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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 160 mm — 1/3200 sec, f/4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Enjoying the Day
Tamatorisaki Lookout, Ishigaki Island, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan
玉取崎展望台, 石垣島
The second day of our trip to Ishigaki Island in the far south of Japan was the one I was really looking forward to, because we planned to just drive around and check out the views.
Ishigaki is an oddly-shaped island that's about 21 miles long at its longest diagonal....
And it has generally wide, modern roads, so getting around is quick if you ignore the ridiculous 25mph speed limit. Our hotel was in the south-west, so for today's trip we planned on cutting a diagonal through the main part, then up the panhandle that is sometimes only a few hundred yards across.
It may be small, but you can drive for quite some time through the central lower part without seeing water...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 50 mm — 1/125 sec, f/13, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pineapple Field and Mountains
We stopped at the spot above because of the pretty vista, only then noticing that the foreground was a field of baby pineapples, each about the size of a fist...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/500 sec, f/7.1, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Baby Pineapples
When then proceeded to our first destination, the Tamatorisaki Lookout (玉取崎展望台), a place I'd seen on Google Earth while scoping out the island, and Fumie had seen in her guidebooks. Even the view from the parking lot was wonderful...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 27 mm — 1/500 sec, f/18, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
View from the Parking Lot
Tamatorisaki Lookout, Ishigaki Island, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan
Because Anthony rides the city bus to school by himself, we got him a cell phone for emergencies. Generally, he's not even allowed to touch it unless there's an emergency, but, of course, he's a kid and itching to play with it, so we decided that he can use its camera when we're all together traveling. This trip was one of the first times he could use it...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 98 mm — 1/500 sec, f/18, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Say “Cheese”
Photo He Took
Photo by Anthony Friedl
The view the other direction was much nicer....
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 45 mm — 1/500 sec, f/9, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Looking North
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Heading up to the Lookout
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/500 sec, f/6.3, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tiny but Pretty Pod/Flower Thing
seen along the way
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/500 sec, f/6.3, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
Getting Steeper
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/1250 sec, f/4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
View from the Top
looking South
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 58 mm — 1/500 sec, f/4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
someone's
Self-Independent Photo Op
For some reason, everywhere on this island during the entire trip, people almost never asked someone else to take a photo of them. Often, when you're in scenic places like this, you get asked to take a photo for someone, and vice-versa, but on this trip, it was rare, with people often spending an inordinate effort to set up little shaky collapsible tripods, propping cameras on rocks, etc..
We had no qualms about offering to take a picture, nor about asking....
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 29 mm — 1/500 sec, f/4, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
Us
We came out really dark in the photo, so I tried to lighten us up a bit in Lightroom, but didn't spend much effort on it and it shows, sorry.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 130 mm — 1/500 sec, f/9, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Boat
We eventually made our way back to the parking lot, where we availed ourselves of a guy selling ice cream....
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 110 mm — 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Ice Cream with Mommy
a kid's heaven on earth
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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 60 mm — 1/500 sec, f/7.1, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Life is Tenacious
The whole “plant growing in the middle of nothingness” thing has been well and truly done, including by me, but the picture above, of a plant growing on barren rocks, takes on a bit more drama when you take into account its location...
If the embedded Google Map is working properly, it's showing a location in the ocean a hundred yards from shore.
This was from the second day of our trip to Ishigaki Island in the far south of Japan.
The picture above was one of the last I took before my polarization filter inexplicably* fell off my camera and into the East China Sea.
More in the next post.
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Nikon D700 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4 — 1/4 sec freestanding handheld, f/1.4, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Moonlight over the East China Sea
Ishigaki Island, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan
Since getting my Nikon D700 and exploring its low-light abilities (see “Impossible Photography: No Light, No Tripod, No Hope”) I've been more and more bold in where I give it a try. I shocked myself with the results during my trip to Okinawa in January (The Atta Terrace Hotel at Night), and I pushed the limits even further during this month's trip to Ishigaki Island.
I took the picture above standing on a pier, with the moon just out of the top of the frame. As I described in yesterday's post, the vignetting comes naturally from using the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens on my full-frame D700.
Unlike when I was shocked with the good quality of the low-light results of the photos I took at the Atta Terrace hotel, the results this time were more attuned with what I expected: horrible quality, photographically, but they'll help preserve nice memories for us.
What did surprise me is how well the stars came out, as you can see a few. With the bright moon, and our eyes not really adjusted to the dark, we couldn't see more than a few in the whole sky, nor much else at all, for that matter: it was simply dark. We certainly couldn't see the land on the horizon (just left of center in the frame), Iriomote Island, I believe, about 15 miles distant. Taiwan is another 110 miles further in the same direction, but we couldn't see that, either. 🙂
Nikon D700 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4 — 1/4 sec freestanding handheld, f/1.4, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Short Pier
at the Fusaki Resort Village, Ishigaki Island, Japan
We'd gone down to the beach to check out the night view after dinner on our first night, then took the short path back to the accommodations area...
