Tag: manual focus

How to photograph fireworks?

Post author By Stanley
Post date 31 August 2024
No Comments on How to photograph fireworks?

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.

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

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.

Photos of Quebec

On The Road (3)

Post author By Stanley
Post date 10 November 2020

On the road in Chaudière-Appalaches, a beautiful region in the province of Quebec, I saw an interesting landscape in my rearview mirror. This was the perfect start for autumn photography.

Rather than getting out of the vehicle to capture the scene and its autumn colors, it seemed to me that a modified « frame in the frame » technique could be applied very well to capture most of this bucolic landscape.

In order for the photo to be sufficiently in focus, it is necessary to stop the engine. Otherwise, the minute vibrations are transmitted to the rearview mirror, making it impossible to obtain a correct focus, even when using the manual mode.

The photographic composition is determined in the rearview mirror by a zigzagging path through houses and forests. The leaves are starting to change color and the buildings in the foreground as well as the shades of green in the fields help bring the scene to life.

Click on the link for more photos of the province of Québec on my blog.

Tags autumn colors, Chaudière-Appalaches, landscape photography, manual focus, photographic composition, photography technique, photography theory, Province of Quebec photos

Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

The Château Frontenac and Dufferin Terrace.

Post author By Stanley
Post date 28 August 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

Tags aperture, Canon 5DSR, Château Frontenac, full frame sensor, image sharpness, manual focus, Old Quebec, people photography, photography technique, Province of Quebec photos, Quebec City photos

Photos of Canada

Night photography: the Canada Geese in the strait of Georgia in British Columbia

Post author By Stanley
Post date 13 January 2017

Canada Geese over the Strait of Georgia in British-Columbia, in 2016.

Night photography is not always planned and the photo above, taken late in the evening, was certainly not one I would have been able to take when I started as a photographer.

There was a superb sunset on the strait of Georgia, in British Columbia, and I had taken multiple pictures until late in the evening with my Canon 5DSR full-frame camera. The photography session was almost over.

Once I decided that it was time to pack-up for the night, I heard a flock of Canada Geese. They were flying in formation over the mountains to the west and were heading north in the darkness. In order to photograph those fast moving birds in the remaining light, drastically different settings would have to be made on the camera, and this, very rapidly.

The camera was equipped with a Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS II USM telephoto lens mounted on a tripod and facing west. It was on manual focus, the stabilizer was inactive and the ISO setting was very low. A ND graduated filter was already mounted on an adapter which was installed on the lens.

That meant dismantling the camera from the tripod, activating the automatic focus as well as the stabilizer, increasing the ISO, removing the ND graduated filter, limiting the aperture to insure sufficient shutter speed, composing the photo and taking few rapid shots before the geese were too far away.

Few seconds later, those birds and the landscape were becoming another souvenir of a beautiful summer holiday spent in British Columbia.

For more articles in the category « Photos of Canada », click on the following link : Photos of Canada

Tags bird photography, British-Columbia, Canada, Canada goose, Canon 5DSR, Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS II USM, full frame sensor, landscape photography, manual focus, night photography, photography, photography technique, photography theory, tips in photography

Photos of Canada Ship photography

Merchant navy vessels in the Juan de Fuca Strait in British Columbia

Post author By Stanley
Post date 6 January 2017

Merchant navy vessel in the Juan de Fuca Strait near Victoria (2016)

Photographers know that the most interesting hours of the day are either early in the morning or late at night, but before nighttime. These periods are ideal for subtle colors and very atmospheric shots.

The Vancouver Island coast offers absolutely everything to attract many categories of photographers: the wildlife, the mist over water bodies in the morning or late at night and the mountains that are visible almost everywhere.

Travelling through British Columbia, I noticed the great number of merchant navy vessels passing through the Juan de Fuca Strait. But to try to photograph them during daytime would only have given average pictures. Waking up early to get the right picture is never easy, but it always gives interesting results.

