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探鳥前の風景 / Landscape photography before bird watching
I took a day off from work and came to Ajisu (Yamaguchi city) today with the intention of taking a lot of pictures. There are several scenic spots in this area that I would like to photograph, such as the mouth of the Doroishi River. However, I had to stop the car to take pictures of birds first, so I had to pass them by.
It was not a very cold morning, but there was fog over the fields.
![A pre-dawn view of the Ajisu countryside with fog near the ground. The sky beyond Kirara-hama Nature Park is tinged with red.](https://narakiphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/20221118-750_5857.jpg)
![The sun came out halfway across the Kirara Beach.](https://narakiphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/20221118-750_5862.jpg)
A group of cormorants are heading east in formation all at once. Is there a good feeding ground?
![A flock of cormorants flying in a V-shaped formation in the pre-dawn sky](https://narakiphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/20221118-750_5865.jpg)
This time I chose the 85mm f/1.4 instead of the usual 24-70mm. I have written before about how I like using this “portrait lens” for landscape photography, and it still feels right. It captures a natural range of vision close to that of our eyesight, while at the same time providing just the right amount of compression. There are times when I get a strangely pleasing sense of depth, and I love those moments. I feel that this lens is also suited to the sense of scale of Japanese landscapes. You can also play around with the F1.4 maximum aperture.
![A flock of hundreds of cormorants fly toward the orange-colored morning sun.](https://narakiphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/20221118-750_5867.jpg)
![Morning glow and utility poles neatly lined up on the embankment](https://narakiphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/20221118-750_5882.jpg)
The mouth of the Doroishi River. I really wanted to take a picture of the meandering river mouth with more receding water, but the timing was a little bad.
![The morning sun reflects off the mouth of the river as it makes a large bend. The whole area is tinted orange by the morning glow.](https://narakiphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/20221118-750_5873.jpg)
The autumn leaves are fading and beginning to fall.
![A tree standing beside a rice field has red leaves. It is illuminated by the morning sun from behind.](https://narakiphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/20221118-750_5895.jpg)
The fog has lifted considerably. At first glance, the composition looks like a combine harvester in motion, but this one is at rest.
![The fields shine golden in the morning sun. A combine harvester is stopped while harvesting rice.](https://narakiphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/20221118-750_5897.jpg)
A chestnut tree standing by a gentle curve. This photo is based on a Lightroom landscape preset. I don’t usually use presets, but in this case, I was able to get something quite close to my image, so I decided to use it as a basis.
![A chestnut tree and a mirror standing across the curve. Soft morning light.](https://narakiphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/20221118-750_5927.jpg)
A line of cormorants came across the river as well.
![The mouth of the DoroIshi River. A line of cormorants are flying in the morning sun.](https://narakiphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/20221118-750_5894.jpg)
More birding after this in the next post.