Jeffrey E.F. Friedl's Blog, page 35

Kyoto’s Biggest Snow in 58 Years

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 105mm — 1/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 280 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Big Snow in Kyoto

biggest in 58 years, at least (though this photo was taken near the start)

京都市内の58年ぶりの大雪

While setting up in my living room for the silly photoshoot
today, I noticed a few flakes of snow starting to fall a bit after 1pm.
According to the news later in the evening, by 6pm it was already the biggest snowfall
in Kyoto City in the last 58 years.

By 6pm the accumulation was only 16cm (6¼ inches), which is nothing for Ohio where I grew up,
or New Hampshire where I went to grad school, but for Kyoto City it's a big deal.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — 1/320 sec, f/5, ISO 500 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Two and a Half Hours In

main gate of the Heian Shrine (平安神宮の大鳥居)

Just to show how quickly it came down, here are two photos taken at the
same spot in the Heian Shrine, three hours apart...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 140mm — 1/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 140 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Leaving an Unlucky Fortune Behind

if your fortune paper is bad, you tie it here for better luck

12:35pm (午後12時半)








Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 150mm — 1/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Same Spot

at 3:45pm (同じ所、午後3時45分)







Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 105mm — 1/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 400 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Whiteout Dash

I was maybe 20m or 30m from the building, but it was mostly invisible

The forecast is for substantial more snow tonight and tomorrow. I should take advantage of the rare opportunity to visit some temple gardens at
first light, but after dinner I went out into the snow again for
three hours of frozen photography and snow play with
Anthony, and I'm exhausted to the bone. I think this is the most tired I've felt all year.

I have plenty more to post from today, but these few shots will do until I can get some sleep under my belt.

Continued here...

Silly Family Photoshoot for the New Year

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/60 sec, f/10, ISO 640 —
image data

Getting Warmed Up

家族撮影の軽い準備

We did a silly family photoshoot today. We had planned to do it a month
or so ago for our Christmas cards, but to my shame I was just too lazy to
do cards this year. So to sort of make up for not having sent Christmas or
New Year's cards, we did this shoot and are posting these photos.

今年は喪中で年賀状を送らないので、そのかわりに面白い家族写真を撮りました。
文枝はまだ 12才の晏人より背が高いけれども、そろそろ晏人に負けそうです。

Fumie is still taller than 12-year-old Anthony, but that won't last
long, and Anthony will be taller by the time next year's photoshoot rolls
around.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/60 sec, f/10, ISO 640 —
image data

Getting Close

ギリギリです

At 5′ 3½″,
Fumie still has two inches on Anthony (he's 5′ 1½″, and
FWIW,
I'm 6′ 3½″),
but Fumie has quite the trick up her sleeve...

文枝は161cm、晏人は157cm、私は192cmです。

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/60 sec, f/10, ISO 640 —
image data

Huh!?

あらっ！

文枝はバレエのポワントの様に立ってますが、靴は履いていないです。親指だけで立ってるみたいです。

Fumie is standing directly on the edge of her toes (the big toe
of each foot), as if she's wearing ballet
pointe shoes, but she's in just stockings. I can't fathom that kind of
strength (and my toes hurt just thinking about it), but this is what ballet
dancers do.

Andrei Zmievski Wigglegrams Kyoto

Note: this article may not appear properly in news readers.

This article contains interactive aspects that are likely removed by most news readers. Please see this particular article directly on Jeffrey's blog for full functionality.

div#dJlLcFhhjhhjScA img { width:690px; height:435px; visibility:hidden; position:absolute; top:0; left:0; border: solid 10px #311}

















Animatable — slowly sweep mouse from side to side to view effect
写真の上をマウスで左右にゆっくり動かすといろいろな撮影効果を楽しむことができます。
Andrei Zmievski Wigglegram

(version #1)

at the Fushimi Inari Shrine, Kyoto Japan

1)return true;if(!L){L=1;}var x=Math.floor((e.clientX||e.pageX)/BW);if(X==0)X=x;else if(x!=X){var which=x>X?i+(x-X):i-(X-x);if(which>=I.length)which=I.length==2?0:I.length-1;else if(which

An old friend from my days at Yahoo! swung by Kyoto the other day, and we made a quick walking tour of a few sightseeing spots.

