Visiting Kyoto’s Fushimi Inari Shrine with Matt Campagna and a Super-Wide-Angle Lens

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm — 1/500 sec, f/4, ISO 250 —
map & image data — nearby photos

“Environmental Portrait”

Matt Campagna at the Fushimi Inari Shrine, Kyoto Japan

It's been three weeks since I posted
“Matt Campagna Wigglegrams Kyoto”,
so I'm finally getting around now to posting other photos from that outing, where I met
fellow Lightroom developer Matt Campagna while he was visiting Kyoto.

Our plan was to visit the Fushimi Inari Shrine,
and since I'd been there for photoshoots many times
(most recently with former Yahoo! co-worker
Andrei Zmievski,
and The Japan Times columnist Alice Gordenker), I thought I'd try something different this time.

Unless I'm going out on
a bike ride or other special situation like a heavy snowfall, I tend to bring three lenses, all primes: a 24mm wide-angle, a 50mm or 85mm medium
angle, and my favorite lens, the Voigtländer 125mm. But for this outing with Matt, I thought I'd give a super-wide-angle lens a
try, so I brought a 14-24mm zoom (along with the 85mm f/1.4 for
portraits).

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm — 1/500 sec, f/18, ISO 400 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Main Entrance

Fushimi-Inari Taisha Shrine (伏見稲荷大社)








Nikon D4 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm — 1/500 sec, f/16, ISO 450 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Matt

a bit apprehensive moments after we met for the first time








Nikon D4 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm — 1/500 sec, f/18, ISO 220 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Unsettling

Part of the goal in bringing the wide-angle lens was to force me to use
it, to experiment. One expects some distortion with a wide-angle lens, but
when taken out of context by an uncentered crop like the shot above, the result can be a “off”
in an unsettling way.

For reference, here's the unedited/uncropped version of the shot above.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm — 1/500 sec, f/18, ISO 220 —
map & image data — nearby photos

original unedited/uncropped version








Nikon D4 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm — 1/500 sec, f/18, ISO 2000 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Less Unsettling

This shot clearly has distortion, but it's not unsettling to me, I suppose, because
the crop is more centered...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm — 1/500 sec, f/18, ISO 2000 —
map & image data — nearby photos

original unedited/uncropped version








Nikon D4 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm — 1/1000 sec, f/3.5, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

That's a Mighty Big Camera You've Got There...

Matt's smile is what grabs and holds the attention in this shot, but once you notice how big the camera has become,
it's hard to unnotice. He's holding a Nikon D4, the same as I'm using.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/400 sec, f/1.4, ISO 6400 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Green Tea

and green face

We stopped at a cafe for a cool drink, and with a lot of leaves just
outside the big windows next to us (as seen in this shot of the
same table), there was a green cast over Matt's face. The green is all
natural, coming from all the foliage outside and all, but ever since this experience with
low-quality lights I've been sensitive to a green color cast, and want
to remove it.

I took a closer portrait shot, and in Lightroom tried to reduce the level of green...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/500 sec, f/1.4, ISO 2200 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Less Green








Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/500 sec, f/1.4, ISO 4000 —
map & image data — nearby photos

More Grin








Nikon D4 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm — 1/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 640 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Another “Environmental”

perhaps this is what a super-wide-angle is best for








Nikon D4 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm — 1/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1250 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Completely Lost

The “lost” in the caption refers not to directions around the sprawling
shrine complex, but to the amazing sense of hidden wonder and escape that
this specific location had... that sense is lost in the photo, which has little
to recommend it beyond the journalistic statement that Matt was at that location.

I'll have to put some thought in how to capture that sense.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm — 1/500 sec, f/4, ISO 3200 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Farther Inside

precariously close to the splashing stream of water

I'm not a big fan of wide-angle lenses, probably because I don't have an innate sense on how to use it well,
nor enough practical experience to overcome the lack of instinct. Still, in
the seven years I've had it, I've posted 140 photos with it at its most wide
angle (14mm), and have added 11 more today. I seem
to like it best for the “environmental”
shots, showing the subject in the wider context of the surrounding
environment.

Here are links to a few random 14mm shots posted over the years:

here,
here,
here,
here,
here,
here,
here,
here,
here,
here, and
here.