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Author Topic: A few from Japan  (Read 5757 times)

BernardLanguillier

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A few from Japan
« on: January 03, 2012, 08:18:07 am »

Playing with my new Zeiss ZF 50mm f2.0 on the D7000 while spending a few hours in the old capital Kamakura.

A very happy 2012 to my forum friends!







More after the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bernardlanguillier/

Cheers,
Bernard

francois

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Re: A few from Japan
« Reply #1 on: January 03, 2012, 08:58:50 am »

Hi Bernard,
Happy New Year to you and I see that you have an excellent start with those vibrant photos.
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Francois

BernardLanguillier

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Re: A few from Japan
« Reply #2 on: January 03, 2012, 05:25:03 pm »

Thank you Francois, the same to you!

Cheers,
Bernard

jeremypayne

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Re: A few from Japan
« Reply #3 on: January 03, 2012, 05:38:28 pm »

I see why you recommended that lens! 

The OOF rendition is just delicious.
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BernardLanguillier

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Re: A few from Japan
« Reply #4 on: January 03, 2012, 07:52:26 pm »

I see why you recommended that lens!  

The OOF rendition is just delicious.

Indeed. I still need to try with point lights in the background, but it is for sure close to ideal for daylight photography! It really reminds be of the best Leica M glass in terms of rendition.

It is also very easy to focus manually with live view, even handheld and real sharp even at f2.

There is close to zero distorsion, at least when used on APS-C sensors. Vertical lines close to the edge of the frame appear to my eyes as being perfectly vertical. This makes it much easier to frame accurately city scenes, which reduces the need to crop.

I could also not see much color aberations even on contrasty back lit edges. I guess that it would be worse in the corners on an FF body though (I don't have one right now).

It is for sure a very expensive 50mm lens, but the quality is just great. My otherwise excellent Nikkor AF-S 60mm f2.8 is on sales as we speak.  :D

Cheers,
Bernard

Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: A few from Japan
« Reply #5 on: January 03, 2012, 08:02:48 pm »

Bernard,

These mountains look a good bit different from the ones I'm used to from you, but they're still very nice.

Of course I imagine the second one was stitched from 17 different shots.  ;)

Cheers,

Eric
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BernardLanguillier

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Re: A few from Japan
« Reply #6 on: January 03, 2012, 09:17:09 pm »

Of course I imagine the second one was stitched from 17 different shots.  ;)

Indeed Eric! :-)

A great 2012 to you.

I am discovering with amazed eyes that it is now possible to use cameras without tripods. I had assumed they were a mandatory accessory.  ;D

cheers,
Bernard

Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: A few from Japan
« Reply #7 on: January 03, 2012, 11:49:01 pm »

Bernard,

Back when I had an 8x10 view camera, I once planned to mount it on a pistol grip and have somebody get a photo of me hand-holding it. I'm sorry I didn't get to do it before I down-sized.

It can be quite liberating to disconnect your camera from a tripod!

You have a terrific 2012 as well.

Cheers,

Eric
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wolfnowl

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Re: A few from Japan
« Reply #8 on: January 04, 2012, 01:30:49 am »

Bernard, a camera and NO tripod?  Is this the end of the world as we know it?

Happy New Year to you, and thanks for sharing!

Mike.
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If your mind is attuned t

Rob C

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Re: A few from Japan
« Reply #9 on: January 04, 2012, 04:28:30 am »

Bernard, a camera and NO tripod?  Is this the end of the world as we know it?

Happy New Year to you, and thanks for sharing!

Mike.



Prepare yourself for more miracles: he might free himslf from stitches!

;-)

Rob C

BernardLanguillier

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Re: A few from Japan
« Reply #10 on: January 04, 2012, 08:15:34 am »

Bernard, a camera and NO tripod?  Is this the end of the world as we know it?

Happy New Year to you, and thanks for sharing!

Mike.

I know Mike... not sure what's happening. I feel strange... :o

Cheers,
Bernard

BernardLanguillier

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Re: A few from Japan
« Reply #11 on: January 04, 2012, 08:16:40 am »

Prepare yourself for more miracles: he might free himslf from stitches!

