Didn't really feel like it but sure glad I dragged myself out to take this photo. I wanted to try and capture some sunset photos since it's been such a long time since I've done so. I was quite pleased with the result although the location wasn't all that good. The combination of the colour intensifier, circular polarizer and reverse grad worked to put life in the image.
Monday, May 30, 2011
impatient tourist
Stumbled on this little area and I knew I had to take a shot so I grabbed my wife and unwilling as she was I managed to take this capture which I dearly love.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Cloudless day so I took this morning as a day to experiment. I first tried shooting without the intensifier and polarizer so I could see if the blues would be less and to get a wider shot as each filter adds to unwanted vignette. Tried it for a little while and then added the intensifier and polarizer to get a slower shutter speed. Eventually I just went with the 5-stop and 10-stop NDs to get the slow shutter speed. Wasn't that successful as I was unable to get the right shutter speed. Seems like the two needed at least 4 minutes to expose properly. Need to try this again...
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
brisk morning
Interesting result with the slow shutter speed blurring the clouds that were moving on this windy day. Love the effect...
Wednesday, May 04, 2011
workflow
Finally remembered all the steps in this morning's shoot. Set the manual focus by determining dof for the focal length, checked the diff exposures so I can use the correct GND filter, attached the trigger release to eliminate shake, closed the viewfinder to eliminate stray light, checked the focal length to make sure there is no vignetting and finally made sure my finger was not in the shot(!).
Monday, May 02, 2011
dof and focus and sharpness
Macros have the additional problem of sharpness as it has very narrow depth of field. One has to be aware of the dof and when it is sufficient it will be nice and sharp like this image. If not, focus stacking may be necessary.
focus stacking
A camera/lens only has so much depth of field specially when working up close as with a macro lens. To get more dof requires "focus stacking" whereby one takes different photos with different focus points and then blends them all with software.
Friday, April 29, 2011
3
Wanted to blur the clouds so I needed to add 2 ND filters to get a 2-3minute shutter speed. It kind of worked although it is a little darker than I want. However the big problem is the white streak across the image which I believe is caused by light leaking through the viewfinder. So I closed that and it seems to be the source of the problem. Have to see if the dark image is caused by the filter.
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Mountain View in the dark
Early morning shot at the cemetary. There was a crew shooting a Smallville episode for TV. I liked the smoke they were using to provide some mood I guess. The morning was fairly sunny and bright and I thought a darker mood would be better. So I underexposed by 2 EV's and got this dark mood.
breakfast for one
Something clicked with this photo. Tried to overexpose the shot and thought it came out quite well. Nice and bright for a food shot...
Friday, December 24, 2010
holiday lighting
My initial attempts didn't adjust for tungsten and I didn't really like the orangy tone so I added an orange gel and set the WB to tungsten to get a more natural tone. My color tone is just about right but the walls are a bit more blueish than I would like. I maybe should have done the white balance for fluorescent...
Monday, December 06, 2010
bright sky over UBC
No foreground to use and wasn't able to use a tripod and the only filter I was able to use was the polarizer. I brought out the blue sky by applying curves to the blue layer and I like the effect.
blue sky
No tripod or filters for this one...just a quick one. So I was unable to bring out the detail in the trees. So I used both a polarizer and an intensifier to bring out the blue. Unfortunately I couldn't get a ninety degree angle on the scene to maximize the effect of the polarizer.
False Creek panorama
My third attempt at creating a panorama. Discovered that shooting vertical images was a better way to create the panorama which I did. Not sure as I think as long as it fills the frame that it would work and might technically create a better image as there would be less images to stitch together. The clouds have been really interesting lately which helped this image (I went back in the afternoon and gave up as the cloudless sky made for an extremely boring photo)as well as the reflection.
Science World blues
Used a polarizer and a soft GND for this image. I was able to get more width (less vignetting) from the added filters. Just enough blue as I didn't use the colour intensifier which would have given it more of a bluer tone.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
panorama image
Don't seem to remember to try doing panoramas as much as I have liked the ones I've seen. My brother Ben does it now and then and they look really nice. So here is my first try...I can't remember how many but I stitched this from about 6-8 diferent images.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
dof
Another experiment and this time with dof. It was a bright day but I wanted to use the 50mm f1.4 lens set at f1.4. This made for a very high shutter speed that I didn't want to use to I used the 10-stop ND to cut the light and the shutter speed to around 1/8s. A 5-stop ND would have been better as the shutter speed would have been around 1/250s which would eliminate blur due to movement. It would also allow one to see better through the lens and get a better composition.
snow
It snowed the day before and I guess you can say the Winter shooting season has started. Hopefully I will be able to go out when it is not so gloomy,
and again...
Got off from work to discover that it was just about sunset...a great time to be shooting and as Science World was close by I stopped to play around again. I finally realized/remembered that there was big difference in exposure between the sky and water so a GND was needed. This balanced out the light but I couldn't make the sky more dramatic by using a greater GND than necessary as it also darkened the Science World building as well and the result was not pleasing. Post processing using photoshop was a better approach for the desired effect.
unprepared
Decided to explore the Olympic Village...quite an impressive housing area. Great views and interesting architecture designs made for an interesting shoot. Unfortunately I brought the wrong camera which I couldn't attach to the tripod. I also forgot that I had my camera bag in the car with spare batteries and what have you. No filters to balance out the exposures...dumb.
cold day at the beach
The wind was quite strong and I figured that the waves would be strong although it turned out not to be as strong as I was hoping for. But it was nice enough to practice my techniques. Used the polarizer, 5 stop ND and GND to even out the exposure.
