Project 365 - Day 182 - Happy Birthday Canada

July 1st, 2013.  Canada's 146th birthday and she doesn't look a day over 125.  How do you do it Canada?  :-)

We went down to Bronte Harbour tonight to catch the fireworks.  There was a big group of us, but I split off to go to one of my usual perches to capture the 'works unimpeded.  It was really tough today as there was a western wind off the lake that was taking the fireworks in that direction.  My first couple of shots were blurred because of this, and I was also having trouble with little feet kicking my tripod around on me.

I ended up with a few good shots - not as many as I would have liked but still good shots.  This one was one of the long exposure shots.

2sec shutter, f/13 and ISO400.  My 24-70mm lens at 32mm.  I cropped out some of the heads right in front of me, but you can see the people on the breakwall under the burst.

No colour correction as this was how it was shot and how it looked.

Project 365 - Day 181 - Water Park Fun

Still have the kids today, so we went to Coronation Park to run around the splash pad.  I really like this park, and the splash pad is a lot of fun - although they look at you weird when you are running around there without kids.  I had my camera with me, and I was chasing after my nephews and niece, trying to get "that" shot.  I was setting up for a shot of one of the kids getting a jet of water full force to the face when I got hit in the side with a different jet of water by some kid that I didn't know.  Yes, the camera got it too.  It hit the 24-70 lens and the D300.  Luckily I put my body between the spray and the camera.  Totally my fault, I should know not to run around the splash pad with the camera.

But here's the thing.  I bought the D300s for a reason.  It's rugged and is weather resistant.  And the lens is good that way too.  So I dried it off right away and was able to keep shooting the rest of the day - no harm done.  I had to clean the lens though, it took an almost direct hit.  That took some time and finesse.

When all that was done, I was able to get this shot of Sebasitan getting soaked by the dump tray. 

24-70mm lens at 56mm.  ISO800 and the shutter speed is 1/4000 at f/6.3  I had to bring up the fill light on this and tap the exposure a couple of notches.  This is what happens when you don't check your exposure before that crucial shot. 

Project 365 - Day 177 - Seagull

Today I was back at Coronation Park in Oakville.  I wanted to get my summer shot of my tree, but the sky was just not right.  I noticed this guy sitting under the picnic shelter, and his friends were all walking around.  They were waiting for their dinner from nearby picnickers.

I threw on my 70-200mm and started shooting as I was walking towards him.  Eventually he did get up and fly away, but it was funny - he refused to make eye contact with me.  He even turned his head so I was coming up on his blind spot.  Very trusting I guess ...

Shot with my Sigma 70-200mm lens at 200mm.  ISO 400,f/6.3 and 1/80s shutter.  Hand held, but OS-1 on.

Project 365 - Day 176 - Focus Stacking

This is my first attempt at focus stacking.  This is a flower that grows in my garden out back.  I took 14 exposures of this flower at various focal planes and then imported them into Photoshop and arranged them, then stacked them.  When that was done, I cropped out the misshapen edges (the subject is never 100% in the same spot) and boosted the contrast a bit.  This is the result.

Not too bad, but it will get better. 

Shot with Nikon 60mm lens with 1 extension tube (16mm).  ISO400, 1/100 s shutter at f/14.  External flash as well fired with my camera. 

I used focus stacking as a way to maintain the sharpness in the picture.  If you have too long of an exposure at too small of an aperture you get soft edges that are more pronounced at closer distances.  Focus stacking allows you to pick only the in-focus parts of each image and stitch them together.  In all, this image was about an hour of working time.  So it's labour intensive.  Usually I pull the image out of camera, adjust a few things and post.  It takes me longer to write the post than it does to work on the image.  Not in this case.  But sometimes, you have to put in the extra effort to get the results.

Project 365 - Day 175 - Macro presentation

Tonight was camera club night and we had a guest speaker.  Don Komarechka came and talked to us about Macro phtography.  He covered a lot of subjects, from snowflakes to bugs to flowers.  It was a very good presentation.  I recommend visiting his web site.  You can find it here.

So when I got home, I was inspired.  But it was dark, so I can't take any macro shots of bugs or flowers.  I looked around and found this to shoot.  I used all three extension tubes on my 60mm lens.

Shot with my 60mm lens at ISO400.  Shutter was 1/100s and the aperture was f/14.  This is part of a pull tab from a pop can.

Project 365 - Day 174 - Supermoon

This is a shot from Coronation Park in Oakville tonight.  I used ND filters in front of the lens.  I used an ND6 and an ND9 to get the moon dark enough to see detail while retaining the reflection.  I had to also clone out a lot of artifacts which happens when you are shooting into a light source. I

Shot with my Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 at 1/640s shutter.  ISO400.

