Tag: full frame sensor

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Photos of Quebec

How to photograph fireworks?

Fireworks in Quebec City, August 2024.
Fireworks in Quebec City, August 2024.

This year, the Grands Feux Loto-Québec are lit from a barge in the middle of the St. Lawrence River, between Lévis and Quebec City. A tugboat from the Ocean Group company secures the barge with a cable for the duration of the event.

I took the above shot with a Canon 5DSr full-frame camera equipped   with a remote shutter release and a tripod-mounted Canon EF 11-24 mm F/4L lens. The super-wide-angle lens can capture both the Château Frontenac and the lights and city of Lévis across the river.

The BULB mode lets you set your own exposure time and take creative initiatives. The brilliant path from launch to explosion is captured in a single photo.

As soon as the bursts begin, you try a five-second exposure and observe the result. Then adjust by stretching the exposure time until good effects are achieved.

One mistake to avoid is leaving the shutter open for too long. When this happens, flashes of light build up on top of each other, and all you see in the final photo is blurry, glowing white.

Working with a RAW file offers much greater flexibility than with a JPEG file when processing the image on the computer.

ISO 200 seems the best option here for several reasons: even if the activity takes place in full darkness, we want to avoid significant digital noise. A low ISO will also lengthen the exposure time and allow us to capture beautiful streaks at the moment of the explosions.

What’s more, the lights will illuminate the scene, reducing exposure time to a reasonable length. Finally, a layer of altocumulus cloud above the Château Frontenac serves today as an artificial light reflector in the photo above.

Grands Feux Loto-Québec, August 2024
Grands Feux Loto-Québec, August 2024

A depth of field between 8 and 13 ensures sufficiently accurate light at a reasonable distance.

Whether to focus manually or automatically remains a matter of taste. It should be noted that darkness can cause problems for autofocus. However, trial and error can sometimes produce interesting effects.

If you’re using manual focus, use the camera’s backlit screen to magnify the scene as much as possible and adjust the focus as required. You then return to the normal size display for the duration of the fireworks, taking care not to inadvertently touch the focus adjustment ring when changing the zoom.

Fireworks at the Grands Feux Loto-Québec 2024
Fireworks at the Grands Feux Loto-Québec 2024

Consider using a heavy tripod. In windy conditions, it will better resist vibrations during long exposures.

A final word of advice: fireworks attract a lot of people, some of whom are content with a fairly limited personal space, if they have one at all. Protecting your photographic area becomes an important objective, to avoid the tripod getting snagged or someone moving in front of you when enthusiasm takes over. So, arrive well in advance to choose the best location for you to work in, while protecting your work area.

For example, for the photos above, I had set up between a ramp fixed on a steep slope in front of me and a bush at the rear. No one could stand in front of me and no one could pass behind me because of the bush. I thus had only the sides to worry about. It sounds like an unnecessary concern, but these days everyone is filming fireworks and continually repositioning themselves without regard to their neighbors. Make life easier for yourself by making the necessary arrangements before the show.

Click on the link for more photos of Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Summer on my blog.

Categories
Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

Pope Francis in Old Quebec.

Motorcycle policemen lead the convoy bringing the Pope to Old Quebec in 2022.
Motorcycle policemen lead the convoy bringing the Pope to Old Quebec in 2022.

If you don’t have privileged access, the main difficulty in photographing the arrival of Pope Francis in Old Quebec in 2022 lies in the vague and sometimes contradictory information offered to journalists in an obvious effort to protect the itinerary of the head of state.

You also have to deal with the strong police presence and the barriers that open and close according to the mood of the moment, blocking bicycles and pedestrians long before the Pope has crossed the Saint-Louis gate. As a photographer, you don’t want to find yourself suddenly stuck in a place of no interest.

Other aspects to consider are purely photographic, such as the ambient light and the distance from the subject at the time of the photo, which will influence the choice of equipment carried.

The official convoy arrives on Saint-Louis Street. It is important to know that in the afternoon, the sun crosses directly the axis of the Saint-Louis Street in its slow descent towards the west. If you position yourself along this street to take the picture, there is no physical obstacle, but you photograph against the light a convoy which passes at full speed. The camera sensor does not appreciate backlighting, because it has difficulty evaluating which light takes precedence. The choice of a straight line on Saint-Louis Street is therefore not very interesting.

The crowd greets Pope Francis on his arrival in Old Quebec in 2022.
The crowd greets Pope Francis on his arrival in Old Quebec in 2022.

The Pope’s driver sits on the left (at least in Canada). The Pope will therefore be on the right, whether forward or backward. If one stands in the Place d’Armes, one gives priority to the driver rather than to the Pontiff.

