PotD: Rocky Mountain

So I'm still not sure if I'm headed on the right direction. I'm still editing my old shots and trying to make something out of it. But as everyone knows, you can't do shit to your photo if your photo is shitty in the first place. I spent roughly 2 days on this photo and this is the best I could do. However, I still think it is good practice. It's better to make mistakes and learn all the pitfalls you need to avoid so that when you get to edit a portfolio worthy shot, it will be epic.

 

Here is how this image started. As you can tell it's a complete mess but a wonderful practice on blending exposures manually. The darkest exposure looks nice for the sky while the middle exposure is good for the mountains in the back and finally the lightest exposure is good for the foreground to mid-ground.

After blending for about half an hour, I usual start with balancing the tonal range of the image. My favorite is using the dodge and burn layer so I could easily target the areas I want to brighten/darken quickly and hassle free. After which, I would proceed with color correction and/or saturation. At the end of day one I was already happy with my shot so I proceeded to save and upload to my SmugMug site.

The following day, I checked my image at work (ooppss sorry boss) with my uncalibrated monitor and found a bland image. I was pretty pissed on the thought of working on an image the whole day and finding it shitty. I don't quite understand this yet, but when I see other people's works on the same monitor, they still look amazing. My monitor back at home is properly calibrated so it's definitely my image that sucks. I think I have to learn how to edit in such a way that even with a bad monitor it would still look good.

Once I got home, I checked my image and surprisingly found it indeed lifeless and boring. This lead me to think that I should not spend hours and hours looking at the same image. I think my eyes have already adjusted to it and thus I could not see how bad it was. So, I did a 2nd pass of editing to adjust color and contrast once again. I am hoping this time it will look good in any monitor.

I think my approach to leveling-up my photoshop game is a little misguided. I should stop staring at the same image for a very long time. I guess it would help if I took a break and edit it again on a different day to give my eyes a rest and avoid adjusting to the image. If my image still looks good after I let it settle for a while, then probably it is worth posting.

PotD: Still Broken Up About It

It's fun browsing old rejected images and finding something that you can edit because of your newly learnt techniques. For this one, I went crazy with photoshop. For a few weeks now, I've been upping my game with photoshop. Usually I would just add a few filters and be done with it. I was very reliant to 3rd party software like Photomatix and Nik Software to make my images. But after learning about luminosity masking, I've cut down my usage to almost none. 

Here is a shot taken from one of many colorful flower farms in Hokkaido, Japan. The tree looked like a heart with a chip on the upper left hence the title.

This is not one of the best images in the world but it's a good practice for blending manually as seen first part of my layers.

Here is the before image if you're curious.

Spaceship Tokyo

It's my second time to be in this building and it never fails to blow my mind. The architecture from the inside looks like a spaceship's deck. How cool is that?! I didn't bring a tripod that day because it was raining. Having a tripod while holding an umbrella is like juggling to me. So, I had to find flat surfaces where I can balance my camera to do long exposures. I was thinking of investing on table tripods or gorillapods that could easily fit in my bag for instances like this.

The first time I was here, it was in the morning the lights were kinda boring. This was shot during blue hour which I think is the perfect time to shoot this place. The colors of the lights and the blue sky makes a good color contrast.

 

Dynamic Tokyo

It's been a while since I posted and image. I've been struggling with my work schedule for the past few weeks because my gf was coming to Tokyo and I had to finish most of my work before I take a well-deserved 9 day vacation. Now that I am in my work place, I feel bored and empty. Last week was pretty amazing. We went from Yokohama to Osaka then Nara, Yoshino, Kobe and then back to Tokyo. It was expensive but having a credit card attached to you bank account makes losing money oblivious.

I shot this from Mori Tower in Roppongi Hills. It was a weekday so it was easy to grab one of the best viewing angles of the Tokyo Tower. I let my gf sit on the bench so she could guard the position until the Tokyo lights lit up while I roam around looking for other interesting shots.

Anyways, here is the map where I shot this. I've always wanted to know where awesome pictures are taken so I'm taking the initiative of posting the locations of some of my shots for those who want to take the same picture. I hope it helps

View Larger Map

The Snooker Table

TED Talks: The Paradox of Choice

This is currently my favorite TED talk because this is exactly how I feel every time I wanted to purchase any item that has tons of options. For example, if I wanted a new camera, I get paralyzed with all the choices there is the market, SLR, digicams, lenses, Nikon, Canon, Sony etc. By the time I made my decision, I always feel that buyers remorse because I make this stupid concoction in my head that there are other cameras better that what I bought. Choices doesn't usually liberate us, it actually paralyzes us and in some cases make us feel worse even in hindsight we made the right choice.