The only problem with regards to ship photography is that the latter often navigate quite far from the photographer, thus becoming tiny uninteresting dots on a picture. However, the Canon 5DSR camera and its 50.6 megapixels full-frame sensor solve that problem: new experiments are then possible
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The scenery above was shot from a beach in Victoria, very early in the morning. It was mandatory to ensure of the total immobility of the camera since some serious cropping would be needed later on in order to significantly enlarge the ship. The slightest vibration would have been amplified through enlargment and the picture would have been useless.

Here is the method that was used: the ISO was set on 250, the tripod planted on the beach (but not in the soft sand part where the tripod could have moved a little during the photo session). Moreover, the remote trigger was used, as well as the mirror lock-up function. In order to achieve an optimal focus, the latter was done manually using Liveview with a 16X enlargment.

A Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS II USM telephoto lens was installed on the camera, with a 200mm focal setting. A ND graduated filter was installed to compensate for the rising sun’s brighter light behind the mountains. Being early on the beach also allowed for a minimal wind speed, limiting even more any tripod vibrations. I tried several shots and decided to keep the one with a bird in the scenery, so as to add a touch of life to the scenery.

For other ship photos posted on my website, click on the following link:

Ship photography

For more articles in the category « Photos of Canada », click on the following link : Photos of Canada

Photography

The Canon 5DSR and bird photography: a hummingbird in Victoria

Post author By Stanley
Post date 28 August 2016

Hummingbird photographed with a Canon 5DSR DSLR camera in Victoria, British-Columbia, in 2016

The 50.6 megapixels full frame sensor in the Canon 5DSR camera is of great help when comes the time for bird photography. It allows major cropping of an image without any loss in quality.

With a little patience, it was possible to take a picture of a hummingbird in a public park in Victoria, British Columbia after the bird finally rested on a branch for a few seconds. Without cropping and a powerful 500mm telephoto lens, it would have been difficult to produce a sufficiently large and clear image of a five centimeter bird.

I used a Canon 5DSR equipped with a Canon EF 70-200 f2.8L II USM telephoto lens. The camera was adjusted on APERTURE mode. The telephoto lens stabilizer was activated. The autofocus was set on the SERVO mode to insure the image sharpness in the event that the subject started to move.

But the hummingbird was so small that the autofocus constantly whizzed between the bird and the leaves. I had to switch to manual focus and use Liveview.

Once the picture was taken and cropping was done, few contrast and luminosity corrections were necessary in order to enhance the bird’s plumage which happened to be backlighted. RAW files facilitated the edition in Photoshop.

Likewise, the background intensity of the colours was corrected to avoid distracting from the principal subject. The initial picture, in landscape format, was later changed in the portrait format, which allowed the exclusion of several branches around the bird which were imposing and diverting attention.

Naturally, the chosen depth-of-field blurred the background, helping the hummingbird to stand-out.

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

Tags bird photography, British-Columbia, Canon 5DSR, Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS II USM, Canon lenses, full frame camera, full frame sensor, hummingbird, image sharpness, Liveview, manual focus, photography, telephoto lens, Victoria

Photos of Canada

Toronto’s architecture : photography with a Canon 5D MKII in 2016 part 2

Post author By Stanley
Post date 12 July 2016

Here are some photos of Toronto that were taken in February 2016 with a Canon 5D MKII DSLR camera. The photos were all saved in RAW and JPEG files to facilitate any additional work that could have been required with an image editing software.

Architecture and photography both offering unlimited possibilities, I did not impose any limitations. The primary goal was to profit from any opportunity that would arise while profiting from the softer light offered by the winter season.

The first article with regards to photography in Toronto that was published on my website showed only one subject: the CN Tower. It was published during Winter 2016:

Photography in Ontario : the Toronto CN Tower

In the present article, I develop other angles of Toronto which is a city in constant evolution and where you can find multiple styles of architecture. In the picture below, a recent rain shower helped to add unexpected reflections.

