Hi, I’m “Yocean”, the pict-creator.
This time, I went to Osakajo-Park which is one of the recommended sight-seeing spots in Osaka to take pictures.
The last time I took my night photography tour is at Nakanoshima Park and somehow I think I learnt the secret of taking good pictures at night. This time is the another challenge of the different theme.
For your information, a mirrorless camera (X T-20, Fujifilm), a lens (XF18-55mm F2.8-4 R LM OIS, Fujifilm) and a tripod (MKELES5BK-BH, Manfrotto) were used for taking these following pictures.
Then, please take a look at these pictures!
[Photo 1] Osaka Castle in Dark Night
It was cloudy on that day, so the moon was in and out of view. The brightness varied depending on that situation.
I took this picture focusing on the light coming through the windows of Osaka Castle, because it was really conspicuous in the darkness and beautiful.
During taking photos at night, I noticed that it’s difficult to correct exposure of highly illuminated object in the darkness. Although the illumination looks beautiful by the naked eye, the extreme difference of brightness between the object and the background causes “over-exposure” or “under exposure“.
Actually, this picture was taken by using frame composition of trees. But I developed the detail of Osaka Castle preferentially because of high contrast between the castle and the trees.
The photo of the castle standing alone in the darkness became one of my favorites.
[Photo 2] Pathway to the Land of Happiness
Then, I went to Gokuraku Bridge, one of the recommended shooting spots in Osakajo-Park.
Gokuraku-Jyodo means the Land of Happiness in Japanese related to the Buddhism. The bridge was built to go to the temple, Ishiyama-honganji which was located in the center of Osaka Castle area where Amida-nyorai (the name of a Buddha) was enshrined in the past.
The bridge was decorated by the blue lights on the day and that attracted me to take this picture and entitle it “Pathway to the Land of Happiness”.
As for this picture, I had a very hard time with exposure correction.
When I focused on the light-up castle, the shadows of stone walls and trees were under-exposed, and the good atmosphere around the bridge disappeared from the picture. In contrast, when I focused on the stone walls and trees, the castle was over-exposed.
Therefore, I prepared two pictures taken under different exposure conditions and combined later.
The caslte part was clipped by using Photoshop and was combined with the photo focused on the background. The over-exposed part could be fixed and resulted in no sense of incongruity.
It’s all thanks to Photoshop. lol
[Photo 3] Osaka City View from Moat
While I was groping for good angle standing on the moat of Osaka Castle then suddenly I turned my back and saw the landscape of Osaka City.
Since the landscape was contrasted to the castle view I had looked at just before, and that was really impressive, I changed my idea and took “Osaka City View from Moat”.
If Toyotomi Hideyoshi (the lord of Samurai who commenced construction of Osaka Castle in 1583) also looked at “the castle town” (now we call them Osaka city) from the same place I was standing, I wonder what would he think of while looking at “the urban view“. lol
[Photo 4] Osaka Castle Illuminated by the Moonlight
When I took photos under the cloudy sky, the moon luckily appeared from the clouds. So there is a shot of “Osaka Castle lighted up by the Moonlight”.
Same as the sunlight, the moonlight sometimes makes “a rainbow caused by light scattering” at night. Under the clear sky on sunny day, we can’t see the glimmer of light probably, but this time, the clouds become a screen and help me to see the rainbow around the moon.
I think this is the best shot.
Conclusion
I think Osakajo-Park is the best place for sight seeing in Osaka, Japan as this park is easily accessible and you can feel the history of Osaka.
If you are from the other countries, you should definitely come here.
I appreciate your reading the article through to the end, and please excuse any errors in my English.
コメント