The ghost of 'lectricity...
Chionin
Posted by Duncan Galbraith (kyoto, Japan) on 3 December 2006 in Landscape & Rural and Portfolio.
Well it was now or never. The red leaves are on their way out and it was either do it now or wait another year. Apologies for being late for the party.
Henry Zhang from New York, United States
BEAUTIFUL! Those colors are to die for and you did a wonderful job capturing them. However, the big building creeps in so much! It has so many lines and patterns on the inside that it really bothers me when I'm looking at those trees. Adding the building is clearly necessary since it would be dismally boring otherwise but I feel it is a bit too much. You did such a great job with those trees though.
3 Dec 2006 5:36am
@Henry Zhang: Thanks man, Im all giddy about your post tomorrow by the way. Sounds like its gonna be a humdinger.
Daniel from United States
I think this would be better b&w. IMO, the temple detail is more interesting than the foilage, but the saturated nature of the foilage screams for the eyes' attention. B&W would mitigate this. Nice compostion.
3 Dec 2006 6:09am
@Daniel: mate, after seeing your black and whites Im about to throw in the towel ;-) They are insanely good.
Julia from Vancouver, Canada
Looks great to me. I like the tip of the the temple, provides us more imagination space and more information about where the pic is taken.
And the color is wonderful.
Good job!
3 Dec 2006 6:57am
@Julia: Thanks so much Julia! I'm loving your nature series btw. some absolute beauties!
Helen from Melbourne, Australia
Fantastic Duncan. I love the detail on these temples and the autumn colours in this photo set the whole thing off for me. Great composition!
3 Dec 2006 8:16am
@Helen: Thanks so much Helen! your orangutan has won my portrait of the day award. and my kids have seconded the motion!
Gnarf from Stockholm, Sweden
Explosive colors! The grey roof gives a good contrast to the trees.
3 Dec 2006 10:58am
@Gnarf: hey Gnarf! thanks for the visit, its much appreciated. you're always welcome.
Darren from Tokyo, Japan
Nice one man. I was surprised whenI didn't see someones face on your site today. You have a talent in both candid portraits and nature. Amazing colours in those trees. A real Japan feeling to this one.
3 Dec 2006 12:43pm
@Darren: thanks Darren. lovely candid from you today btw. gotta make the most of the seaon yeah? the reds are fading fast over here in Kansai, hope you guys get a little more time over your way.
Ａｙａ from Ｋｙｏｔｏ, Japan
I've never been to CHIONIN.This picture is very beautiful!! :-)
How was the red leaves?
3 Dec 2006 1:21pm
@Ａｙａ: hey Aya, they were beautiful, and Chionin isnt as crowded as the other temples around the city. I recommend it!
@Still: Thank Still. Cracking stuff from you today. that portrait is absolutely wonderful!
Michael Zhang from New York City, United States
The colors ARE beautiful. I think the building is important in balancing the shot. It anchors the shot so that it isnt all about the leaves.
3 Dec 2006 2:27pm
@Michael Zhang: Thanks Michael. and cheers for your image today mate...it's given me inspiration to try that kind of thing myself.
Tim from Bratislava, Slovakia
Really beautiful. Love the way the colours coordinate perfectly with the building on the first side.
3 Dec 2006 3:04pm
@Tim: Thanks Tim. Im enjoying your posts from Prague mate. keep it up!
Kelvin Chan from New York City, United States
It is a nice shot; the colors are wonderful. However, I find the building and the leaves are fighting for attention. It looks like you selected the leaves and the branches and bumped up the contrast/level and saturation, thus the loss in the individual leaf outlines. this is based purely on my observations, and please do correct me if I'm wrong. To me, the leaves lost their individuality, and became clumps of vibrant colors that grab at your attention. Meanwhile, the building offers strong lines that grabs your attention. Especially that rain drainage pipe in the lower right corner. Lines and colors, lines and colors, I was torn as to deciding which one is the main subject here. Perhaps moving the building farther to the lower right would solve this. Keep up the good work.
I missed your two previous shots, but they are nothing less than the best. Great work.
3 Dec 2006 3:13pm
@Kelvin Chan: Thanks man. you've got a fine eye. I saturated the leaves but only to a very small extent to be honest, I did however have to burn in some of the greens as I found they were a little underexposed in the original image, upon closer inspection on the pc. The drain pipe is a killer for me too and I was almost tempted to try and somehow do the impossible and clone it away somehow! Obviously impossible. But I do agree the location and subjects could be better served, it's worth a reshoot for sure as its a stunning place, not to mention a stunning season. And thanks for the comment on 2 previous posts mate. Seriously appreciated.
Yukie from Kyoto, Japan
Really beautuful !! I love it. The red leaves makes a beautiful contrast with a tile roof.
I went to Tofukuji and Imperial palace last week.There were also many trees covered with beautiful colours:) I love the autumn especially in Kyoto.
Hope see you soon, duncan...
3 Dec 2006 3:18pm
@Yukie: Thanks Yukie! how was tofukuji? I hear its the best location at night at this time of year. Hope to see you soon too!
Ryan Yam from Quezon City, Philippines
Lovely colors. Perhaps a landscape shot at wider angles would also look well :)
3 Dec 2006 3:47pm
@Ryan Yam: Thanks man. I may have some wide angle stuff kicking about somewhere actually...Ill have a dig around.
