Autumn Colours

Hello everyone,

Well, I made a decision to build a patio this past summer.  I severely underestimated what effort was required.  My inability to understand the demand of such a project impacted my ability to be behind the camera.  That said, I decided to take a few minutes to post some fall images and let you know that I'm still here!

These were taken in the fall of 2008 in and around Algonquin Park - an awesome year for fall colours.  I did not make it up there this year as my annual 'boys' weekend was cancelled.  But I will be back next year.

I paid the price of this set of images which was taken on the Oxtongue River just outside the park boundary.  My arms, legs, and hands were on the menu that evening in late September 2008 for many blood sucking insects.  Of course, I conveniently left the bug spray in the car.  But I was so taken aback from the beauty of this scene, I didn't even realize that I was being eaten alive.  Until later.....

However, It was all worth it.  I was fortunate enough to have one of these images chosen for the cover of a text book (http://www.mcgrawhill.ca/highereducation/product/007091835X/) and one of my favourite images from that year.

Enough babble, please enjoy the images - autumn is a beautiful time to get some amazing pictures.  Hopefully these inspire you to get out and get some of your own!

First, here's the image that became the cover shot:

I also took a vertical of this one:

A couple more from the same location:

Here is an image of the fall colours in Algonquin Park at the Lake of Two Rivers:

And finally, a couple images on the Lake of Bays.

This has just a splash of red, but I do like how it turned out.

Cheers!

Rob

Hi again,

I had the pleasure of attending Darwin Wiggett's "Mastering Creative Nature & Outdoor Photography" seminar this past Saturday in Burlington, Ontario.  Darwin is a pro photographer from Alberta and rewarded us with a picture perfect presentation that took us from the discussions of JPEG versus RAW versus shooting in the RAW to aperture/shutter speed/ISO use and finally a list of too expensive equipment that I can only dream of owning (i.e. tilt-shift lens).  I have always enjoyed reading Darwin's articles in Outdoor Photography Canada magazine (http://www.outdoorphotographycanada.com/) every month and have tried, tested, and embraced a lot of his advice.  He certainly has been one of my influentual photographers and, now that I've met him in person, know he's a pretty cool guy and has a great sense of humour, oh, and he likes BEER!  Check out his website: http://www.darwinwiggett.com/, you will truly be amazed.

I was lucky enough to also attend a group field session with Darwin on the Sunday morning.  Bright and early I might add, up at 4:45pm to get to the meeting location on time for 6am - thankfully with coffee included.  Darwin had noted during the discussion that he would find and talk to everyone of us in the field to ensure we were able to ask some questions.  I eluded (because of all the coffee I was downing) that I might end up in the bushes at one point to which Darwin immediately shot back that there he would not be following anyone into any bushes since that would be one lens that he preferred not to see!  Yes, he is even quick witted at six in the morning.

Here are some images that I took during the field session.  The location was LaSalle Park which overlooks the Burlington Skyway and the steel mills on the other side of Hamilton Harbour.  The field session was to use some of the techniques from the previous day's seminar.  So this first image is a landscape image that was intended to have full depth of field from front to back using a small aperture and focusing approximately 1/3 into the frame (and using a tripod of course!).  It has some foreground rocks with the steel mill in the background.

Canon17-40mm @ 17mm, f20 @ 6sec, ISO 100

I wanted to get a tight shot of the mill so I put on a 70-200mm and re-composed the frame for this image:

Canon 70-200mm @ 110mm, f11 @ 2.5sec, ISO 100

Finally, I'd like to share some images that Darwin had the group take to show how lens choice can totally influence an image.  There was a bench overlooking Burlington Skyway and he had us take a wide angle and then a telephoto image to see how the scene perspective changes.  I ended up taking 3 different images at 17mm, 75mm, and 140mm.  Check it out, it's quite amazing.  And I only walked about 20 feet total....

Canon17-40mm @ 17mm, f20 @ 0.6sec, ISO 100

Canon 70-200mm @ 75mm, f20 @ 0.4sec, ISO 100


and finally,

Canon 70-200mm @ 140mm, f22 @ 0.5sec, ISO 100

Pretty amazing eh?!  Notice how the both the bench and bridge change from image to image as well as the distance between them.  This result certainly will influence and force me to make my lens choice wisely.

Well, hopefully you enjoyed this entry - and if you ever get a chance to check out one of Darwin's workshops or seminars, go!  You won't regret it.

