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
So after our daughter got her hair cut and we went to pick her up, we were walking home and I decided to take some photos of her on the way. The previous post's photos are some of those photos. This is another that wasn't that great on its own but with a few post editing graduated ND filters and a nice crop, I thought it turned out OK. Oh, and I used my flash, hence the title of this blog post.
I dialed down my on-board camera's flash compensation to -3.0 and shot. I don't like harsh contrasting shadows from flashes so I don't use my on-board flash that often. Eventually I would like to buy a flash and start experimenting with it. Learning how to diffuse the light from a flash is something I'd like to learn and it's high up on my list of things I'd like to study. I just have to buy a flash. But before I buy a flash, I would like to buy a new camera body. I've been saying this for over a year now, but I really do think I need to buy a new one. It's just not high up on my Things I Want to Spend My Money on list, but eventually I will. I still got my eye on a Nikon D300s.
Oh, and the title for the photo, "Glamour Shots by Deb are 75% Off", is from the movie Napoleon Dynamite if you were wondering what that was all about.
In the past few years here in Amami there has be planning going on for rebuilding parts of the city. It's a very controversial matter with different politicians and political groups about how Amami should be spending their money. I don't have any voting rights so it hasn't really sparked my interest as how it will affect me. I'm an English teacher and if it helps bring more people to Amami to live, I'm all for it. If it's just another way to attract tourists to a beautiful community, then yes, they could find another way to spend their money. But in that same sense, if by having more tourists come, income will increase giving the means for more people to send their children to me to learn English. Either way, I win. But, I really don't have an opinion.
This is a real photo of the city enhanced with 3D graphics to show the portions of the city they plan on changing pertaining to the area I live in. My mother-in-law's house happens to be just beside the road they are going to make, but doesn't fall into the plan. If it had, she probably would have gotten a new house out of it.
The buildings are so close together in Japan that all they can do is put up some scaffolding to protect the neighboring building from falling debris.
I'm not sure why they water down the rubble. If I had to guess, I would say it was to keep the dust levels down. The only other thing I could think of was to prevent fires. I don't know.
These photos were also taken last January. I've been trying to go through the photos I've taken over the last 6 months, but there's just so many, it's almost discouraging. I suppose I have to be more strict with how I spend my time each day and set aside some time to write up post for the photos I've taken. The problem is being strict with myself. Sometimes I'm just so tired, I don't want to do anything but eat some dinner, take a shower and go to bed. I suppose that if a hobby feels more like a chore, it's not a hobby. But it's something I love to do so I'll be more strict with myself and try to set aside more time to do what I love.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 44mm, 1/40 sec, f/5.3, ISO 1600 -- EXIF
"I know we can get ourselves out of this..."
Nikon D60, Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 40mm, 1/40 sec, f/5.3, ISO 1600 -- EXIF
No Guts, No Glory
Nikon D60, Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 55mm, 1/80 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600 -- EXIF
"Congratulations! You've made the cut."
Well, I hope these photos didn't gross you out too much. I couldn't help myself with the bad puns. I had a few photos of a road race they had last year but I never got around to posting them. I was thinking of using some bad puns for those too like, "Man who runs in front of cars gets tired. (tyred for you non-Americans lol)" And, "Man who runs behind cars gets exhausted."
So these photos were taken at a fish festival they had last week on Thursday. I'm still going through those photos as well as some older ones I took last month. Sorting through them and choosing the ones I want to use for posts is pretty tedious, but I think I'll have a bunch to share over the next couple of weeks (if I can manage to find the time to make posts).
