Last year, we went back to Japan over the Thanksgiving break. The weather was calm, so it was a beautiful trip. My wife’s parents are in Tokyo. My parents are in Wakayama-prefecture. Most of our friends are in Tokyo area as well. So we usually spend an extra time in Tokyo, and make a few day trip over to Wakayama.

Previous time, I took with me Canon G10. That was a big mistake. G10 is a decent camera for what it is, but the image quality under the low light conditions are horrible. I took tons of photos and regretted not bringing proper equipment.

So this time, I took a backpack full of camera gear. It was great.

Japan is not well known for nature/wild photography. Instead, our eyes turn to smaller scale subjects, such as the urban locations…

people…

objects…

and a few other things….

Gear

• Canon 5D mark II
• Olympus Zuiko OM 50mm f/1.4 (w/ EF mount adaptor)
• Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L
• CarrySpeed camera sling

5D2 / 70-200mm f/2.8 / 1/160 sec / f/5.6 / 85mm

TC Charton is an inspiring business catering to Asians in the U.S. They create optical frames that are built to match Asian facial contours.
I’ve had the pleasure of working with the good people at the company to shoot their catalogs and model shots. Here are the latests.

• Mode
• Crystal - has been the model for the company for the last couple of years. She has been a pleasure to work with
• Hair & Makeup
• Brigitte Cronier
• Assistant
• Paul Youngblood

5D2 / 70-200mm f/2.8 / 1/160 sec / f/5.6 / 115mm

7D / 70-200mm f/2.8 / 1/250 sec / f/3.5 / 70mm

Speedlites (or any compact flash units for that matter) are wonderful tools for creating lights on remote locations.

But no matter how advanced your flash may be, light is usually UUUUUGLY until you shape it. It’s like a can full of Playdough; not pretty to look until you make something of it.

It’s Dec. 31st of 2011.

This has been a busy year with the day job taking up much of my time. Still, I was able to squeeze out another 10,000+ clicks from my cameras. This year, I ran a few photo workshops as well, which have been both fun and humbling experiences. Overall, It was a fruitful year in my photographic journey.

I am going to keep the year’s last post light’n'sweet with images from a casual photoshoot over the Christmas break.

A few days ago, my friend Marc and I spent an afternoon on Page Mill Rd. in his prized 2006 SRT-10 Viper. It’s 8.3 liter v10 500hp engine and does 0-60 in under 4 seconds. What a car!

Marc and I had been talking about shooting the Viper for a while. We finally found the time, so decided to go for a ride and have fun with an impromptu photoshoot.
We stopped at three locations and spent 3 hours shooting multiple angles experimenting mostly with the 24-105mm L lens and 5D mark II. I also had with me 12-24mm ultra wide angle & 70-200mm tele, but these were used sparingly.

Cars have no problem sitting still & pretty for hours. This is advantageous since you can take the time and explore the angles; a car like this with complex curves deserves to be studied before you can find the right angles.

It’s important to note that managing reflections and controlling dynamic ranges can be challenging. If you are thinking about getting into automotive photography, experiment a lot with different apertures, different exposure levels, and try changing the car’s orientations and observe how reflections affect the image.

Happy shooting in 2012 all!

Tokyo Station – Canon 5D mark II + Olympus Zuiko OM 50mm f/1.4 adopted for EF mount

Average human beings see the world at roughly 50mm focal length (35mm film equivalent).
I heard this one when I was just getting started with photography. As it turns out, this is a handy knowledge for street photographers.

The art of street photography is all about you, the photographer, reacting to the world that is in front of you. Since you are seeing through your ~50mm eyes, mounting 50mm lens on your camera gives you the best approximation of the world that you felt compelled to capture.

Using prime lens also comes with additional perks:

1. The end result out of prime lenses are much sharper than if you used a zoom lens.
2. 50mm lenses are some of the brightest lenses. f/1.8 is fairly common. These lenses allow you to focus fast, shoot fast, and comes with sweet bokeh effects to spice up the street scene.
3. It forces you to use your feet = good thing. Trust me.

I use 5D mark II + 50mm lens often on the streets

FYI. Most digital cameras employ APS-C sensors, which gives you the 1.6x crop factor. i.e. You have to have a 31.25mm lens or wider in order to capture 50mm equivalent scene…. Your best bet is to use a 28mm lens. It will allow you to capture the world a tad bit wider. You can crop later if needed. Try those on your APS-C sensor camera and I think you’ll feel at home.

Town of Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture – Canon 5D mark II + Olympus Zuiko OM 50mm f/1.4 adopted for EF mount

My tribute to the greatest CEO on the planet. My CEO for life.

I love Yosemite. We don’t go there often enough. Each time we go its valley and mountain ranges welcome us with a brand new scenery that stays FRESH! I can sit there and shoot her (yes, mother nature) tirelessly all day long.

I would like to share a few shots from our 3 day Labor Day weekend trip to Yosemite.

