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

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:

Contemporary Tokyo looking rather aged...

This shot was taken from the “Sky Lounge” in our building, which is basically a big common lounge area with a view of the bay, the Rainbow Bridge, and the city.

The water in the immediate foreground is the mouth of the Sumida river and the green space on the right is Hamarikyu Gardens (浜離宮 – はまりきゅう), which is the site of a 17thC Tokugawa family villa that was opened as a public garden in the early 1950s. You can see the tidal pond (salt-water pond) which is within the park and quite famous.

Tokyo Tower is also visible (half obscured by a building near JR Hamamatsucho station) and behind it is the Mori Tower at Roppongi Hills.

As for the image itself, it is 3 shots layered (-2/0/+2 exposure), tonemapped with Photomatix, desaturated in Lightroom, imported into Photoshop, and blended with a layer of craquelure texture (opacity reduced to about 20%).

This upcoming weekend (August 26 & 27) is the awesome Oedo Matsuri Bon Odori taikai (大江戸まつり盆おどり大会), so, if you’re around Tokyo, you should definitely check it out. (Japanese info is here). I shot the video below two years ago, if you’d like an idea of what it’s like (after the intro still shots, there’s live video):

Click here to view the embedded video.

Anyway, although the Oedo matsuri is “local” (I live in Chuo-ku), our truly local (as in neighbourhood) Bon Odori was last week, so I popped over to shoot a bit and have a few drinks while listening to the music and watching the dancers and, below, are some shots from that evening. It’s always so much fun to go to your local Bon Odori and see the same people over the years (and I’m now getting quite a collection of portraits of some of the real regulars who dance at all the local ones, including the Oedo one).

For now, enjoy this truly spectacular pre-typhoon purple sky over Tokyo. I just ran out with the tripod and shot this a few minutes ago, so it’s definitely hot off the press (and has certainly jumped the queue on a whole lot of other photos waiting to be sorted):

(click on image for a larger version)

An amazing sky over Tokyo this evening (3 shots, tripod, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8, Photomatix)