Been busy in Osaka

Last week I visited Osaka and Kyoto on business. The central business district around Osaka station has a different feeling when compared to Tokyo. At times it is gritty, sophisticated, modern, vulgar or eccentric. I'm not sure if I like it, but change is good. Here are some photos of the more modern side of the Osaka Station, the nearby new Grand Front Osaka development and Ships Hall.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 16-35mm f/4G ED VR II AF-S IF SWM @ 16 mm, f5.6, ISO 400, 1/15 sec.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 16-35mm f/4G ED VR II AF-S IF SWM @ 16 mm, f5.6, ISO 400, 1/20 sec.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 16-35mm f/4G ED VR II AF-S IF SWM @ 16 mm, f4.0, ISO 400, 1/10 sec.

New Otani Gardens in December

The last few weeks have been very busy and I haven't had the chance to take photos at leisure. So I am revisiting photos that I took at the end of last year, and making tweaks in Capture NX2 to make them presentable. I usually like to have photos well composed in camera and exposure setting just right to minimize the amount of post-processing required. Due to the flat lighting or other issues back in December, I didn't post; however, with a few tweaks they look pretty good.

These two photos were taken after the very delicious Sunday brunch in the Japanese Gardens at the New Otani Hotel in Chiyoda.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 24mm f/2.0 Nikkor AI @ f2.8, ISO 100, 1/50 sec.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 24mm f/2.0 Nikkor AI @ f4.0, ISO 100, 1/15 sec.

Shinkansen Themed Playground at the Railway Museum in Onari, Saitama

In December at the Railway Museum in Onari, Saitama I took this snap of the very kawaii Shinkansen themed playground. There was a large slide in the shape of a E5 series and instead of rocking horses the playground featured rocking shinkansen trains (from L to R E2 Series, E3 Series, E3-1000 Series, 400 Series and a E926 Type (East i))!

Nikon D600 with Nikon 16-35mm f/4G ED VR II AF-S IF SWM @ 19 mm, f8, ISO 100, 1/250 sec.