Another Aspect of Ume Blossoms Photography - Pairs of Ume Blossoms from Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden

Canon EOS 6D, Canon EF50mm F1.4 USM (50mm, f/2, 1/500 sec, ISO-100)

We are now in the midst of the season of Ume blossoms. Today, I went to Canon Service Center at Shinjuku to receive my 50mm lens. I sent it for repair because the focus ring was broken and I couldn't set focus on anything. It cost me about 15,000 yen, but it only took them one week to repair. The service was really quick and the receptionist was pretty kind. I am glad to receive it in such a short time. Thanks, Canon!

This is why I dropped in at Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. Today's theme is to find and capture the pair of Ume blossoms. The word of pair sounds nice, isn't it? I walked around the garden and was successful in finding three pairs of Ume blossoms. Now, let's see one by one.

Canon EOS 6D, Tamron SP 90mm F/2.8 Di MACRO 1：1 VC USD (90mm, f/22, 1/2 sec, ISO-100)

The first one. I used my tripod for Ume blossoms for the first time, but it turned out that it was extremely difficult to set focus on the blossoms in this way because the subject itself was constantly moving.

I tried f/32 in the first place, but the slower shatter speed than half a second didn't allow me to get any unblurry photos. This is how I adopted f/22.

Canon EOS 6D, Tamron SP 90mm F/2.8 Di MACRO 1：1 VC USD (90mm, f/5.6, 1/40 sec, ISO-100)

The second one. I shooted from a distance so I didn't have to use larger F-number. I finally adopted f/5.6 because I wanted to give bokeh effect to the background including one person at the top left corner.

Canon EOS 6D, Tamron SP 90mm F/2.8 Di MACRO 1：1 VC USD (90mm, f/11, 1/10 sec, ISO-100)

The third one. I love this the most because the background is pretty simple both in color and in number of objects. If it had been a sunny day, the background would have been blue and the photo would have had another atmosphere.

As the branches were solid, I didn't have care about the motion blurr. This is why I managed to adopt the shatter speed of 1/10 seconds.

Canon EOS 6D, Canon EF50mm F1.4 USM (50mm, f/2, 1/320 sec, ISO-100)

After enjoying Ume blossoms, I dropped in to see Kawazu-zakura with fresh green leaves.

Canon EOS 6D, Tamron SP 90mm F/2.8 Di MACRO 1：1 VC USD (90mm, f/13, 1/6 sec, ISO-100)

Ohh...! This is very spring!

Canon EOS 6D, Canon EF50mm F1.4 USM (50mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO-100)

I walked into the Japanese garden area and found other trees of Kawazu-zakura. People were relaxing on the grass.

Canon EOS 6D, Tamron SP 90mm F/2.8 Di MACRO 1：1 VC USD (90mm, f/4, 1/60 sec, ISO-100)

One discovery was that Kawazu-zakura got orange when withering, not green. It was like I had transported through time to the last autumn to see autumn colors.

Canon EOS 6D, Canon EF50mm F1.4 USM (50mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO-100)

Once I looked up to the sky, my eyesight was filled with pink Kawazu-zakura. It was just amazing.

Canon EOS 6D, Canon EF50mm F1.4 USM (50mm, f/2, 1/320 sec, ISO-100)

Many people were enjoying seeing Kawazu-zakura, and of course, taking photos of Kawazu-zakura, too. I must come to Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden again in April to see authentically beautiful Sakura.

Ah, I didn't mention one important thing. I realized that chromatic aberration occurs when I adopt the F-number of 1.4 for Canon EF50mm F1.4 USM. F-number of 2 is enough to eliminate the impact of the chromatic aberration. I need to care about it more from now on.

Canon EOS 6D, Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 IIDG HSM (24mm, f/5.6, 1/30 sec, ISO-200)

By the way, I took a photo of the Cedrus deodara at the entrance of the garden. It was so huge that I couldn't help but photographing it. Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden is worth visiting every season.