Granville St at twilight
I don't do much night photos in the ciry centre...don't know why except that I guess I stay home most nights. The different colour temperatures of the lights make an interesting image.
the armchair
Recently stumbled into another photographer with an interesting way of cropping and I am trying to emulate the style which in some way I am already doing but I want to be more conscious of it. Another design approach is to use dark and light areas of the image to create some balance. In a way this image uses it although I wasn't conscious that I was doing it. The wide bright area and green area provide a frame for the armchair which I think makes for a more interesting composition.
Science World
They say that the best photos are taken where one lives and this is proof of it. I can drop by this location at just about anytime to take advantage of the light and weather conditions. And if I mess it up I can come back again and redo it. I stopped using a colour intensifier on this location and stayed with the polarizer. And the GNDs to balance the light.
rainbow over Stanley Park from close by
Amazing how there are locations that exist within the city where it doesn't look like it's in the city...or images to be captured by selective cropping. Stumbled on this location while just driving by and my wife pointing out the rainbow. Stopped the car and composed this shot. The polarizer enhanced the colour of the rainbow. 10 minutes and the moment was gone.
VCC park
This park is just across from VCC on Broadway. Light was fabulous and the fall colours stood out. But the light difference was so large it was impossible to capture and the scene doesn't allow for the use of filters. So a HDR image was the only alternative...generated from 3-5 differently exposed images.
Yaletown and Granville Island
Nothing really different here except the use of the colour intensifier and polarizer to saturate the image...simple but effective.
Spanish Banks sunset
Quickly drove to Spanish Banks after dropping off Alyssa at UBC. Trying to catch the sunset...ooops it's hidden by the bend. Oh well get to try the GNDs and NDs...
Autumn 2010
Autumn colours abound and the use of the colour intensifier and polarizer just make the colours pop. A GND to hold back the sky and it's good to go.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Queen E filter fun
Went up to the top of Queen E Park which I find isn't really situated nicely for landscape photos....as nice as the park is. I used Soft and Hard GNDs with a circular polarizer and discovered how much more dramatic the skies can be when filters are used.
Friday, October 22, 2010
ominous clouds
It finally dawned on me why they say the best locations to shoot is where you live. I have been dropping by this location on the way or after work to play around and have gotten nice results. But today when I had all but given up I noticed how dramatic the clouds were so I took as many as I could and am quite pleased with the results. I didn't use the colour intensifier this time and just used the circular polarizer to get the effect I wanted. It allowed me to shoot at a fairly wide angle (20mm) and I also was careful to avoid the deep dark shadows that results from using a polarizer with a wide angle.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Found a useful feature of a GPS...a parks collection and I found one with a waterfall. So instead of hanging around the food court at the mall I went to the park for a couple of hours and took photos. I thought they came out quite good until I got a critique. It appears the shutter speed was too slow and a shorter shutter speed would allow more detail. So back to experimentation...hope to come back soon.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
I kept the white balance on daylight for some reason I still don't know why which is why the orange of the lights is emphasized. With no post processing one can change the color of an image by changing the white balance setting. A setting of tungsten removes the orange tone and turns it to more of a bluish tone.
Used a circular polarizer with the idea of cutting out glare. Might have done that but using a wide angle creates light and dark spots in the image. Maybe using the colour intensifier could have been better...with reflections which help the image the blue colour would also be enhance. And maybe even not using a filter...this was during the golden hour when the light was best.
What started out as quite a gloomy day turned to quite a sunny day. The pattern lately and if it starts out sunny it always turns cloudy. Stumbled on this little pond while roaming around the Rose Garden in Stanley Park...as always saving parking fees by going to the beach or park and hanging out around there. Sure beats paying $10 for parking downtown. There was a big difference in exposure between the center of the photo and the sides as there was a little slope where the water flowed. I had given up on providing detail in the center when it hit me later that a reflector or flash could have provided the necessary light to bring out some detail.
I used the D700 in volleyball...usually get dark, blurry photos as the lighting inside a gym is abysmal. But letting the ISO run and using the 80-400 lens produced some interesting results. At least at the 640X480 size. Now if I can just improve on the composition. Hard to time the great action shots and watch the game at the same time.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Not the best timing for shooting here. The tide was high so the rocks were hidden. It was a bright, sunny day which made for flat lighting and of course I was here in the middle of the day (doh). Had to try and avoid the many ships in the harbour and the buildings/tents across the water at Vanier Park. Liked the way the cloud was a little blurry with the 20 second exposure. The colour and texture of the water was also kind of interesting. I keep promising to try different shutter speeds to see what difference it makes to the image but I keep forgetting. Will have to keep it in mind at the next shoot.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Arrived at Kitsilano Beach just after the sun had gone down. I wanted to experiment with longer exposures and the results I think are not bad. They are a bit darker than I expected and I could have done longer exposures (2 1/2 minutes was the longest) to brighten the images but I am not sure they would look better. I wish I had a little bit more time to try a few more shots but my wife and dinner beckoned.
Sunday, September 05, 2010
I have been shooting for around 10 years and have some shots with clouds in them but I have only now realized just how important they are to landscape photos. So now that I've noticed them, I immediately think of trying to position myself in such a way as to get them into the photo. The polarizer also helps in providing contrast for the clouds.
Spanish Banks morning
It was late in the morning so the light wasn't that great. I think mostly because the sun was coming from the back and made the light more frontal. But one can still learn from just experimenting. Best light for the west would be sunset, that way the sky would be lit by an orange colour or at least have some clouds. The sun was coming from the right so there is at least some shadow. The lack of foreground to attract the eye is alleviated somewhat with a low shot which is something to remember. There is always the ground/floor to provide some foreground when no big rocks, trees etc are available to provide interest for the eyes.
Blue skies and white clouds
This is what makes the colour intensifier and circular polarizer so effective. It was a beautiful day and the colours just popped when I used the 2 filters. No post processing required...just the way I like it.
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