Stitches???

Who would want to assemble several images into one, you'd have to be craaaazy to do such a thing!  :-\

Cheers,
Bernard

Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: A few from Japan
« Reply #12 on: January 04, 2012, 09:02:03 am »



Prepare yourself for more miracles: he might free himslf from stitches!

;-)

Rob C
My wife had surgery on her hand recently and her stitches come out this afternoon.
When do you get your stitches out, Bernard?

Eric
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Ray

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Re: A few from Japan
« Reply #13 on: January 04, 2012, 09:07:58 am »

Those images certainly are vibrant, Bernard. They seem to have the sort of vibrancy that has been exaggerated for printing purposes using soft proofing with 'simulate paper color'. Would that be right, or do you just prefer exaggerated vibrancy?

I recently acquired an NEC MultiSync PA271W 27" monitor with SpectraView II software and i1Display Pro colorimeter. When I calibrated the monitor, the monitor profile was sent by default to a Photoshop folder (I presume). I haven't yet taken the trouble to find it and copy it to the appropriate place in the video card's color management software because the colors on the monitor, outside of Photoshop, look so deliciously vibrant, such as my desktop theme with changing scenes of Australia.

However, on this monitor, which is essentially uncalibrated outside of Photoshop, the vibrancy of your images is just over the top. On another calibrated monitor, with profile saved in the video card software, your colors look closer to natural, but still exaggerated to a pleasing degree.
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BernardLanguillier

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Re: A few from Japan
« Reply #14 on: January 04, 2012, 09:26:46 am »

Ray,

I didn't increase the saturation, but played a bit with clarity and contast.

The colors were pretty saturated to start with, especially the 3rd one with fresh paint being hit by sweet evening light.

Cheers,
Bernard

Rob C

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Re: A few from Japan
« Reply #15 on: January 04, 2012, 11:01:46 am »

Ray, your experience echoes one of mine. I met up with a Spanish waiter who'd helped me with Photoshop many moons ago (irony, what?) and, on asking him later what he thought of my website, he complained that it was all too OTT regarding colour and contrast... his desktop unit was bust and he was using a laptop. So, I guess that we have to be happy with what we see on our own units, calibrated as we think they are. I suppose the best I can say is that the images of those pros whose work I admire look wonderful on my monitor, so I must be calibrated close to theirs, I'd imagine.

Rob C

Ray

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Re: A few from Japan
« Reply #16 on: January 04, 2012, 09:28:23 pm »

Rob,
I guess if one is going to err in relation to the degree of color vibracy, it's better to err on the side of excessive vibrancy than on the side of lack of vibrancy.
I can view Bernard's images on both an uncalibrated professional monitor designed for photographic processing, and a run-of-the-mill monitor which appears to be correctly calibrated.

If one clicks on the Flickr link Bernard has provided, one can see more of this series of images. One of the images has what appears to be a Japanese woman in sharp focus, but she has the complexion of a ruddy, sun-tanned Westerner, on my calibrated monitor.

But that's okay. Maybe she really is a Westerner, or maybe Japanese people in general prefer to have the redder complexion of the Westerner. Whatever looks best is fine by me.
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degrub

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Re: A few from Japan
« Reply #17 on: January 04, 2012, 09:45:26 pm »

Perhaps there was a lot of reflected light off of the freshly painted red walls? The other two ladies' skin seems to be more directly lit by the sun.
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BernardLanguillier

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Re: A few from Japan
« Reply #18 on: January 05, 2012, 08:11:38 am »

Yep, her face was also hit by sweet evening light, and she was pretty tanned to start with. Kamakura is a sea side city with a good surf culture! :-)

Cheers,
Bernard

Rob C

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Re: A few from Japan
« Reply #19 on: January 05, 2012, 02:39:15 pm »

Yep, her face was also hit by sweet evening light, and she was pretty tanned to start with. Kamakura is a sea side city with a good surf culture! :-)Cheers,
Bernard




Not any more, I'd bet!

Rob C
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