I've recently released a couple of new plugin for Adobe Lightroom....

Twitter added the ability to include a photo with a tweet a few days ago, so I've had my nose to the development grindstone and today release my “Export to Twitter” plugin.

Most of my “export to...” plugins (e.g. to Flickr or Facebook....) already included the ability to tweet a notice of an upload, and over the next few days they'll also get the ability to include a photo in a tweet, but this new plugin is a standalone tweeter.

(See my Lightroom Goodies page lists all my export-to plugins, as well as my many other Lightroom enhancements.)

And speaking of “export to..” plugins, I also recently launched an “Export to ExposureManager” plugin, which connects Lightroom to your ExposureManager account.

Continuing with the recent series from an April stroll among a bunch of temples in eastern Kyoto, when I'd stumbled across the Sennyuji Temple (泉涌寺) I'd done so at a side entrance, but I later found the main entrance and the nice initial view one gets when using it:

The ladies in the photo above are looking at a shrub of pink blossoms that are otherwise out of place among the green tunnel of the side entrance path...

Of course, I had to check them out up close with my Voigtländer 125mm macro, which tends to love flowers and blossoms (as seen many times on my blog, recently including here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).

I don't recall it having rained recently, but there were water droplets everywhere...

I tried focusing through the drop to what was refracted from behind it, but the result is pretty indistinct...

After the lack of color in last week's Roofs and Gardens post, I'm happy to get a bit of color back.

The view from the pink blossoms down to the main hall was nice...

The first photo in yesterday's “Roofs and Rock Gardens at Kyoto's Sennyuuji Temple", the first photo shows the view from the entrance that I'd happened upon as I'd wandered the general area. It turns out it was a small side entrance, with just a small hut with a fee-collecting monk inside. (The hut can be seen at the left of the first photo of that post.)

Above is a view of the entrance and the hut, both sitting under the sprawling canopy of a perfectly-shaped maple brimming with the vibrant green of spring. It was gorgeous (though looks like a bonsai in the thumbnail... click through to the full-screen view for the real deal).

As pretty as it was, all I could imagine was what it would look like in the fall; I can't wait to find out.

Continued here...

As I wrote back in April's “An Amazing Day of Photography at Some Eastern-Kyoto Temples”, I'd spent a wonderful morning wandering around an area of eastern Kyoto that I'd not visited before, with many temples and a bounty of spring blossoms and flowers. I did one followup post a couple of months ago, but much remains that I'd like to share.

Perhaps the largest temple complex I came across was that of the Sennyuji Temple (泉涌寺). It has many buildings separated by large expanses of gravel — a decidedly non-spring feeling not made better by the weather, which was heavy overcast punctuated by periods of harsh sun. Many photos, like the one above, came out flat.

But with many buildings are many roofs, and I love the complex shapes of temple/shrine roofs, especially in views that layer them...

I often try different versions of the same composition by changing the focus distance, and in this case, I can't tell which I prefer, the one above with the focus toward the background, or the one below with the focus at the very front (the roof in the far upper right)...

One of the smaller buildings was segregated by its own walls and gate, inside of which was a courtyard with a “lawn” of carefully raked stones. I'm not sure whether this counts as a “stone garden”, but I'm not sure what else to call it.

Here are a few views...

Moving around to other areas of the complex...

I eventually came across a stone-garden forecourt for some place I could not enter, but the front wall and entry gate was pretty...

Judging from the satellite photo of the location (via the map link under any of these photos), it seems that beyond the gate is a graveyard.

from the dead-end corner where I took the photo above, there was a closed gate over which I could just barely see a garden down below on the other side...

In looking again at the satellite photos, I see a complex of connected buildings with many small gardens of various kinds, but all with rock “lawns”, so these rock lawns must be this temple's thing.

It had cost 500 yen (about US$6.50) just to enter the grounds, with some additional fee to enter the complex of buildings. Knowing now about the many gardens, I'd like to go back and give it a try, but I didn't on that day.

Still, as it was, I was just getting started for the day.

Continued here...

I did a bunch of server maintenance yesterday, upgrading almost all the system software. Some things got broken in the process, and I think I've fixed them, but some things might have slipped by here and there. If you notice anything strange, I'd appreciate a note. Thanks.