Shuva from Hyderabad, India
Reminds me of a scene from the movie "Memiors of a geisha"
3 Dec 2006 4:13pm
@Shuva: Shuva, you almost win a prize mate! A movie was indeed shot here but not that one....
Colour blind from Tokyo, Japan
It's beautiful Duncs another fine job...a huge contrast to your other work but I like to see your versatility. You've done a great job with the saturation on this. To get the individual leaves try sharpening them up a bit or use a faster shutter speed and bigger apeture. I'm not even sure if you're using an SLR but if you are give that a go. Anyway keep it up looking forward to the "humdinger" tomorrow!!
3 Dec 2006 5:17pm
@Colour blind: hey man...the humdingers gonna be on Henrys site btw!
Damon Schreiber from Toronto, Canada
I get the feeling from your caption that you felt duty-bound to document the autumn colours. Maybe even at the expense of getting the shot you really wanted. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but anyway, I'd have to say not your best by any means. It kind of reminds me of all the temple shots I take in Japan that seem so lovely at the time when I'm there, but on second viewing look like just another touristy snapshot. I find getting something truly worthy in these settings an extreme challenge. It's like everything is so beautiful, it makes it that much harder to decide how to photograph it effectively.
To critique this one more specifically, I'd say that both the roofline and the leaves look just a bit too generic, and being off in the middle to long distance, there's little impact for me. I don't feel involved enough. Also, the leaves being almost, but not quite in focus is much less satisfying than if they were either sharp as a tack, or blended into a soft blur of colour. What do you think, Duncan: am I way off the mark?
3 Dec 2006 5:24pm
@Damon Schreiber: "duty bound" is to be honest just about spot on mate. I actually took a day off work in order to get out and about among the reds and yellows etc, pretty much knowing It'd be my only chance, what with my working schedule and all. I was one of a 3 man group and to perfectly honest we spent the majority of the day bemoaning our lack of inspiration. The weather was crappy, the city was heaving, the light was atrocious for shooting this kind of subject. We actually felt so uninspired we had to make a pit stop at a bookstore and leaf (no pun intended) through some Moriyama Daido books etc in order to try and ignite the creative fire. This shot was taken pre-book store visit and I think it shows. Personally I think it's alright, and nothing more. The kind of shot I' d send to my mother. And that just about sums it up emotionally for me. It's actually more of a document of 'obligation' than it is of 'autumn'.
The focus is off on the trees to such a small extent it looks wrong. blur/sharpness would have both served the piucture much better. compostionally the temple is kind of in limbo, it should be either in spot X or spot Y, but not in the spot its in now. Shot video that day also, which truly documents our collective apathy/dispondance regarding the shoot...wish I could post that with this!
The critique is most appreciated. If you said this was my best shot I'd throw myself off the roof!
Mommith in Chief from Naperville, United States
I love the vivid colors of the trees. Interesting composition.
3 Dec 2006 5:43pm
@Mommith in Chief: thanks man. I prefer your black and white current landscapes to this though to be honest. some fine stuff coming from you.
@Craig Persel: Thanks man. I'm a tad dissapointed with this though (the reply to Damons sums it up).
@badala: Thanks badala, but not as lovely a loctaion as youre in right now...the vatican! Looking forward to more shots of such a stunning locale.
Chris Sullivan from Melbourne, Australia
Great take! The trees and the structure do make a rich composition.
3 Dec 2006 9:36pm
@Chris Sullivan: Thanks Chris! Your visit is always welcome, and looking forward to more from you.
@zahra: hey zahra! thanks so much for the visit. Be carful with your recent post...looks dangerous!
@H.O: Arigatou H.O! another atmospheric piece from you today btw. fine stuff.
Aidan from Seoul, South Korea
a great shot of the changing colours - Fall is such a rich time to take photos - so much colour and texture. Those temples, Korean or Japanese, really seem to come alive at this time of year.
I agree with some of the previous commenters about the detail or sharpness in the leaves. There are several ways to do that, all of which people have mentioned. But that background sharpness would really add to the strength of the image.
Definitely a place to return to again.
4 Dec 2006 2:37pm
@Aidan: Thanks Aidan, you're right. Its worthy of a reshoot, I didnt really do it justice with this one.
emarquetti from Itajai, Brazil
Wow! This lovely japanese scenaries, that´s when I´d realy like to be, someday.. someday.
5 Dec 2006 11:52am
claireg from United States
Beautiful. The colours of the leaves are so nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!
6 Dec 2006 2:40pm
@claireg: Arigatou Gozaimasu Claireg. much appreciated alhtough I feel I didnt quite do it justice.
Tuan from Australia
awesome colours in the trees - i'd love to see this in person some day.
7 Dec 2006 4:46am
@Tuan: Its abeautiful place Tuan. I might revist there and attempt to capture this better.
Veena Shivanna from Bengalooru, India
Awesome.. Autumn..
Excellent capture.. They are simply beautiful Duncan..I need to still look through lot of photos here..
10 Dec 2006 4:58am
@<name>: Thank you!
Giorgia Palmas from ..., Papua New Guinea
luogo interessante, soddisfare interessante, buon!
5 Mar 2007 2:19am
@Giorgia Palmas: thank you!
Fujifilm FinePix S9000
1/70 second
F/3.8
ISO 200
22 mm