As the sun travels progressively from the axis of St. Louis Street to the west, the tall trees of the Place d’Armes will create a natural veil blocking the effects of backlighting. This will increase the chances of successful photos.

On St. Louis Street, the convoy is moving quickly in a long straight line. The chances of getting a good picture decrease. When the security cars reach the end of Saint-Louis, they have to brake because of a sharp curve near the Château Frontenac. If you position yourself immediately after the curve, the chances of getting an acceptable picture increase greatly.

As for photographic equipment, a camera lens that requires little light will help optimize shutter speed and depth of field, especially in the late afternoon. The Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM lens offers more flexibility.

A camera with a full-frame sensor will also allow the cropping necessary to magnify the photo without loss of quality. For the photos included in this article, the camera used was a Canon 5DSR.

The riskiest technique which therefore requires a little more experience is to take the picture of the head of state in his car in focus while leaving the outside blurred, to show that the car is moving fast. You follow the car with the camera’s viewer. The closer it gets to you, there is an obvious feeling of acceleration. It is thus necessary to increase the rotation of your body to adjust to the car’s relative speed change. The autofocus does its job as the vehicle approaches.

There is only a fraction of a second where you get a completely clear view of the head of state. A second too early and you only see a portion of the face with a piece of the car, a second too late and you get a three-quarter rear view. A continuous shooting mode becomes absolutely necessary.

Pope Francis arrives in Old Quebec on his trip to Canada in 2022.
Pope Francis arrives in Old Quebec on his trip to Canada in 2022.

An adequate shutter speed captures the face of the head of state accurately and keeps the background blurred. A shutter speed that is too fast makes the whole scene clear and sharp, and the photo loses its dynamism. Too slow a speed and the face lacks definition. There is only one chance to get it right.

So, those were a few ideas to remember if you want to photograph important events in Old Quebec. A prior knowledge of the terrain and of the sun’s position at specific times remains essential if you want to increase your chances of success.

Enjoy your photography!

Click on the link for more photos of Quebec City in Summer on my blog.

Categories
Photos of Canada

The Château Lake Louise and Mount Richardson.

A view of Château Lac Louise and the surrounding mountains.
A view of Château Lac Louise and the surrounding mountains.

The picture above shows Château Lake Louise and, in the background, Mount Richardson. Lake Louise is in Alberta but only a few kilometers from British Columbia.

This picture was taken during summer 2018 while several forest fires were raging in western Canada. Luckily for us, the smoke had not yet reached Lake Louise when the picture was taken. A few days later, the visibilty worsened and the air quality in the area degraded considerably.

At the time of the picture, the sky was cloudy and I had to wait for the sky to clear in order for more intense sunrays to light part of Château Lake Louise. This provided a greater contrast between the hotel and the mountains in the background.

I thought it was appropriate to keep the canoe with its passengers to add dynamism to the scenery. The photographic composition was planned so as to include the reflection of the bright part of the hotel on the lake.

In order to make an acceptable picture at this time of the day while sitting in a canoe, I used a Canon EF85mm f/1.2L II USM lens mounted on a Canon 5DSR camera. The outstanding performance of the lens in low light allowed me to keep the ISO at 200, thus limiting the photographic grain.

The shutter speed was adjusted to 1/5000 to compensate for the movement of my canoe and the effect of the wind. It seemed to me that for this particular landscape picture, a 16 x 9 format was better suited than the traditional 3X2 associated with full frame sensors.

Click on the following links for other pictures of Quebec and Canada on my blog.

Categories
Environment Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

Freezing rain on a plant during winter 2019

Freezing rain and nature during the winter 2019 in Quebec City.
Freezing rain and nature during the winter 2019 in Quebec City.

The effects of the freezing rain that fell over Quebec City this winter were not only negative. Photographers seized the opportunity to immortalize rapidly changing situations.

In the picture above, the “blue” that is visible in the ice represents the reflection from the magnificent winter sky. On a bigger screen, the ice shows the white birch trees that were surrounding the scene.

In order to avoid any distractions, the background was kept blurred by setting the aperture to 3.5. The presence of moderate wind required a higher shutter speed, in this case 1/6400. The ISO was limited to 250, to protect the quality of the picture during the enlargment. The 50.6 megapixel full frame sensor offered all the necessary flexibility during the digital processing.

The picture was taken with a Canon 5DSR equipped with a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L II USM telephoto lens. I only had that lens at the moment of my walk. The focal length was 200mm with the stabilizer “on” and a setting of “1.2 meter/infinite” instead of the usual “2.5 meters / infinite”.

