Minor adjustments, big differences
Chaos can be a daunting prospect in photography, but rest assured you can still create some order with a few tweaks here and there
Ihad heard that you have to be very lucky to see Mt. Fuji as it’s often obscured by clouds, but over the course of two days in the Fuji Five Lakes region, I couldn’t help not to see it as it loomed dominantly over the Japanese landscape wherever you were. I was fortunate to have had great weather conditions as only a month earlier Typhoon Hagibis was ripping its way through Japan, being the most devastating since Typhoon Ida in 1958. There were very few signs of the great magnitude of destruction as the Japanese were quick to clean up any signs of apparent disorder in the region.
No, no, I insist…
This was my first trip to Japan and
I soon discovered that the Japanese are very organized, orderly and are extremely friendly and courteous. I mean, when was the last time a petrol service attendant filled up your car, then went into the main road to hold back the oncoming traffic so you could exit the station easily and safety? Only in Japan, I tell you.
One evening, I’m standing alongside a lake with Mt. Fuji at the other end and the clouds were moving through the scene, partially obscuring the mountain. There was too much wind creating ripples on the lake, so the conditions were not in my favour. The potential was there, but the elements were not cooperating. As the last light illuminated Mt. Fuji, the clouds parted enough to see the mountain. I decided to use a Lee Big Stopper to increase the exposure to two and a half minutes in order to smooth the water out. This improved the reflection and created a more peaceful feeling to the image. The yellow and blue boats provided a good foreground, though they were originally both positioned straight on to the camera, which gave a static feel to the image.
A minor adjustment was needed, so I repositioned the yellow boat at a diagonal angle within the frame to add a more dynamic line. This made a big difference to the final feel of the image.
Everything in its right place
Trying to calculate exactly where the sun will rise or set is much easier these days with all the apps available, such as the Photographer’s Ephemeris or Photopills, but little adjustments still need to be made to get the image I wanted.
I was waiting for the sunrise at the Torii gate on Lake Biwa, not the most peaceful location, as I was only feet away from a major road with delivery trucks whizzing by. Luckily, I was on the other side of a barrier, but there wasn’t much room to move around as there was a 20-foot drop off into the lake in front of me. I wanted to capture the sun breaking the horizon just under the gate, that was easy to predict the placement, but a shot of the sun bursting through the upper window would prove to be more challenging. As the sun rose higher, the highlights on the water became stronger creating a leading line with the shadow from the gate. I had to keep moving to the left as the sun slowly arced to the right. Placement of the sun was crucial for this composition. There was only a very short period of time when it would just creep over the edge before it became too bright and flared into the lens. I used the Nikon 24mm f/1.8 prime lens because it creates sharper, more defined points to the burst.
Just like the orderly quality of the Japanese, photography needs order. Without it we would have chaos, and chaos is not an enticing attribute to have. Order brings peace and tranquillity. It’s the little tweaks to a scene that can make or break an image and it’s our mission, as photographers, to bring order in our photography. Sayōnara.
Just like the orderly quality of the Japanese, photography needs order. Without it we would have chaos