Oh, and Darwin would be proud to know that I wrote this article while enjoying a nice, cold beer.  Cheers to Darwin - thanks for the amazing show and experience. 

Cheers,

Rob

Snapping Turtle

Hello all! 

I visited a local marsh late last week to see if I could photograph any migrating ducks or geese.  There weren't too many there that day and none within range.  On other visits, I have seen many Canada Geese, Mallards, and a couple pairs of Hooded Mergansers so I just need better timing!

As I was walking on the trail that leads around the marsh, I heard some rustling in the leaves and found this little fella catching some rays. 

This snapping turtle was quite accomodating in letting me take some images and after several shots, decided he'd had enough and started to head back to the water.  I had a 100-400mm lens so I was able to keep my distance and not violate his space.

I zoomed right in for some head detail images as well.  First a profile:

Then a straight on:

A little further down the path, I came across a Painted Turtle sunning on a log in the water.  However, he was spooked when I stopped and setup the tripod so no success. It would have been a good image too given the light and setting.  Oh well, maybe next time.

Enjoy the post - and happy shooting!

Rob

I often drive by this path cut through some pine trees that I've always wanted to stop and try to capture. I got up early today and arrived just as the sun was starting to come up - with an extra large coffee to keep me warm. Since it was quite dark, a long exposure was necessary and a tripod a must. I also used a bubble level that slides into the hot shoe to ensure that the camera was level (a very useful tool when you have a horizon to worry about).

When I was walking to this spot, I came upon two grouse that didn't stick around to watch me take pictures. There were also several different groups of Canada Geese that flew overhead while I was there, honking their way south for the winter. The one thing I love about nature photography is the nature!

I took two main images of the location. A landscape (horizontal) with the path centred in the frame to give a tunnel effect of the trees lining the path and a portrait (vertical). For the portrait, I wanted to have something in the foreground and settled for mushrooms that were at the side of the trail.

Here is the landscape version:


17-40mm lens @ 40mm, f22, 120 seconds, ISO 100

And here is the portrait:


17-40mm lens @ 17mm, f22, 90 seconds, ISO 100

Finally, a closeup of the mushrooms in the portrait image.

70-200mm @ 155mm, f22, 45 seconds

Enjoy!

Rob

Point Clark Lighthouse Turns 150

I was in Point Clark this past August. It was celebrating the 150th anniversary of the lighthouse located on the shore of Lake Huron. It was finished in 1859 and took two years to build. The lighthouse is 87 feet tall and is made of limestone. The light was lit for the first time on April 1st, 1859. The Point Clark lighthouse is one of six lighthouses on Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. They are known as the Imperial Towers.



17-40mm @ 17mm, f16, ISO 100


Here is a closeup of the one window that appears to be about 2/3 up the tower.


100-400mm @ 235mm, f11, ISO 100


A closeup of the top of the tower (slight crop to remove dead space).


100-400mm @ 115mm, f11, ISO 100


And finally, a late evening shot.


17-40mm @ 17mm, f22, ISO 100

Cheers,

Rob

Hi everyone, it's been awhile! I apologize for the delay in posts, but now I'm back.

I went to the ABC Gathering in Kincardine, Ontario this year. Great show, it includes Airplanes, Bikes, and Cars (hence ABC). This year they had a Supermarine Spitfire Mark IX, North American B25-J Mitchell, North American Harvard, Sopwith Strutter, and a Fokker DR.1 for the airplanes. The bikes (motorcycles) and cars are put on display by various attendees. I heard that one couple drove their bikes all the way from British Columbia to attend! Pretty amazing.

I've included several shots below which is but a small sample of what I actually took that day. It was a beautiful day with early morning clouds and then blue sky for the rest of the day. Ducati was also in attendance with a sample of their motorcycle line. And there were a couple of pilots from WWII that spoke to the crowd.

Here is a nose shot of the B25 Mitchell. This was my favourite image of this plane showing the intimate details of the front guns.



The Spitfire was really cool. And I loved the Mickey Mouse detail on the side. The one pilot that spoke flew the Spitfire in WWII. I also met someone I knew at the show and found out during the discussion that he was a mechanic in WWII and he had a picture of himself on a Spitfire from the war. He had an opportunity to talk to the pilot and share some stories.

The next two planes were from WWI, the Sopwith Camel and the Fokker DR 1. Due to weather delays, they ended up flying in around noon so the crowd got to see them fly in.

The next images are of the Harvard.

