A slow loop around the palace grounds in the middle of the day. The moat first, with the office district built right to the far bank and the whole skyline laid into the water; then through the outer garden, where the black pines are kept so deliberately that they read as sculpture, the towers stacked up behind them.
By the time I reached Nijubashi the cloud had burned off. It is the most photographed view in the city and there is no point pretending otherwise, two stone arches and the old turret behind, the lot doubled in the moat. I shot it straight and left it alone.
The moat went on the 28mm at f/11 to keep the sweep of the bank; the pines and the bridge moved to the 55 to compress them against what stands behind. The light did the rest once it cleared.