Image of the Day: The Snooker Table

Last weekend I attended the Japan Photofest 2011 in Yokohama. It was a 3-day event of pure photography and fun but it came at a hefty price of 45k yen. Unfortunately, I can only afford to go on a single day so I attended the last day which was all about post processing. At first I was hesitant of joining because I feel I wouldn't learn as much as those who just started photography but as the day progressed, even though I didn't learn quite that much, I enjoyed meeting very interesting people and learning about their philosophies in photography. 

One of the events that I was eager to attend was of the HDR workshop from Alfie Goodrich. I've always wanted to know where I stand against the professionals in terms of high dynamic range photography and I'm proud to say I feel like I'm quite there already. Below is the shot I got from the workshop. People who were with me also was able to produce the same quality or for some even better. So my conclusion for this is, people learn faster when somebody teaches it rather than learning it by yourself. But for me, I think it is more gratifying to know that I almost have the same knowledge as the pros despite being self-taught. 

 

A Taste of Akita

It has been a while since I've posted here in blogspot. I'm really confused on how to build a blog. I bought a wordpress bundle but I'm not sure how to use it. Do I still need to install the wordpress platform in my PC? Or is it just OK to modify the site online? The hell, do I need pay for hosting? What about the 8GB space given to me when I bought the bundle? Is that considered hosting?

I'm more f****** confused than ever. And I need help with all this mumbo jumbo blogging thingy. I think I don't have time to sort everything out so maybe I'll lean towards refund so I can rethink and do more proper research before venturing again to this costly business.

Anyways, here is a shot I took in Hachimantai in Akita Prefecture. It is the area near the Goshogake Onsen where the colors are unbelievable. I've never experienced anything like this in my enter life (partly because I came from the Philippines).

The Morning Glow

There were tons of moments during the climb that I said to myself I can't continue anymore. But somehow, someway, I kept on walking and following the flow of the climbers. I regularly stopped whenever I heard my heart beating too fast and sometimes even closed my eyes if the trail was flat. I was so tired and all I could think of was my bed. Everything changed when I saw the sunrise. 

The Kurobe Dam

Spent so much time down at the base that I had a few minutes left for the observatory deck.The tour group was about to move to the next location so had I run about 300 steps up to the deck. Upon reaching the top, I literally had no time to catch my breath so I began shooting my usual series of brackets without using a tripod. After about a minute, some of my friends were already calling us because the tour group is about to proceed to the next location. I'm happy I was able to get this shot in time. Although I feel I could have composed it better

Blue Mountains Red Sky

Dawn was about to break and we had to decide to continue to climb or stop and setup for the sunrise. We were already at the 9th station and seems like the final station is stone's throw away. However, I was so afraid that we might get caught in the middle and not get a good vantage point. I can't risk it so we decided to stop.

This was actually my first time to shoot at dawn because I never had the strength to wake up so early in the morning.  A sunrise for me seems more peaceful and zen like while a sunset is more fierce and aggressive. Now it makes me wonder which I like more...

The Climb

Whew! I'm back from a rigorous overnight climb of Mt. Fuji last weekend. My limbs were so sore it took a great effort for me to move this morning. Slowly I'm starting to regain the functions of my limbs so hopefully I can go to work tom :D

I was hoping to do more long exposures during this hike but it was so tiresome to stop and setup a shot like this every time there is an awesome view. Although I did try to shoot whenever we rest, it just came to a point that I couldn't because I was so tired.

The Japanese Alps and Creating Order with Circles

Musings: Creating Order with Circles

I've been using Google+ for a while now and so far I'm enjoying it. I really don't mind if all of my friends wouldn't join this service because I'm more interested in interacting with other fellow photographers who share the same passions as I do. Recently however, as the invitations are now accessible 24/7, I've been having a hard time managing all the Photographer contacts that I follow and those who have added me. So I've been developing system that is still in its evolutionary stage. It is no way final and I'm still thinking of ways to improve it.

So here is the system

0. Setup

I've segregated all the photographers and enthusiasts into 4 circles.

The Best - obviously contains all the best photographers out there like Trey Ratcliff and Thomas Hawk. I don't visit this circle much often because I'm already an avid fan of their blogs and most of the stuff they post here I have already scene from other social media sites.