Nikon D60, Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 90mm (134mm DX format), 1/500 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 -- EXIF
Family by the River
Family by the River
In my previous posts I talked about my walk to my friend Toshi Nagai's photo shop. He recenly bought a AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED, of which I am completely jealous. Anyway! He had a AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED lens sitting out and I asked if I could try it out on my D60. He said sure so I slapped it on and went outside his shop to shoot a few photos. This is what I got.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 300mm (450mm DX format), 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 -- EXIF
Full Zoom
Nikon D60, Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 300mm (450mm DX format), 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 -- EXIF
Full Zoom
This lens isn't a DX format lens so it's about a 1.5x focal length.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 260mm (390mm DX format), 1/50 sec, f/18, ISO 200 -- EXIF
Panning
Nikon D60, Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 135mm (202mm DX format), 1/1250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 -- EXIF
Coming at Me
Nikon D60, Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 80mm (120mm DX format), 1/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 -- EXIF
Hungry Looking Crows
Nikon D60, Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 300mm (450mm DX format), 1/1600 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400 -- EXIF
White Crane
Nikon D60, Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 260mm (390mm DX format), 1/50 sec, f/18, ISO 200 -- EXIF
Panning
I try my best to remember the things I learn but it's tough. Some things only come with experience. I've been practicing panning shots with a slower shutter speeds to get a motion blur effect with the subject in focus as this photo. It was a spur of the moment type thing. I dialed up the aperture to get the slower shutter speed and took the shot. One thing that I notice about this lens is its auto focus is very fast. The next shot proves this. While I was shooting things across the river on the other side, I switched back to the side I was on, dialed back down the aperture and took this shot.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 135mm (202mm DX format), 1/1250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 -- EXIF
Coming at Me
Nikon D60, Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 80mm (120mm DX format), 1/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 -- EXIF
Hungry Looking Crows
Nikon D60, Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 300mm (450mm DX format), 1/1600 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400 -- EXIF
White Crane
Nikon D60, Nikkor 70-300mm /f 4.5-5.6 @ 220mm (330mm DX format), 1/1000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400 -- EXIF
White Crane with a Fish Tail
White Crane with a Fish Tail
These last few photos were something I thought would be nice but they weren't really that nice. But, I thought I would share them with you anyways. It was a pretty bird, but I thought I could have done better.
After returning his lens, it was lunch time and I headed out to walk back home. We had plans to go out in the afternoon to take some photos which I posted here. When I left, the crane was still there and I decided to take some more shots using my 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 zoom lens, which I'll share in my next post.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/160 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 -- EXIF
This is a continuation of my last post of my walk to my friend Toshi Nagai's photo shop. I took a bunch of photos of the different cats I came across but there were so many of them, I chose just a few to share in this post.
For some strange reason, these photos reminded me of the fairy tale of the Pied Piper. Although in the tale of the Pied Piper, the animals he enchanted to follow him were mice, there were so many cats out today and it kind of reminded me of that.
In the bright sunlight of this day, this cat looked a like it had a bit of brown in the color of its fur. When it was in the shadows, it looked completely black.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 18-55mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 -- EXIF
Tempting Fate
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/1600 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 -- EXIF
Heathcliff the Cat
This fella reminded me of the comic strip cat Heathcliff. He didn't seem too care much about me as he strolled along.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 150mm, 1/250 sec, f/5.3, ISO 200 -- EXIF
A Princess Out on a Stroll
This was a beautiful cat. I didn't actually check to see if it was a him or a her, but it just looked like a girl cat.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 190mm, 1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100 -- EXIF
Taking a Rest
All of the pigeons I've seen in Amami are pigeons that are raised and cared for. There were three other pigeons in this park and they all had collars on their legs. You can't see the collar on this one, as it has its collared leg is raised.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 200mm, 1/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 -- EXIF
Up to No Good
Nikon D60, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 @ 165mm, 1/400 sec, f/4.8, ISO 200 -- EXIF
Hoodlums
Most places here in Amami have nets and cages to put your trash in for the trash collectors to pick up, but some places like this still don't have such things. The crows congregate and tear open the trash bags scattering trash across the street which leads to awful messes. This isn't a problem just here in Amami, but all of Japan.
So those were just a few more of the photos I took on my way to my friend's photo shop. There's more to come.