For other pictures of Quebec City, click on the following links of my blog :

Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Autumn
Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Winter
Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Spring
Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Summer
Categories
Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

The crowd on the Plains of Abraham during the Quebec Summer Festival 2018

The crowd on the Plains of Abraham, in Quebec City, during the 2018 Festival d'été de Québec.
The crowd on the Plains of Abraham, in Quebec City, during the 2018 Festival d’été de Québec.


The Quebec  Summer Festival draws huge crowds every year to each one of its shows. I decided to use the crowds to compose a photo in which there are only two subjects. In the foreground, one of the trees on the Plains of Abraham.  I use the tree to create a diagonal that crosses the picture and, at the same time, helps balance the colours in the picture.

In the background, the crowd,  without any other distraction. The people fill every available corner of the picture. They are the ones bringing the picture to life. It is also because of their presence every year that the Quebec Summer Festival is a success.

The picture was taken with a Canon 5DSR camera equipped with a Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS II USM lens. The focal length was 200mm and the shutter speed 1/250. Despite a 200mm focal, the people were still too far to be clear enough.

The goal being to crop the picture enough to enlarge the people, the ISO had to be quite low. It was set at 640. Once those priorities were established, the aperture could only be set at 5.0, which was good enough for the result I was trying to obtain. The 50.6 megapixels full frame sensor of the Canon 5DSR helped a lot.

For other pictures of Quebec City, click on the following links of my blog :

Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Autumn
Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Winter
Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Spring
Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Summer
Categories
Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

The Château Frontenac and Dufferin Terrace.

The Château Frontenac and Dufferin Terrace 2018
The Château Frontenac and Dufferin Terrace 2018

This picture of the Château Frontenac and Dufferin Terrace was taken during the Quebec Summer Festival 2018. From where I stood, near the Citadel, I could hear the crowd present on the Plains of Abraham during Patrice Michaud’s performance.

The picture was taken with a full frame Canon 5DSR camera equipped with a Canon EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM. The focal length was set at 70mm. As the sun was setting, an ISO set at 200 would have caused the moving persons to be blurred. It was thus necessary to set the ISO at 4000.

Working without a graduated filter to attenuate the background light, I had to correct the exposure at +1, otherwise the middle ground would have been too dark and it was the main subject of the picture. I then slightly reduced the clear tones of the sky with Photoshop for a more balanced result.

The focus was done manually while the camera was installed on a tripod. The aperture was limited to 4.5 to limit the exposure time so that a compromise could be found between an acceptable depth of field and the moving people. This allowed for a shutter speed of only 1/15 sec, even in a relatively low light.

For other pictures of Quebec City, click on the following links of my blog :

Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Autumn
Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Winter

https://francoisouellet.ca/en/photo-galleries/quebec-city-and-ile-dorleans-in-spring/

https://francoisouellet.ca/en/photo-galleries/quebec-city-and-ile-dorleans-in-summer

Categories
Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

Picture of a Cedar Waxwing taken with a Canon 5DSR

A Cedar Waxwing in a Russian mountain ash.
A Cedar Waxwing in a Russian mountain ash.

This Cedar Waxwing was photographed in June 2018 as it stopped in our Russian mountain ash. The bird had spotted a few dried out fruits left from the Autumn 2017 season.

The picture was taken with a Canon 5DSR camera in order to use the cropping facility of its full frame sensor. A Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM was mounted on the camera. The aperture was set at 3.5 to ensure a blurred background.

The ISO was set at 320 since considerable cropping would be required to enlarge the bird, even with a 200mm focal length. The  grain remained reasonably small through the cropping process, ensuring an acceptable image.

Click on the links for more photos of Quebec and Canada on my blog.

Categories
Photos of Canada

A few photos of British Columbia

The pictures below were taken in Vancouver and Victoria, in British Columbia. They were all taken with a Canon 5DSR full frame camera.

In the Vancouver harbour, several condo towers have been built in the last few years. Many condos in those towers can now be rented by travellers through Airbnb, thus entering in direct competition with the hotels located nearby. I was trying to use the water reflections in the harbor to show one of the towers when this seagull appeared in the viewfinder, adding a touch of life to the scenery.

Another way of showing the Vancouver Harbour architecture (2016)
Another way of showing the Vancouver Harbour architecture (2016)

Floatplanes of all types constantly maneuver in the Vancouver harbour. The two photos below show a Saltspring Air Turbo Otter as it is being helped to park. You can also see a row of Harbour Air Beavers (DHC-2) parked after a day of uninterrupted flights.

Saltspring Air Turbo Otter C-FLAP in Vancouver Harbour 2016
Saltspring Air Turbo Otter C-FLAP in Vancouver Harbour 2016
Harbour Air DHC-2 Beaver floatplanes in Vancouver, British-Columbia (2016)
Harbour Air DHC-2 Beaver floatplanes in Vancouver, British-Columbia (2016)

In the Willows Beach’s Park, in Victoria, I was able to photograph this Cooper’s Hawk using a Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS II USM telephoto lens. The full frame sensor 50 megapixels allowed for some serious cropping to bring the bird closer. The hawk clearly annoyed all the crows that considered themselves as the owners of the territory.

