15 Days in Kanagawa & Hokkaido – Post-Processing

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The singularly largest difference between the kind of pictures I took in the September trip against this December one was that a lot of pictures would see backdrops that are in snow. I severely underestimated the amount of exposure compensation needed in a winter shoot like this, so a number of outdoor pictures before Day 09 were routinely underexposed, requiring a good amount of fixing in post-processing. Here’s a bunch of examples of adjustments I made this trip after each day’s itinerary.

Sample #1 at Winter Illumination @ Shinjuku Terrace City (Day 01): 1/125s, f4, ISO5000, 24mm (FE24-105mm f4). Adjustments were Exposure +0.45EV, Contrast +7, Highlights -35, Shadows +49, Whites +63. The actual scene was fairly dark, despite the number of tiny LED lights mounted on the trees, so quite a few adjustments were needed.

Sample #2 at Omiya Rilway Museum (Day 03): 1/125s, f4, ISO6400, 27mm (FE24-105mm f4). Adjustments were Exposure +0.56 EV, Highlights -64, Shadows +22. The ‘Rolling Stock Station’ is reasonably lit for a hall of this size, so just some minor adjustments.

Sample #3 at Shinjuku Gyoen (Day 03): 1/125s, f4, ISO100, 26mm (FE24-105mm f4). Adjustments were Exposure +0.91EV, Contrast +11, Highlights -34, Shadows +17, Vibrance +12, Saturation +12, Dehaze +15. This was shot in the mid-afternoon where light was already starting to go out for the day.

Sample #4 at Otaki Rest Stop (Day 08): 1/1250s, f2.8, ISO100, 28mm (Tamron 28-75mm f2.8). Adjustments were Exposure +0.76EV, Highlights -41, Shadows +73, Whites +17, Dehaze +15. Big adjustments in post-processing here, as the white snow overwhelmed the A73’s metering.

Sample #5 at Mt. Hakodate (Day 12): 1/30s, f2.8, ISO3200, 41mm (Tamron 28-75mm f2.8). Adjustments were Exposure +0.20EV, Highlights -32, Shadows +89, Whites +49, Clarity +5, Dehaze +5. The city in the original version already shows how much of a twinkling light city Hakodate is at night. The adjustments basically beefed that up.

The last post in this series – final notes on our 15 day trip!