Project 365 - Day 173 - Rules to live by

I was in Sarnia today for my sister's 25th anniversary party.  This set of candles is on her counter behind the sink.  I had to slightly re-arrange the candles so the words could all be read. 

Shot with my 24-70mm lens at 70mm.  ISO800, and 1/250s at f/5.6.  Shoe mounted flash directed up at the ceiling for bounce.

Project 365 - Day 172 - Light as a ... well one of these...

In the backyard today and found this feather lying in the garden.  So, of course I decided to shoot it.  Got down low and shot with my 24-70.   I could have done a MACRO shot of the feather showing it's detail but I wanted to show the stripes and general shape and colour of it first.  I might do a MACRO shot of a feather soon though, it's a great idea.

Shot with my 24-70 (you already said that John) at 70mm.  f/10 at 1/25s.  Handheld, but braced on the rocks for stability.  ISO 800 to keep the shutter speed down.

Bumped contrast up and saturated burgundy just a tad.

Project 365 - Day 171 - Potato / Potatto

Of the things I know for certain in life, one is pretty common knowledge.  If you touch a potato bug he will curl up into a ball.  When this happens, you can carry him to a sheet of white paper under a macro lens and take a bunch of really cool shots.

Well, maybe know is a strong term.  It didn't seem to turn out that way today.  I was playing with three of these guys, and only one would sit still long enough for me to get a shot.  This shot took about an hour playing with potato bugs.  One got away and I had to search for more.

No potato bugs were harmed in the making of this photo.  I released my other two reluctant models.  They refused to sign the model release forms anyway....

ISO 800, 60mm macro lens. 1/4s at f/18.

Project 365 - Day 170 - The Ugly Duckling...

I went down to Oakville Harbour today to watch the sailboats and maybe get a few shots in.  It was really busy on the pier with foot traffic and guys fishing.  I ended up getting some shots, but the sailboats were tearing down and coming in to dock so there are not a lot of usable ones.  What a beautiful day though.

While I was on the pier, a pair of swans swam right by me.  I had my 70-200mm lens on so I got a couple of shots off of these guys.  This swan was actually swimming toward shore with the sun in his face.  The sun lit him perfectly.  You can see his little black feet paddling along, these guys can move fast!

Sigma 70-200mm lens at 200mm and f/6.3  1/2000s shutter and the ISO is 800.

Project 365 - Day 169 - Sailboat

Tonight I went out with the express purpose of getting some star trails.  Turns out it was too bright still, even at 10pm, to get these.  So I had to improvise.

Today's shot is of a sailboat at night.  I set up and took this as a straight on night shot.  My exposure was 6 seconds, and the boat is floating, so it was really blurry.  So I got out my speedlight and fired it off just before the shutter closed, emulating a rear curtain flash.

The end result is it froze the boat and still let the ambient night light in.

24-70mm lens at 24mm.  f/6.3 at 6 sec.  ISO is 800.  Manually fired handheld flash, but the camera is on a tripod.

Project 365 - Day 168 - Hosta-ile Environment

I have always liked hostas.  We have them planted all over the front and back yards.  They grow in all conditions and get bigger and bigger every year. 

Today's shot is of one of our smaller hostas.  It's a green and white hosta in the backyard.  I took this shot then turned it black and white, and then bumped up the black level on the greens to give it more contrast.

ISO800, f/5.6 and my 24-70 lens at 38mm.  1/50 sec shutter handheld.

Project 365 - Day 167 - Turkey Vulture

Father's day picnic at Kelso today.  It's tradition on my wife's side, the whole family gets together at least this one time every year.  It was looking pretty crappy for most of the morning, but then we got word from family that lives in Milton that it was clearing up so we packed up the van and off we went.

We were a little late starting, but most of the family and in-laws of the family made it out.  It was a great day.  The annual soccer match broke out once again, and once again the younger kids showcased their moves and showed the older generation how it's done.  It was great weather and great fun with great company.

So the shot of the day is actually one that I have been wanting to get long before I got my long lens.  It's a turkey vulture that was flying around for the better part of the day.  There were 7 of these guys at one time, all circling an area beside our picnic area.  They weren't posing much of a threat to us, but man are they ever cool when they fly.

This is shot with my Sigma 70-200 at 185mm.  ISO is 800 and the shutter is 1/2000 at f/6.3.  I should have lowered the ISO, but I wanted to make sure the shutter was fast enough to stop the action.  You can see the bird's red head in this shot.  I was almost directly under the bird during this path.

I cropped this shot for content.  The sky was that colour and it was that clear.

Beauty day.

Project 365 - Day 166 - Playing the piano

Today, one of our friends was throwing a birthday party for their little girl.  It was a lot of fun and there was a lot of food - as always.  And, as per usual, I had my camera out shooting away.  At one point when we were getting the cake that Sonia made ready, I noticed that their eldest son was playing the piano.  He has not been playing long, but you wouldn't know it from his progress.  He is really good.