Cooper's Hawk in a Victoria's public park (2016)
Cooper’s Hawk in a Victoria’s public park (2016)

In the evening, the fishing boats come back to the Victoria Fisherman’s Wharf. Since I was standing on a moving platform, the use of a tripod would have been useless because of vibrations impossible to eliminate. The solution was to use a lens requiring little light, like the Canon EF 50mm 1.4 USM. By increasing the aperture and the ISO, the picture could be taken with a high enough shutter speed to avoid a blurred photo.

Fishing vessel in the Victoria harbour (2016)
Fishing vessel in the Victoria harbour (2016)

Click on the link for other pictures of British-Columbia on my blog.

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Tragedy at sea

Rescue mission by a ferry in Quebec City, January 2018

Ferry in icy waters. Quebec City. Winter 2018.
Ferry in icy waters. Quebec City. Winter 2018.

So far, this winter has been especially cold in Quebec City. There have been several weeks where the temperature stayed below -20 C. The STQ ferries, property of the Government of Quebec, must navigate the ice covered St. Lawrence Seaway between Lévis and Quebec City.

Government of Quebec ferry in the icy St. Lawrence Seaway between Lévis and Quebec. Winter 2018.
Government of Quebec ferry in the icy St. Lawrence Seaway between Lévis and Quebec. Winter 2018.

The ferries Alphonse-Desjardins and Lomer-Gouin, carrying cars and passengers between the two cities, must sometimes completely cancel the service. On three occasions so far, a ferry stayed stuck while trying to cross the ice covered seaway. The passengers had to wait patiently up to four hours for a crossing that normally takes ten minutes.

The picture below was taken from Old Quebec. In the foreground stands the “Le Vendôme” restaurant, which has been for sale for years now. In the distance, a ferry makes its way through ice towards Quebec City.

Ferry approaching Quebec during the winter in 2018
Ferry approaching Quebec during the winter in 2018

Ocean’s tugboats are also working on the seaway, regardless of the temperature. The picture below shows one of those tugboats enroute to the Jean-Gaulin refinery to help an oil tanker.

Ocean's tugboat on the St. Lawrence Seaway near Quebec City. Winter 2018, by -20 C.
Ocean’s tugboat on the St. Lawrence Seaway near Quebec City. Winter 2018, by -20 C.

The pictures in this article were taken on January 7th 2018 with a Canon 5DSR equipped with a Canon EF 85 mm f/1.2L II USM. The temperature was -18 C.

The next day, a man who had fallen in the icy waters of the St. Lawrence Seaway was luckily spotted by one of the passengers who was standing on the Lomer-Gouin ferry heading to Quebec City. The man suffering from severe hypothermia was saved by the Government of Quebec STQ staff (Société des traversiers). Here is the link to TVA news (in French): Une personne tombe dans le fleuve Saint-Laurent à Québec.

The cold temperature and winds did not stop the Château Frontenac canoeists from training on the icy seaway in preparation for the Quebec Carnival competition. This year, the race will be held on February 4th. The Association des coureurs en canots à glace du Québec (Ice canoeists Association of Quebec) recently faced a tragedy went they lost one of their members in a training session during very harsh weather conditions.

Château Frontenac ice canoe team at work by -18 C on the St. Lawrence Seaway between Lévis and Quebec.
Château Frontenac ice canoe team at work by -18 C on the St. Lawrence Seaway between Lévis and Quebec.

Here is the link to Radio-Canada news (in French): http://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1072906/operation-sauvetage-embarcation-fleuve-saint-laurent

Categories
Street photography

Walking on the side of a wall in Old Quebec

Teens are defying gravity in Old Quebec
Teens are defying gravity in Old Quebec

These teens from Quebec City work hard at walking on the side of a stonewall near the St. Louis Gate in Old Quebec. Their efforts deserved a picture.

The picture was taken from far away, that is from a point located on the other side of the St.Louis street.That way, they did not realize that they were being photographed, which allowed them to stay natural. That is one of the principles of street photography.

Behind the people is Quebec City’s lower town. The city lights are visible since it was close to 9 PM when the picture was taken.

I was able to take a sharp picture from really far away only with the help of a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM telephoto lens mounted on a Canon 5DSR full frame camera that is equipped with a 50.6 megapixel sensor. Some significant cropping was then necessary to bring the action even closer to the viewer.

For other street photography pictures:

Street photography