at my disposal until yesterday, where two perfect opportunities presented themselves.
The first was the Jidai Matsuri festival (“Festival of the Ages”, 時代祭), as I wrote yesterday, it's more or less a big re-enactment parade, and is one of Kyoto's three main festivals (along with Aoi Matsuri and the aforementioned Gion Matsuri). There are lots of old/interesting costumes, but it's difficult to get a shot not ruined by a gas station or power line in the background, so I thought I'd have better luck with a telephoto lens that throws the background out of focus, and hence I broke out my 300mm f/2, which is about the size and weight of a tank turret, a sight that always brings out big smiles of wonder. With that lens in action, I could attach a small car to my hip and people wouldn't notice, so it was a great chance to try the hip-mounted second body.
I attached The Big Heavy Lens to my everyday camera-carrying accessory, a Sun Sniper Pro slider strap (similar, I believe, to a popular product from Black Rapid). I like it because it lets me just drop the camera to my side, or sling it around to my back to get it out of the way, but the camera is always instantly available. I use this strap almost every time I go out, regardless of lens.
(Warning: if you get one of Sun Sniper's straps and decide you want to upgrade the camera screw part, you won't find out until you get it that installation requires cutting the strap and sewing it back. Yikes!)
For the second camera body, to be worn on my hip, I used a simple (but still large) Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8. I specifically chose the b-grip solution over the Peak-Design unit because the base part that attaches to the belt extends far enough down to keep the camera comfortably pointing straight down; with the Peak-Design unit, the heavy camera torqued the belt attachment, twisting it uncomfortably, causing the lens to flop into my leg. I can mitigate the problem to some extent by removing the D700's vertical grip (and I did that yesterday anyway), but in this respect the b-grip seemed better for me.
And so I went out to catch the tail end of the parade...
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — 1/800 sec, f/2, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
平安講社総長
Secretary general of the Heian Shrine Religious Association
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — 1/800 sec, f/2, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
His Driver
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 31mm — 1/2500 sec, f/3.5, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Their Ride
When I ventured out, a ripple of “what a camera!” went through the crowd, which tickles me. When I brought the camera up to bear on the “dandy hat” guy whose photo leads this post, he immediately noticed and kindly gave me some nice poses while holding eye contact with the lens.
(I also noticed that my light workouts have paid off handsomely... I could hand-hold the 8kg lens quite easily. The shots of the “dandy hat” guy are all hand held, though after a while I did sometimes switch on and off to my monopod as well.)
I wore the second camera body on my right hip (I'm right handed), and realized that was a mistake with the b-grip unit because it requires two hands to get the camera out (which is an advantage of the Peak-Design unit... you can unlock and release the camera with the same hand that holds the camera, so with practice you can do it all with one hand in one fluid motion.)
It felt awkward to reach across my body with the left hand to release the lock, so when the second two-camera opportunity came a few hours later, I put the hip-mounted camera on my left side, and it felt much better to reach across with my right arm to grab the camera while the left hand released the lock.
That second opportunity was the Kurama Fire Festival, a half-hour scooter drive into the mountains to the north of Kyoto. It has a lot of fire and ash, so I did not want to be changing lenses. I picked my longest and shortest f/1.4 lenses, my 85mm f/1.4 for the main camera on the Sun Sniper Pro strap, and the 24mm f/1.4 for the hip-mounted spare.
I should point out that the b-grip belt mount comes with a nylon-webbed belt, as seen on their home page. The one I received was just a tad too big to easily thread into the unit, but I didn't want to use it anyway... I just threaded my normal belt through it, leaving a crisp, clean solution that didn't invite pathetic apprehension about geekiness.
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/125 sec, f/1.4, ISO 3200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Propping Up the Torches
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/160 sec, f/1.4, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Wider View
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/125 sec, f/1.4, ISO 4500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Spectators
All in all I felt pretty happy with my two-camera solution, so will definitely use it again when the opportunity presents itself.
The Jidai Matsuri posts are continued here, while the Kurama Fire Festical posts are continued here.
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Nikon D4 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — 1/800 sec, f/2, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Jidai Matsuri (“Festival of the Ages”) 時代祭
Kyoto, Japan
Busy day today... caught the fringe of two famous Kyoto festivals. In the afternoon was Jidai Matsuri (時代祭 — “Festival of the Ages”), more or less a re-enactment parade representing the many periods Kyoto's long history. I caught the tail end of the procession as it made its way past my place.
(I'll post more another day, I'm sure, but in the meantime, for a different take on the genre, check out Stéphane Barbery's photos from three years ago, and from today.)
In the evening was the Kurama Fire Festival, which involves a lot of fire being heaved and hoed by men with bare buttocks. I'll save you from the bare buttocks, but there's fire'a'plenty in this shot of some very large (multi-story) torches being lit:
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/200 sec, f/1.4, ISO 4000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Lighting the Torches
the very big torches
Kurama Fire Festival (鞍馬の火祭り)
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Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 3200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Little Berries
in the fading twilight
Finally getting that all-consuming project that I just posted about off my back, I can now return to my photos. Here are a few from the ikebana (flower arranging) event I went to a couple of weeks ago at the Shoren'in Temple (青蓮院) in eastern Kyoto. I'd managed to post a few shots earlier (in my “busy hallway”, “cute and colorful scene ”, and “serene photos” posts).
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/400 sec, f/1.4, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
Monet's Arrangement
nice arrangement, but poor composition on my part
This event was related to the flower-arranging events that I post about every year, but it was a special event to mark the ascendancy of a new head of all worldwide practitioners of this particular style of flower arranging.
As usual, I was invited by Arthur Brigham, whose daughters (second and fourth grade) were participating. The one above is fourth-grade Monet's.
The location, the Shoren'in Temple, is a wonderful hidden treasure in Kyoto, and the combination of flowers, temple, gardens, and kimonos provided ample opportunity for me to keep filling my memory card and not want to leave.
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 9000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Other Photographers
They're taking photos of the main flower arrangements (presumably by the new head of school), given the high honor of being presented in the Emperor's private chamber. (The Emperor actually did pay a visit ten years ago, but I'd be surprised if a sitting Emperor has used the room for its intended purpose in the last 150 years.).
Those two arrangements weren't quite my cup of tea as much as the kids' ones, but here they are in case they're your cup of tea...
Notice that these photos are both ISO 10,000, both handheld, both with slow shutter speeds (with the second one being 125mm @ 1/60th of a second). The results speak equally well to the D4's low-light ability, Lightroom 4's render engine, and my ability to hold steady while taking a shot. I was more impressed by the D700's leap in low-light ability over its predecessor than in the D4's bump over the D700, but better is better and that's what the D4 is.
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
More Kids' Arrangements
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Photo Op in the Garden
slightly unbalanced... I tried to will her to turn around, to no avail
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/160 sec, f/1.4, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nice-Looking Couple
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/160 sec, f/4, ISO 4000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Second-Grade May's Arrangement
I've plenty more flowers and kimono and temple to post about, but for the moment I'll skip ahead to twilight, after the exhibition was over...
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/160 sec, f/2.5, ISO 10000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Ringing the Bell
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/400 sec, f/1.4, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Garden Path at Twilight
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/60 sec, f/2.5, ISO 10000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Door
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 10000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Door
context
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Packing Up