This is a continuation of my last one. You can find the first one here:

http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=98767

I finished processing another set. I'm still really worried about how blue-weighted I think my monitor is, though. Monitor color calibration devices aren't cheap either. :\

Anyway, on day two of our trip to Jeju, we did many more things, including visit a small citrus and watermelon farm and the largest Buddhist temple on the island that was high up on a mountain.

Here are the pictures:

This is the citrus farm. It was very small, run by an old lady our tour guide knew. We got to try some grapefruit. My tongue shriveled up.

Her garden had a very run down shack in the middle of it that must have been several decades old. If I'd seen it at night, I probably would have pissed my pants.

One of the things Jeju is famous and well-known for are these walls/fences. Because there is so much volcanic rock just lying around (as the island is pretty much all volcanic rock), they are used everywhere for fencing and for walls. The amazing thing is that I don't think they use any cement or grout of any kind. They just stack them. Because the wall will naturally have holes in it, they are able to stand up against one of the other things Jeju is known for: strong winds.

here is a wall on the side of a street. This is probably the weakest photo I'm posting today...way too much negative space...

We went to visit the largest Buddhist temple on the island. This is the first thing you see when you pull into the parking lot. It is gigantic. It's probably a good 25 feet tall and is quite something.

This is the entrance pathway. Every single one of those statues are different. All of them are hand-carved by different artists mimicking the same style, and so no two are the same. They are all donated by patrons and members of the community.

Here's a closeup. You can see all of the minute differences from statue to statue a bit here.

Here's another one from closer in. These were slightly larger. There were roughly thirty of these ones and no two of these were the same either.

I thought this was totally random...there was a pool full of disgustingly green water and a cone made of rocks coming out of it. I didn't ask what its significance was, so forever will it remain filed under "random" in my mind.

I thought this was interesting. The outermost layer of roofing on this hut is made from volcanic rock. As a result, plants can grow off of it. The hut had plants growing from its roof. It was cute.

A cave with some artifacts of some kind in them.

This was the most impressive part of the temple. This was an amazing sight to behold. It was absolutely astonishing. I wish I had a wide-angle lens with me at the time so I could more properly capture it...

Another wide shot from the side. There were hundreds of the little statues there.

As you can see, like all the other statues at the temple, they are all independently hand-crafted. No two of the hundreds were identical. All were unique.

Up close.

Every single...

...one was...

...unique.

That's all for this set.

As always, criticism is encouraged. Especially let me know if the pictures seem to have a blue tint to them...

I'll be working on the Seoul photos next, but for now, it's time to go out with some friends. Later. (:

IntoTheWow

is awesome32280 Posts

August 01 2009 03:41 GMT

Sick blogs! i love it. Also your shoots pretty good, it really captures the essence of the place.

: )

v1rtu0so

United States140 Posts

August 01 2009 03:44 GMT

nice shots
what were the settings for the picture with the caption "Here's a closeup. You can see all of the minute differences from statue to statue a bit here."?
i assume you used manual focus?
and what camera did u use?
thanks

LosingID8

CA10835 Posts

August 01 2009 03:52 GMT

nice pictures man. also the army of statues is kind of frightening

United States6173 Posts

August 01 2009 04:04 GMT

On August 01 2009 12:41 IntoTheWow wrote:
Sick blogs! i love it. Also your shoots pretty good, it really captures the essence of the place.

: )

Thanks!

On August 01 2009 12:44 v1rtu0so wrote:
nice shots
what were the settings for the picture with the caption "Here's a closeup. You can see all of the minute differences from statue to statue a bit here."?
i assume you used manual focus?
and what camera did u use?
thanks

Umm I'll look up the exif info for you.

Camera Maker: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS 40D
F-stop: f/2.8
Exposure time: 1/640 sec.
ISO speed: ISO-100
Exposure bias: 0 step
Focal length: 50mm

Dimensions: 3888x2592

I did use manual focus, but only because my AF is now broken and shorted out on my lens. :\

On August 01 2009 12:52 LosingID8 wrote:
nice pictures man. also the army of statues is kind of frightening

It seriously was up close, lol. Especially since the place was like empty. It was just me and them...

GoSu

Korea (South)1773 Posts

August 01 2009 04:20 GMT

still great pictures again.

ghostWriter

United States3302 Posts

August 01 2009 05:27 GMT

Man I wonder how long it took to make those statues...
They are so detailed.

x89titan

Philippines1130 Posts

August 01 2009 07:53 GMT

awesome pics

NeverGG

United Kingdom5399 Posts

August 01 2009 08:55 GMT

I've seen those weird stone piles before here in a local park - I wonder if they signify something special.... Gorgeous photos btw - my favourites are the ones of the lines of little statues - you chose really lovely angles.

SK.Testie

Canada11084 Posts

August 01 2009 09:20 GMT

#10

You and NeverGG should combine forces to make the ultimate photographer.
Really nice pics.

United States6173 Posts

August 01 2009 12:10 GMT

#11

On August 01 2009 17:55 NeverGG wrote:
I've seen those weird stone piles before here in a local park - I wonder if they signify something special.... Gorgeous photos btw - my favourites are the ones of the lines of little statues - you chose really lovely angles.

Thanks.

And you mean the one shaped like a cone? I do wonder...it probably does, since it was at the temple. Nothing that stood out there seemed particularly superfluous.

BTW, check your PM box. I had an idea I sent you.

On August 01 2009 18:20 MYM.Testie wrote:
You and NeverGG should combine forces to make the ultimate photographer.
Really nice pics.

I would love to do the work she does...T_T.

floor exercise

Canada5847 Posts

August 01 2009 14:16 GMT

#12

Really nice pictures, thanks for the help in my blog by the way. For color correction and stuff do you just use photoshops auto color etc, or do you like to play with the levels yourself?

United States6173 Posts

August 01 2009 21:14 GMT

#13

I do everything manually. When I was working for my university's newspaper, I learned that using any kind of automatic adjustment of your photos is considered unethical...and I don't like not knowing exactly what happened in my photos anyway.

I start by editing in levels, doing the standard color adjustment. What you do there is just look at either end of all four channels (RGB, R, G, B) and if it's flat at either end, you move the arrow until the graph starts appearing. That'll saturate the photo with some color. After that, I'll go back in and manually adjust the levels to get the look and feel I want in the photo.

After that, I'll go into curves if I'm still not satisfied with the color levels. With curves you can more directly control the balance of colors at the midtones, highlights and shadow ranges independently of each other, so it's also very useful if you can't seem to bleed out just the right amount of x color in the x range.

After that, I'll add or reduce noise if I feel like it, add in some vignetting if the photo calls for it...and usually that's about all I do.

Then I save, then resize and save that as needed for where I'm posting or printing.

(: