Memories of Hokkaido

[giantcanopy]

Trying to handle the 40D with 2 lenses, my PnS 550UZ, camera bag, kiddy stroller and running after my super energetic 3 year old made it near impossible to compose shots the way I would have liked.

Hi tyho, I seriously do not think i can manage with kids running around. I think it is more like I am admiring what you went thru :sweat: I will try to enjoy abit more life in the meanwhile :bsmilie:

Wah, only now admire, ah I alreali admire before I go Hokkaido

Anyway, if got small kids running around, forget about good photo-lah My kids grown up also cannot get good photos, they don't wait for you one-lah!

p.s. that's what I try to explain to my wife when she complaints why need to buy expensive camera when the result equally bad

Yup two200, i agree. Sometimes I wonder if the only long great holiday break after you have kids will be the time you retire.

I told you your Fan Club is in the forming....also for Zoosh.
I think I have to set aside like 300 hrs (or more?!) to arrive at the 30 min.

My 30 min pales horribly compared to what you can do with your nimble fingers in 10 mins!

Hoping to go hokkaido soon too! Thanks for the wonderful intro!

Thx yehosaphat. Remember to share your shots when you visit the lovely place. I am getting abit itchy looking through other people's Hokkaido photos .. no good .

 

[tyho]

You are too kind...

Anyway, I don't want to hijack your thread with shots of my own but here's a link to a ubiquitous sight over there... one that I was desiring but had no money for...

http://www.2and2.net/files/48ea2b4966bc1.jpg

 

[giantcanopy]

Hi,

I was was waiting eagerly for your Hokkaido portion as I was also there recently. As what was commented your landscape shots are beautiful.
Below are a few of my shots taken at some flower farms (we did not stop at Farm Tomita as we were rushing to catch the lavender express )

Photo 1:
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q198/ilovemycanoneos/IMG_4218.jpg

As can be seen from photo1, I have problem composing this shot as the flowers are planted on a gradient. I have incredible difficultly placing
the tripod. Did you encounter this problem? Your shot no 154 looks quite soft and thus dreamy, how is that achieved? By the way it looks likes
like the work of Shinzo Maeda!

Photo 2:
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q198/ilovemycanoneos/IMG_4280.jpg

It is my attempt to show the curve lines of the slope. I noticed that in a lot of panorma shots (which I have not tried before) that the flower
rows are vertical. Can this photo 2 look good have shot in a panomora manner from this angle? I hope this is not odd question but I am
not a very artistic person

I also have the same problem as you when it comes to the sky, they were virtually no clouds, no blue skies but quite plain white colour.
Except to the last day, when I was rushing and NOT carrying tripod was the sky a brilliant blue! Unfortunately no time to compose proper
shots.

Photo3:
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q198/ilovemycanoneos/IMG_4266.jpg
If you were at this place how would you compose you shot?

Lastly to show a not-composed shot and non-pano shot against your beautiful shot 156:
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q198/ilovemycanoneos/IMG_4249.jpg

It seemed lots of changes since the last I visited Tomita not too long ago, so many more colors this time!

I saw a few shots taken by the local photogs and some of Shinzo Maeda's postcard shots, and are really inspiring. But we probably need
to stay for a while to familiarise and have the good opportunity to take under good weather as well, while all the rest of us have to do what we
can make out of for the short stay for our holiday trip.

My tripod i actually didn put them in the fields. but i adjusted the ballhead based on the grids on my viewfinder against the vertical trees ( which fortunately came off pretty aligned and prevented the need for rotation and cropping )

For pic three i am not too sure as well since the various rows are not exactly the most parallel.
How about just opening up a bigger aperture and focus on the front few flowers in focus while bluring out the background in soft colors ?

I remember the fields at the JR station!

Ryan

 

[giantcanopy]

You are too kind...

Anyway, I don't want to hijack your thread with shots of my own but here's a link to a ubiquitous sight over there... one that I was desiring but had no money for...

http://www.2and2.net/files/48ea2b4966bc1.jpg

Quite pricey. I tried their coke in the little metal canister on the first day in Sapporo after accruing lots of coins. I dun like their non sugar weird tasting green tea though

Ryan

 

[two200]

My tripod i actually didn put them in the fields. but i adjusted the ballhead based on the grids on my viewfinder against the vertical trees ( which fortunately came off pretty aligned and prevented the need for rotation and cropping )

Ryan

Now I know what to do with the gridlines other than just for the rules of thirds.:light: Thx

 

[zoossh]

As can be seen from photo1, I have problem composing this shot as the flowers are planted on a gradient. I have incredible difficultly placing the tripod.

just to add to canopy's answer... first of all, is to get the tripod standing, next is to get the camera body aligned.

to get the tripod standing, you just have to estimate and adjust, shortening the leg on the higher ground, or by adjusting the angle if your tripod allows. to aligned the camera body, u use the ballhead to make a quick adjustment, and use vertical subjects to help in judgement of horizon, if not, you can use a spirit level, which can be on the tripod head or a separate item attached on the hotshoe. you may want to invest in a versatile tripod if you are a tripod person.

if the ground is soft and keep affecting your horizon as the tripod legs sink. got to change the location.

but then, if you dun do stitching.... do u need a tripod in bright day scenaries?

