Summer Saturday in Tsukishima, Tokyo: cropped to square
CROPPED VERSION: Charlie Kirk suggested a crop, which I agree with and although he didnt exactly suggest a square crop, I usually either crop in proportion or to a square or widescreen… rather than just cropping bits of the pic out which make it an odd shape.
Original description:
I gave Charles a photo lesson down in Tsukishima on Saturday. Guy and Rob tagged along for the outing as I was also testing-out a new venue for a photowalk I am doing soon. Great neighbourhood, on one of the first islands of reclaimed land in Toky; reclaimed back in 1892. The main street [running across this picture from left-to-right] is known as Monja Street, because of the profusion of monjayaki restaurants [monjayaki is Tokyo's equivalent to the kansai dish of 'okonomiyaki'].
This is an HDR image, from 5-bracketed frames, spaced one-stop apart each. Merged in Photomatix 2.5.4 and then converted to black and white in photoshop, with red channels tweaked to look a little like a deep-red Wratten Filter [normally used for infra-red] had been applied.
I also used the lens correction filter to vertically correct the distortion out of the shot, hence the proximity of the road markings to the edge opf the frame… I should have shot it with more space around them really.
Nikon D300
Tokina 11-16mm f/.2.8 @ f/8
11 comments
Jack Hoo wrote...
love the details and depth
Charlie Kirk wrote...
Agree with you on the crop approach. I try to do that too. I much prefer this to the original one.
Alfie Goodrich wrote...
Yep, Mike.... but that is the quandry of shooting the real world: all the buildings are straight, vertically, and that one horizontal line at the bottom is not straight. If it bothers you, look at the wire that crosses near the top of the shot: it's not parallel with the top of the frame and therefore balances out the line at the bottom.
Fried Toast wrote...
Oh, I know. Not criticizing you. That's just the way wide-angle works. Like I said, trying to get it to stop bothering me ;) Problem is in the viewer, not the subject.
gureu wrote...
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called ZAPPADU FANS CLUB, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
Eric Flexyourhead wrote...
I think I like both versions equally... this one is perhaps slightly more balanced, but the other version has that amazing ultra-wide perspective and the sign on the road that draws you into the scene. Regardless... nice work, all around!
gureu wrote...
wonderful perspective, I like this b&w photo
Thanks!
Cortez77_fr
Great view and picture !
DANIEL HERNANZ wrote...
excellent!. Well done this HDR
Pietro Zuco wrote...
Nice shot, good moment with no cars it transmit a lonely feeling.
Great!
I really like the とまれ bicycle sign in the original shot, but I have to say that the cropped version is much more dramatic. Everything's closer, so you get more details. Now if I could just get the bottom white line to stop bothering me... (微妙に not straight w/ the bottom ledge).