Nikkon D60, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8, 1/60 sec, ISO 200 -- EXIF
1.
Just after work, I was sitting at my desk looking at the different lenses Nikon has. I was reading on some scrub site different things about Nikon's DX lenses that even though they say "DX", they're still about 1.5x focal length. If that's the case, why even give the name "DX" to them in the first place. I didn't believe what I read. I know that if you put a DX lens on an FX camera, you get vignetting. I soon dismissed what I had read and kept looking at other lenses. I then started to think how big a 1.5x focal length is. I got out the Nikon FM2 with a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lens and looked at different things through the viewfinder. As I said in a previous post, it was sort of like looking through the viewfinder of my D60 with my Sigma 30mm lens. Although the D60 has a smaller viewfinder, angle of view wise, they seemed similar. I then took the 50mm f/1.8 and stuck it on my D60. It was a completely different angle of view. Although this lens is a manual focus lens, I thought it would be good to practice with.
I looked out my classroom window down at the street so see if there was anything interesting to photograph. Nothing much. Then I decided to take some photos of people riding buy on bikes and scooters. The first thing I noticed, trying to take panning shots while focusing manually is tough, especially with a small viewfinder. But I stuck with it for a while.
There's nothing particularly fantastic about these photos. Just something I thought would be cool to try. The photos were taking with an aperture of about f/5.6. I switched up to f/8.0 near the end to get a wider plain of focus (probably for the ISO 800 photos).
Anyway, it was fun practice and these are some of the shots I got.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8, 1/50 sec, ISO 200 -- EXIF
2.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8, 1/50 sec, ISO 200 -- EXIF
3.
I decided to take it down to the street and see what it would be like at ground level.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8, 1/50 sec, ISO 400 -- EXIF
4.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8, 1/50 sec, ISO 400 -- EXIF
5.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8, 1/50 sec, ISO 800 -- EXIF
6.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8, 1/50 sec, ISO 800 -- EXIF
7.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8, 1/50 sec, ISO 800 -- EXIF
8.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8, 1/50 sec, ISO 800 -- EXIF
9.
So there you have it. Some of the photos weren't focused that well or they had motion blur. But they weren't too terrible in my opinion.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 18-55m 3.5-5.6 @ 20mm, 1/640 sec, f/7.1, ISO 100 -- EXIF
These are some photos I took along with the photos from yesterday's post. I had a difficult time going through them and making this post.
I came across this boat while walking back home. It looked like it was filled with trash and then set on fire some time ago. It was interesting to me at first. I took different photos of the burnt detail and some of the things inside. And then I started to take more photos of the things inside like rusty cans, bent bicycle rims and melted glass. They weren't bad photos, but it was always in the back of my mind that it was still just garbage. I'm not saying that photos of garbage can't be artistic photography, I just feel the photos I took didn't have that artistic quality to make garbage seem something more than it is. I did, however, choose these photos to share to give you an idea of what I was looking at.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 55mm, 1/1000 sec, f/7.1, ISO 100 -- EXIF
Charred Wood and Glass Fiber
Nikon D60, Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 30mm, 1/160 sec, f/7.1, ISO 100 -- EXIF
Filled to the Brim
As you can see in the photo above, it was filled with all sorts or trash. It's a sad sight to see in such a beautiful place.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 22mm, 1/250 sec, f/4.5, ISO 100 -- EXIF
Better Days
This bicycle has seen better days. As I said, it's a sad sight to see garbage like this in such a beautiful place. But, not uncommon. I suppose one could put together a sort of documentary photo essay about the different places you would find thrown away bicycles. That would be something different than just photographing garbage in a boat. You can see this sort of thing pretty much wherever you go in Japan. Maybe something to think about when I go out to take photos next time.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 18mm, 1/1000 sec, f/4.0, ISO 100 -- EXIF
When I woke up on Tuesday, the sun was blazing through the window and I took a look outside. The ground was completely wet like it had just poured rain, but I couldn't see a cloud in the sky from my window. I got ready and ate breakfast and left the house with my gear a little after 8:00am. The air was crisp and cool and it just felt right that I should take a walk.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 18mm, 1/160 sec, f/10, ISO 100 -- EXIF
The Main Drag
I took a photo like this one last month except it was at night. I had to wait for a window when there weren't that many cars in the frame. I also found it hard to take photos in the morning due to the long shadow I would make and trying to frame my shots without my shadow.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 18mm, 1/400 sec, f/7.1, ISO 100 -- EXIF
Where Piers Are Made
Nikon D60, Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 18mm, 1/500 sec, f/7.1, ISO 100 -- EXIF
All in a Row
Nikon D60, Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 18mm, 1/500 sec, f/7.1, ISO 100 -- EXIF
Cranes and Scaffolding
This is one of the two barge type things they make the concrete piers on. Once they are finished, they move the barge to the point where they are going to drop it, fill the ballasts to submerge the barge and then scoot the pier off the barge into its final position. I've never actually seen this done, but I have a friend who works here and he explained it to me once.