I first met Andrei
Zmievski at an Open Source Conference circa 2002, and we worked
together a bit on things related to PHP's
regular-expression support (of which a chapter of my book on regular expressions is
dedicated). As an expert in PHP, he later joined Yahoo! a couple of years
later when Yahoo! made heavier use of PHP.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 38mm — 1/500 sec, f/4.5, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

New Year's Prep

at the Heian Shrine (正月の準備、平安神宮)

a shrine's most busy time is the first few days of the new year








Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 48mm — 1/2000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Selfie Stick

These “selfie stick” (my word) things seem to have suddenly exploded in
popularity. I've seen them around for years, but on this few-hour outing I
saw more than in my entire life up to that point.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/1250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Andrei at the Heian Shrine








Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Lighting Incense at the Chion'in Temple








Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — 1/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

More Selfie Sticks

at least three visible in this shot at the front steps of the Kiyomizu Temple








Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Snapshot the Old Fashioned Way








Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Andrei Overlooking Kyoto








Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1000 —
map & image data — nearby photos

With Fox

at the Fushimi Inari Shrine (伏見稲荷)

Inari shrines have a lot of
fox statues; the shot above was taken almost next to where this fox shot was
taken, though to much different effect.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 400 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Gates Everywhere

every gate, large and small, represents a donation to the shrine

Here's another version of the wigglegram
given at the top of this post. It's derived from the same original photos
that the one above was derived from. As described in “The Art and Science (and
Complex Frustrations) of Creating my Wigglegrams”, once you have the
master shots in camera, there are still all kinds of different results you
can get depending on how you crop the individual frames.

The version above has the apparent movement rotate about Andrei; the version below has it rotate about
the far background...

div#djoLcFnijnijfcA img { width:690px; height:468px; visibility:hidden; position:absolute; top:0; left:0; border: solid 10px #311}

















Animatable — slowly sweep mouse from side to side to view effect
写真の上をマウスで左右にゆっくり動かすといろいろな撮影効果を楽しむことができます。
Andrei Wigglegram Version #2
1)return true;if(!L){L=1;document.getElementById('pjoLcFnijnijfcA1').src='http://regex.info/i/JF4_064015p5rl14_... x=Math.floor((e.clientX||e.pageX)/BW);if(X==0)X=x;else if(x!=X){var which=x>X?i+(x-X):i-(X-x);if(which>=I.length)which=I.length==2?0:I.length-1;else if(which

Which version do you like better?

New Views of Kyoto from Shogunzuka’s New Observation Deck

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/1250 sec, f/7.1, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

New Vantage Point

above eastern Kyoto, Japan

将軍家の新展望台

When I mention “Shogunzuka”, it can refer to an overlook with
nice views of Kyoto that I often visit for
sunsets, or its nearby temple. The latter has long had
a dilapidated observation deck, but for the last
year they were working on a remodel, and this past October they finally unveiled a new temple building
and spiffy observation deck.

Nikon D4 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500mm — 1/2000 sec, f/13, ISO 1800 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Same Observation Deck

and the new building, as viewed from the edge of the city








Nikon D4 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50mm — 1/200 sec, f/13, ISO 160 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Wider View

from near the Heian Shine

This past October 8th they finally had the grand opening, so I popped up for a visit.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/80 sec, f/4.5, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

New Old Building

at Shogunzuka

The new building is actually an old building moved here and repurposed for use as a temple, but that'll be the subject
of another post. Today we're looking at just the observation deck and its views.

Nikon D4 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 58mm — 1/250 sec, f/8, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Expansive Deck








Nikon D4 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 290mm — 1/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 180 —
map & image data — nearby photos








Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/1000 sec, f/3.5, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

The views are sweeping. Here's one looking back toward the area from where the 2nd and 3rd photos of this article were taken...

Nikon D4 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 170mm — 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 220 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Okazaki Area of Kyoto

from orange gate of the Heian Shrine, going left:

municipal library, National Museum of Modern Art, Chamber of Commerce Exhibition Hall

京都岡崎、平安神宮の大鳥から左へは図書館、国立美術館、みやこめっせ

The green roof just to the upper left of the orange gate that looks like
a temple is actually part of the Kyoto City Municipal Museum of Art, and
the temple-like roofs to its upper right are of the martial arts center
(where I took photos for “My First Look at Kendo:
Masters Tournament in Kyoto”).

