Project 365 - Day 21 - It's 40 below, and I have a heater in my ... Mazda

Well, -9 deg Celcius, so I guess I am exaggerating a bit.  But what better time to shoot outdoors? 

It was a nice clear night and I was aiming to get a good Toronto skyline shot.  Sometimes you have to wait until it's cold and clear so you don't have to deal with the pollution that hangs over Tdot.  But the spot I chose to shoot from did not have a good line of site to Toronto.  But as I was scoping out the spot, I got told off by a couple of geese and a duck or two.  So off I went to get my camera of course.

Now it was pitch black on the beach and the last thing I wanted to do was use the flash on the poor birds, some of whom were trying to sleep (on the lake.  Can you say brrrr?)  So I set up to take a shot of the shoreline facing west.  This spot is beside Coronation Park in Oakville.  There are a lot of interesting trees in this park, ones that I will shoot as part of this project - probably multiple times. 

The water fowl eventually got used to me, and I was able to shoot in peace.  Being Toronto adjacent, there are not a lot of stars - but there are some.

Here's the shot.  I like it.  Yes, it could be better - and it will get better as this is really one of the reasons for this project.

 

This was shot at 8:30 tonight, so it's pitch black outside save for the lights on the path through the park.  

This is my 11-16 Sigma lens at 16 mm.  f5.6 and 20 sec exposure.  ISO is 400 to keep the digital noise down.  As an aside, I love this lens too.  It's super wide and very sharp.

Project 365 - Day 20 - Rules are made to be broken

So, there are rules about photography.  And we all know that most of the time rules are there for a reason.  But sometimes, especially when creating something artistic, you need to break the rules.  Take today's picture for example.  I shot this today in Bronte Harbour.  I shot directly into the sun, but not at the sun.  That would be silly.  The sun is just above the lens itself.  The other rule I broke was that I did not have my lens hood on, that would reduce flare into the lens.  But the reason I did not have the lens hood on was that I had a circular polarizer on the lens itself. 

I wanted to capture the wisps of cloud that was filtering the sunlight underneath the cloud line.  I also wanted to capture the mood of the sky, it was pretty angry today.  There were high winds, and it was very cold.  I got the shot I was looking for.

In lightroom, I bumped up the contrast a bit and lowerd the exposure by 1/2 a stop. 

Yes, the top of the picture where the sun is is blown out.  It's too hot up there.  And yes, the docks in the front are too dark.  But truth be told, I don't care, and it actually adds to the overall shot.

Here's the shot:

Nikon 24-70mm at 24mm.  f9 at 1/1600.  ISO400

As an aside, I would like to say that my wife told me to go out and shoot today.  Yup, best wife ever.   :-)

Project 365 - Day 19 -Reunited

So Chloe came to visit just after Christmas with her brother Damon.  When they left, Chloe left behind one of her Christmas toys.  Smurfette and Chloe were separated, and despite many efforts, we could not reunite them.

Then, one fateful Saturday evening, Chloe once again came to visit.  This time, Smurfette was right there waiting for her.  It was a joyous reunion, one that I had to capture.

I am working on my portrait technique, and I had to grab this one quick as Chloe likes to move around a lot.  She will sit still for a couple of minutes at a time, but if you really want her attention it takes a little more than that.  But she sat for about 10 images that I captured today, and this one is the best of them.  Here's the shot.

Project 365 - Day 18 - Clear the tracks

One of the things I want to shoot is a moving train.  The problem is that the schedules for non GO trains (our local transit trains - very ugly) is hard to find.  I have a level crossing very near to my house, but I can't seem to find a train crossing when I go.  Or, I forgot my camera, one of the two.  (usually the latter).

I will shoot that train eventually.

Today's photograph is of a train, although it is stationary.  I shot it with my 24-70.  It's a locomotive that I inherited from my Father, and I keep it on display in my bookcase in my house.  It's a very detailed locomotive, and is quite photogenic.  Of course, it is not full size, it is HO scale.  HO stands for Half O.  O stands for, oh I don't know ... :-)

Some harsh, directional light and shallow depth of field, and voila - shot of the day.