Toronto and CN tower by night. Winter 2016

Some architectural subjects are naturally imposing. This is the case when all you have to do is look straight ahead, enjoy what you see and immediately try to compose an interesting photo.

A good example is the interesting reflected shapes that can be seen on the windows of a building. I could not help to take the picture below as I was surprised that a windowed building could send back images that were so totally different from each other. I am curious why there is so much distortion between the windows…

Instead of taking pictures of the newly designed Art Gallery of Ontario, I used its reflective properties to capture something a lot older, which was the design of the row of older houses on the other side of the street.

Some houses are reflecting on the Art Gallery of Ontario (2016)

It is also possible to add variety and fun to a photo session by looking for special shapes, angles or contrasts that are not already obvious.

As I was walking downtown, I passed by the Brookfield head office. The architecture of this relatively new building is quite interesting. The architects were able to preserve the facades of older surrounding buildings by integrating them and assigning each one a role inside the new construction, possibly because the city required their protection in case of any new development.

But it is only once I was leaving the sky rise that I found the idea for the next photo: a vertical wide-angle shot from which all lines would be straight, all this possible by using the advantages of the Canon 5D MKII full frame sensor coupled to a Canon 14mm 2.8L wide-angle fixed lens. Image sharpness was insured through manual focus, a tripod, a remote trigger and the mirror lock-up function.

Toronto Skyrise, Ontario 2016 — Toronto sky rise, Ontario 2016

The last photo is essentially about contrasts: the colour contrasts (light and dark) and the density contrasts that one can find in different constructions of Toronto.

In the foreground, we see the aquarium, with its pale and inviting colours, as well as lots of space where only few people are visible. In the background, there is the exact opposite, with very dark high-density condo towers, very close to each other, where every inhabitant hopes to have an interesting view on the Lake Ontario. All this in a photo divided in two parts and cropped very tightly to increase the differences and eliminate any visual distractions.

Contrast between the Ripleys Aquarium of Canada and the condominiums in the background. Toronto, Ontario (2016)

For more articles in the category « Photos of Canada », click on the following link : Photos of Canada

Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

Photography with the Canon 5DSR in the Port of Montreal

Post author By Stanley
Post date 20 June 2016

In June 2016, I spent a few days in Montreal to look for photo opportunities in the city and in the Old Port. I had never seen so many construction projects going on at the same time in that city. We could feel that the city managers wanted everything to be perfect for the 375^th anniversary of the city in 2017. Here are 2 percent of the photos that were taken during that photography session. (The files were in RAW and JPEG).

Photography and architecture. Habitat 67 in Montreal

The picture above represents Habitat 67, created in time for the 1967 Universal Exhibition by the architect Moshe Safdie. You can click on the following link if you wish to obtain supplementary details in regards to the conception and construction of Habitat 67: Moshe Safdie and Habitat 67

To take the photos, it was better to wait for the evening, a few minutes before nightime, in order to benefit from a better luminosity and prioritize the reflection of light sources on the water. Several boats passed by while I was taking the pictures and it momentarily diminished the quality of the light reflections. Eventually, after several trials, I benefited from a flat water surface. With ISO at minimum, I was able to limit the digital noise that would unavoidably become visible after cropping the images.

A photographic exposure lasting a few seconds helped to flatten the water surface and emphasize the light reflections. I made sure to keep the tugboats in front of the buildings since I consider that they added some dynamism to the scene. As usual, the use of a tripod, remote trigger and mirror lock-up helped to reduce the camera vibrations. Liveview was activated and the focus was done manually to ensure optimal image sharpness.

The picture below shows the abandoned grain silos in the Old Port of Montreal. They are protected since 1996 and will possibly be given a new role next year, just in time for Montreal 375th anniversary.

Grain silos in the Old Port of Montreal in 2016. Photo taken with a Canon 5DSR.

