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Two years ago we went to attend a wedding in Hong Kong. At that time I went to see the Man Mo Temple (Man Mo Miu, 文武廟 in traditional Chinese) on Hollywood Road. This temple is to worship the civil or literature god Man Tai (文帝) / Man Cheong (文昌) and the martial god Mo Tai (武帝) / Kwan Tai (關帝). The two gods were popularly patronized by scholars and students seeking progress in their study or ranking in the civil examinations in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Incense spirals (also called incense coils) are one of the forms of incense. An incense coil is made entirely of incense, without a bamboo core in the middle as seen with incense sticks. They are called incense spirals because they are shaped into a spiral instead of a straight stick shape. A spiral shape allows for a much larger piece of incense which burns longer while taking up little space. An incense stick can be made in any length, but the longer the stick, the greater the chance of breakage. This limits incense sticks to no more than three feet in length in general practice. Incense coils have been in use for a considerable length of time in the East thanks to their much longer burn times and compact footprint. For temples and monasteries which use a lot of incense, these coils are ideal. The coils can be suspended from the ceiling which allows more floor space to be freed up for worshippers. It is not uncommon to see a temple ceiling which is covered with large hanging incense coils. These coils can burn for days at a time. Incense coils this size are not very practical for use in the home, however. (Description by Lucie Debelkova)
I took this handheld shot with my favorite lens, the 50mm prime lens - it creates a nice bokeh at f1.8. I processed a balanced HDR photo from two RAW exposures.
-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 2 RAW exposures, NEX-6, _DSC9718_9_hdr2bal1d
Tags: Man Mo Temple Hollywood Road Hong Kong temple red light HDR 2xp RAW NEX-6 Photomatix SEL-50F18 incense incense offering offering China world exploration trip vacation holiday place destination location journey tour touring tourism tourist travel traveling visit visiting sight sightseeing religion faith pray prayer Buddhism believe cultural system meaning symbol symbols humanity beliefs values traditions sacred history meaning of life morality ethics human nature holy place god gods beautiful breathtaking fav100
Thank you for visiting - ❤ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, get beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.
The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption near Japantown in San Francisco has quite an impressive architecture. A service was in session when we went there, we were asked to wait until it finished. After the congregation left I walked around and took photos. I like the pyramid-shaped chandelier. This cathedral was designed by architects Pier Luigi Nervi and Pietro Belluschi.
I processed a balanced HDR photo from three RAW exposures.
-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 3 RAW exposures, NEX-6, _DSC6961_2_3_hdr3bal1a
Tags: St Mary's Cathedral cathedral San Francisco California chandelier altar church HDR 3xp RAW NEX-6 SEL-P1650 Photomatix Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption hall fav100 BRILLIANT WOW
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Hakone Gardens in Saratoga, California, currently is in full bloom. It is a feast for the eyes. This is the view from the main gate.
花見 (hanami, lit. "flower viewing") is an old tradition in Japan where friends and colleagues go to local parks to enjoy the transient beauty of cherry flowers. Well, sometimes it is a good excuse to party and get drunk too. I love this tradition in Japan. Here in the USA it is "just" a quiet viewing experience.
I processed a balanced and a paintery HDR photo from a RAW exposure, and merged them selectively. Wood looks nice on paintery HDR, but on most other materials it looks like overcooked HDR (there is a lot of that out there.)
-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC5120_hdr1bal1pai1d
Tags: blossom cherry blossom spring wood gate wooden gate door HDR 1xp RAW NEX-6 SEL-50F18 Photomatix Saratoga California Hakone Gardens Japanese garden: Japan green nature outdoor tree BRILLIANT WOW fav200 Silicon Valley
Thank you for visiting - ❤ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, get beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.
The weather was good last time we went to the Pfeiffer Beach in Big Sur, California. We stayed late after sunset to witness the blue hour. Pfeiffer Beach is quite remote, there is no light pollution; the Milky Way was clearly visible.
Driving back on the windy access road we noticed some interesting trees. We illuminated them faintly with an LED light, then during the long exposure I used my iPhone as a flashlight to illuminate the surroundings. The red light is the break light of my car parked a bit higher up.
I processed a balanced and a paintery HDR photo from a RAW exposure, and merged them selectively. There is some noise in the photo; I had to increase the ISO to 800 to capture the faint stars; HDR processing is very sensitive to noise.
-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC3681_hdr1bal1pai1h
Tags: Big Sur HDR 1xp RAW NEX-6 Photomatix tree outdoor night clear long exposure California coast California Coast Pfeiffer Beach stars supernatural surreal eerie unnatural ghostly SEL-P1650 road light LED light floodlight sky night sky fav200 Pfeiffer State Park
Thank you for visiting - ❤ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, get beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.
It was raining hard this morning when I went to Hakone Gardens for meditation. The Japanese garden, located in Saratoga, California, has a pond and a beautiful wooden arch bridge. I love this place, each time you visit it shows a different face.
I processed a paintery and a balanced HDR photo from a RAW exposure, and merged them selectively. I took bracketed exposures, but a single one was sufficient for processing since the dynamic range was quite small.
-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC4676_hdr1pai4bal1e
Tags: bridge wood bridge wood arch arch bridge pond lake path stone HDR 1xp RAW NEX-6 SEL-50F18 Photomatix Saratoga California Hakone Gardens Japanese garden Japan garden green wet nature outdoor fav100 Silicon Valley