Here's the shot:

No setup shot today, this is pretty straightforward.  I was handholding the speedlight, so it's off to one side.  I kept moving around and taking shots until I got the angle I was looking for.

Anyone recognize the logo at the back? 

Project 365 - Day 17 - Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

I read an article about focus stacking and shooting snowflakes last year during the winter.  Unfortunately, there was no snow last year to speak of, so I didn't get to try that particular technique.  I have played around with focus stacking on insects - but not had any real success.

Today it was snowing on the way home, so I took this opportunity to get my gear out and start shooting.  Shooting snow is fun.  It's all about catching snowflakes, looking at them with a light, sorting out which ones will make a good picture, and if you don't find any you have to start over.  I put my felt outside for about 1/2 an hour beforehand so it didn't melt the snow.  But it took a long time to get a snowflake that I wanted to shoot - you know, they don't all look alike :-)  So I would shoot a flake, then go inside to test the stacking, come back out and my flake had blown away, melted, or merged with another flake.  It's a test of patience - especially the stacking part ...

I tried a number of different backgrounds and lighting techniques, but I couldn't get it working just right.  The stacking part was getting muddled by the number of exposures I was making, and I could not figure out how to get it to go.  So, I need to work on that part a little bit.

I started straight macro shooting the flakes, and came up with today's image.  I am pretty happy with this image.  The background is blue felt you would get at a craft store.  The snowflake is tiny.

I used my 60mm macro with all three of my kenko extension tubes.  I was pretty much right on top of the flake when I took the shot.

Here's the shot.  I had to crop about half of it out still, even with the extension tubes in place.

60mm focal length, f4 at 0.6 sec, ISO400.  External flash and LED lantern.

And, for those who like to see the setup, here it is.

I'm using my shutter release here to keep the camera still for the stacking and also the long exposure.  The stacking worked out reasonably well, but I am not 100% happy with it.

One thing, when working in the cold, don't bring your camera back inside and then go out again.  You end up fogging everything up.  Especially the mirror.  I shot a bunch of stuff using liveview - something I try not to do... :-)

Project 365 - Day 16 - Rush Hour

If you know me, you know I have a pretty long commute into work each day.  It's 48km, but it takes me almost an hour each way.  Public transit is out, as it does not go all the way down to where I work and would end up with a 20 minute walk after the bus dropped me off.  Besides, after I worked it out it would be almost double the cost as driving in.

So I drive.  Recently traffic has been light, but from time to time we get that bad day where traffic is brutal.  Today's photo was inspired by the lighter traffic days.  I went up on one of the overpasses that I usually drive underneath and grabbed a couple of shots of the traffic.  I have always had a thing for light trails ...

Here's the shot:

 

Post was just crop and straighten.  The lamp post in the foreground is actually tilted.  I had a shot from the other direction but the wind was blowing directly on the camera and it created a sine wave in the light trails.

Nikon 24-70 lens zoomed to 48mm on my D300S.  25 sec exposure at f22 and ISO100

Project 365 - Day 15 - Self Portrait xBox style

I have an xBox with a Kinect sensor.  The Kinect sensor part sprays out IR light and replicates the room for the xBox.  The system will then find your hands and feet and you become the controller.  It's pretty cool, and reasonably accurate.  It allows you to actually move around while playing video games.  Have you ever said "If I could just figure out how to make my guy kick the ball" - well with some games you can just swing your leg and you will kick the ball.

So, what does a guy with Kinect sensor, an IR filter and an old Nikon D50 camera do with such a system?  Take a self portrait of course!!

Here's the shot.

30 second timer on this guy to capture all the light.  No other lights except the IR. It's pretty neat, and just scratches the surface of what can be done with the IR Filter.