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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — ¹/160 sec, f/8, ISO 2800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Breezy

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Here are a few shots from the Koumyou-in Temple in Kyoto (光明寺, 京都) taken on the same outing as the photos accompanying my Lightroom 4.1 post the other day.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Simple

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Veranda

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/800 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Subtle

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
Rare

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One of the verandas consisted of a single plank of pine more than a yard wide (94cm by my foot-measuring estimation). I'd never seen anything like it; I assume that all the trees big enough to allow this big a plank were harvested long ago.

I talked to a lady that I took to be the owner of the place, who said that the temple building itself was not all that old... within the last couple of hundred years, so it's likely that the wide plank was repurposed from an older building. She didn't know, nor really seem to care.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/400 sec, f/3.2, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Unusual Comparison
I'm not used to anything making my US-Size-13½ (Japan size 32) feet look small

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
Knot Uncommon

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/500 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Garden View

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I lead the previous post with a similar shot, but of a different door in a different room, looking out at the same garden from a different angle.

The entrance to the place included a painted cement floor that included leaf patterns seemingly-etched into the surface...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 4000 — map & image data — nearby photos

They were so detailed and lifelike that I have to think they were made by leaves being pressed into the cement before it dried, but that really doesn't seem plausible for something as delicate as a leaf. Maybe someone carefully crafted a bunch of stamps?

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Yo Dawg
I heard you like ropes

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Incongruous Gate
the modern gate was a notable exception to the high-class low-key style of the place

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Wow, NASA, which happens to have a bigger lens than me (with the camera outside the terrestrial atmosphere, no less), put up this amazing bit of video art built from images taken today during the 6-hour event:

Quite a bit nicer than my try earlier today. Must be that darn atmosphere in the way. 🙂

The music is very nice as well. The video is in the public domain (those who don't pay American taxes can thank those of us that do), which I suppose implies the music as well... I wonder what it is?

Lots of high-res pictures in various wavelengths at NASA: Solar Dynamics Observatory's Ultra-high Definition View of 2012 Venus Transit

Continued here...

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 190mm — ¹/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
What am I?

Well, as my “What am I?” quzzes go, this one is so painfully obvious that I hesitate to put it up, but hey, maybe I'll stump someone for a few minutes.

Leave your guess in the comments... as always, I'll withhold comments from publication until I give the answer.

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 + Sigma 2.0X TC @ 600mm, heavily cropped — ¹/400 sec, f/11, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Venus
Between the sun and some clouds
太陽と雲の間の金星

Not too exciting, but there's the view from Kyoto.

Using my naked eye with eclipse sun-glasses, I can just make out that there's something there, if I know where to look and look carefully. It's a bit easier as the planet moves further in from the edge, but I wonder how on earth people ever noticed these things in ancient times.

Continued here...

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Haze Over Northern Kyoto
from near the top of Mt. Hiei (比叡山)

I snapped this shot on yesterday's hike. It was very hazy, so the “layered mountain” effect that I like so much was strong. Perhaps too strong... I would have liked more contrast.

Taken from almost the same spot, looking a different direction, is a moody shot I like of the “Azalea Hillside” (つつじヶ丘), which can apparently be spectacular, but I missed it by a week:

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/320 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Azalea Hillside

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Stéphane said that the previous week, the hillside was covered in every color except green, but now many of the other colors had been taken over by green. It was still pretty, so I'll have to visit at the right time next year.

Returning to the first photo, I want to point out a weird effect I noticed, and ask whether anyone knows what might have caused it. The version above was processed fairly strongly in Lightroom; notice in this next unprocessed copy weird rings of magenta and cyan? They're a bit subtle, but clearly there, especially in the larger version you get when you click through:

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Subtle Mystery
cyan and magenta rings

Here's a version with crazy settings to highlight the rings:

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Crazy Settings
to highlight the ring structures that are already there

It seems clear to me that the rings are following the terrain, but I'm having a hard time coming up with an explanation. Maybe it's some kind of weird reflection whose color changes subtly with angle? Or maybe elevation related... but where do cyan and magenta come from?

I am, if you'll excuse the pun, a bit hazy on how this could happen. In fact, I'm baffled.

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