Another direction shows the Chion'in Temple and its main building shrouded in a
protective shell...

Nikon D4 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 78mm — 1/200 sec, f/5, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Chion'in Temple

工事中の知恩院

Another direction finds a temple nestled in the forested mountain...

Nikon D4 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 116mm — 1/250 sec, f/10, ISO 720 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Nestled

The Anyoji Temple (安養寺)








Nikon D4 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 240mm — 1/500 sec, f/10, ISO 400 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Nanzenji (南禅寺)

The big temple-looking roof in the center above is the main gate of the Nanzen Temple,
seen from ground level here, and
from another (lower) mountain here.

Nikon D4 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 240mm — 1/500 sec, f/10, ISO 450 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Temples and Small Mountain

Komyoji Temple and Mt. Yoshida (光明寺と吉田山)

The temple buildings in the center are of the Komyouji Temple, which I visited last year for some spectacular
shots, but I've yet to post any but this one.

Mt. Yoshida, a tiny bump of a mountain that's fun to explore, has been mentioned in my blog many times,
including
here,
here,
here, and
here.

Looking back to the new (old) building, you can see that the bump on the end of it is completely new construction...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/500 sec, f/7.1, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos








Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/60 sec, f/11, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos









Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/100 sec, f/11, ISO 160 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Doors










Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/400 sec, f/3.5, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Door Detail
Desktop-Background Versions

1280×800  ·  1680×1050  ·  1920×1200  ·  2560×1600  ·  2880×1800








Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/100 sec, f/8, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Interesting Lock








Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/100 sec, f/11, ISO 320 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Simple Roof Carving

On the way to check out the inside of the building, I noticed this:

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/100 sec, f/11, ISO 900 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Afterthought

Better late than never, I suppose.

While I'm here, here are a few photos from the underside of the deck, taken a few weeks later
on this hike.

Nikon D4 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 240mm — 1/1000 sec, f/6, ISO 2200 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Lots of Lumber








Nikon D4 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50mm — 1/250 sec, f/5, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

New Deck

built perhaps 5m above the old one








Nikon D4 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 95mm — 1/400 sec, f/5, ISO 360 —
map & image data — nearby photos

More Lumber

Oh, and here are some articles (in Japanese) with photos of the construction:
here,
here, and
here.

To be continued...

Quality Time Among the Fall Colors

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Quality Time
Desktop-Background Versions

1280×800  ·  1680×1050  ·  1920×1200  ·  2560×1600  ·  2880×1800

Almost identical to the lead photo of the previous post
(“The Building at the Main Garden of the Kongorinji Temple”),
but with a human touch.

The Building at the Main Garden of the Kongorinji Temple

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/40 sec, f/13, ISO 6400 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Looking Through

open doors of a temple building

at the Kongorinji Temple (金剛輪寺), Shiga Japan
Desktop-Background Versions

1280×800  ·  1680×1050  ·  1920×1200  ·  2560×1600  ·  2880×1800

Last week's “Slightly Queasy
Wigglegram” showed a small corner of a building at the Kongorinji
Temple (金剛輪寺) in Shiga Japan, from a visit last month toward the start
of this year's fall-foliage season.

This post looks a bit more at the building, which is not the temple's main
building, but does front the main garden. (The main garden was
seen four years ago in “The Kongourinji Temple: Main
Garden, and Beyond”.)

It can be partitioned into various rooms, but many of the partitions
were slid away revealing an open view all the way through to the garden on
the other side, naturally inviting this kind of shot...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/125 sec, f/9, ISO 6400 —
map & image data — nearby photos
Vertical Desktop-Background Versions



1050×1680  ·  1200×1920  ·  1600×2560

(The bright splashes inside are the sun streaming through from the side.)