Nikon D60, Nikkkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 18mm, 1/400 sec, f/7.1, ISO 100 -- EXIF
From the Opposite Side
Nikon D60, Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 18mm, 1/250 sec, f/7.1, ISO 100 -- EXIF
A Bit Closer
Nikon D60, Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 18mm, 1/800 sec, f/7.1, ISO 100 -- EXIF
Not Like the Others
I'm finally glad we're getting some nice weather.
Nikon D60, Sigma 30mm f/1.4, 1/160 sec, f/5.0, ISO 400 -- EXIF
All Lined Up
On the way back from Takachiho Shrine last Wednesday, I came across some girls that go to the same school as my daughter. Although I didn't know them, they all knew me. As I was walking towards them, I could hear them saying, "ジェイドのお父さん" (jeido no otousan), which means, "Jade's dad". I thought they were cute all standing in a row holding their umbrellas and bus passes dangling from their randoseru. I had to take a photo.
We've been having some pretty sucktacular weather since last week. I want to get out and take some sakura photos but I'm afraid I'm going to miss them. We took a drive up to the mountains were I photographed some earlier last month. Half the trees were finished but a lot of them were still mid-bloom. Although it was raining, I still got out to try and take some shots. I'll save those for a different post.
Nikon D60, Sigma 30mm f/1.4, 1/15 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1600 -- EXIF
Nikon FM2, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8
My knowledge and experience with film cameras is pretty much zero. I have an old Argus (Cosina) CSM, 50mm f/1.7 camera that friend let me use and I wanted to know if it worked. I went to another friend's photo print shop and bought some film from him (actually he gave it to me), and snapped a roll of 36 at a river just near his shop. I took it back to him and he developed the negatives. It turned out the shutter on the camera was faulty and only opened part way. Oh well.
My friend that owns the print shop is a great guy. His name is Toshihiro Nagai. We have a lot in common. He's the same age as me and has been taking photos since he was in junior high school (about 20 years). Most of the photos he takes now is all for work and he's kind of lost the flare for it. Now it just seems like work for him. I was looking through his old black and white photos he developed and printed himself and I must say that he really has an eye. I wish I could get him involved a bit more and go out with him sometime to take photos. I feel I could learn a lot from him.
Anyway, as I was talking with him and looking through his old photos, he said I could have one of his old cameras he never uses anymore. I was like, "Have?" He went through his dry case and pulled out all sorts of different cameras. Then finally, down at the bottom, way in the back, he pulled out this Nikon FM2. "I'll give you this." He said as he slapped on a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lens. I was like, "Wow, are you serious?" He explained to me that he never uses it and it just collects dust and the lens grows mold. I was tickled. He even gave me another roll of 24 ISO 100 to try it out. He didn't have any batteries for it so I had to go pick some up. I stopped off and got some and headed home.