The bulk carrier Venture (formerly called Balder), built in 2002 and belonging to the CSL company, was docked in the Old Port. I tried a few shots, among them one with a telephoto lens Canon 14 mm 2.8L.

The Bulk Carrier Venture (CSL) in Montreal in 2016

To get a privileged access to the harbor installations, where all the loading and unloading operations are performed, would have been really interesting, but, since it was not the case, I had to try to capture an idea of the Port activities from a distance. I wanted to include the wagons loaded with containers and the ships. The use of a polarizing filter allowed the enhancement of the colours of the wagons. I thought necessary to include the venerable Molson Brewery building in one of the shots.

View of the Montreal Harbor, Molson Brewery and the Jacques-Cartier bridge in 2016

Then, profiting from the cancellation of the low pass filter in the Canon 5DSR DSLR, as well as the impressive enlarging capacities offered by the 50.6 megapixels full frame sensor, it was possible to capture a bit of the Port activities by cropping the photo later on, without any loss in quality, using an image editing software. The picture was taken with a telephoto lens Canon EF 24-70 mm f/2.8L USM at 70 mm.

Port of Montreal with ships and containers. Photo taken with a Canon 5DSR in 2016

For other photos on the province of Quebec and also Quebec City, click on the following links from my blog:

Province of Quebec Photos

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

Photos of Canada

Night Photography: a Nightclub, an Hotel and Two Restaurants on Grande Allée

Post author By Stanley
Post date 13 June 2016

Coming back from Old Quebec after a photo session, I took the opportunity to stop in the area around the Hotel Le Concorde Québec. Restaurants on Grande Allée are particularly well lit which is ideal to capture colorful pictures.

The photos show the Pot de vin restaurant, which replaced the Voo Doo Grill and is now associated with the Maurice Nightclub. It is also possible to see part of the Cosmos restaurant located just below the Pot de vin.

Grande-Allée restaurants in Quebec City 2016

A huge banner has been installed on one of the Hotel Le Concorde Québec’s wall announcing the coming Série Cubaine 2016, several baseball games between Cuba’s team and the Capitales de Québec’s team, during Summer 2016.

Hotel Le Concorde Québec and the Cuban Baseball Challenge 2016

The photo below, showing a black vehicle in movement, was a bit more touchy to take since it was already quite dark outside and I still wanted to capture the local population clearly enough. A shutter speed adjusted too slow would have made the people almost invisible as they would have been too blurred. But too fast a shutter speed would have frozen both people and vehicule, taking away the photo’s dynamism. This would have also demanded an exaggerated ISO setting, thus degrading the shot’s quality by increasing the digital noise to an unacceptable level.

Grande-Allée Avenue in the evening, Quebec City 2016

Here are the camera settings that were necessary to obtain the desired effect: an ISO at 5000, which is already high enough, an aperture set at 5.0 to get an acceptable depth-of-field and a shutter speed at 1/13, which allowed to see that the vehicle was in movement but was slow enough to freeze the people waiting at the red light. A few seconds before, I had tried a shot while people were walking near the street’s corner, but everything went blurred. Waiting for the appropriate green light allowed the vehicule to move while forcing the pedestrians to stand still.

The pictures were taken with a Canon 5DSR DSLR camera mounted on a tripod, with a remote trigger and the mirror lock-up function active to reduce the camera vibrations. Liveview and manual focus were also used to ensure the image sharpness during that night photography session.

For more articles in the category « Photos of Canada », click on the following link : Photos of Canada

Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec Ship photography

Photography of ships on the St Lawrence Seaway in Quebec City

Post author By Stanley
Post date 31 May 2016

Here are a few recent photos taken during the month of May 2016 using a Canon 5DSR camera equipped with a Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS II USM telephoto lens. I was on île d’Orléans for the photo session, near the Horatio Walker promenade in Sainte-Pétronille.