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/400 sec, f/1.4, ISO 560 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Damien and Paul's Turn

When we shoot together, we often “see” the same shot naturally, but even
when we don't, we do recognize a good perspective when we see one of the
other's taking the shot. And as it happens quite often when we're out,
once one of us starts taking a shot, other folks who happen by start doing the same:

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/400 sec, f/1.4, ISO 1000 —
map & image data — nearby photos

The More The Merrier

A hundred people might walk by that doorway without taking a shot, but
once one of us does, almost everyone who walks by for the next while
will. It's funny.

If you walk around to camera right (as seen in the views above) and then look back at the corner of the building
you just passed, you'd see the scene seen in the aforementioned queasy
wigglegram...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 720 —
map & image data — nearby photos

In the foreground you can see a kusaridoi (鎖樋) rain chain...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1000 —
map & image data — nearby photos

I love these things,
as evidenced by how often they appear on my blog over the years (such as
here,
here,
here,
here,
here, and
here).

If you step up onto the veranda seen above (after taking off your shoes,
of course), then step into the red carpet and look back to where the above
photo was taken, you get this view...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1600 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Flower Painting

And if you move to the edge and look down...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/400 sec, f/2, ISO 2500 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Kusaridoi Detail

Inside, the main area is mostly open, with an altar (or whatever that kind of thing is called in a temple)...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/100 sec, f/3.5, ISO 5000 —
map & image data — nearby photos

The red carpet is the one seen in this post's lead photos, looking from left to right out the window at the far right.

It was very dark inside compared to the brightness outside.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/250 sec, f/2, ISO 6400 —
map & image data — nearby photos

High Contrast

On the other side of the “Flower Painting” doors is another set of paintings, of dragons...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 5600 —
map & image data — nearby photos

After loaning Damien my Voigtländer Macro 125mm f/2.5 so he could
take detail shots of the dragons, I retrieved it and gave it a go myself.

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 6400 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Left Side








Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 6400 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Right Side

It turns out that they're not just paintings... they're a hybrid painting / carving, and they have real depth.

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 6400 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Eye Detail

This is, of course, the answer to the Deep, Dark “What am I?” Quiz from the other day.

I wanted to step back to get a full shot of the doors, but as soon as I
did someone swooped in to take closeups of whatever I had just been taking closeups of.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 6400 —
map & image data — nearby photos

I hope he has a good macro lens.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 6400 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Finally Clear

To be continued...

The Art and Science (and Complex Frustrations) of Creating my Wigglegrams

Note: this article may not appear properly in news readers.

This article contains interactive aspects that are likely removed by most news readers. Please see this particular article directly on Jeffrey's blog for full functionality.

div#dWKY5ETGgTGgtdA img { width:458px; height:700px; visibility:hidden; position:absolute; top:0; left:0; border: solid 10px #311}








Animatable — slowly sweep mouse from side to side to view effect
写真の上をマウスで左右にゆっくり動かすといろいろな撮影効果を楽しむことができます。
Simple Wigglegram

focusing on the tree in the middle
1)return true;if(!L){L=1;}var x=Math.floor((e.clientX||e.pageX)/BW);if(X==0)X=x;else if(x!=X){var which=x>X?i+(x-X):i-(X-x);if(which>=I.length)which=I.length==2?0:I.length-1;else if(which

This post is about the art and technology of my 3D
wigglegrams, but first a bit of context about the location seen
above.

This wigglegram was taken during my first visit to Kyoto's Shugakuin
Imperial Villa (修学院離宮) two years ago, a photographically-fruitful
outing first posted about here, and most recently
revisited a month ago here.

During the tour of the grounds, at one point you descend stone steps set in the side of a mountain....

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/125 sec, f/1.4, ISO 160 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Stone Steps

There's a waterfall and a small stream... it's all quite picturesque.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/125 sec, f/4, ISO 1400 —
map & image data — nearby photos








Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/160 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Wider View

As I described on that
first post about the outing, the tour moves along briskly, so despite
the wonderfully photogenic scenes, the tour is not amenable to careful or
leisurely photography.

So it was with haste that I spent just over one second to fire off a
burst of 14 frames for this new “wigglegram” thing. I had published my first wigglegram just
a week and a half prior.

It's been just over two years since I took the photos for this
wigglegram, and though I haven't gotten much better at taking the raw
frames, over time I have gotten much better at preparing them for
display.

