Spaceship for Tokyo Photo

Photographer’s Note

This is the water bus "Himiko" going down the River Sumida in Tokyo. Himiko was produced by Leiji Matsumoto, one of the best renowned Japanese cartoonists.

I was shaking with cold on the bridge for about one hour to take this scene that Himiko is going down to the Eitai Bridge illuminated blue in the background of multistory house buildings.
This is one piece while taking a shot of 27 pieces, selected 1/30 and f/2.5 at ISO800 to freeze the motion of Himiko without the noise.
Handheld shot without a tripod, because of the vibration of the heavy vehicles passing the bridge.
I'd like to get a large aperture lens with IS.

lilimih33, sevy, PixelTerror, rigoletto, manub, jean-marie, noborders has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

rigoletto (26326) 2008-02-10 6:00

Hi Hisashi,
This is most like a sci-fi image, thanx to the ultra-modern swimming time machine. The skyscrapers and the neonized brdge adds to this feeling as well. Good quality for a hand-held photo in that cold.
Maybe i would wait for the boat to go closer to the bridge, and therefore have less space at the bottom.
Cheers
Deniz

emilbo (9399) 2008-02-10 6:14

Salut Hisash!
Souvent la patience est récompensé et cette magnifique photo en est la preuve. J'ai déjà attendu 1:30 hre pour prendre une photo et j'ai gagné un coucours avec la photo. Excellente composition avec le bus, le pont et la ville derrière. Très joli ce water bus, bonne note et superbes couleurs
Félicitations!... et bonne semaine,
Emilius

bobocortis (14140) 2008-02-10 7:34

Hi Hisashi.
Amazing picture, thanks overall to presence of water bus, that gives depth of field to pic.
Cheers.
Bobo

johannes68 (2860) 2008-02-10 8:44

Hi Hisashi,
really seems to come right from the future, fits perfectly to the rest of the city. I like the clearness of the photo, and and the warm colours.
Regards, Johannes

PixelTerror (86138) 2008-02-10 9:23

Hisashi-san konbanwa,
My total respect for your patience, waiting one hour in the cold required a reward and this image is a good reward in my opinion, here you put your hardware well to use using the fast lens and the good ISO performance of the 5D to get enough shooting speed and avoid the vibrations, I like the result, Himiko is very sharp at this TE size and so is the background skyline, indeed the depth of field is amazing considering the wide aperture. I also like the fact Himiko's futuristic shape finds an echo in the glowing blue of the background bridge. congratulations Hisashi !
Have a nice evening JY

sevy (13470) 2008-02-10 9:23

Hello Hisashi,

More than a spaceship, it looks to me like the Nautilus in the movy done by Disney mainly because of the colored inner lightning and the circle windows.
Your photo was really taken at the right time. The graduated sky for the orange to the blue is really a plus to evidence the buildings.
Thanks to post photo of Tokyo, a place I would like to discover one day.

For the lens with both IS and large aperture, I am afraid you will have to wait for a long time. The stabilization is done by a group of lens moving in the opposite of the photographer movement is order to get a "frozen" picture. But large aperture means very few deep of field and so request a very good focusing, but this sharp focusing is "damaged" by the group of lens doing the IS. Perhaps one day a solution will be found, but it is why today the IS is limited to f/2.8 and is not for wide angle lens.

Yves.

avene (11014) 2008-02-10 12:20

you must have a patience of a saint, Hisashi :) but the photo is well worth the wait, I like a lot what you have here - I am a big fan of Japanese anime and cartoons, and the photo reminds me of those. dark futuristic city dotted with golden lights, purple sky, and lots of blue neon light, beautiful! I also like a lot the composition you have chosen, the movement of the boat creates a strong vertical line that contrasts nicely with the horizontal line of the bridge in the distance, I've always felt that composition with such intersecting imaginary lines are well thought-through and carefully arranged, I like it a lot.
all in all - great urban shot, my compliments.
best,
Kristine

lilimih33 (9874) 2008-02-10 16:52

Hello Hisashi!
Nice composition with fantastic colours and great detail and clarity!
Beautiful city and very good perspective!
Excellent done!
Best regards!
Lili

quelquepart (802) 2008-02-11 4:07

Hi Hisashi,
The composition is great and the coloured are well balanced. It was worth waiting !
TFS,
Olivier

jean-marie (3088) 2008-02-14 5:40

Hello Hisashi,
Une très belle photo avec un temps de pose optimum pour ne rien perdre des détails du bateau au premier plan. Les taches de lumières du bateau et du pont sont un grand plus !
Amicalement
Jean-Marie

Burberry1 (6041) 2008-02-14 23:48

Fascinating and attracted the eye!!!
I would really love to go there one day!

Kind regards from Poland
Agnieszka

testmaniac (12136) 2008-02-21 23:45

Hi Hisashi, another one great city landscape with perfect composition, colors and POV. Just perfect job!

TFS and regards,
Philip

noborders (14199) 2008-02-23 23:42

This is an amazing photo, Hisashi, I don't remember having seen that part of your city (with another canal in the BG on the left !) and I should definitely go back there one day ; colours are really splendid !
Compliments,
Best regards,
Cath.

JanD (14893) 2008-02-25 3:17

Howdy Hispic!
Amazing night cityscape. Wonderful houses in motion. Beautiful scene. Nice lightness. Good POV. Original take.
Greetings from Poland!