About Me
- Amami Superman
- I live on a small island in southern Japan called Amami Oshima. I have many interests and hobbies. I made this blog to share with my family and friends.
翻訳
This is our cat, "Sneeze". We named her sneeze because when we first found her as a newborn kitten, she had a cold, or something, because she kept sneezing all the time. Sneeze is an old kitty cat now. I'd say she's around 13 years old. She's a good cat, but she just couldn't give a care in the world about anything besides her supper.
So yesterday was our daughter's birthday. Jade turned 10 years old and she said it was her best birthday ever. This is a photo I took while we were opening presents with the family.
I finally got around to buying new batteries for my camera along with a new charger. The charger arrived before the batteries did and I decided to see if my old charger was broken by trying to charge my old batteries which I thought were dead. Turns out, it was my charger. In fact, all the batteries I ever bought for my camera that I thought had died, I saved and recharged them all with my new charger. I now have 6 batteries for my camera, great.
So this is just a quick post before I go to work. I finally backed up all my photos from about a year ago (way too many). After exporting my catalogs, I burned 13 DVDs worth of photos with my recently purchased Titanium Toast 11. I'll write more about that later though.
OK, off to work!
Nikon D60, Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 55mm, 1/60 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 -- EXIF
Cannibal Snake
Nikon D60, Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 36mm, 1/60 sec, f/5.3, ISO 200 -- EXIF
So where does that put you on the food chain?
I had to work late last night out in rural part of the island. It was well into the evening when I finished work and as I was driving home, I came across the amazing sight.
The name of this snake is mamushi. Mamushi are similar to habu in the fact that they are poisonous with the same type of venom (only weaker), but the similarities stop there. This snake is short when compared to other snakes. I would say on average they grow to be about 30 to 50 centimeters long. The one doing the eating is about 40 centimeters long. I've heard of snakes here in Amami eating other kinds of snakes, but I've never seen nor heard of a snake eating its own kind. Mamushi are pretty timid snakes and aren't very aggressive. You could step right up next to one almost touching it and it would do nothing. On the other hand, if you stepped on it, you would be in a world of hurt.
I've been trying to take photos of habu but haven't had very good luck taking nice ones. Last night I decided if I came across one, I would try to use my built in flash. I didn't find one, but I did take these photos using it. I thought they turned out pretty well for my first time and I think I'll try to use it again next time I'm out snake hunting. :P I'm also going to try and take photos of the other kinds of snakes they have here on the island and also give a rundown on the different things I use to catch them.
Nikon D60, Nikkkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/50 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400 -- EXIF
Sasori Modoki
This is one of the insects they have here on the island. Every once in a while when your out in the woods or doing something outside around your house, you'll flip something over and find one of these creatures. At first glance you will notice the pincers and the scorpion like body and think it is a scorpion when in fact it is not and isn't even venomous.
The whip scorpion is in fact a spider apart of the arachnid family. Although it only walks on 6 legs, the front two legs have been modified to act like antennae. As I said, it also has pincers which makes it look so much like a scorpion. The actual Japanese name, sasori modoki, means mock scorpion. Sasori is scorpion and modoki means mock or impersonate. I've heard this called one other name for good reason, a puheri mushi. Short and simple, a farting bug. When disturbed, it will secrete/spray a liquid that has a tart, sour smell sort of like vinegar. It's an unmistakable odor if you do come across an agitated one.
This was a pretty bad photo. I took around 10 shots and this one turned out the best. I think my 55-200mm lens' autofocus maybe a bit off. I've been noticing this more and more. One example is when I was taking photos of Jade skateboarding. I was using continual focus with dynamic area mode on one single person and I couldn't get an in focus shot. Looking further at the photos I took of the skateboarder, I noticed that the asphalt just before the skater was in focus. I'm thinking about sending it in for cleaning and calibration, if it doesn't cost too much.
So this is one of the more scarier looking bugs they have here in Amami, but is harmless. There's another one here that I've only seen twice in the 13 years living here that just gives me the heebie jeebies. If I every come across 0ne again and I have my camera, I'll try to photograph it. But let me tell you, I'm a wussy when it comes to insects. They just creep me out too much.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 122mm, 1/30 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1600 -- EXIF
Here are two shots I took of the habu I caught the night I took the photos of the glow-in-the-dark mushrooms. Both photos are of the same habu. I had the camera set to manual and I don't know why I didn't put the aperture to 5.6 and maybe get a faster shutter speed. I think I may have been too excited and thinking more about the snake than the camera. I suppose that's why I like catching them; they give you such a rush being that close to something so deadly. But then you actually think about it and it's even more mind boggling; how can something with no arms and no legs be so dangerous? Anyway, I guess they're really not all that deadly from what I read, but still serious business none the less.