“Preparing them for display” means aligning them up to account for
camera shake while moving the camera (and my body) from one side to another
during the shutter burst that might last one or two seconds. It turns out
that I'm pretty bad at keeping the camera level, so the need to align them
well is pressing.

To show just how bad the original frames can be, here they are.
(For the wigglegrams on this page, I'm using every other frame from the initial 14-frame burst,
so these wigglegrams are seven frames long).

div#dFEY5EbGgbGgAcB img { width:466px; height:700px; visibility:hidden; position:absolute; top:0; left:0; border: solid 10px #311}








Animatable — slowly sweep mouse from side to side to view effect
写真の上をマウスで左右にゆっくり動かすといろいろな撮影効果を楽しむことができます。
Original (Unaligned) Frames

showing my unsteady movements
撮った写真をそのまま繋げただけで、調整されていないコマ
1)return true;if(!L){L=1;}var x=Math.floor((e.clientX||e.pageX)/BW);if(X==0)X=x;else if(x!=X){var which=x>X?i+(x-X):i-(X-x);if(which>=I.length)which=I.length==2?0:I.length-1;else if(which

I'm pretty good at holding the camera steady for a long exposure (such
as seen
here and
here, for example), but clearly not good at
holding the camera steady while moving. The images need to be aligned individually to form a unified whole.

Alignment consists of adjusting rotation and skew:

Adjusting the angle of each image so that what should be vertical is indeed vertical. As an example, the seven shots in the wigglegrams on this page were adjusted by
1.23°,
1.36°,
0.7°,
0.8°,
1.27°,
3.24°, and
3.95° respectively.

Crop each image to restore a consistent framing of the scene across all images.

Further crop each image to the maximum intersection of what remains of all the images, so that each image
has the exact same pixel dimensions.

This is neither easy nor fun to do by hand in Lightroom, and this was a severely-limiting factor
in my early wigglegram production.

I knew there must be some way to automate the alignment, but I'm no good at pixel-level programming.
Thankfully, the kind folks behind the Hugin Panorama sticher included
image-stacking features, and I was able to build a system that automated the alignment.

Results were.... spotty. Sometimes they were fantastic, and sometimes they were like this:

div#dFEY5EbGgbGgAcA img { width:433px; height:690px; visibility:hidden; position:absolute; top:0; left:0; border: solid 10px #311}








Animatable — slowly sweep mouse from side to side to view effect
写真の上をマウスで左右にゆっくり動かすといろいろな撮影効果を楽しむことができます。
Auto-Aligned With Hugin Tools
自動敵にソフトがさきほどのコマを、調整した後のコマ。結果は今一ですな。


(ところで、この実記の一番上のウイグルグラムが私が作った物です。)

1)return true;if(!L){L=1;}var x=Math.floor((e.clientX||e.pageX)/BW);if(X==0)X=x;else if(x!=X){var which=x>X?i+(x-X):i-(X-x);if(which>=I.length)which=I.length==2?0:I.length-1;else if(which

It's much better than the originals, but it still leaves a lot to be desired.
Sometimes it would even lend a kind of Salvador Dalíesque morph to various parts of various images. It was a step in the right direction, but I needed a better approach.

Finally, a few months ago I started writing a Lightroom plugin to align
images using user-provided hints and guidance.

In Prograss

my plugin while creating the wigglegram that lead this post

At first I thought that aligning the images would be merely a technical
undertaking, but it turns out that there's also an artistic component to
choosing the alignment.

It may feel completely counter-intuitive, but you can take the same set
of original and build wigglegrams with completely different focus points.
For example, in the one at the top of this post, the focus point is the
tree (referenced in the dialog above as “anchor point 3”), but here's one
where it's the waterfall in the background...

div#dMuY5EtDgtDgacA img { width:453px; height:700px; visibility:hidden; position:absolute; top:0; left:0; border: solid 10px #311}








Animatable — slowly sweep mouse from side to side to view effect
写真の上をマウスで左右にゆっくり動かすといろいろな撮影効果を楽しむことができます。
From the Same Images

different feel
1)return true;if(!L){L=1;}var x=Math.floor((e.clientX||e.pageX)/BW);if(X==0)X=x;else if(x!=X){var which=x>X?i+(x-X):i-(X-x);if(which>=I.length)which=I.length==2?0:I.length-1;else if(which

Like all the wigglegrams on this post, they're both built from the same original seven frames,
so what's the difference? In the wigglegram at the top of this post, each frame is cropped so that
a small orange leaf stuck to the middle of the main tree trunk is in the exact same location
within each frame. That little orange leaf doesn't move from frame to frame; everything else does.
This has the effect of the view rotating about the tree as you move.