So I turned to watch him play, and noticed the light from the window was filtering through the blunds onto his hands.  The lines of the blinds created a contrast to the lines of the keys on the piano.  So I got down and low next to him and took this shot.

This is shot with my 24-70mm lens at 48mm.  ISO is 400, and the shutter is 1/800 at f/2.8.

I turned it black and white in post and added some contrast.   I played with the orange to give him some more detail on his fingers.  I also cropped for content.

Project 365 - Day 165 - Shoot the moon

Over the past couple of nights the moon has been a sliver of itself.  I really wanted to get a shot of the quarter moon, or even smaller, but the clouds and life got in the way - mostly clouds though, those suckers move fast!

I had a shot in my pocket from earlier today that I got of a squirrel.  Mr squirrel only let me get one shot off before bolting away, but I at least had that one.  But then Sonia pointed out the nice clear skies and the fact that the moon was still in quarter-ish phase.  So I grabbed my camera with my trusty 70-200mm lens and shot away.

ISO400, Sigma 70-200mm lens at 200mm.  Shutter is 1/250 and aperture is f/2.8.  I love this lens...
In post, I cropped about 70% of the shot out to bring the moon closer.  I need a teleconverter for this lens.  Santa, are you listening?  :-)

Project 365 - Day 164 - Sunset in Milton

The sunsets here are pretty cool after it has been raining all day, and today's sunset was no exception.  The clouds in this direction were starting to clear, but over the lake to the south they were actually getting thicker.  This shot is taken just north of the 407 in Milton on Henderson side road.  This side road is very busy, with cars routinely doing more than 80 km/hr.  I really need a reflective vest ...

Shot with my 24-70mm lens at 24mm.  ISO400m f/11 and 1/125s shutter.

Project 365 - Day 163 - Pink Flowers

I took the rest of this week off to get some yardwork done as our weekends seem to be chock full of other engagements.  Same thing every year.  I think Sonia does it on purpose to avoid helping out with the heavy lifting ... :-)

It was quite hot today, so I took a couple of water breaks in the shade in the backyard.  I have learned to have my camera nearby.  I saw this bumblebee buzzing around these pink flowers, and figured I would get a shot of that.  Well, he took off before I could get a clean shot, but I did take a couple of "set up" shots to make sure I had the focus right and the proper depth of field.  This is one of those set up shots.

I really like this lens ...

Shot with my 70-200mm lens at 200mm.  1/400s shutter at f/5.6  ISO is 800.  No flash, no tripod.

Project 365 - Day162 - Car Wash

Tonight I was on the hunt for a moon shot.  The only problem was there were too many clouds.  So while pontificating on what I was going to shoot for my shot-of-the-day, I decided to fill the Mazda and get a car wash.  My camera was right beside me, so I started shooting while the soap was running down the windshield. I got this shot.

Shot with my 60mm Macro lens.  ISO is 1600, shutter is 1/40 and aperture is f/3.2

Project 365 - Day 161 - Now that's cold!

Lousy day out there today, and we also had a club meeting tonight.  It was dark and raining when I got home.  Dark I can take, as night shots are awesome.  Dark and raining gets my camera wet and I can't see where it is wet and it just makes me miserable.  Plus, it messes up my hair.

So I came home to think about my shot over a nice cold beer.  Hrm ... what's that running down the side of the bottle?  Is that a water droplet?  Time to grab the camera!

 

Shot with my Nikon 60mm Macro lens at f/10.  1/250 of a sec.  On a tripod, with my flash mounted on a pocketwizard to the right of the shot.  ISO640.  Simple crop, that's it.  Oh, I had to erase a dog hair that was on the bottle - full disclosure ... :-)

Project 365 - Day 160 - the Gutsy Walk

Today Sonia and I spent the better part of the morning at The Gutsy Walk at Spencer Smith Park in Burlington taking photos of teams that had registered to participate in the walk.  The Teams all raised money for research into Crohns and Colitis, and we were more than happy to help out in this way.

When the walk started, the Cursaders Drumline helped march the group of walkers out.  This is a group of kids that are enrolled at St Mary Catholic School in Hamilton.  These kids are awesome, and they continued playing for those of us who were left behind after the walkers had gone.

Man, if this was around when I was in high school, I might have actually joined band!  :-)

This was shot with my 24-70mm lens set to 56mm, at ISO640 and 1/8000 sec shutter.  Aperture was at f/3.5.  In post, I cropped for content, and turned down the exposure a bit.  I had a flash mounted to the top of the camera that was pointing straight ahead to allow the white drum to illuminate properly.

Well done to the Cursaders, to the walkers and the organizers of today's event.  It was a lot of fun to participate in such a good cause.