We're smack in the middle of the rainy season here in Amami and it's been raining like no one's business. I haven't tried to go take photos in the rain yet this year so I'm going through my more recent photos and posting the ones didn't get around to posting yet. Mostly shots of flowers and whatnot.
Nikon D60, Nikkkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 24mm, 1/25 sec, f/16, ISO 100 -- EXIF
Shakogai
(giant clam)
This photo was also taken at the fish festival last month. The above photo is cropped and I though cropping it like this would make a more interesting photo than what it was. The clam is larger than a basketball and probably much heavier. Here is a photo of the whole thing, although you still don't get an idea of how big it really was.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/160 sec, f/8.0, ISO 100 -- EXIF
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/60 sec, f/8.0, ISO 100 -- EXIF
These photos were taken the same day as the fish festival last month. I've been doing, or at least trying, a lot of close up shots. My 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens is pretty easy to focus manually for close ups, but I'm still having trouble focusing manually with my 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 for close ups like today's photos. I was looking a them 1:1 and the focus is a bit off. I've also been turning off vibration reduction to see if there's a big difference when using a full zoom, but I haven't noticed anything yet. I think I just suck at focusing. :P
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 55mm, 1/400 sec, f/11, ISO 200 -- EXIF
I had to go pick up some orange boxes for my mother-in-law down by the port and right next door to the place I picked them up was a horde of cats in this drive way all grouped together like they were waiting for something. There were so many, in fact, that I couldn't count them all. There had to have been well over twenty. I didn't have my camera with me at the time so I after dropping off the boxes, I grabbed my camera and went back. When I got back, they had dispersed and were all over the place. I snapped only a few shots because I felt I was trespassing and didn't want to stay too long.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 120mm, 1/125 sec, f/11, ISO 200 -- EXIF
"Don't even think about bothering me."
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/400 sec, f/11, ISO 200 -- EXIF
Just Couldn't Be Bothered
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/100 sec, f/11, ISO 200 -- EXIF
Cat Naps
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/160 sec, f/11, ISO 200 -- EXIF
"You're in the wrong part of town..."
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/80 sec, f/11, ISO 200 -- EXIF
The King Pin
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 72mm, 1/100 sec, f/16, ISO 200 -- EXIF
The Troops
I never saw the owner and I wonder how they could take care of so many cats. How could you feed so many? I can just image these cats taking down large animals like the cats of the African Savannas with coordinated attacks and deadly precision. If I work harder at my photography, I could go work for National Geographic...
Not
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 92mm, 1/2500 sec, f/4.5, ISO 400 -- EXIF
Shirasagi
(white crane)
Well, first off, I would like to apologize for not posting in two weeks. After doing my taxes I was pretty tired and I felt I was sitting in front of my computer too much. I had to get out and do something different. I still took my camera out and took photos, but I didn't upload them to my computer until my SD card was full. And even then, I didn't go through and look at the photos I took.
It's spring break here in Japan and it's also the beginning of a new school year soon and work has finally slowed down just a bit.
While taking a break from posting, I got caught up on things I've been meaning to get around to like working on my Honda Civic and a few other projects. My brother-in-law has a Yamaha TW and it's been sitting here at the house under a cover for more than 5 years. I decided to get that out and do a little maintenance on it. After ordering some new parts and replacing the old ones and buying some insurance, I got it running in good working order. I also hosted a few more barbecues for some family and friends, went to the beach a few times and took Jade out to a few place on the Yamaha TW. Jade has never ridden on a bike before and she really got a blast out of it. I took photos of some of the things we did and I'll post those a little later. For the time being, I'll pick up where I left off my posting.
In my previous post I got to try out my friend's AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 IF-ED. I thought it was a pretty nice lens but I only snapped a few shots with it out in front of his shop. These are the shots I got with my 55-200mm lens.
When I moved back up the river to take some shots, it flew back down the river to its previous spot. Now the cool thing about this is, I've been practicing my panning shots and I thought these mid-flight shots turned out pretty nice. I was pretty happy with them.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 92mm, 1/4000 sec, f/4.5, ISO 400 -- EXIF
On the Move Again
As I said, every time I moved in to take a shot, it would fly away to its previous spot. So back and forth we went all the time while I took these panning shots.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 100mm, 1/4000 sec, f/4.5, ISO 400 -- EXIF
It Just Won't Sit Still
This photo and the next are probably my favorites out of the lot. It's just close enough that I got some background bokeh to give the photos a little depth.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 100mm, 1/3200 sec, f/4.5, ISO 400 -- EXIF
Wings Spread
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/2000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400 -- EXIF
Finally It Stands Still
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/1000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400 -- EXIF
Walking Towards me
So those are some of the many photos I took of this bird. It was fun and I got some more good panning practice in.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 18mm, 1/500 sec, 1/3.5, ISO 100 -- EXIF
Can You See Me?
