Instagram: An Examination

Instagram. I previously wouldn't dabble in such a trendy trend, but I caved due to social pressures was recently persuaded to give it a shot. You can find my page here.

With this past trip, I've created a sort of experiment. I would run photos I processed through their barrage of contrast, saturation, and vignetting destroying enhancing filters, to compare the results.

The rules:

• Abide by the square crop.
• Every photo must use a filter
• I would apply border effects as long as it didn't intrude on a vital aspect of the shot.

First up, the 787:


The crop has cut off a wing... As for the color shift? To put it politely, this is not how the scene looked in person.

Rinse


Next up, the wing shot


The mandatory crop made me choose between Rainier or the Sun Dog. Rainier lost, and the sun dog has lost some of its effect. Also, I didn't use a border, because it was hideous, just like the white balance. Not impressed.

X-Pro


Wide angle shot of Nishi-Shinjuku


The crop has removed the wide angled-ness of a wide angle shot...

Rinse


Silhouette under Shinjuku Station


Contrast and clarity spiked, and I don't mind the crop. Overall, not bad!

Inkwell


Osaka Street #1


Warming filter is OK and I cropped to remove the sky. Which crop do y'all like?

Rinse


Osaka Street #2


Same as above and the vignetting/exposure changes put emphasis on the subject. I like it.

Hefe


Sushi Chef


Probably my favorite of the Instragram conversions (the previous is a close second). The image seems softened up a bit, and it bumped the exposure on the chef's face and body which gave him a "glow". I could do this in Photoshop... and probably will.

Sierra


Yamazaki Tracks


The crop removes some lines, the image was desaturated, and micro-contrast was increased. Also the sky is blown out... Not the biggest fan of the colors...

Brannon


Whiskey Library


Not much of a difference.

Lo-Fi


Tree


The tree almost lost its trunk.

Lo-Fi


Kimono


I don't mind the crop. but I don't like the desaturation, or what it did to the subject's neck.

Sierra


Kiyomizu-dera


I prefer the square crop. Maybe I'd warm the street in my shot.

Earlybird


Fushimi-Inari


I prefer the original crop and exposure.

Sierra


In the end?

• I don't like the borders, or wish that the app would "add" the border, rather than subtract the border's space from the image.
• The blurring and contrast features are 100% awful, at least on photos not taken with a phone. 
• Most of the filters are complete trash, especially the ones heavy on contrast and white balance changes.
• Will I continue to use Instagram? The outlook is not so good. That being said:
• It provided some interesting alternative "looks" to what can be done in post.
• I will consider such changes when processing future shots.
• Maybe I'll run my phone photos through it, as I've yet to do this.
• Do I see the "social networking" benefits? Not yet, but I haven't spent the time to follow any users or look through anyone else's photos.... 
• I actually bought 500px's Black Friday deal, so more on that on a future post.

/seattle_snobbery

Fuji-san

Always elusive...

Osaka Streets

Outside of Namba Station, was Dōtonbori. One street was lined with takoyaki shops.

^all had elaborate octopi awnings.









Armani bag

Kyoto

I am absolutely awful with jet lag. The lack of daylight this time of year doesn't help either... In the one-week since I've returned, my sleep schedule has been:

Thursday:  2-6PM,  1-5AM
Friday:  6-830PM,  3-11AM
Saturday:  4-7PM,  3-8AM
Sunday:  1-5AM
Monday:  11PM-6AM (anomaly)
Tuesday:  6-830PM,  1-6AM
Wednesday:  9PM-3AM
Thanksgiving goal: Make sure not to face plant in a bowl of mashed potatoes.


Anywho, on this last trip, I took a week of vacation to relax and see the sights of Japan. The main focus was a weekend in Kyoto with a friend from college (Joe) and a former coworker (Tyler).

Joe and I met in Yokohama, but I was running late, so we missed our 8AM Shinkansen train (it was departing as we got to the platform). Luckily, we found out that the train ran every SEVEN-freaking-minutes. Sooo, we just caught the next one (although we had to board the non-reserved car).

In 2-hours, we had traveled 277-miles, arrived in Kyoto, got some snacks, and dropped our bags off at a Ryokan by the station.


We met up with Tyler and had sushi for breakfast #2 at a fine sushi establishment at Kyoto Station. Actually, it was a conveyor belt joint, but the sushi was fresh, and each plate was only $1.58...

There was copious tuna, salmon, and eel consumption.



Tyler (living one hour away in Osaka) had created a wonderful itinerary, so the first order of business was to visit the Suntory Yamazaki Distillery.

In Yamazaki, fire hydrants didn't exist, so these transformed into fire trucks in the event of an emergency.

^The yellow square is the stay-out zone. The resulting truck is tiny, adorable, and incredibly efficient. Actually, the hose hook-ups are via manholes, not hydrants.

Yamazaki


Suntory Yamazaki  Whiskey Library

^they had whiskeys from around the world, bottled up, and labeled.

Suntory Yamazaki Distillery


I was told by many colleagues in Japan, that visiting Kyoto this time of year was desirable; as the foliage would be changing. As you can see, the tree at the distillery was presumable young, and very rebellious. However, we had better luck at our next stop.


Meet Kiyomizu-dera. Perched at the top of a hill in eastern Kyoto, this Buddhist temple was built in 1633, using zero nails. At the time, the theory was that the underlying structure would be able to deflect more in the event of an earthquake, protecting the temple.


Many were dressed in 着物, although this seemed to be more or less a fashion statement.


Momiji trees were abundant.






Along the route to the temple were wonderful preserved and restored shopping streets... a major tourist trap. After our temple run, dinner was had a local ramen shop, and we closed the night at a craft beer pub (which served Rogue!!!).

One thing the ryokan had, was a traditional Japanese bath. Unlike my previous experience in a Japanese bath, I did not have the privilege of bathing with a Japanese rugby team this time around.


Day Two:
The next morning started off with a traditional breakfast with everyone staying at the ryokan, meeting up with Tyler and his friend, and then a visit to the Fushimi Inari Shrine. The shrine was originally for Inari, the goddess of rice and agriculture, however now, it has expanded to all types of business. Every Torii is paid for by a business donation.

Inari is ministered to by white foxes




Lush


Portrait.


After we were completely soaked from the rains, we caught dried off during lunch at Mos Burger and went to the Kyoto International Manga Museum, which had a nice exhibit on the process of producing a manga.

In the evening, everyone parted ways, and I continued to Osaka.

Tokyo

I didn't shoot much around Tokyo this trip. Most of the time was spent shopping or looking for food/sources of mercury.

I was able to find:

• A legitimate Neapolitan style pizza place.
• No seafood toppings!
• Excellent conveyor belt sushi.
• OMG copious fatty tuna and blue fin.
• Alleyway Udon stand 
• NOM NOM NOM.
• Din Tai Fung.
• Menu is much smaller than what Taiwan or the US offers...
• Yodabashi Camera = dream store.
• Biqlo (Bic Camera + Uniqlo) = dream store #2.
• Tokyu Hands = best gift shop thus far.
• A discount candy/snack store next to Yodabashi Camera.
• That block is one dominant money trap...

As for shots, the hotel, as usual, provided reliable views of Shinjuku


Around Shinjuku Station.