When I got home I put the batteries in and tried to figure out how the range finder worked. + ￮ - seemed easy enough. I started out with trying to take a shot of our dog Missy.
Nikon FM2, 50mm f/1.8, Film ISO 100 -- EXIF
Missy Needs a Haircut
I then walked outside and took a few shots just outside my wife's shop.
Nikon FM2, 50mm f/1.8, Film ISO 100 -- EXIF
Gasoline Stand Servicemen
Next thing I knew, I was walking down the street taking shots of different things.
Nikon FM2, 50mm f/1.8, Film ISO 100 -- EXIF
Flowers
Nikon FM2, 50mm f/1.8, Film ISO 100 -- EXIF
Old Broken Down Scooter
As I walked down the street, I came up to a fresh seafood store. They have all sorts of fish and live seafood. I asked if I could take a few photos and they were more then happy to have me. They even brought me around back to see some of the stuff they were preparing.
Nikon FM2, 50mm f/1.8, Film ISO 100 -- EXIF
I'm not sure if these are shrimp or prawns. I'm out of life lines so I'll go with...
Prawns... Final Answer
I have to lol about this. I have some Australian friends who got after me when when I called some prawns "shrimp". They were kind enough to set me straight and told me Americans are dumb and don't know the difference between shrimp and prawns. They said something about gills and big and small. I still don't know the difference when I see them. All I know is they taste yummy in my tummy.
Nikon FM2, 50mm f/1.8, Film ISO 100 -- EXIF
Fish in Plastic Wrap Behind Glass
Nikon FM2, 50mm f/1.8, Film ISO 100 -- EXIF
Ise Ebi
(spiny lobster)
Nikon FM2, 50mm f/1.8, Film ISO 100 -- EXIF
Cleaning Fish
Nikon FM2, 50mm f/1.8, Film ISO 100 -- EXIF
Suwashin or Maybe Red Grouper
(I can't see the mouth to tell)
Just after this shot, I rolled the film and realized I was out. "What?!! That was 24 shots?!" I couldn't believe it. In the space of maybe 15 or 20 minutes I used up the roll of 24. I even took my time with each shot I took. I guess I'm just used to using a digital camera and taking as many photos as I want.
I rewound the roll and brought it back to my friend's shop to have him develop the negatives. He then used his negative scanning machine and saved them to a disc. The above film photos are just as he scanned them. I didn't do any post editing to them except for the scooter photo, I did a small amount of post cropping to level the photo. Out of the 24 shots I took in this roll, one was underexposed and a few of them were out of focus.
I decided a few days ago I wanted to try taking some shots with a film camera for fun. As I said, my knowledge and experience with film cameras is pretty much zero. I wanted to use black and white film but as it turns out, no one develops black and white film here on the island anymore. Oh well.
So what was my impression using a manual focus SLR camera? It was something new and fun for me. It was interesting using a camera I've never used before. That being said, the Nikon FM2 is simple and straight forward. Using the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 felt a bit like I was using my Sigma 30mm f/1.4 on my D60. Very easy to use. I'm looking forward to taking more photos with this camera and lens in the future.
Owning a D60, I always read about one of the downsides to this camera and lenses. The D60 uses a silent wave motor in AF-S lenses for auto focus. AF-S just means the focusing motor is inside the lens and not inside the camera. I heard you can still attach non AF-S lenses and use them, you just wouldn't be able to use the auto focus. I decided to try it out and I put the 50mm f/1.8 on my D60. The first thing I noticed was you could only use the camera and this lens while in manual mode. The camera doesn't recognize there's a manual lens attached and none of the other modes would work. There's also no range finder so you pretty much have to guesstimate exposure, but that's easy, it's a digital camera. Here is a test shot of my daughter using my D60 and the 50mm f/1.8. I wasn't paying attention and I had the exposure bias set to -2/3 EV so it's under exposed. I didn't do any post editing.
Nikon D60, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8, 1/50 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800 -- EXIF
Manual Lens on My D60
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