NOTE: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/60 sec, f/8, ISO 6400 — full exif
Half-Built Wall-E, and a Spoon
Photo by Anthony M. Friedl

Anthony has taken to playing with my camera (the huge combo of Nikon D700, usually with an MB-D10 vertical grip and a Nikkor 24-70 f/2.8 attached), which is fine with me so long as he doesn't drop it.

I found the picture above on the memory card. He took it the other day when I wasn't around, of random stuff on the dining table, including a half-built paper Wall-E and a lacquered spoon.

Here's a shot he took the previous evening while we were working on the paper Wall-E...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/9, ISO 3600 — full exif
Photo by Anthony M. Friedl

Later that day, he wanted to take my picture while I was sitting on the sofa, so to make it fun I put a fuzzy bear-shaped pillow in front of my face, and he took the shot. I'm the yellow blob in the background...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/6.3, ISO 6400 — full exif
Photo by Anthony M. Friedl

Which leads us to this shot of Anthony today that Fumie took with her cell phone....

Photo by Fumie M. Friedl

I've spent most of the last week either suffering from a mild cold, or working on a new plugin for Adobe Lightroom, so I've not had much time to post. Hopefully I'll get back in the groove soon.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 130 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/3.2, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos

Continuing from the Portraits post about the recent Coming of Age Day holiday in Japan, here are a few more photos.

The shot above is of the pleasant-vibe Peace, Dude guy from the Portraits post, as are the next two shots...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 155 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/3.2, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/3.2, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos

The next two are of the Trying Her Best girl (“Trying her best to fuse tradition with her desire to shock”), also from the Portraits post. I'm sure she'll appreciate if you notice her legs, and eye colors....

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 120 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/4, ISO 1400 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 150 mm (cropped heavily) — ¹/250 sec, f/4, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos

The rest of the shots are mostly random... but mostly gaudy. There seems to be a few mullets in there, too.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/3.2, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 190 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/3.2, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 155 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 170 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/3.5, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 125 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/3.5, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/4, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/4, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos

NOTE: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 340 mm — ¹/500 sec, f/8, ISO 1800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Crow
and the Osaka skyline 30 miles away

As I've been doing lately in hopes of catching a great sunset, I headed up again the other day to the overlook at Shogunzuka, which offers a commanding view of downtown Kyoto.

The sunset was not particularly interesting....

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/800 sec, f/6.3, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Well, It Was Worth a Try

While waiting to see how the sunset would develop, I occupied myself by practicing to track focus on crows as they flew around....

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 340 mm — ¹/800 sec, f/5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos

I had a 1.7× teleconverter on my 70-200, and with the resulting big zoom, I knew I could isolate the little bit of color the far-away sky did offer, so I tried to catch a bird in front of it. The result is a photo that holds more color and excitement than you actually felt in person (and when you consider just how little excitement the above photo generates, you'll have a good idea of the boring sunset I witnessed. 🙂 )

Crows tend to congregate in that area around sunset, and they alternate between quiet and frenzied. Sometimes for no apparent reason a bunch will take off or a new wave will come in, which feels like it should make for an interesting shot, but doesn't...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 340 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Bunch'a Birds
yawn

This time, though, the crows outdid themselves and sometimes hundreds and hundreds would fly up at once creating a huge, swirling cloud of Hitchcockian proportions....

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 120 mm — ¹/500 sec, f/5, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 120 mm — ¹/500 sec, f/5, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 120 mm — ¹/500 sec, f/5, ISO 1400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Lots'a Birds!

I wondered what why they were doing that until I was on my way back to the parking lot and I saw this guy...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 340 mm — ¹/80 sec, f/5, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Slingshot in Hand

I chatted with him a bit. He likes to feed the cats that congregate in the area, but the crows eat what he puts out, so he's... er.... “training” the birds that it's in their best interest to leave the cat food alone.

NOTE: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 32 mm — ¹/3200 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Late-Afternoon Sun
Kouri Island, Okinawa, Japan

Going over some pictures from our recent trip to Okinawa, I was disappointed with those from our visit to Kouri Island, a small island a bit more than a mile in circumference off the northwestern coast of Okinawa. It's an island that has, more or less, nothing for tourists except the bridge leading to it, which is pretty.

I hadn't even looked at the pictures until today, and when I did, I was depressed by a lot of flat boringness that didn't really reflect the dynamic nature of the weather and the interesting landscape.

Until I came across this one.

