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posted: January 31st, 2010 |
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The photos on this page continue with the weekend of January 16th and 17th and go part of the way through January 24th. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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| Begin January 16th |
On January 16th Kazuya had a brainstorm and we went off on a train towards Yamanashi City in Yamanashi Prefecture to go to a mountainside hot spring for sunrise on Sunday morning. On the way we stopped off at this place which is famous for grapes and wine and wineries - Katsunuma-Budoukyou. These first 3 photos are there. The first shot shows some vineyards and houses. The 2nd shot is about the same thing. The 3rd shot is the Katsunuma-Budoukyou Train Station. We hiked around this area for a couple of hours and then got back on the train and went on to Isawa-Onsen, where we had reservations at a Youth Hostel.
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The first shot here is Isawa-Onsen (Hot Spring) station. We had reservations at the Isawa-Onsen Youth Hostel - which is shown in the 2nd photo. Apparently (we're not sure) every place in this town gets free hot water from the Hot Spring there.
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After we checked in to the Youth Hostel we walked around the Isawa-Onsen town. This first photo is a shot taken looking down a creek at sunset time. the 2nd shot is the same photo, but I adjusted it in Photoshop with a filter called Shadow Illuminator Pro. It's really amazing what this filter can do for shadowy photos. I also adjusted the hue and saturation of this photo after using the Shadow Illuminator Pro filter. The 3rd shot is a plate of Horse Meat Sashimi which we had as an appetizer with our supper. It was quite tasty, if a little chewy. You eat it after dipping it in soy sauce and putting a bit of ground ginger and thinly sliced green onion on it. I also used the Shadow Illuminator Pro filter on this photo.
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| End January 16th, Begin January 17th |
On the 17th we got up at 4:30 AM and got dressed and took a 5:36 AM train to Yamanashi City to go to the Hotarakashi Hot Spring. This Hot Spring is several miles from the Yamanashi City Train Station. We expected to be able to easily get a taxi from the station to the Hot Spring, but there were, very surprisingly, no taxis waiting at the station. It was difficult to get a taxi too - Kazuya called the local taxi company - twice - to get a taxi and it still took them about 10 minutes to get to us at the train station. The first photo here was taken at 6:39 AM - before sunrise - the building shown is the entrance to the hot spring. The 2nd photo was taken at 6:40 AM - it is, of course, Mt. Fuji.
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Here is another photo of Mt. Fuji - at 6:42 AM. The 2nd image is the same photo, but once again, I used that Shadow Illuminator Pro filter on it. I also increased the saturation just a bit. The 3rd image is a side by side comparison of the first 2 images.
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Here are two photos which show one of the hot pools. The first one was taken before sunrise - at 6:43 AM. The 2nd one was obviously taken after sunrise - at 7:24 AM.
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Here are the final 3 shots. The first one was taken at 8:38 AM, the 2nd one also at 8:38 AM, and the 3rd one was taken at 9:32 AM. Notice how the haze has increased from the 2nd photo to the 3rd photo, due mostly to the smoke rising from people's chimneys.
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| End January 17th, Begin January 23rd |
On January 23rd Kazuya and I went, once again, to Nogawa Park to check on the progress of Spring Flowers. We found more of the Setsubun-sou (Shibateranthis pinnatifida) in bloom than we did on our previous visit on January 9th, and we also found the very first Plum Blossoms of the season.
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Here is one more Plum Blossom photo and one more Shibateranthis pinnatifida photo at Nogawa Park.
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| End January 23rd, Begin January 24th |
On Sunday, the 24th, we went out to Okutama on the earliest Okutama Holiday Special Train. From there, we took a bus to Kawanori Bridge and hiked up the Mt. Kawanori Trail to Hyakuhiro Waterfall. As you can see in the first photo - it was an incredibly beautiful blue sky day. The 2nd shot shows the very first waterfall along the trail. Kazuya shot this 2nd photo with an exposure time of 1/6th second and an aperture of 5.6 (ISO = 80). The 3rd image has been Tone Mapped with the Photomatix software which I have mentioned previously. We both tried to get shots of "water in motion" today.
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In this row the 1st and 3rd shots show "water in motion". The first shot is not really a waterfall, just an area of swift and falling water. Kazuya shot it at 1/4th of a second with an aperture of 6.3. The 2nd shot does not show water in motion - it is the 2nd waterfall along the trail. The 3rd shot again shows water in motion and it was shot at 1/5th second with an aperture of 4.5. I also used Shadow Illuminator Pro to brighten this shot up a bit.
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In my opinion, the first shot here is the best shot I took all day long. It is again, the 3rd waterfall along the trail. It was shot at 0.3 seconds with an aperture of 6.3. I rotated it just a tiny bit to level it, then had to crop off the corners, then I used Shadow Illuminator Pro on it to lighten the shadows a bit. Finally I Tone-Mapped it with the Photomatix Tone-Mapping Software; that is what reduced the bluish tones which you see in most of the other photos. The 2nd shot is an icy rock wall along the creek. Note the shadows in the creek. The 3rd shot, by Kazuya, was shot at 1/8th of a second and an aperture of 4.5. It is also the 3rd Waterfall, from a slightly different angle.
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Here is a "mouseover" of the first image in Row 12 - the image you see is only rotated and Shadow Illuminator Pro used. The image you see when you hold your mouse over the image is what you see above in Row 12 - after the image was Tone-Mapped with Photomatix Software. So, this mouseover shows you a great example of what you can accomplish with Photomatix Tone-Mapping Software. This should be used strictly for comparison purposes.
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| End Page 3, but January 24th continues on Page 4 |
| Thanks so much for taking the time to look at this page. Please continue on to page 4 for the conclusion of this adventure and also for the conclusion of January! |
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