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Moon over Toyosu and the Canon PowerShot S95

By on November 13, 2011 in Photography

There was a lovely moon rise over Tokyo this evening and, usually, when that is the case, I drag out the beast and take shots like this; but, as I’ve got a cold and am feeling rather under the weather, I thought I’d test my little PowerShot S95 for a shot of the moon and the city.

As much as I love the little S95 for its f/2.0, its full manual functionality, and its RAW file option, point-and-shoots always disappoint for night shots and there’s one main reason: NOISE.

Before I go any further, I should add that there are many situations when I absolutely love noise in a shot (usually black and white and usually for added atmosphere), but, when shooting “standard” shots (like the one below), I have much less tolerance.

The shot below is ISO 1600 f/4 with no processing other than the RAW to jpg conversion. In this smaller size, the noise is not so noticeable; but, if you click on the image for the larger version, you’ll see what I’m talking about.

the noisy version

Of course, the easy solution is to just run the image through some noise reduction software. However, I assume that the majority of people who use point-and-shoots as their main camera would not own dedicated noise reduction software – it’s only an “easy solution” if you have the tools. Below is the same photo after running it through Imagenomic’s Noiseware Photoshop plugin (just the standard “night scene” setting).

the de-noised version

If you’re just sharing your photos digitally (Facebook, etc.) the noise is not such a problem, but, for me, because I’m used to using a DSLR with much better noise control, the noise always disappoints. I’m not giving up on the PowerShot S95 though: I really love it and I’m sure I can find some sweet spot in the settings that will make this less of an issue. It’s great to always have a small camera in my bag, night or day. I was walking over the Kachidoki bridge the other night and, remembering it was in my bag, stopped to take this shot:

Night fishing on the Sumida River

 

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Memories of the Mekong

By on September 4, 2011 in iPhone, Photography, Travel

the canal looking a very muddy brown this morning - iPhone + TiltShift + Instagram Hefe filter

When looking out the window this morning, the colour of the canal below was reminiscent of the Mekong River: a muddy brown that had me remembering various moments on the Mekong. One very funny one was years ago in Vietnam, where the boatman insisted on taking us to a bee farm despite our desperate mime act in an attempt to convey the following: severe allergy to bee stings resulting in anaphylactic shock and certain death on a tiny island in the Mekong Delta.

Well, obviously I survived, but we laugh about it to this day as we recall the boatman eating his free lunch (a freshly caught chicken whipped up into some tasty-looking dish), which was clearly his reward for bringing tourists to the island with the bee farm/honey store/restaurant, while we sucked on lychee nuts because there was nothing else for two non-meat eaters to eat. I do have photos of that boat ride, but they are all on film, so I’d have to dig them out and scan them.

Another favourite was stepping out from the Pak Ou caves in Laos (the famous “Buddha Caves” about 25km north of Luang Prabang by boat) and seeing this lovely scene:

looking down at the parked boats in Laos

 

And still another favourite moment was a late afternoon spent perched on a stool in front of a large open window watching the sun set a beautiful pink and gold on the Mekong River in Phnom Penh. I read a book and drank a cold beer and watched a man and his family push off in their small boat:

a fisherman and his family push off in their small boat

So, now, after writing this, I feel the urge to travel…

By the way, this is the usual colour of the canal in front of us:

 

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