NOTE: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1 sec handheld (braced), f/7.1, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
One-Second Exposure, Handheld
Hotel Bar  ·  the Atta Terrace Hotel  ·  Okinawa Japan

After getting my Nikon D700 and putting its low-light capabilities to the test (see: “Impossible Photography: No Light, No Tripod, No Hope. D700 and a 50mm f/1.2” and “A Few More D700 f/1.2 Night Shots”) I quickly expanded my understanding of the lighting conditions in which I could do handheld photography. In exploring this new territory, I often pushed too far and ended up with poor results, but surprisingly often I got results that would have been considered impossible just a couple of years ago, such as Anthony blowing out birthday candles, or riding his bike at dusk, or doing silly dance play with friends in the dark.

These new capabilities allowed me to continue a story into night (such as “The Real Shougunzuka Kyoto Overlook” or “Mountain Drive to Hiyoshi Dam”), or do nighttime shots on the spur of the moment without a tripod, such as “More From the Eikando Temple Foliage Lightup”.

Such was the case last weekend during our jaunt to Okinawa. As I posted the other day in my In the Ballpark of Hope: Okinawan Grave In the Dark, I was able to get a reasonable spur-of-the-moment shot under a dark clump of trees, at ISO 6400 at 1/5th second. The low-light capabilities of the D700 increases dramatically the range of situations where I can at least hope to get a decent shot.

Later that evening before dinner, I took a stroll around the grounds of our hotel, The Atta Terrace Club Towers snapping pictures. I didn't have my tripod as I did when we visited Miyajima, and would still need one to get a rich evening shot like this, but for an unplanned spur-of-the-moment stroll, I came back with a lot to show for it, I think...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 45 mm — ¹/40 sec freestanding handheld, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Path to The Pool
from the rooms

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 38 mm — ¹/30 sec handheld (braced), f/4.5, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pool and Restaurant
The restaurant is the first floor; the second floor is the hotel lobby.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 0.4 sec freestanding handheld, f/5, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Reverse View
with the room towers in the far background, and the library/lounge/bar just behind the pool
( pretty freaking amazing results for 0.4sec handheld ! )

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/4 sec handheld (braced), f/6.3, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Poolside Lounge

The middle three pictures from Japanese Attention to Presentation were taken here – you can see the little arrangements on each table.

This next shot looks down the corridor between the pool and the lounge, and is much more along the lines of what I expected to get (that is, it's much lower quality)....

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/13 sec handheld freestanding, f/5, ISO 3200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Awaiting the Evening Crowd

I include it here mostly as a point of comparison to the others, which generally came out just as you see them (although ones that were “handheld (braced)” generally had to be rotated a bit, to compensate for not being able to set the camera level when bracing it against a wall). The one above, though, was severely underexposed because the candles completely dominated the exposure. Even though I used spot metering away from the flame, and added +2EV in exposure compensation, everything but the candles came out really dark. I brought it back a bit in Lightroom, but you can see how mushy the result is.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 31 mm — ¹/5 sec freestanding handheld, f/3.5, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Flowers and Towers

I thought I was wasting my time to even attempt shots of these flowers, much less also incorporating the even-more-poorly-lit towers.

I ventured further outside to get a shot of the “grand” entrance...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 32 mm — ¹/15 sec handheld freestanding, f/3.5, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Unassuming

When we first drove up to the hotel in our rental car the previous afternoon, guided by the in-car navigation system, a van happened to be parked in front of the little sign with the hotel name – pictured above – and as such, we only saw the gates (at right in the picture above) that look more like where you'll find the trash dumpster than the entrance to a hotel, so we were a bit confused until someone came out to meet us.

It's on an out-of-the-way road, and not one to garner drive-by impromptu customers. Children are not allowed, so all in all, I guess they're taking an understated approach. This differs greatly from the main hotel in the chain, which is 15 minutes up the coast, The Busena Terrace. Driving by, it was hard to miss the Las Vegas style bright and flashy entrance.

Anyway, at our hotel, once you're ushered inside and you look into the lobby, you realize that you're in a classy place...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/25 sec handheld freestanding, f/3.5, ISO 3200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Main Lobby
as seen from the valet dropoff

The main lobby is on the 2nd floor, above the restaurant, and offers a nice view of the pool...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/5 sec handheld (braced), f/5, ISO 3200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pool and Nothingness

Built overlooking a steep slope, the far end of the pool is one of those “edgeless” kind, were the water just ends and nothingness begins. It's a cool effect, but even in Okinawa, it was too cool to swim in January. The lights in the background darkness are of another hotel a mile away. Most of the rest of the blackness in front and beyond that hotel is the East China Sea.

The grounds have various water features that are all lit up at night. Some are shallow pools with plants...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/50 sec freestanding handheld, f/3.2, ISO 3200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Rocks · Pot · Water · Leaf · Air
in that order

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 56 mm — 0.5 sec handheld (braced), f/7.1, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Shimmery