Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55/2.8 @ 48mm — ¹/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 (sort of) — full exif & map
( desktop-background versions are available below )

This post describes how I made the funky-color Kyoto fall leaves image from the other day.

I'd wanted to check out the vine growing through a bamboo fence again, in afternoon light (as opposed to the morning shade I'd seen it in before), so I went back on Wednesday afternoon. It was a productive visit, with a few shots of the fence that will certainly find their way here in the future. However, the subject of today's post is what I saw when I looked up.

Kyoto's impressive autumn colors are in full force now, but there are some trees that are slower in turning, and evergreens that won't turn at all, and the resulting range of colors is something that really appeals to me. I looked up and found a screen that's common this time of year: highly dynamic colors mixed in a highly dynamic space (that is: lots of depth and color to the scene).

I fired off three quick shots, focusing at points close, middle, and far. You can see these three shots by mousovering the first three boxes below the image:

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55/2.8 @ 48mm — Focus at 1 meter — ¹/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — full exif

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55/2.8 @ 48mm — Focus at 2.5 meters — ¹/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — full exif

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55/2.8 @ 48mm — Focus at 3.8 meters — ¹/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — full exif

I'm certainly biased 🙂, but I think any of these would make a lovely desktop background. The links for the various desktops changes with the button above, so you can select the image you prefer:

However, while applying slight crop/rotation adjustments to the images to account for a bit of camera movement between the shots, I happened upon a mixture of the three that I found breathtaking, and which appeared in the post other day. The “Mix” button above shows a reduced-sized version of the result. (The image at the top of this post is small crop from a half-sized version.)

The mixture is all three images combined with Photoshop's “Darken” blend mode, after having loaded them into individual layers of a single document. As if Photoshop's multitude of filters aren't enough to learn, there are oodles of “blend modes” which influence how two images can be combined to produce a third (or, in this case, how three images can be combined to produce a fourth).

I have a whole book on the subject of Photoshop blending modes, as I once mentioned, but I haven't really done much yet other than flip through it.

In any case, the Darken blend mode is easy to understand: at each point of the canvas, the images are compared and the darkest of them is kept for that spot in the result. What's difficult for me to understand, intuitively, is what that will result in. In this case, it's an almost surreal, paint-like quality.

I then brightened it up just a tad to make up for the overall darkening, increased the contrast a bit, and that's it.

I seem to like taking multiple shots of the same scene with different focus or different depth-of-field, as I found I had a few other sets of images that might work with this technique. Unfortunately, they had too much movement among the images (such as branches blowing in the wind, or recomposition on my part) that I couldn't get a good result. Especially with branches, since their darkness will “shine through” (so to speak) to the final result every time — due to the “darker version wins” policy of the Darken blend mode — if they don't line up.

Here's just such an example:

The larger branch on the right is spot on in all three shots, but you can see repeats with the others. I think it ruins the effect.

It could be that this effect just happens to work with the shots I first tried it with, but I hope it turns out to be a general technique. It's on my list to go out and try taking different-focused shots of different scenes, and see how this works.

Of course, if someone else gives it a try, I'd love to see the result.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55/2.8 @ 55mm — ¹/100 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1250 — full exif
Looking Like the Cat that Just Ate the Bird

Just two days ago I wrote about instilling a dislike of chocolate in kids by giving them unsweetened chocolate at first. If you'll recall, I lamented that we hadn't thought of this in time with Anthony, and so he likes chocolate. We limit it, at least, to special occasions.

So yesterday's special occasion was that a slice of chocolate cake would go bad if someone didn't eat it soon. (So much for my credibility!)

Kids can be much better about eating then adults: they stop when they're no longer hungry. He didn't finish the cake before getting full, so he left it. (And no, I didn't finish it off for him, despite my desire to have done so 🙂 )

This perhaps looks like a painting or a photo with a painting effect applied, but it's actually a combination of three photos I took yesterday, with no other special effects added. I'll describe how I made it in a later post; it's my hope for now that you'll simply be able to enjoy it.

The part shown above is just a small portion of the whole image, so that I could show some detail lost during the reduction required to fit a picture onto my blog. Even at that, it's from a version that was reduced to 25% of the original.

A reduced-size version of the whole thing is shown below, but you need to see a much larger version to really appreciate it: links to desktop-background sized versions are just below the image.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55/2.8 @ 48mm — ¹/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 (sort of) — full exif & map
Standard: 1024×768  ·  1440×1080  ·  1600×1200     Widescreen:  1280×800  ·  1680×1050  ·  1920×1200  ·  2560×1600

The desktop backgrounds are in various sizes, in both standard and widescreen versions. Select one that's the same size, or larger, than your desktop size.

I've got this as my background now, and frankly, in its full-size glory I think it's the best I've ever made (which might not be saying much, but hey, “it's my party and I'll feel pride if I want to....”).

This replaces a different fall-foliage desktop I was using for the last week, which itself replaced a cherry-blossom desktop I made two months ago.

I'm really excited about this image. Let me know what you think....

Yesterday while returning from Anthony's gymnastics class (it was jump-rope day), I gave directions to a couple of lost tourists from northern Japan. In appreciation, they gave Anthony a box of chocolate. It was almost dinner time, but I said that he could have some after dinner.

We try to limit his junk food, as I've written before. We don't deny it totally, but save it for special occasions so that it doesn't become habit. He does enjoy it when he gets it, like all kids, especially chocolate.

After dinner, he excitedly passed out peaces to everyone, and finally bit in to his own. He chewed a little bit, then made a “yuck” face and went to Mommy so he could spit it out. By the time Mommy got something for him to spit into, he was crying. I gave him some milk so he could wash the yucky chocolate taste out of his mouth.

The chocolate was one of the high-cocoa-content variety (86%) that have become popular in the last decade. The higher the cocoa content, the less the sugar content, and hence the more bitter it becomes. This was mildly bitter, but certainly not the silky smooth ultra sweet taste of “normal” milk chocolate.

I said “see, chocolate is yucky!” hoping to dissuade him from a future life of junk-food dependency, to which he replied “I usually like chocolate, but I don't like this chocolate.” Drat, too late!

We should have given him this kind of chocolate very early on, so that he'd develop an immediate dislike of it. Of course, he'd eventually realize that there were other kinds, but an early lack of desire for sweets could have been nice.

I thought I'd post this as a suggestion to new parents: give your kids some high-cocoa chocolate early on, and perhaps save yourself from some “I want chocolate!” hassles later.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55/2.8 @ 22mm — ¹/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — full exif & map
Relaxing at the Enkouji Temple

Another product of my trip to Enkouji the other day (also see this post and this).

Like most of these kinds of pictures, this one really needs to be blown up to enjoy it in its full glory, so be sure to click on the image for a larger view.