Author: travel67

Moving Pictures

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Although my current cameras can record HD 1080 video, if I’m specifically working with video on a project I want to be able to shoot footage at 4K.  There are a wide range of cameras that can shoot 4K from a GoPro at a few hundred dollars to cinema cameras at a few hundred thousand.  After looking at the options, and discussing things with my friend Jon Galione, I bought a Sony A7S II that will allow me to start shooting 4K internally and produce high quality footage. Just in the testing phase at the moment, but here’s a few seconds shot with the A7S II and a Rokinon 85mm lens. Okay Go!

Spring & Summer Workshops

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  The March 12/13 Fundamentals workshop is now full. If you were hoping to take this class, but missed the chance don’t worry, and please join our May, June, July, or August workshop. Dates are here: https://travel67.wordpress.com/workshops/ and the Facebook event page for the May class is here: https://www.facebook.com/events/218375985183229/ Pete Leong and I have scheduled an 1-day Off Camera Flash workshop for May 21, 2016. We’ll be showing you how to add a little magical light to your images using cheap and cheerful wireless speedlights. You don’t need to have a flash to join the class, in fact if you don’t have one already, I’d highly recommend waiting until you’ve taken the class. The Facebook event page for the Off Camera Class is here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1538758036417243/ The Kyoto Workshop is now scheduled for the first week of April 2017, exact dates will be decided on in the near future.

Nakijin Shoot – Reflector Fill

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Another shot from the Nakijin shoot this time using a simple reflector to bounce some light back onto Yuki. You still have clear shadows caused by the early afternoon sun, but the reflector is enough to keep them in check on the subject’s face. You don’t however get the clear catchlights that you would have got with the flash. Pentax 645Z, 90mm lens, reflector.

Humpback Whale Autopsy

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  A dead humpback whale washed up near Kadena a few days ago. Humpbacks  migrate from the arctic to Okinawa to breed and rear their young in winter. Unfortunately for this young whale its life ended early. Okinawa Churashima Research Center monitors the migration of humpback whales and dolphins in the prefecture and also undertakes research to help with the preservation of endangered species such as the Hawksbill turtle and coconut crab. They also collect data from dead animals such as turtles killed by cars, bycatch from fishing nets, or beached whales. This morning the researchers undertook an necropsy (animal autopsy) of the humpback whale. The length of the whale, flukes, and various others parts were measured. The outer layers of blubber were then cut away, measurements were taken, and the flesh was bagged for disposal. The decomposing whale smelled badly especially downwind. As more and more of the whale was removed and bagged, the bones were also measured, and collected separately. After analysis the data will hopefully give some insight into why the whale, …

Cherry blossom at Nakijin Castle

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A few shots of cherry blossom at Nakijin Castle. All taken with the Pentax 645Z and 90mm lens at f2.8 I used a Priolite HotSync strobe for flash which allowed me to shoot with shutter speeds above the cameras sync speed. These images were shot at 1/500 sec, but I could have shot as high as 1/4000 sec. I’m using Priolite’s M-Pack system which has the strobe head separate from the power pack. I placed the power pack in a should bag so that my assistant Gary was fully mobile. Being able to shoot with strobes at high shutter speeds is not a necessity in these static shots, but the HotSync system is still useful allowing me to use strobes with wide apertures without having to resort to ND filters. I’ll put up more detailed information about HotSync flashes in the future, and how they differ from the more common High Speed Sync systems. Thanks to Gary and Jamie for assisting on the shoot, and of course to Yuki for modeling.

An ounce of prevention

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Main computer had an glitch, had to use Time Machine to get everything back to normal. Good job I have multiple backups so that occasional minor issues don’t become a major calamity. Currently I use  4TB external hard drives for backing up data on the Mac Pros, but I  will soon have to switch to an 8TB external hard drive on the newer computer as the amount of data grows. I also keep off site backups of data on other external hard drives just in case of fire or flood at the office. Finally all documents and a selection of images are also saved to the Cloud with Dropbox. Hard drives fail. Protect your data.  

Cherry blossom blooms in Okinawa

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Cherry blossom is blooming in Okinawa. At Nago Castle Ruins the dark pink blossoms add color to the stairway leading up to the shrine. The white pieces of paper tied to the branches of trees at the shrine are omikuji or fortune papers similar to what you might find in a fortune cookie. They are usually sold from machines at Shinto shrines. After you’ve checked your fortune most visitors tie the paper to something at the shrine before leaving. Hanami or cherry blossom is also a popular time for Japanese to dress up in yukata (top two images) or the more formal kimono (bottom two images) .

Oba-san

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This is the lady who always makes my workshop students and me delicious satandagi donuts. As I was captioning images I realized I don’t know her real name as she is always referred to as Oba-san (auntie) or Oba-chan (granny) by everyone. Will have to remember to ask her real name next time I see her!