Awesome - These guys are of great skill, maybe equal, and sometimes even more than the guys and gals at The Best circle. However, these Photographers here are not as famous as the circle above them. This is my main inspirational corner whenever I go online on G+.

Notable - These people are regular Joes of photography. They post nice pictures but not as great as the other two circles above. I put people here if they post regular pictures and have commented or +1'ed any of my photos.

Friendly - These people are not photographers but they are friendly enough to +1 or comment on any of my photos.

1. Post an Image

My system starts whenever I share an image to the public.

2. Circle Active Users

I add all the people who +1'ed or commented on my posts to my Friendly circle. For now, this is my way of tracking active users in Google+.

3. Reciprocate with the Friendly People

I then proceed to my Friendly circle stream and start the reciprocating process. If I find a fellow photographer who just blows my mind away with his photography, I promote him/her to my Awesome circle. If I find someone who is a photographer but I don't find his/her work as compelling as those in the Awesome circle, I just promote them to the Notable circle. The rest, I just comment and +1 if I find their post interesting enough.

4. Engage with the Notables

I check the Notable circle stream and again start commenting and +1'ing images and posts that I like. I sometimes promote people to the Awesome circle if I suddenly find their images are amazing. Conversely, if they post more bitch slapping GIFs than their actual work then I demote them back to the Friendly circle.

5. Find Inspiration from the Awesome

Finally, I visit the Awesome circle where again I comment and +1 on the images and posts I like. I also promote or demote some of the photographers depending on the quality of their posts. This is the stream where I engage the most because the quality of images here are pretty high and remarkable.

I repeat this process whenever I'm online. For now, the task is a little tedious and it needs some refinement so I could reciprocate faster and easier. 

Bonus step:

6. Search for Talent in the Vault

The Vault is the my collection of people I've added from Trey's list and the people who added me. After I finish steps 1-5, and I'm still hooked with G+, I try to search some talent from The Vault and promote them to their appropriate circles. This way, when I go back G+ and start my system again, I could see their stuff and show my appreciation for their work.

So, how do you manage your Photographer contacts in G+?  Do share and we might find a better way to organize!


Photos: The Japanese Alps

Whew! That was a long post. I usually don't write that long. I just hope your eyes made it to this section before it was swept away by boredom.

Kurobe Alpine Route is a good place for landscape photographers. The view of the mountains are breathtaking. I wish I had more time to stay and to keep on shooting but I was in a tour group so my time was limited. The weather was also pretty bad. A minute after taking the shots below the mountains suddenly disappeared behind the thick clouds and would not reappear for quite some time. By the time it clears, the tour group had to move to a different location so I already lucky enough to catch it.

The Toyama Castle and Google+ Feature Wishlist

Musings: Google+ Feature Wishlist
So Google+ has been making waves in the Internet. With all the awesome features of this new Google project, there are still some features I'd love to see implemented.

1. Allow passive users in Hangout - I understand that due to bandwidth concerns and the difficulty to converse with an enormous number of people, 10 is a reasonable limit of users that can join and actively participate in a Hangout. However, for those who were slow in clicking the join button (like me), I'd love to be able to passively participate by just listening and or viewing the conversations as they take place. Sort of like an online streaming of the conversation. Of the Hangouts I've been, there were only about 2-4 persons leading the conversations and the others just listening or chatting away in the chat room. If Google+ can't implement a passive viewer/listener system, maybe they could at least allow more people to join the chat room so people could chime in to the conversation.
2. Allow stream filter for pictures - I think the Photographers circle is one of the largest community in Google+. They post so many pictures and comment on each other's shots that my friends' pictures get buried immediately. I wish they would have the same filter in the stream of the Photo section as well so I could just click and find my friends' pictures.
3. Add share and +1 buttons in lightbox - Whenever I'm browsing for amazing pictures via the lightbox and don't feel like commenting, I wish there was a little +1 button I could just click to show my appreciation for the beautiful image. And there are times when I am just blown away by a picture that I can't help but share it. Unfortunately, while I'm writing this, there is no share button available in the lightbox.

As we all know, Google+ is still in Beta. I'm sure in time they will roll out more awesome features.

Is there any feature you want Google to implement?

