Project 365 - Day 97 - Faster than a speeding ... bus?

Today I was in Toronto attending a photography show.  There were sessions where you could learn things and also a small area with equipment where you could check out and test things that you have had your eye on.  Over all it was pretty good.

So on my way back to Oakville, I decided to walk down to Union Station instead of taking the subway.  It's always good to be a tourist in your own town.  I drive through Toronto every day, I spent 8 months after college driving a cube van downtown amongst the cabs and buses and streetcars.  So I wanted to see what had changed.

It was a great afternoon for a walk.  I got a couple of good shots of things, but I wanted to try a technique taught to me by Michael Willems during a photo walk he was leading a couple of years ago.  It might not seem like much, but it is a pretty cool technique. You basically do a panning shot of a car that is going by real quick.  So you set up your camera for a slower shutter, and pan with the vehicle as you actuate the shutter release.

Here's my first (yep, first) attempt today.  I have more, but this is by far the best one.

24-70mm lens, at 27mm.  ISO400 Shutter is 1/2500 and the aperture is f/2.8.  It is a handheld shot.

The blur is motion blur at this point.  I could have easily shot a stationary object while hand holding this combination, and the subject would have been tack sharp.  But in this instance, the camera was moving just enough to allow the motion blur, and the wheels are also concentric circles so you can't see any detail such as lug nuts or anything like that.

I would change only two things about this photograph, but as you know I like to keep them as lifelike as possible.  First, I would wash the bus.  Second, I would eliminate the bus ad and continue the red stripe down the bus.  I could have done this in photoshop, but I don't agree with that level of manipulation unless it is warranted.  In this case, I do not think it is.

Project 365 - Day 96 - Lakeside Park - Mississauga

Got up today to catch the sunrise.  I wanted to grab the Toronto skyline at sunrise but it turns out I got up just a little too late.  As I was making my way east on the QEW, I could see that I was going to be late for the sunrise.  So I took the next exit and went down to Lakeshore and Winston Churchill and into one of my alternate sites for shooting.

I set up where the sun was coming up, and I noticed that there were a bunch of seagulls playing in the area. They were flying around in circles and some of the other birds were diving in for breakfast.  It was pretty cool.

So I waited all of 3 minutes for the show to start (I did mention I got up late didn't I?)

Grabbed this shot with a seagull flying around in the foreground.

24-70mm lens at 32mm.  ISO is 100.  Shutter 1/40 and f/22.

Oh, and I didn't mention.  I got up, got ready, left the house, went to the park and took some shots, got home, downloaded off my eye fi card, and went back to bed WITHOUT waking Sonia or Brodie.  :-)

Project 365 - Day 95 - Waiting on a train

Near our house there is a level crossing that we go over quite a bit.  During the morning and evening hours you see a lot of GO trains going back and forth along this line.  I always say that I am going to grab a shot at this location.

So today was that day.  I went out with my camera during a time when the trains were running every 10 minutes or so.  I shot two trains and was reasonably pleased with the results.  This particular shot was taken looking north along the road and the train was moving eastbound towards Union station.

As I was setting up to shoot, the arms were coming down and I was lining up my camera.  There was a car coming along the road really slowly, and I assumed that the person was going to let me get a good shot without the front of their car in the way.  But no, alas the person pulled up almost all the way to the arms, and I was forced to reframe and then ultimately crop out the front of the car.

I desaturated everything but the red, and bumped that up a bit too.  The pole is crooked, but that'sthe way it actually is.  The train is green and white, and the sky was really blue, but those things did not matter in this shot.

24-70mm lens at 32mm.  F/22 and 1/40 of a second shutter to allow the train to blur.  ISO is 100 to get the shutter slow enough without using a ND filter. I was handholding the camera.

Project 365 - Day 94 - Home in time

A couple of days ago I posted a picture of one of our crocuses that was closed.  Well today I made it home in time to grab a shot of it actually open.

Here's the closed flower: Closed Crocus

Here's today's shot.

 

60mm lens at f/8  1/400 of a sec shutter.  ISO 400.  I handheld this shot as the shutter speed was fast enough.

Project 365 - Day 93 - Farmhouse

Sometimes you go out and shoot and come back with something unexpected.  Today was one of those days.

I wanted to grab the sunset this evening.  There were some clouds in the sky, so I wanted to capture them lit by the setting sun.  The problem was when the sun actually set, the clouds were all but gone.  Yeah, that means a nice clear night, but it also means that the shot I wanted was not possible.

When I was scouting for a location I happened upon a farm with silos in a field, and it lined up perfectly with the location of the setting sun.  So I grabbed a couple of test shots to make sure the framing was good and so forth.  I had an idea that I would grab a nice shot of the sunset, and then grab a shot exposed for the barn, and then merge in photoshop later.  What, it's my blog I can do what I want!   :-)

But when I got back home, and downloaded my images, I happened across this one.  This is one of my "test" shots.  You never do know what you have until you look at it on the big screen, and this is also why you don't delete in camera....

Cropped for content and the contrast has been bumped up a bit. 

Project 365 - Day 92 - Grown up tea set

Sonia brought this tea set back from China.  We have never used it, I am told it's for decoration only.  Well, now it's for taking pictures of - or something more grammatically correct. 

I was looking for something to shoot inside today, you know, to break things up a bit.  And then I came across this little teapot (great, now I have that song in my head).  It has a great design on it, and the reflection from our table was playing along quite nicely.  So why not?

Shot at 30 sec at f/20 with my 60mm lens.  On a tripod, of course.  

Tip me over and pour me out ....

Project 365 - Day 91 - Where have all the Crocuses gone ...

On Friday, both Sonia and I were home because it was a stat holiday.  Sonia was letting Brodie out in the backyard, and she called out to me "We have a Crocus!".  For some people, seeing Mr Robin is the first sign of spring.  For us, it's our few crocuses that come up every year - few because the rabbits and squirrels choose to leave us these stragglers every year - it's part of the peace treaty that they signed with Sonia during the first spring that we were in this house (that is a story best left to another time).

So today, I thought I would shoot this crocus.  As I was on my way outside to take a shot of this flower, Sonia informs me that they close up at night.  "No, that can't be" I say - and head outside just to confirm what my lovely wife already knows.  The crocus was closed like a government office on Easter Monday.

But, a closed crocus is still an interesting shot.  So I got low, focussed on the flower and blurred the heck out of everything else.  It was actually snowing, but you can't see it in the shot.  It would have made a great contrast to have a couple of flakes survive the fall.

Here's the shot:

 

60mm Macro lens shot at 1/13 of a sec and ISO400.  It's on a tripod - but the tripod is splayed out almost flat.  I'll see if I can get a shot of this thing open over the next couple of days.