Nikon D700 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4 — 1/20 sec freestanding handheld, f/2.2, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Rush Hour
But we decided to return to check out the view from the pier itself, so after a short U-turn...
Nikon D700 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4 — 0.3 sec freestanding handheld, f/1.6, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Fumie on the Pier
Like I said, these won't win any awards, especially with 1/3-second exposures handheld, freestanding(!), but they're nice enough for me...
Nikon D700 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4 — 0.3 sec freestanding handheld, f/1.6, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Surprise!
We were on the pier for a couple minutes as I worked my way down trying to find angles that gave interesting shots, but it was difficult because despite how bright it looks in these photos, it was really dark. I could see the silhouette of the little roof, and probably the circle of the life preserver, but no detail at all – I couldn't see the railing at the far end, or benches, or detail in the roof, or anything like that.
It would have seemed less dark had we spent the time to let our eyes adjust, of course, but we hadn't, so a minute or so after I took the picture above, I was startled when a couple suddenly emerged out of the darkness and walked back toward land. As they passed me, I thought wow, it's so dark that I didn't even see them standing right there!, but in reviewing the picture this evening as I write this post, I realize some contributing factors: they had been behind the bend in the railing, and they hadn't been standing. Doh!
Nikon D700 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4 — 1/4 sec freestanding handheld, f/1.4, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
As you can see above, at high ISO, bright light in an otherwise dark field produces strong streaks across the frame.
At one point I braced the camera against the railing and faced back toward the beach, and took a longer exposure (2.5 seconds)....
Nikon D700 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4 — 2.5 sec braced, f/1.4, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Couple on the Beach
I really wish we'd have been able to see that many stars when we were there, but we didn't let our eyes adjust that first night, and it turned out to be overcast for the next two nights, so we missed that chance.
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Nikon D700 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/1.4, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Dinner is Served
After the nice sunset of the first evening on our trip to Ishigaki Island in the most southern reaches of Japan, in the East China Sea, we returned to the hotel for dinner, giving the Japanese-style restaurant a try. Ishigaki Island is known for its beef, so we wanted to try that.
Nikon D700 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/1.8, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Dinner Drinks for Three
while Anthony plays with a small snap-together toy
Nikon D700 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/1.8, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Stuff Arrives
including a bazillion sauces of various kinds
Nikon D700 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/1.4, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Raw Beef
to be cooked over the hot coals
Nikon D700 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/1.4, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
mozuku
one of the many side dishes
Nikon D700 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4, heavily cropped — 1/50 sec, f/1.4, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
Main Dish
The steak was okay, but after the steak we had on our day trip to Awaji Island a month ago, everything else will forever fall short. I wanted to write about it at the time, but what can I say? Words are impossible. In your wildest dreamland fantasies you couldn't possibly imagine a steak even in the same universe as the one we had on Awaji. Dark-age peasants would be less surprised by Captain Kirk beaming down among them than you would trying a steak at this place on Awaji. The restaurant on Awaji was a total dump, but you can more easily imagine yourself sprouting wings and flying to the center of the earth than can even begin to contemplate the multiple stacked levels of heaven that is its steak's taste.
But I digress...
The food was good (but not great), but surprisingly, the price was eminently reasonable... a full dinner for three, with drinks, was just $80. Yum.
About the strong vignettes, I've got to admit a senior moment with my camera: I brought my Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens on the trip totally forgetting that it was a DX lens (that is, designed for a camera body with a smaller sensor than that on the Nikon D700 I was using, and thus if used on my camera, would not fill the entire frame with an image). Knowing the restaurant would be dark, I put the Sigma on, and remembered the mismatch only when faced with it in the viewfinder.
Still, I like the effect here. I'm not a big fan of vignettes, though I do add them for effect occasionally, such as the first and last photos of the lighthouse/sunset post. In these restaurant photos, the vignette matches nicely with the warm tones. I lost the natural vingenette in the last photo when I cropped it, so that one was added back in Lightroom.
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Here's the answer to the linguistic quiz from the other day...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/125 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
As Erik Anderson guessed, “Rough Tea” is from 「ラフティー」 (rafuti), a cubed pork disk....
Fumie's mom had made this before, but I never knew what it was called. Even Fumie was only vaguely familiar with the name. Here's a recipe: ラフティー(豚の角煮).
The “is easily boiled” translates better to “lightly boiled”.