In the wigglegram immediately above, the crop for each image is crafted so that the rock
at the right side of the top of the waterfall doesn't move from frame to frame; everything else does.
Here, everything seems to rotate about the background.

How can these completely-different sensations be built from the same originals? Doesn't it matter where the camera
was pointing while the rapid-fire burst was being taken?

The key is to realize that when you focus on something with your eye (the tree or the waterfall or whatever),
your perspective doesn't change. What changes is what you choose to keep unmoving in the center of your view.

Your perspective does change as you move your head to the side, just as
the camera's perspective changes as it moves to the side. Once that
perspective change is captured in the frames taken by the camera, when
processing later you can use creative cropping to keep whatever you want
“centered” and unmoving. In the examples above, the tree and the
background, respectively, were kept unmoving from frame to frame, giving
the feeling that that's what we were focused on while moving.

As a further example, here's a set of croppings where a yellow leaf in the near foreground was kept consistent across the frames:

div#dKtY5EhDghDgLdA img { width:472px; height:700px; visibility:hidden; position:absolute; top:0; left:0; border: solid 10px #311}








Animatable — slowly sweep mouse from side to side to view effect
写真の上をマウスで左右にゆっくり動かすといろいろな撮影効果を楽しむことができます。
Rotating About the Front

a small yellow leaf in the foreground is fixed across the whole
1)return true;if(!L){L=1;}var x=Math.floor((e.clientX||e.pageX)/BW);if(X==0)X=x;else if(x!=X){var which=x>X?i+(x-X):i-(X-x);if(which>=I.length)which=I.length==2?0:I.length-1;else if(which

This one is much less satisfying than the others, for two reasons.

One of the reasons brings us back to the question "Doesn't it matter
where the camera was pointing while the rapid-fire burst was being
taken?" Where the camera points for each frame determines what part of
the scene is available to each frame, which in turn has a direct impact on
what parts of the scene are available to all frames of the unified
whole. After each frame is aligned so that whatever we want to be unmoving
across frames is unmoving, we have to set the crop dimensions for the
unified whole such that it's contained within every (likely rotated and
moved) individual frame.

If the camera was physically kept pointing at the same thing while it
was swept from one side to the other — say, kept pointing exactly at
the small orange leaf in the center of the tree trunk — and the
camera was kept perfectly level, you'd not have to adjust anything, and
you'd keep 100% of your pixels. But in the real world in my shaky hands,
the best I can hope for is that the camera is kept generally in the right
direction. In the case of this wigglegram, I did try to keep that leaf in
the center, so after adjusting the frames I ended up keeping (not have to
crop away) a not-too-bad 67% of the pixels.

But with “Rotating About the Front” just above, where the physical
camera aim doesn't match the aim we're crafting, I had to crop away all but
20% of the pixels.

So, the tighter crop destroys the big sense that I was hoping to capture, making the result less satisfying.

(A further side effect of small crops from across the various frames is
that you can get some pretty wild effects due to lens distortions, which
tend to exaggerate toward the edge of the frame. Taking a small crop that
runs from the middle of the first frame to the edge of the last frame can
see a square morph into a squished rectangle, or vice versa.)

The other reason it's not satisfying is that the subject matter doesn't
lend itself to rotation about the foreground. It just feels better rotating
about the tree, or the background.

But you don't even have to rotate.

