“I think Lightroom will be to photographers what Photoshop is to photographs.”
—Reid Thaler
Digital Photography Review forum post
May 23, 2007

This excellent quote succinctly clarifies the difference in focus between Lightroom and Photoshop. I only wish I had come up with it!

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/350 sec, f/7.1, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Rich Colors

In between snapping pictures of the great blue heron yesterday, I paused to take a picture of some potted flowers. The result is a deliciously rich set of colors that can't really be replicated properly on the web.

This image is right out Lightroom, with all settings at their default. The saturation may look unnaturally vivid as if it's been boosted in post processing, but believe me, the colors are so rich to start with I worried that something might explode if I touched the saturation. 🙂

I'm wondering how this might be as a desktop background.... Hmmm.....

Also while there, I took a shot of the canal facing east, from a similar position as seen during the cherry-blossom seasons, in shots taken during the day and night. It's not a spectacular image, but I thought some might like to see the comparison.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm — ¹/640 sec, f/7.1, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Kyoto Biwako Canal in Okazaki, Kyoto, Japan

By the way, for further reference, the tree in the foreground of this shot is one of those featured on the 10 Gallons of Blossoms on a 5-Gallon Branch post.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/7.1, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Fish.....      Tasty.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 78mm — ¹/500 sec, f/4.5, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Great Blue Heron at Home
at the Reina de Reina Mexican Restaurant

Every once in a while we see a great blue heron around this building (across from where these night blossom shots were taken), usually standing motionless on the sloping banister wall. The first time we saw him we didn't even realize it was real, until eventually it moved slightly.

I happened to have my camera with me when I saw him on the banister wall today, and was about to take his picture when he jumped down to the stairs leading to the basement property. I ran up to look, and saw him go down and inside, and then saw a lady close the door. Odd!

The lady soon came out with a plate of fish, followed by the blue heron with an “enough already, hand'em over!” look in its eye. In the out-of-focus show below (sorry), you can see his crest is quite, uh, crested.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/4000 sec, f/3.2, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Hungry Heron

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 98mm — ¹/5000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 250, — map & image data — nearby photos
Crest Subsides After First Fish

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 116mm — ¹/640 sec, f/7.1, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Fifth Fish Unflaps Feathered Fedora

He barely gets a fish past his mouth when he was going back for more. They became lumps in his ever-thickening neck.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/1500 sec, f/7.1, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Neck Full o' Fish

I chatted with the lady a bit to get the story. It seems 10 years ago the owner of the building would throw out scraps of food for the heron, and over time the heron trained him to give him full plates of fish. Plate-fed fish are much less work than hunting for food, so the heron has apparently become domesticated in that respect. He's also unfazed by strangers even in close proximity, but otherwise is wild.

In one sense it's a bit sad — Fumie noted that his dependence on the people is why you shouldn't feed wild animals, despite it being cute. At least in this case, so far, it's turned out well for the bird because according to the lady, he's outlived all his contemporaries.

I don't know how old he is, but for what it's worth, according to this reference, the average of a Great Blue Heron is about 15 years.

Let's just hope that they continue feeding him. The ground-level restaurant (Mexican restaurant Reina de Reina) is new and prior to it opening there was an extended period of construction, so I doubt he feeding schedule was normal.

The heron's name is “Aotan.”

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/350 sec, f/6.3, ISO 250, — map & image data — nearby photos
Dressed for Dinner

By the way, I ate at the restaurant the other day with Shimada-san, to celebrate both his birthday and his earning a licence which allows him to drive large vehicles (busses, cement trucks, cranes, etc.), a difficult task in Japan. (For comparison, look at some of the hassles required just for a car license.)

The crap one gets in a so-called “Mexican Restaurant” in America has trained me to believe that I'm not a huge fan of Mexican, but I tell you, this place was superb. Portions were small, which on the bright side allows you to order a variety of things. It add up to be a bit pricy ($70 for the two of us, including four 700-yen beers), but it was quite worth it. You could really taste the freshness and quality in each bite, especially in the salsa and the chile con carne. I hope to take Fumie there sometime, once she gets over the cold that's been nagging her for the last week.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 160mm — ¹/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100, P.P. cut: -0.14EV — map & image data — nearby photos
Wannabe

After Aotan got his six fish, he hopped up onto the roof to digest in the sun. He looked content.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/1600 sec, f/4.5, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Food Coma

A few more pictures of May snow near Furano, Hokkaido, Japan, where there was still plenty of snow a kilometer up......

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 160mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
As “Full Speed Ahead” as Yellow Boots Allow

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 125mm — ¹/1250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Chasing Mommy with a Snowball

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/250 sec, f/7.1, ISO 200, P.P. boost: +0.85EV — map & image data — nearby photos
Layer upon Layer...

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm — ¹/250 sec, f/9, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Kids Love to Poke Things

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Master of all that is Snow

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 140mm — ¹/320 sec, f/7.1, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Falls into a Crevasse

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 48mm — ¹/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200, — map & image data — nearby photos
Snowball Soccer

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 190mm — ¹/180 sec, f/9, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Unbridled Joy

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 102mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 400, — map & image data — nearby photos
Our Hotel From 10 Miles Away

On the way home, I was surprised to notice our hotel so visible in the distance (the white building in the lower mountain, above the rightmost orange backhoe), and even more so when the car navigation system said that it was more than 10 miles away. It looks much closer, but is 10.6 miles (17km) away.

Today Nils posted a recording of the frogs in the rice paddy behind his place. It's sure to bring back memories of Japan for anyone who used to live near a rice paddy (although they'll be bad memories for those whose bedroom window faced said paddy).