Our dog Missy is half Yorkshire Terrier and Miniature Schnauzer. We've had her for almost three years now and up till now, I've done all her hair cutting. We have a few places here in Amami that can cut dogs' hair, but I've always been apprehensive about bringing my dog to them. When Missy's hair gets long, it gets hard to cut and I've neglected to cut her hair too long over the past few months. With that, I decided to bring her in to one of these places to have her hair cut. This is the photo of her before she got her haircut.
Nikon D60, Sigma 30mm f/1.4, 1/160 sec, f/3.2, ISO 800 -- EXIF
Looking More Like a Lady
Here is a photo part way through her haircut. She is a beautiful dog, but if you let her hair grow out too long, she looks like some ordinary mutt.
I can't say I'm satisfied with her haircut in terms of what I was looking for, but they did cut her hair pretty well. I'll just have to explain to them more of what I want them to do next time.
I was busy with work and I didn't get a chance to take a photo of her after she was finished with her cut. As I said, I wasn't satisfied with the cut, but it wasn't bad.
Nikon D60, Sigma 30mm f/1.4, 1/200 sec, f/1.4, ISO 800 -- EXIF
Ol' Whiskers
Whenever I come across a dog that looks like it's seen better days (or any animal for that matter), I have to take a photo or two of it. I'm not making fun of them or trying to be mean, I just like to photography old mangy dogs. I made a post before of a dog that has a few links to other photos I've taken of other dogs as well that you can find here.
This dog actually isn't that old and the longer hair is just a part of it's breed. I'm not exactly sure what breed it is, but that's what the owner told me.
Nikon D60, Sigma 30mm f/1.4, 1/200 sec, f/1.4, ISO 800 -- EXIF
Wisdom Beyond Years?
Nikon D60, Sigma 30mm f/1.4, 1/200 sec, f/1.4, ISO 800 -- EXIF
Beauty is Wasted on the Youth
(but not in this case)
I tried to take other photos with a smaller aperture, but I screwed them all up. I held the camera close to the ground and guessed the framing. I wasn't about to get on my stomach and get all dirty to take these photos.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/1600 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400 -- EXIF
1.
Today's post is a continuation of yesterday's post. Today's post is all of the photos I took of mejiro. Mejiro means white eye in Japanese. Besides this first photo, I gave the same light glow to the other photos as I did in my previous post.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400 -- EXIF
2.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400 -- EXIF
3.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/1600 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400 -- EXIF
4.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800 -- EXIF
5.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800 -- EXIF
6.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800 -- EXIF
7.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800 -- EXIF
8.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800 -- EXIF
9.
None of these photos were cropped and I didn't do much post editing besides the light glow. I stood up on a concrete picnic table with my head up in the branches for a little over an hour trying not to move too quickly so not to scare the birds away. It was pretty warm that day and I was sweating profusely. I think I even got a slight sun burn. But it was all worth it for these shots.
After I got back from taking photos the morning of my previous post, I was just uploading them when the whole room got bright. The sun was out! I took a look out the window and sure enough, there were patches of blue sky out. I finished with what I was doing and decided to take a walk to the weather service station they have near my house. I've seen sakura there before so I thought I'd try my luck. As I was walking there, I snapped some shots of a few things.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 -- EXIF
Isohiyodori
Amami Blue Rock Thrush
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 -- EXIF
On the Prowl
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 160mm, 1/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 -- EXIF
Ah, Much Better
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/200 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 -- EXIF
Another Mejiro
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 -- EXIF
Soft
This last photo was cropped. I also downed the Clarity a bit to give it a softer feel. Here is the original photo.
Hopefully we'll get some more good weather and I'll be able to get out and take more sakura photos.
I was getting Jade off to school this morning when I realized it wasn't raining that hard. After she left, I grabbed my gear and jumped in the car to go see if I could get lucky and take some sakura photos. Well, it didn't change much. It was still raining but not enough so I needed an umbrella. The sakura trees were littered with mejiro birds so I took a few shots of them as well. (mejiro means "white eye")
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600 -- EXIF
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/200 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600 -- EXIF
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/200 sec, f/10, ISO 1600 -- EXIF
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600 -- EXIF
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 90mm, 1/160 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 -- EXIF
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/80 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 -- EXIF
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/80 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 -- EXIF
After returning home, I decided to make a rain guard to cover my camera for when I took photos in the rain. I've seen them online here and there. Even though they're not that expensive, I figured I could make it for a fraction of the price, plus, I'm a DIY kind of guy. It turned out pretty nice so I'll use that next time I go out in the rain to take photos.
This post was written the day I took these photos but wasn't posted for about 5 days. It just so happened, as I was writing this post, the sun broke through the clouds blazing and I grabbed my camera and took a walk right near my house. I'll share those photos in my next post.
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