I realized this weekend that once you've adjusted everything so that whatever item you picked
is unmoving from frame to frame, you can then go ahead and let it shift slightly across the view from frame to frame,
to give a panning feel. For example:

div#dGHZ5EAIgAIgPcA img { width:449px; height:700px; visibility:hidden; position:absolute; top:0; left:0; border: solid 10px #311}








Animatable — slowly sweep mouse from side to side to view effect
写真の上をマウスで左右にゆっくり動かすといろいろな撮影効果を楽しむことができます。
Panning
1)return true;if(!L){L=1;}var x=Math.floor((e.clientX||e.pageX)/BW);if(X==0)X=x;else if(x!=X){var which=x>X?i+(x-X):i-(X-x);if(which>=I.length)which=I.length==2?0:I.length-1;else if(which

This is a completely different feel. Here, I set the waterfall rock as the unmoving part, but then had it move across 20% of the field of view between the first and last frame. This gives the effect of rotating about an infinitely-distant point: a pan.

Frankly, it's not very appealing here, but I can imagine cases where it'd be useful.

More importantly, the technique can be used to fine-tune the rotation
point by giving the impression that the rotation point is in front or
behind whatever point you'd made fixed. For example, in this wigglegram of three
ladies posing for the camera, I set the fixed point at the shoes of the
lady in the middle. But imagine if they had been jumping (like this), then
I'd have no spot on any of their bodies that stayed consistent from frame
to frame around which to rotate. But now I can solve it by zeroing in on a rock or
something nearby, then using a slight “pan” one way or the other to throw the
perceived center of rotation exactly where I want it: in the middle of the three jumpers.

(That's a poorly-written paragraph about a complex idea... I'll have to
just go shoot an example sometime, to make it clear.)

Anyway, as you can see from the many wigglegrams on this page, all
derived from the same original photos, artistic feelings play an important
role in deciding how to present them. I lead the post with the presentation
I liked best. YMMV.

Slightly Queasy Wigglegram

Note: this article may not appear properly in news readers.

This article contains interactive aspects that are likely removed by most news readers. Please see this particular article directly on Jeffrey's blog for full functionality.

div#dUPC4ECdcCdcDcA img { width:690px; height:508px; visibility:hidden; position:absolute; top:0; left:0; border: solid 10px #311}
















Animatable — slowly sweep mouse from side to side to view effect
写真の上をマウスで左右にゆっくり動かすといろいろな撮影効果を楽しむことができます。
Funky Wigglegram
1)return true;if(!L){L=1;}var x=Math.floor((e.clientX||e.pageX)/BW);if(X==0)X=x;else if(x!=X){var which=x>X?i+(x-X):i-(X-x);if(which>=I.length)which=I.length==2?0:I.length-1;else if(which

This wigglegram,
of this temple building at the
Kongorinji Temple in Shiga Japan just doesn't feel quite right.

このウイッグルグラッム（滋賀県の金剛輪寺)はなかなか変な感じですね。

Each of the 15 photos seems perfectly fine, but the movement among them is really funky.... might make some people nauseous.

Not every wigglegram deserves to see the light of day, I guess.

Slightly Queezy Wigglegram

Note: this article may not appear properly in news readers.

This article contains interactive aspects that are likely removed by most news readers. Please see this particular article directly on Jeffrey's blog for full functionality.

div#dUPC4ECdcCdcDcA img { width:690px; height:508px; visibility:hidden; position:absolute; top:0; left:0; border: solid 10px #311}















Animatable — slowly sweep mouse from side to side to view effect
写真の上をマウスで左右にゆっくり動かすといろいろな撮影効果を楽しむことができます。
Funky Wigglegram
1)return true;if(!L){L=1;}var x=Math.floor((e.clientX||e.pageX)/BW);if(X==0)X=x;else if(x!=X){var which=x>X?i+(x-X):i-(X-x);if(which>=I.length)which=I.length==2?0:I.length-1;else if(which

This wigglegram,
of this temple building at the
Kongorinji Temple in Shiga Japan just doesn't feel quite right.

このウイッグルグラッム（滋賀県の金剛輪寺)はなかなか変な感じですね。

Each of the 15 photos seems perfectly fine, but the movement among them is really funky.... might make some people nauseous.

Not every wigglegram deserves to see the light of day, I guess.

A Deep, Dark “What am I?” Quiz

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 6400 —
map & image data — nearby photos

What am I?

Today we have a simple What am I? quiz.
What is the thing above, and how is it used?

As usual with these quizzes, I'll keep all comments from appearing
until after I reveal the answer in a blog post in a few days.