Life in Japan - Pictures galore !! Arcades, Temples, Rainy days, etc

**Yakumo** · 07-09-2012

Originally Posted by GaijinPunch

Yeah. Japan has redefined making weird clauses in their laws. My first guess of the people that will get stung are the ones on the street selling stuff. Do they still hang around Akiba?

I wouldn't know but they were there last time I went back in 2008. Man, that was a long time ago.

**GaijinPunch** · 07-09-2012

Yeah. There was actually still hope for the first 9 months of that year.

**hashiriya1** · 07-09-2012

Here is a nearly two-and-a-half-hour video of me driving around tohoku visiting game shops. Emphasis on driving!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YtLtazc9SE

**Yakumo** · 07-09-2012

Nice. I'll watch that in parts throughout the day while I have nothing to do.

Yakumo

**Johnny** · 07-09-2012

Originally Posted by hashiriya1

Here is a nearly two-and-a-half-hour video of me driving around tohoku visiting game shops. Emphasis on driving!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YtLtazc9SE

Gonna watch it right now!

**xmog123x** · 07-10-2012

GONNA DOWNLOAD THIS, THANKS!

**GaijinPunch** · 07-12-2012

Camera no Kitamura by gaijin_punch, on Flickr

Hearts by gaijin_punch, on Flickr

Inkan Shop by gaijin_punch, on Flickr

Paints by gaijin_punch, on Flickr

Phone/Smoke by gaijin_punch, on Flickr

Pigeon 02 by gaijin_punch, on Flickr

Robot Graffiti by gaijin_punch, on Flickr

**Yakumo** · 07-12-2012

I wonder how long you hung about to take the Kitamura Camer Shop picture :) I really like these night shots. I took a few myself the other day down at Mojiko Retro so I'll have to see if there are any worth posting here.

By the way, are you using lightroom for the filter effects? If so setting are you using or are you using custom settings?

Yakumo

**GaijinPunch** · 07-13-2012

Hey

Actually I was there for a minute tops. I was trying to get the guys squatting and smoking in (as he's the focus point) and the girl just happened to walk by. I didn't even notice it until later in PP, when she became the subject, although out of focus).

>> Lightroom

I don't use Lightroom. Basically Lightroom is a glorified version of Adobe Camera Raw, and I'm fine w/ that (free) as it seems to run better than Lightroom for me. I don't really do too much of the actual "filtering" there. I will dick w/ the white balance and exposures basically, and *sometimes* will do some split toning but rarely. I do all my filtering in Photoshop which is 90% curves layer(s), desaturation, and gradient maps. Google "Photoshop Cross Processing Curves" or something like that and it'll explain it to you. 1 curves layer is generally enough to decide the overall mood of your photo.

If I did more straight up raw processing, and just did the split toning and be done with it (which gives great results, don't get me wrong) I would do that, but I'm going to have to drag it into Photoshop at some point for other stuff (sharpening, etc.). I might get Lightroom as it's now really cheap ($150, right?) but I'm not sure if it's worth it just yet. Honestly I'm shooting about as much in a month as I used to in 5-7 days, so it's hard to justify any of it. Hoping by the end of the summer I got my shit together at least to the point where I can enjoy a nice whiskey and a wank every now and again. Both feel really rushed right now.

**Yakumo** · 07-13-2012

thanks for the info on photoshop use and the link. I'll give that a try over Lightroom to see what I think.

Most of the shots I took the other day are pretty turd but that's to be expected when you have the missus and boy around. Anyway, here's a few.

life is hard by Yakum01975, on Flickr

Old Couple by Yakum01975, on Flickr

Yakumo

**GaijinPunch** · 07-13-2012

Those are good -- like that first one.

If you're just going to use Lightroom, one nifty trick is the split tone tab. Set the shadows to a shade of teal, and the highlights to something somewhere between yellow and orange. Play w/ the saturation levels (10 is usually noticeable). Since Lightroom has no RGB curves layers, that's the easiest way. Ironically, Photoshop has no split tone layer. :|

Fun Fact: While the English Photoshop runs about $700 USD in America, it retails for 100,000 yen in Japanese shops. What a fucking rip off.

**Yakumo** · 07-13-2012

thanks. I like the first one too. I took a few pictures of that guy before I got the one I wanted.

Good tip on Lightroom. I have been playing around with some of the settings but have yet to try your advice. Just reading what you wrote makes sense though. It is funny that Lightroom has no RGB curves but Photoshop does :)

No surprise on Photoshop costing a shit load more here but THAT MUCH MORE!!! That is a fucking rip off. 100,000 yen is not far off twice as much as the US price.