ReallyJapan’s Darkroom

I just finished building my first plastic model, a Armored Trooper Votoms B-ATM 03.

So.. instead of painting it I’ve decided to use photoshop to add textures and some effects.. what do you think?
I’m thinking to make a better one and post it soon

the original picture is…

My photo of two girls smoking on Japan Inc. (web version: http://www.japaninc.com/mgz_october_2008_anti-smoking)

Sorry for not posting in a while, all this month I’ve been pretty busy working on a website for pc and mobile.. Next week my best friend is coming from Italy to visit me, so we’ll be around tokyo and surely I’m going to take a lot of new shots!

See you soon!

You’ve probably noticed I’ve posted some heavily photoshopped images lately..
Well, while the majority of my works will continue to be street photographs, I really like to spend some time in front of my Mac playing with photoshop and 3d softwares, so I’ve decided to create a category on my photoblog called “Shots from the future“.

To make the 3D models I used Poser because it’s pretty easy to use. You can use a photo as background of the 3d environment, set the focal length of the camera and adjust the “floor” to match the photo. Placing the 3d lights according to the lights in the photo is also very easy..
Another cool thing is that you can edit the textures of your objects and use the current background (your photo) as reflection map…. And yeah, of course you can export to PSD !

Long story short, you can easily have a 3d model in your scene, casting a shadow on the ground, reflecting the environment and lighted by realistic lights… all that in a layered psd!
So, importing everything in photoshop you just have to paint some rusty textures, adjust lights, burn/dodge a little and.. done!

Check out my pretty futuristic photos from 2108 AD

I just loved this game when I bought my first PlayStation (oh, that was a looong time ago). Fast action, missiles, intensive racing, a fabulous sound track and an extremely cool graphic design by the Designer Republic.

Well, I’ve just photographed one of those big anti-gravity vehicles, the AR 2700 Model B, here in Tokyo.. It’s an amazing machine, I hope to be able to drive one someday..

…if you wanto to give a look… wait until tomorrow on ReallyJapan

Check out the shot!

Recently I’ve watched some interesting Monster Movies, I’m really fascinated by these incredibly huge monsters and realistic atmosphere.. I’m looking for other cool monster movies, so if you have some advice please write me a comment!!

The Mist - The Impossibly Tall Creature

I pretty liked this movie. It’s not one of those “yeah mr president is gonna save us” movies. The atmosphere, the people, the dialogues look realistic. I also love the veryveryhappyending (you have to see it to know what I’m talking about eheh).
Anyway, almost at the end of the movie there’s this scene I absolutely love. It’s so authentic, no one is trying to act like a hero or something.. everyone’s so scared.. and here comes the monster from the mist, it’s so huge!
As I said the mood (imo) is just great in this scene, this monster is not an evil creature that wants to destroy everything and kill everyone.. it’s an animal, just walking, maybe it’s wondering what the hell is that place..

The Host - Water Monster
This is a Korean movie.. It’s pretty weird since mixes a lot of different genres together (horror, comedy, drama and so on).. However, the scene where the monster attacks Seoul is just great. Why?
Because it’s one of the few (or maybe only one) scene where a monster is attacking people and interacting in a realistic environment (not hollywood moody sets) in plain daylight!

Cloverfield
Ok, I was not so terrified by this movie.. however has some great scenes..
Actually this is a “special” trailer with some awesome terrible creature, you absolutely have to watch this video!!

So.. do you have any cool Huge Monster Movies to suggest me??

As you may have noticed, now you can search through all the photos, descriptions, comments, articles.. anyway, everything on ReallyJapan and Darkroom, using Google Custom Engine.

You can perform a search on any page of darkroom.reallyjapan.com (look on the top of the sidebar), or on the Archive section of ReallyJapan.

Just a small update, after almost two years, I’m quitting my job next week to start a freelance business.

It will be hard, I know, however I feel it’s the right choice at the right time, and… I’m finally feeling incredibly fine, relaxed, peace of mind.. free like a bird!

What am I going to do ?

Many different things but mainly webdesign and desktop publishing, small games and applications for the web, and I’m considering developing for iPhone too.. let’s see..

What about photography and reallyjapan?
Sorry, but I’m going to close the website and sell my camera..

Just kidding, it’s definitely something I want to work on.. I’m thinking to turn this hobby into something more, and I’ll start studying photography seriously. I plan to travel all around asia  (definitely want to spend some time in China) to take photographs.. probably I’ll start to do some microstock too.

Long story short, photography will have a much much higher priority in my life!
So, have a nice day! It’s so wonderful to be free!

Cinema Warm & Cool - I use a lot the cool version

Click on Preferences, select Presets tab and click on Show Lightroom Presets Folder… button.
Uncompress the ZIP file, move the folder in the Lightroom Presets Folder/Develop Presets and relaunch Lightroom.

Check out Daido Moriyama preset for Lightroom!

I made up my mind and decided, the next day I bought it, the 18-200 VR 3.5-5.6!

Why?
Basically I decided for the 18-200 VR, instead of the 70-300 or other prime lenses, because what I really needed was a good replacement for a lens-kit 18-70, in a few words something to use on travel, lightweight and with a good versatility.

As I said few posts ago, I wasn’t looking for something to replace my prime lenses for night street photography (sigma 30mm 1.4 and nikkor 50mm 1.4), there’s just nothing so fast for night.. And the 18-200 looked a cool lens.

Quality
It’s pretty good actually. I took some shots at 18mm and 200mm and they’re extremely good. I’m not an expert but, even if it’s not as sharp as the Nikkor 50mm, it’s definitely very sharp.

3.5-5.6
Ok, it’s a slow lens, nothing to say about that. 3.5-5.6 is not exactly something you can use at night, especially if you are not using a tripod.. however…

VR
..I was skeptical of this VR thing. I mean, does it work? How much does it work? Is it really useful?
Somewhere I read that a VR lens gives the equal of a shutter speed 4 steps faster than would or else be possible..
Well, I’ve just bought the lens yesterday, and I just did some tests.. however:

VR WORKS!
Definetely works very well! Do you remember these words:
“As a rule of thumb, the minimum shutter speed for hand-holding is equal to the reciprocal of the effective focal length”
Well, with a VR lens is not like that anymore.
I’ve tried taking some shots at 200mm, hand-holding my camera. Usually you should set a shutter speed at least at 1/200 right? And that’s what I constantly was doing to be pretty sure to have a sharp photo.

With a VR I can have perfectly 200mm sharp photos, handholding the camera at 1/80! That’s so cool!
I’ve tried a step or two faster (1/60 or something) but I couldn’t get a sharp shot.. however at 1/80 everything was good.

The VR really makes the difference
So, I’ll probably continue using my prime lenses for night shots, they’re just too fast. However on the next photo walking I’m going to take the 18-200 with me and see how it does perform..