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low-resolution example of a photo with a fake mat
I've finally pushed out a public version of the faux photo mat builder that I mentioned a month ago:
It's been a ridiculous amount of work to build, and then almost an equal amount of work to write up the presentation. I have no idea why I spend so much time on something that few people will ever use, but there we are. You can read about it here.
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Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 58 mm — 1/500 sec, f/11, ISO 2800 — full exif
Month-Early Kyoto Cherry-Blossom Preview
( sort of )
We woke up this morning to find the pleasant surprise of a fresh coating of snow on the trees. It looked remarkably like the cherry was in bloom, which seemed particularly apropos because last night I was thinking that today I should write up a “Cherry Blossom Preview” post (as I've done occasionally in years past... searching my blog table of contents, I find this, this, and this).
Compare the view above with real cherry blossoms from the same vantage point, either in this post or at points during this cherry-blossom timelapse also from my balcony (in which you can scrub your mouse from side to side over the last image to see the timelapse effect). Or, similar views here and here.
Back to today, there wasn't much snow, but enough to make the branches look pretty...
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — 1/320 sec, f/6.3, ISO 450 — full exif
Deep in the Shade
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — 1/800 sec, f/6.3, ISO 400 — full exif
Out in the Open
And when the sun came out behind some, it was a different kind of pretty (that I didn't quite capture in the photo)...
This guy surprised me when he popped into view with a sudden control-tower flyby. Nothing's really in focus (I didn't have time in the split second before he passed to switch to a continuous-focus setting), but even so I like something about the result...
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 290 mm — 1/500 sec, f/6.3, ISO 800 — full exif
Buzzing the Tower
There are a lot of gray herons around, so it's hard to tell who's who. I wonder whether this bird was the heron in some of my previous posts (here, here, here, here)....
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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Wall of Relaxation
Another one from the outing last week that also produced the previous post about the carving on the wooden gate. This shot is part of the wall of the little relaxation hut in the stone-lantern gardens behind Nishimura Stone Lanterns in Kyoto Japan. The hut can be seen in previous posts, here and here.
I thought I'd give it a try as a desktop background, but since I'm still really digging the “stark tree” desktop background that I posted the other day, today I'll try it on my portrait-oriented second monitor (as mentioned in “Going Vertical”), using this next version....
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 4500 — map & image data — nearby photos
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I just booked my summer flight to visit my folks in Ohio. Over the years, prices have been going up and flight selection down, so every year it's a bit more difficult to find a reasonable combination of price and inconvenience. I used to be able to make the flight for $1,200 but now it's over $2,000 for the cheapest flight.
I hunt around various sites like Orbitz and Expedia and Yahoo! Travel and the like, and this year I happen to have bought from Orbitz.
As you might expect, you have to go through a bazillion pages of selection and confirmation and traveler info and billing. Finally, on the very last “click here to purchase” page, I luckily happen to have noticed that Orbitz had inserted a $330 “traveler's insurance” item to the bill, along with a tiny opt-out link. EVIL!
Orbitz is pure evil.
After you initially select an itinerary, you're presented with a “Review trip details” page that includes the price of the tickets after fees. Then for the next six pages of purchase flow, there's no mention of price at all.... just stuff like seat assignments, meal selections, and traveler info. So when you finally get to the last page, you're both exhausted by the ordeal and thrilled that it's done, so the temptation is to just press the “click here to purchase” button, because really, you're well acquainted with all the details because you've just spent six pages hammering them out.
But their trick is that they quietly buried a $330 bottle of snake oil in there, with a tiny “remove and reprice” link. They're just betting that you won't notice until it's too late.
Orbitz is pure evil.
This is not an “oops” mistake... it's a blatant violation of the most basic trust. I will certainly never use Orbitz again.
And it turns out that I'm not alone... searching for “Orbitz scam” yields plenty of results going back years.
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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Shrine Gate Carving
elegantly simple
As I mentioned the other day in the post about an outing with Vaughn Hart to the mountains of north-western Kyoto, we stopped by a simple, unassuming rural shrine. The entrance to the immediate shrine area was through a small little wooden gate, seen here at the top of the steps Vaughn is standing on...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 @ 50 mm — 1/800 sec, f/1.4, ISO 220 — map & image data — nearby photos
Simple Entrance to the Toufuu Shrine
Vaughn pauses to soak it in
You can't see them in the photo above, but the gate actually has doors, propped open at the moment...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos
Reverse-Angle Shot
Something about the carving at the top of the gate caught my eye. The light was just wonderful for it... strong shadows, yet somehow soft....
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5, cropped — 1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
The carving is much less complex than that seen in this post about a similarly-unassuming shrine not too far away a bit deeper in the mountains, but at the same time this gate's carving seems more elegant, yet not at all opulent or lavish, as might be found in a well-funded city shrine. I liked it.