First day, we hit the floor. My favorite waterfall in Yosemite is Bridalveil. We were able to climb up the rocks and got to one of the branched waterfalls. I had a walking stick that doubles as a monopod. This shot was taken using the stick, with my body sturdily leaning against a rock.

The title image is also from the first day. The sunset at the Tunnel View, which was just gorgeous. You can see the Half Dome lighting up purple, while the nearby wall on the right hand side was lit up orange.

The second day, we took Tioga Pass over to the Tuolmne Meadows, This is where the historic site of The Sierra Club stands. We took a short hike to The Sierra Club building and was graced with the above view to the side. Breathtaking stuff!!

On the way back from Tuolmne Meadows, we were able to catch the sunset from a vista point on Big Oak rd. I pulled out my 70-200mm and added 1.4x extender and made it 280mm. The top of gracier point was lit up orange. This image was made using Photoshop CS5 HDR Pro.

The last day, we made it to the Gracier Point. It’s a cliché, obviously… but you travelled all the way to Yosemite, so you might as well take it all in!! The sky was filled with just the right amount of cloud, and the view was just amazing. The images might be too busy, but I hope this demonstrates the vastly large scale of this place.

The sun was on Half Dome’s back, so there was a bit of shadow casting on the wall. Here, I enhanced the shadow on Half Dome’s wall to make it extra dark. Not entirely sure if this is a successful execution. But I think it demonstrates the strong presence of the dome.

Here’s an another attempt. Showing slightly more details of the dome.

Please write in or leave comments!

SF BayArea is well-known for our thick fog.

Especially during the summer, due to a unique thermal/hydro-dynamic effects of the region, you get a bed of fog that lays there at length. It’s an amazing phenomenon and one that amused me for years since I moved here.

I have wanted to capture fog-scapes for years, but finally had enough to get started on the process of shooting and presenting fog photography around BayArea, titled “Chasing Fog”.

Here is a work in progress. Please take a look and make comments!

[ Click here to launch the Slideshow ]

I am reading this book right now. This is a very educational read filled with tons of examples.

One of the things the author highlights in the book is the use of a looooong E-TTL II cable.

Usually, people carry around a coiled up E-TTL II cable like pictured above.  This is a convenient way to move your flash off the hot-shoe, hold it in your hand, and improve the quality of the light. However, it’s not long before you wish the reach is slightly longer.

A company called OCF Gear is selling 16′ (5m) and 33′ (10m) versions of the cable.

There are a few reasons why these cables are so cool.

1. Long cable = you have enough slack to place the Flash virtually where you want it.
2. Even with ST-E2 (IR Flash trigger) you must maintain a line of sight between the IR ports. With a cable, that’s not a problem.
3. If you do have multiple 580EX II’s in your bag, then you can move the E-TTL master Flash off to the desired key light location. You can then place slaves in desired fill/rim/ambient lighting locations. This allows you to build a creative use of the Flash lights.

My ST-E2 recently broke down and is in repair. Let’s face it. All that IR action is sexy (and I *love* it when it works), but it does stop working sometimes. Keeping the line of sight intact between IR ports is tough.

There are more reliable radio signal based solutions such as RadioPopper/PocketWizard. However they are a lot more expensive and you need additional batteries to operate.

E-TTL cord is a tried and true, relatively cheap, and battery free solution that should fit most of speedliters’ needs. Highly recommended.

Point Reyes National Seashore (http://www.nps.gov/pore/), sits quietly by the Pacific Ocean, hidden away behind the deep woods of the Marin County. It is a tiny peninsula, complete with its own Tamales Bay.

This nature’s vast playground is breathtaking. You will find woods, wild flowers, as well as wild animals. Best of all, it is only an hour away from San Francisco. From my understanding, the neighboring Muir Woods and Stinson Beach get a lot of traffic, but I know a relatively few people who heard of Point Reyes, let alone visiting it.

Many of the day hikes around Bear Valley involve walking among dense woods. I quickly found out this is hardly a place for telephoto lenses.

Hiking in woods isn’t the only activity Point Reyes has to offer.

On the northern tip of the peninsula sits Tule Elk Reserve. If you come between spring and late fall, you may run into elks that are complete with antlers. (Nope I haven’t seen them yet.)

In Drake’s Bay, as well as in Chimney Rock, you may run into elephant seals. They are seals with distinctive facial features that resemble an elephant’s face. Magnificent creatures!

Their historic lighthouse is also worth a visit. (beyond the lengthy 308 steps, mind you)

So far my wife and I have only scratched the surface of Point Reyes. You can find some amazing photos from Flickr’s Point Reyes group.

On the side note, if you plan on staying in Point Reyes vicinity, the town of Talames Bay is a great artisan neighborhood to eat & shop. I might add Cowgirl Creamery shop here is an excellent stop for ultra creamy cheese. Yummy! http://www.cowgirlcreamery.com/cheeses.asp