Tag: Japan Pictures | Alik Griffin

This lens is very interesting and fun for the price. I found it doesn't perform great with regards to flaring and shooting into the sun when compared to the Rokinon 12mm that costs more than twice as much ( so not amazing for landscape work ), but this Pergear lens does have some nice sun star effects which could make it a bit more interesting to use for night cityscapes where lighting conditions aren't as harsh.

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Japan Landscape Shooting – Rokinon 12mm f2

For years, the Samyang 12mm f2 has been the go-to lens for APS-C shooters looking for a great ultra-wide prime lens. For a while, it was the only viable option really and probably still is the best bang for the buck in terms of what you get and the pro-level image quality it outputs.

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An Unknown ‘Gem’ Street Machine – Kipon Iberit 75mm f2.4

The Kipon IBERIT 75mm f2.4 is a relatively unknown third-party lens, but is a true gem and a street machine! I've written about this lens a few times but it's sort of fallen out of the general discussion of special secret sauce lenses, so here I share some experiences and photos taken recently with it on the Fujifilm X-T3.

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2020 Mochitsuki Photos & Some Lens Discussion

It's the end of the year and it's time to smash mochi rice into little rice cakes. In Japan, it's called Mochitsuki, or Mochitsuki festival. Friends, family, or neighborhoods get together, bring mochi rice and everyone works together to smash the rice into a mochi paste after steaming it.

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Shutter Speed, Why You Should Stop Ignoring It

Shutter speed is often one of those settings on a camera that photographers overlook. Most photographers these days just put their camera in aperture priority mode and let the camera decide shutter speed for them. While doing this is fine for most people and most situations, you might be ignoring some artistic potential, some mood, or some vibe by not taking just a little control of that shutter speed. In this article, we will look at the roll shutter speed plays on an image's mood and how just a few basic adjustments can have a big impact.

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Atago Shrine Fire Festival – The Process

Once a year, at the temple Agato in Fukuoka Japan, visitors gather together to begin the celebration of the coming new year in an annual fire festival. A tradition with a series of rituals rooted in Shintoism and celebrated by both the Buddhists and Shintos of Japan. To photograph this event, I used the Canon R with the 24-105mm f4L and processed the photos with Lightroom. I'll also share you some tips and tricks and the mental process I use to produce these photos.

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