Finally, a couple of images of the cars and bikes. If you note in the bike picture, there are what looks to be hockey pucks under the kickstands. Well, they are! One of the organizers, a guy I know well, sells these modified pucks. You can check them out and order them at http://www.parkingpuck.com/. Pretty cool idea....

Cheers!

Rob

Comments and Suggestions

For those that are wondering about leaving comments or messages, there are a few ways to do this. At the end of each blog entry is a Comments link. If you click this link, it will take you to a message area where you can leave me a message for that particular post (you don't have to be a member, you can use anonymous).

Or you can click on my profile on the right side and then on my email link at the left side of my profile screen and send me an email.

Or you can click on my website link and use the Contact Me link to send me an email.

I am open to any suggestions for upcoming blogs - tips, techniques, etc. I'd love to hear any feedback to make improvements to my website or my blog (maybe a guest book?) or just let me know you were here.

I couldn't put a post without adding some images. See below for a couple images of a lighthouse silhouette at sunset taken a few nights ago. I took a few mosquito bites that evening!

Cheers,

Rob

Macro Magic

Today had great conditions for some macro photography with the exception of a little breeze. Patience is important to wait for a lull in the breeze before firing off some frames. It was Canada Day today and I had the day off, so I grabbed the camera and went out this morning for a couple of hours. It rained last night and everything was still wet.

All images were taken with a 70-200mm/f2.8 with a 25mm extension tube and 1.4x teleconverter. A tripod is also highly recommended (used in all images) due to the shallow depth of field and also since any movement is extremely exaggerated. I also used a remote shutter release to minimize any movement during shutter release.

The first subjects I came across were some snails. They were everywhere! Here are three of the images.

I also took a couple flower images of a Daisy (including a friend in the first three following images) and one (last of three) of a Bird's Foot Trefoil (Lotus Corniculatius).

And finally, as I was heading back to the car, I noticed a bee sitting under a leaf. It appears it was drying off or still in hiding from the rain. I took an image from a bit of a distance (first of two) before getting in tight in case it flew away. For the last image below, I was probably about 6-8 inches from the bee.

Cheers,

Rob

Lake Huron Sunsets

We had some interesting cloud structure this week and I drove down to the lake to try capture the sunset. The sun had already disappeared when I arrived and I only had about 45 minutes of light left so I had to setup quick.

A couple things to note for these images. Long shutter time is essential to getting a good exposure low light. Long shutter time = tripod, no exceptions. It is also important to know your camera and tripod well to quickly change compositions and camera settings. Bring a flashlight to help you see.

The first image was taken around 9:30pm. I wanted to frame along the waters edge and chose this location to put the large rock in the foreground to add some interest. I wasn't paying total attention to my surroundings and almost ended up with a soaker - almost!

17-40mm at 29mm, f22 @ 20 seconds

The second image is around 15 minutes later, approximately 9:45pm. Again composed with a large rock in the foreground and the shoreline at an angle. For this image, I used my flash to fill in the foreground to maintain detail. I hand held the flash and just manual fired it about 5 or 6 times at different spots around the rocks. Notice I framed this vertically. Remember what I said earlier, know your camera and tripod well - it minimizes the fumbling around and lets you focus on the composition and details. Also notice the exposure time - 17 additional seconds longer to compensate for less light.


17-40mm at 17mm, f22 @ 37 seconds

Finally, this last image was taken at 10:01pm. There was not much colour left in the sunset but the blues in the sky are now deep. One thing to note here is that I am shooting approximately an hour after sunset, it is now pretty dark but this can make a dramatic image. Worth sticking around for, don't you think? Often people take a few shots when the sun is still in the sky and then put the camera away once it starts to disappear. Something to think about.

17-40mm at 17mm, f22 @ 95 seconds

Cheers,

Rob

Canadian Geographic POTW

Well I have to pat myself on my back in this post. This image was chosen for Photo of the Week (POTW) on the Canadian Geographic Photoclub website.

You can see it and the other POTWs at the following link:

http://photoclub.canadiangeographic.ca/cg/PhotoOfTheWeek/PhotoOfTheWeek.aspx

I had borrowed a 100mm macro lens from a good friend and testing it out. I came out on my deck looking for various and assorted insects and this fly was sitting on the railing of our deck.

I handheld the camera with the lens resting on the railing for stability. I went to minimum focus distance and rocked back and forth to fine tune the focus. One of my first images with this lens so I guess I got pretty lucky.

And I was happy that it stayed around for a few frames before flying off.

Cheers,

Rob