Last week I went up to Tokyo to photograph the autumn leaves. Typically, I don't photograph people and I tend to keep my autumn photography focused on specific leaves that stand out, using the light. However, I arrived here before the hundreds of tourists, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to finally take a photo at this iconic spot. Perhaps this would fit better in the "environmental portrait" group, but I think the nature is the star of the show.
I have no doubt that it wouldn't get more than 2 stars if I put it in my portfolio. However, I'm rather pleased with it, as it was my first real attempt at photographing this particular composition, and there were actually about 20 people around, I just got super lucky with this clearing.
Feel free to provide any feedback ( know there are a lot of people on the right in the background, I tried getting rid of them, but I'm not nearly that good.)
Shot handheld at 200mm
f/8
ISO 400
1/200s
i hate daytime photos now but well executed nice soft feel to it wish it were just the couple and not a bunch of tourists in the back ...are you able to pull out the shadows long the path a bit more for contrast?
btw i wouldn't worry about the community judgment one of my favorites is a 2 star but i love it and will probably print it
https://fstoppers.com/photo/306843
Yeah, I’m not a big fan of the tourists either, but my wife said she likes them because they add a sense of scale, and she’s my toughest critic, so I believe her, haha. If I can find an alternative way to get rid of them other than stamping or section filling I’ll give it a shot.
I’ll see what happens is I pull back the shadows a little more. I already have a filter on the bottom of the image, so you can see it’s dark, but gets lighter as it reaches the couple. I was going for a very bright, low constrast look, but I’ll see if adding a touch helps!
We both know if it’s not an epic landscape or a person with a blank expression on their face it’s hard to get anything over a 2, maybe a 3 if you’re lucky. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a macro photo, intimate landscape or steet photo in the popular, highest rated, or editor’s pick section. It’s seriously disturbing to see how few styles of photos ever make editor’s pick. So far in the month of November there are only 4 photos that don’t fall into the “portrait” or “landscape” category, and that’s being generous. But that’s a rant for another day, haha.
Thanks for the feedback!
lol my wife is the same she has no problem telling me something sucks..i was just curious if more definition in the shadows would look good or not i wouldn't worry about it...yeah editors picks are seemingly the most popular or the most worked photos.
I finally got around to editing out the people and adjusting the contrast. What do you think? (better late than never)
Dude nice edit looks way better
It does look much better, Jordan. I suppose the other thing you could do is multiple exposures, and paint out the people.
Do you mean the people on the right? Unfortunately that would have been nearly impossible, this shot may look like this place is empty but there were actually about 50 people on the path. The moment after I snapped this shot 2 people walked right in front of my camera, so I got super lucky with this one, haha. The right side never cleared up. I was here for about 15 minutes waiting for a moment like this to present itself before the thousands of tourists showed up.
Also this was handheld, so even if I waited, getting everything lined up would be a pain. But it was something I considered!
dude you did this handheld!? ...nice...
Yeah, the Nikkor 70-200 has a VR function, so I can take photos at 200 handheld without any problems... except for my impending shoulder and neck pain when shooting upwards, haha.
lol you sound like your getting old like me aches and pains suck i use the tripod anymore especially when im laying on the ground checking my focus lol
Well, it’s mostly because the Nikkor lens is ridiculously heavy at nearly 1.5kg. Add my camera and it’s about 2kg pushing down on my shoulder and neck when I’m shooting upwards. Usually this isn’t a problem, but some of photo outings I stay out for 5 hours just walking around and taking photos, so it’s all adds up, haha.
thats the one thing im not looking forward to when i upgrade to a full frame those things are heavy as hell and toss a 70-200 on top of it you'll get a workout for sure