Early February, I came to Shinjuku Gyoen to photograph the cold-blooming cherry trees.
Before I get into all the details, let me show you how splendidly they were blooming. Here they are.
The foreground features plum blossoms emitting a wonderful fragrance (it’s such a shame the strong scent doesn’t come through in photos), while the background showcases the magnificent blooms of the cold-hardy cherry tree. There seem to be various varieties, but the most prominent one was the Satsuma Kanzakura, I believe.
Let’s get closer to the cold-hardy cherry tree we came to see.
It’s no wonder visitors flock here (myself included)—the blooms were absolutely spectacular.
This is another tree.
The Tokyo area hasn’t seen rain in a long time, so when I got closer, the flowers did look a bit tired. Still, for photography enthusiasts who endured the flowerless winter season, they were a sufficiently beautiful subject.
My repertoire of photography techniques is limited, so this is more of the same, but I’ll add a photo of plum blossoms taken on the same day.
The SIGMA 20-200mm is an excellent, easy-to-use zoom lens. However, when you compare photos taken with it alongside those from the prime SIGMA 90mm (can you tell which is which?), you can definitely sense a slight difference in image quality.
On the other hand, while the 20-200mm offers half-macro capability in the standard to medium telephoto range, the 90mm has limitations in its close-up ability (minimum focusing distance 50cm, maximum magnification 0.2x). It’s about leveraging the strengths of each – the versatile zoom and the prime lens – and using them thoughtfully.
Now, my photography skills are still what they are, but regardless, the plum and Kanzakura cherry blossoms heralding the long-awaited spring this season are lovely. They reminded me of their distinct, understated beauty, different from the cherry blossoms (Somei Yoshino).
