{"id":1177,"date":"2009-04-05T00:44:09","date_gmt":"2009-04-04T15:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2009-04-05\/1177"},"modified":"2009-04-05T00:44:09","modified_gmt":"2009-04-04T15:44:09","slug":"wet-and-gloomy-cherry-blossom-lightup-in-kyoto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2009-04-05\/1177","title":{"rendered":"Wet and Gloomy Cherry-Blossom Lightup in Kyoto"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\nNOTE<\/b>: 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.\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>6 sec handheld freestanding<\/span>, f<\/span>\/4.5, ISO 6400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nWet Cherry-Blossom Lightup<\/span>\nin cold, wet Kyoto Japan\n<\/div>\n\n

The shot above is pretty horrendous, of course, but that's expected at\n1\/6th second handheld, freestanding, while on a bridge<\/span> that quivers as\npeople and vehicles pass. It pretty<\/span> much reflects the mood for the cherry\nblossoms in Kyoto this year.<\/p>\n\n

We were on track for a slightly early season, but just after some of the\ntrees started to flower, we were hit with a long<\/span> cold snap that continues,\nso the blossoms have been struggling. The cherry-blossom lightup that my\narea of Kyoto holds every year is scheduled for just three days this year\n(yesterday, today, and tomorrow), but we're nowhere near full bloom\nyet.<\/p>\n\n

Last year, by comparison, was spectacular, as I attempted<\/span> (but failed)\nto capture in my Kyoto Cherry-Blossom Lightup, 2008<\/a> post.<\/p>\n\n

Although it was raining a bit, we stepped out to witness the lights turn\non at 7pm. Almost as a joke,<\/span> I tried<\/span> to snap a picture<\/span> of the canal before\nthe lights turned on, cloaked in the gloom of the rain...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 35 mm — 1.3 sec handheld freestanding<\/span>, f<\/span>\/6.3, ISO 6400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nGloom<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

The Nikon D700's low-light ability is astounding, as I've shown before\n(especially in Pushing Lowlight-Photography Limits: The Atta Terrace Hotel at Night<\/a>), but this was a\nridiculous<\/span> situation that I didn't<\/span> even bother trying to rectify, and hence\nwe have the ridiculous result seen above.<\/p>\n\n

Actually, the camera's meter way overexposed the shot, making it look\nlike daytime. What you see above is the result after I dropped<\/span> the exposure\nby about 3EV in post.<\/p>\n\n

The D700 tends to overexpose in the dark, as I've mentioned before\n(“In the Ballpark of Hope: Okinawan Grave In the Dark<\/a>”,\nand in “Impossible Photography: No Light, No Tripod, No Hope. D700 and a 50mm<\/span> f\/1.2<\/a>”). Perhaps it's just trying to show off.<\/p>\n\n

I would have taken another shot with some exposure correction dialed in,\nbut moments later the lights started coming on...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 26 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>4 sec handheld freestanding<\/span>, f<\/span>\/6.3, ISO 6400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

We were sort of hoping for a magical moment as the lights came on, but\nwith the lack of blossoms, the cold and the rain... well, it was\noverwhelmingly “eh? that's it?<\/b>”<\/p>\n\n

As crappy as the pictures on this post are, they make it look nicer than\nit was. Here's one that's sort of pretty, with a crosswalk<\/span> light that puts\na nice<\/span> red shimmer all down the right side, and with different colored\nlights in the trees...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>13 sec handheld freestanding<\/span>, f<\/span>\/4.5, ISO 6400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nSorta' Pretty.... Sorta'<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Some of the lights were still warming up, and unlike our eyes\/brain\nwhich can compensate for the off color (making all the lights appear more\nor less “white”), the camera can't so you get a mix<\/span> of colors.<\/p>\n\n

The weather is supposed to be nicer tomorrow, so perhaps I will<\/span> be able to\nget some better shots. (UPDATE:<\/b> I was<\/a>.)<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The shot above is pretty horrendous, of course, but that's expected at 1\/6th second handheld, freestanding, while on a bridge that quivers as people and vehicles pass. It pretty much reflects the mood for the cherry blossoms in Kyoto this year.<\/p>

We were on track for a slightly early season, but just after some of the trees started to flower, we were hit with a long cold snap that continues, so the blossoms have been struggling. The cherry-blossom lightup that my area of Kyoto holds every year is scheduled for just three days this year (yesterday, today, and tomorrow), but [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,1,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}