 

[zoossh]

It seemed lots of changes since the last I visited Tomita not too long ago, so many more colors this time!

is it common that most if not all the lavender farm grow their flowers in an array of colors rather than a vast sea of single colors?

 

[giantcanopy]

is it common that most if not all the lavender farm grow their flowers in an array of colors rather than a vast sea of single colors?

Some lesser farms grow only lavendar ( we only passed those fields, never visited them ). Tomita expanded from previously only lavendar. There is a list of timing of which types of flowers are grown and in bloom based on the year. There are some other bigger farms ard the area growing like Tomita as well.

Ryan

 

[giantcanopy]

# 172

Too many tourist around this spot, and I could not wait for long, the only shot I got.
Retrospectively might be nice to be in the fields and take the isolated tree from the other end ( provided the farm fellas dun come after me )

Ryan

 

[a-z0-9]

just to add to canopy's answer... first of all, is to get the tripod standing, next is if you dun do stitching.... do u need a tripod in bright day scenaries?

I try to get set to minimum aperature, shuttle speed is normally 1 second or more.

Canopy thanks for the tips! May I know what is the aperature settings and focal length for shot 154, did you apply a Gaussian blur to the flowers?

 

[giantcanopy]

I try to get set to minimum aperature, shuttle speed is normally 1 second or more.

Canopy thanks for the tips! May I know what is the aperature settings and focal length for shot 154, did you apply a Gaussian blur to the flowers?

Hi a-z0-9 you are most welcomed.

I dun think u need to set to so small an aperture for such a slow shutter speed, and diffraction sets in at higher aperture and the softening outweighs any useful further depth of field gain. ( Personally I have not done comparisons to check , but f8-11 serves my purpose well and I would not like to have too long a shutter speed ) #152 I think i took it at f11, and I have never gone any smaller than that.

I did not apply any blur. But I did not apply sharpening on alot of my landscape panoramas.
There was abit of ghosting at the edges of each frame stitch because of the wind causing movement in the vegetations ( but u probably can only appreciate it with the original bigger file )

Ryan

 

[giantcanopy]

173

Fields of Biei

 

[Estherfu]

Enjoying your photos.:thumbsup::thumbsup:
Can't join in the discussion since you're not stitching with 10 o nylon or 8 o virgin silk.
One day I will understand what you guys are talking about...

 

[jasminesg]

feel like going on holiday liao!

 

[giantcanopy]

Was busy preparing pictures for test printing my panos on a photobook.
Lets see how it turns out!

Enjoying your photos.:thumbsup::thumbsup:
Can't join in the discussion since you're not stitching with 10 o nylon or 8 o virgin silk.
One day I will understand what you guys are talking about...

Woa .. the last time i touched a 10 o was some sleepless night yrs back!

feel like going on holiday liao!

I also wan to go for another holiday soon!

A different processing of #170, giving it abit more emphasis to the clouds

# 174

 

[g-khoo]

# 174

wah!!!! The clouds look so yummy :lovegrin::lovegrin:

 

[giantcanopy]

wah!!!! The clouds look so yummy :lovegrin::lovegrin:

I actually was hopping for blue skies then

#175

Checking messages or taking picture with a camera phone

 

[petetherock]

Super pictures...
I hope I can get even a fraction of this when I travel there next March.
Bro I just pm you to ask for some travel tips on going over there.

 

[photonick2004]

#4 is a winning shot. Don't know if the rest like it. But sure wins hands down. Very nice shot, expression, the glass, depth...everything. Nice! Thanks for sharing.

 

[giantcanopy]

Sent you my original itinerary petetherock. Feel free to ask if you got any queries I will try to answer the best of my knowledge.

Thx alot photonick2004

Took a sumptuous lunch at a nearby inn before we headed down to Rokugo ( Furano ).
We took a bus ride that was almost 40 minutes through a series of seemingly winding roads before we reached the quaint town. There were no electric bikes for rental ( :cry: ) except some good old ( and seemingly old ) manual bicycles that we rented off a nice old lady that speaks ziltch english ( but she was still pretty happy to entertain us with beautiful japanese that we managed to catch and understand snippnets here and there )

The good thing about Rokugo was - it was relatively flat an area to cycle.
The bad thing was - it was getting a little late and overcasted, and we were pretty exhausted with our half a day in Biei. We cut shot on our itinerary and visited only the Rokugo no Mori and the Glass Forest.

A pretty deserted forest village with not many tourists.
And plenty of mosquitoes. You will be donating your blood as you try to set up your tripod

A short pan from the entrance.

#176