Photos: Toyama Castle Reflections

I've began my obsession with castles and reflections. Toyama city is well known as the base station where people rest before or after enjoying the sights of Shirakawa-go and the Kurobe Alpine Route. It was strange that www.japan-guide.com failed to mention there is a pretty castle in the center of the city. So when I was walking around the area, I was really surprised when I saw this castle with a perfect reflection on its moat.

Miyajima Island's Floating Torii Gate

Miyajima is an island near Hiroshima City and is home of the most scenic view in Japan. Hiroshima has become my 2nd favorite place after Kyoto mostly because of this place. There was a spiritual feeling as I stood in awe beside this giant gate that I can't quite explain. This place is just an awesome place... period

I had to wait more than 4 hours until the tide came up. As you can see, it was very hard to get a clean shot of the gate without tourists ruining the shot. I waited for the golden hour and then the blue hour and I really liked how they turned out. A friend suggested that I should do a time-lapse video as the tide comes up. I shall try it when I have the money and time.

Shirakawa.... GO!

Ogimachi Village, a UNESCO world heritage site, is the largest village in Shirakawa-go. It is famous for their gassho-zukuri farmhouses. (Gassho-zukuri meaning "constructed like hands in prayer"). Their steep roofs are necessary during the winter because of the heavy snow that falls on the village.

The there was a funny photographer at the view point of Ogimachi Village who emphatically pronounced "Go" of Shirakawa-go whenever he took pictures. After we took our shots, his personality kinda brushed in to ours and we started enunciating the "Go" in Shirakawa-go whenever we took pictures.

The A-Bomb Dome

Located at the Peace Park in Hiroshima City, the A-Bomb Dome is the reminder of the horror experienced by the Japanese when an atomic bomb was dropped one fine morning in Japan. This structure, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was the only structure than remained standing near the hypocenter of the explosion.

Hiroshima Castle

Musings: What motivates us?

I've been listening to a lot of talks this week and I stumbled upon this really interesting talk on motivation. Because I've been a software engineer for almost 4 years now, I like the idea of paying us enough money so we could forget about our financial problems and concentrate on thinking of innovative ideas.

Here is the video:

Hiroshima Castle

After watching Band of Brothers and WW2 in Colour, I was extremely hooked to WW2 flicks. So, during Japan's Golden Week (7 awesome concurrent holidays), I had the urge to visit any historical place related to WW2. Hiroshima was the first thing on my mind since it was the first city in history to be hit by an atomic bomb. More than half a century later, I am amazed that the city is this beautiful and lively and I can't imagine it was flattened a few decades ago.

Edo Wonderland: Ninjas, Samurais and Oirans

Have you ever pretended and dressed up as a ninja when you were a kid (or even as an adult)? Edo Wonderland is the ultimate place to relive these childhood fantasies. Edo Wonderland is theme park village that resembles the olden years of Tokyo during the age of Ninjas and Samurais. What makes theme park cool and unique is that the guests can dress up like the townspeople of the village. Meaning they could pretend to be geishas, peasants, samurai, ninja, etc..

Here is the video from their website so you can understand what I'm talking about.

Here are some of my pictures taken there.

If you want to see some cool ninja fights, checkout my post here: Grand Ninja Theater

Otaru

Otaru is a harbor city northwest of Sapporo. It is famous for its beautiful Otaru Snow Light Path Festival during the winter season. Unfortunately, we didn't have the time to visit the place at night so we opt for a short day trip instead.

The city was all white. Everything was covered in ice. Walking was a tedious task as we had to make sure every step was solid and stable. We went around the canals, ate sushi and went back to Sapporo to enjoy the Snow Festival.

Yasukuni Shrine

Yasukuni Shrine is a famous Shinto Shrine dedicated to the soldiers who fought in honor of the Emperor. More than 2 million men and women who fought and died during WW2 were enshrined here.

Being at a perfect place at the perfect time couldn't be more true with this shot. The sun was at right spot and there were no tourists ruining the scene as I was talking multiple exposures. This image perfectly represents the Kanji 間 which means "in between".

The Great Gate - Daiichi Torii

I moved forward towards the shrine and kept on shooting while the sun sits perfectly still on the vantage point.

Father of Modern Japanese Army  - Omura Masujima

The mean guard on the left side of the image kept on harassing me to not use my tripod. So I retracted its leg, put it down, and tried to shoot handheld in front and center of the shrine. The guard approached me again to get out of the middle of the walkway. So I was forced to shoot from the side as seen on this image.

Haiden - "Hall of Worship"