Summer Firework at Japan

Despite the hot weather, Summer is a very lively and enjoyable season with many events and celebrations taking place. The term 'enjoyable' is especially true when you are staying at Hokkaido, with the highest temperature only about 27 degree, while the other parts of Jpn reaches 37 or so :) (yes, I am at Hokkaido)

One of the event is firework display on 25 July, all over Japan; At Sapporo, it takes place at Nakashima Part, from about 7.40 pm to 8.40 pm - one hour long!
As a result, I shoot until my memory card out of space - 4GB fulled!

















The first photo above is directly out from my camera without post-processing or 'photoshopping'.

The method of shooting firework is (it's going to get a little technical here! skip this paragraph if this is none of your concern) to set the camera to manual focus mode, prefocus it at the place where firework is going to take place (of cause you have to ask someone in order to know where, and for me, I went to a policeman who is taking care of the firework location and asked "hanabi dokode shimasu ka?" amazingly he understand me and pointed me the location and suggested to me where should I setup my gear for best shooting angle. Our conversation ended with me saying "arigatogozaimashita"). Set the shutter speed to bulb, then fully press the shutter release to start exposure at the start of each firework and stop exposure when you think the firework is fully 'bloom'.

After shooting a few shots like this, I know it doesn't make sense if I am to collect and share to others over a hundred of photos of a single firework like this.
First, it take out too much of memory space. Second, people don't have the patient to go through so many photos, and finally, a photo of single firework is not lively enough to be an attrative picture.
So I decided to superimpose and recompose them in a single frame via photoshop. The result is as following:


















The following like strawberry isn't it?

















The following like pineapple to me, agree? From the way they designed their firework, it seems to me Japanese really like fruits a lot.




















































































After I revealed my idea of recomposing my fireworks into a single frame in order create a more attractive picture, a friend protested "but then it's not a real one isn't it!" as if she never wear makeup...
I don't care, that is how I like my picture looks!

Place I want to visit in Japan...

This is a truly personal page serve as a reminder about the places I want to visit in Japan.

1. Oirase. To photography the natural stream. I know about it long before the idea of pursuing PhD in Japan cross my mind. That time my plan is to have a tour to Japan just to photography the Oirase stream. If you ask why I have to go so far away for a natural stream, my answer is "It is the most beautiful natural stream I've ever see (in picture) so far!"

2. Arashiyama hozu for the river boat tour. Inspired by http://shop.evanpike.com/popular/2/82213722_Kz7rZ#115674522_PA94K

3. Kyushu for this place:
http://shop.evanpike.com/popular/2/82213722_Kz7rZ#207919117_KUUie

I will keep listing (maybe as a comment) when the idea arise...

What could be the most stupid thing you have ever done lately?

What could be the most stupid thing you have ever done lately?

Ever since I came to Hokkaido, I have a habit of checking weather
forecast at Yahoo website before going out the next day. Maybe it's
because the forecast quite accurate, thus worth reading, or maybe I
feel vulnerable to the weather here, so it's good to find out before
hand in order to know what to prepare. As such, it is a good idea to
bookmark it (or add to favorite if internet explorer is used instead).

Then, a stupid thing happened...
It is lavender season now, so I plan a trip to Furano (City famous
with lavender) hopping to photography some great landscape pictures.
The secret to great landscape picture is the lighting. Knowing this,
of cause I've checked the weather conditions before going.
After I arrived at Furano, it was raining! This made me wondering why
it wasn't what the Yahoo forecast says. Then I realized what I read
was the forecast of Sapporo weather (that I've bookmarked in my
Mozilla Firefox), not the Furano weather.

Could a person so stupid to the extend that when planing a visit to
Furano, he check out the weather conditions of Sapporo?!!
I hate to admit, but the answer is "Yes", indeed.

As a result, it became a sightseeing trip instead of photographying
trip. But that didn't upset me too much as I didn't expect to
successfully photography any great picture in my first attempt.
Re-visiting the same spot number of times until a satisfactory
photography was made is common in landscape photography. So, fine,
I'll be back!!!

Beside learning that I could be that stupid, I also found that I must
get a car license here or otherwise I'll miss so many things, e.g.
while in the bus, I saw a very beautiful horse at a field against a
misty background (as it's about to rain), also a golden barley field,
etc,
How much I wish I were driving a car, then I can just pull over...
So, okey, I'll get a license!!!

Wireless Flash Trigger - a cheap ebay options...

Just when I mentioned about my on-the-way-via-airmail wireless flash trigger in my last night's post, here it is, received this afternoon (I placed my order on 9 July and received on 14 July, only 5 days!!): -

















The model I bought is the second version, which they claims to be compatible with my Canon 580EX II speedlite, while the first version not, they says... well, it's a cheap ebay edition of the Pocket Wizard (that costs 10 times more), so I can't wait to test it.

After a few shots, I am quite happy with what I have paid, USD32.95 + USD5.00 shipping cost.

Below is photo showing the farthest distance it can be triggered. Maybe about 25 to 30 feet?!!

Learning curve of my "off camera flash technique"

Recently I've bought a Canon 580EX II speedlite, (ok if the name sounds too technical to you, in a layman's word just call it a flash light). The model I bought is the big brother among Canon's speedlite!

You might want to ask, isn't there already a pop up flash come with the camera, why still need to spend that extra buck?
Well, if you are taking picture for recording purpose, the on camera flash is adequate.
However, if aesthetic aspect of the photo is your concern, you got to take the flash off camera. Similarly, when taking picture using natural sunlight, you don't like the sun to be a mid afternoon light that comes from the top, but you like the early morning or late afternoon light that come from the side - they produce dramatic lighting for your photo. Read this http://strobist.blogspot.com/ to learn more about off camera lighting techniques...

Being so convinced by the website, I am now learning how to shoot with off camera flash. As such, I also bought a pc cord (a wire which connect the flash to the camera). Following are few of my test shot photos: -


















See, my flash is off camera connected by the pc cord.


















Notice how the light is coming from the right side of her face...
As may be seen in the 1st photo, the flash light first hits the wall and then bounce to her face.

If without flash, it looks like this one below: -

















In the following picture, see the tiny blue spot and the outline of a person??

























or it's too dark and you can't see anything?
Never mind, just move on to the next picture...

























Yes, this photo is totally lit by the off camera flash which I placed at about 45 degree and above the head of the 'model' (Other wise it would be a total darkness!).
Be notice that at the back are curtain at the left and wall at the right... for the next shot, I place my flash on the curtain rail and have the model standing at the wall...

The result is this very masculine lighting style.



















P/s: The use of pc cord is not my preference, but my wireless flash trigger is still on it's way via Airmail from HK, so I have to go for wire temporarily.

One thing I like living here very much is all kind of photography accessories are available in the shop call Yodobashi Camera.
The bad thing about this is my pocket never stop draining ever since I came to Japan...
I am now considering buying a light stand (to hold my flash, so that I don't have to risk putting it on curtain rail again), and a shoot through umbrella (the type that you can see in photo studio).
One of my lab member said I should become a photographer do business open a photo studio something...
hahaha, I am afraid he is right!! But my passion in education is equally strong, how? Become a photography school teacher?!! かもしらないね

Just another street photo taken during Husai

Keep out!

Aging

Taken at Hokkaido University Campus, Japan.
5 July 08