Guy Walks Into a Bar Full Moon

April 2017 Full Moon Over Okinawa

It's a little bit late this month. It seemed like this, wasn't going to happen.

Normally, I get out the night before, during and after the full moon is scheduled to appear.

The evenings of the 10th and 11th, we had nothing but clouds so, it was impossible.

The meteorologists, said the sky would clear-up last night.  But, it didn't look that way, to me.

About 7:30 heavy, black clouds were blowing up the east coast of the island.

I messaged a friend and let him know, what time to start looking for the moon.

He lives south on the western coast. I hoped, he'd get some good photos if, the moon showed .

Just getting over a nasty cold, I decided beer would be better than photography.

If the moon appeared before I got too relaxed, I could go back to work and shoot it.

Positive, I made the right decision, I walked out after my first beer and looked for the moon.

Nothing but black skies, was all I saw so, another beer got in front of me.

Relaxing, while watching the movie "Jaws" was all I had left to do for the day.

In the Bar & Cafe Brasil, they have a Reserved sign in a corner of the bar, just for me.

Now, that I think of it, every bar I go to, in this town, has a special seat, just for me.

It's probably because, I look lots older than, I really am or, it could be my drinking habits.

Anyway This Guy Walked Into the Bar

He's the same guy, who wanted to know if, I could use a brand new toilet seat, a few years ago.

We've been friends for more than a few years. He knew exactly where to find me last night.

"Mike, I figured you'd be out there shooting the full moon," he said as he walked in.

He had just finished some ungodly miles of night bike riding and, was excited about the moon.

"Look, I'm watching Jaws and drinking beer, I told him. Somebody else can shoot the moon."

He kept telling me, it was the biggest brightest moon, he ever had seen.

Well, I told him, my camera shooting friend, down in Naha, would shoot it for me.

Off he went and, I finished my beer so, I could go outside and peek at the moon.

There it was. Not a cloud in the sky. I told the bartender, I had to go back to work.

Quick Moon Shots

Normally, I would climb up to the roof of my building for moon photography.

After a few beers, I didn't think it would be a good idea so, I stayed down on earth.

The tripod, camera and lenses are heavy, expensive and, not drunk proof.

A few shots were taken with 420MM of lens and 700MM of lens.

The photo above was shot with the Sigma 50-500 and a 1.4 converter and, I like it best.

A mild HDR image was created to smooth out highlights and shadows.

Everything got downloaded and put away for the night and, by 10:30 I was back in the bar.

If I ever go drinking downtown again, I think I'll buy that biking guy a beer !

Flip the Bird When the Weather Doesn't Agree With You !

This is one of the reasons I like to shoot RAW files with my camera.

I have plenty of RAW photos so, when it's too cold, windy and cloudy outside, I stay inside and, flip birds.

Today, I decided to try something different with this Grey-faced Buzzard Eagle.

First, I created a JPEG that was overexposed by a value of +2.

Then, I made another one, underexposed, by -2.

The photos were re-named IMGP6670L, 6670M and 6670H for Low, Medium and High.

Blended together in Adobe Photoshop Elements, I got an HDR photo.

It seemed like the photo would look better with the critter flying from left to right.

All I did was hit Image, Rotate, Flip Horizontally and it was done.

I flipped the bird !

Working with an older version (Elements 8) I'm looking at doing an upgrade.

Right now, they are all the way up to Elements 11 and have plenty of new features.

More about HDR Photography

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Photography Tip: Wait for the Clouds

This straw roofed hut photo was taken Jul 22, 2012.

On Motubu Peninsula in the village of Gushiken, I was preparing for an upcoming festival.

The lighting, sun and shade splotches, wasn't what I'd normally want for a photo essay.

The photo was saved to show in a photo tip.

As a last resort, if I had to use this, I would have to HDR it.

 Really, I don't like playing around in front of a computer monitor, when I could be outdoors.

The solution, is to wait for passing clouds.

Here is the same hut, under cloudy skies Jul 25, 2012.

Notice the difference in the shadows and light.

Whenever I can, on bright sunny day with dark shadows in the scene, I wait for the clouds.

If there doesn't happen to be any, that day,  I go back to the scene on a cloudy day.

In travel photography, you don't always have the time to re-visit a scene.

But, if you notice blown highlights, you may have the luxury of passing clouds to assist you.

A quick peek, over your shoulder, at the sun will let you know if clouds are heading your way.

Or, let you know HDR is going to be required.

See my Photo Tips for more tricks of the trade.

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A Scene From Within UNESCO Nakijin Castle Walls Okinawa

This is a photo taken from within the walls of Nakajin Castle during the month of July.

The position this was photographed from is probably one of northernmost points that can be reached inside the castle walls.

Experimenting with the Pentax KD 10, there were 3 shots taken at f/22.

Shutter speeds were adjusted to get one photo at perfect exposure, one at -1 on the light-meter and one at +1.  Then, combine all three in Adobe Elements to create an HDR photo.

What I didn't realize, at the time, was the clouds were moving fairly quickly.

So, this is one of those photos scheduled for the recycle bin.  My clouds got smeared.

The newer models of most DSLRs, and some point and shooters, have HDR capability built in to them.  I haven't tried the HDR Mode on any of my cameras, yet but, will, one of these days.

It would be interesting to do a comparison between HDR photos created in-camera and HDR shots created manually, I think.

All I have to do is figure out where those camera manuals sneaked off to and read the darn things, one of these days.

We're having some weather in Okinawa, Japan this week that makes a body feel like staying indoors and reading.  It just might be a good time to getterdun.