The vessel Shelduck (Monrovia) in front of Quebec City in 2016. The photo was taken with a Canon 5DSR

The picture above shows the vessel Shelduck flying the Liberian flag. It just crossed the narrow channel between île d’Orléans and Levis. This ship, built in 2012, is a bulk carrier. In the background it is possible to see Quebec City, with the Château Frontenac and the Hotel Le Concorde Quebec.

The photo below shows the Silver Carla (Majuro), a tanker used to carry oil and chemical products. It is moored at the Quebec harbour installations. The ship was built in 2014 and sails using the Marshall Islands flag of convenience.

The vessel Silver Carla (Majuro) and some of the Quebec harbour installations in May 2016

In the picture below, the tanker Cap Jean, property of Euronav, is approaching île d’Orléans. This tanker was initially supposed to be named St. Jean but the name’s religious connotation could have caused problems in some parts of world. The name Cap Jean was thus chosen.

The vessel Cap Jean, property of Euronav, in front of Quebec City in 2016

The photo below, also taken from île d’Orléans, offers an interesting view of Quebec City just before nightime. The Hotel Le Concorde Quebec’s new lighting system is visible in the distance. In the foreground, you can see the ship Laurentia Desgagnés.

The vessel Laurentia Desgagnés moored in front of Quebec City during a May 2016 evening.

Below, the ship Nilufer Sultan is heading towards Quebec harbour. Built in 2008, this oil tanker also uses the Marshall Islands flag of convenience.

The vessel Nilufer Sultan in front of Quebec City in 2016. Also visible are the Château Frontenac and the Hôtel Le Concorde Quebec.

The photo below shows the tanker Sloman Herakles, normally based in St. John’s, Canada. It sails under the Antigua and Barbuda flag and is heading to Sarnia, Ontario.

The vessel Sloman Herakles (St. John's) in front of Quebec City in 2016 — The vessel Sloman Herakles (St. John’s) in front of Quebec City in 2016

The two photos below show the container ship Toronto Express, property of the Hapag Lloyd Company. I chose to transform the first picture in black and white since the ship did not contrast enough with the background in the colored picture. It is actually slightly inclined since it is turning towards the right while approaching île d’Orléans. On the next picture, we can see in the background the smoking chimney of the Papiers White Birch Company, formerly called Daïshowa and later Stadacona.

Black and white photo of Hapag Lloyd's Toronto Express in front of the Quebec harbour installations in May 2016 — Black and white photo of Hapag Lloyd’s Toronto Express in front of the Quebec harbour installations in May 2016

The Vessel Hapag Lloyd Toronto Express near the Quebec City Harbour in 2016. Photo taken with a Canon 5DSR full-frame camera

Below is the chemical tanker Mayaro (Japan) arriving near Quebec City in May 2016.

The vessel Mayaro (Tokyo) and Quebec Château Frontenac in the background. The picture was taken in 2016 with a Canon 5DSR

Taking pictures in the evening

Trying to take pictures of moving ships in the evening, using the smallest possible ISO, forces a photographer to use a tripod, a remote trigger and the camera’s mirror lock-up function to reduce vibrations. Ideally, it is best to find a spot where the tripod will be protected from the wind while ensuring that the camera’s strap is not moving at all. There is no need to use a polarizing filter at this time of the day: that would only be detrimental to the photo.

The Canon 5DSR DSLR full frame camera allows the photographer to take a picture in two steps, reducing even more the possibility of secondary vibrations. First, the mirror is lifted up. Then, two seconds later, the photo is finally taken. For a sharper image, it is best to use the Liveview function with a 16X enlargement and do a manual focus adjustment.

Risks associated with photography!

On île d’Orléans, many visitors use the surroundings banks to let their dog roam freely. This can cause a problem as the animal sometimes perceives the photographer and his photographic equipment as a potential threat to a master that it must protect… You will have been advised!

For other ship photos posted on my website, click on the following link:

Ship photography

For other photos on the province of Quebec and also Quebec City, click on the following links from my blog:

Province of Quebec Photos

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

https://www.euronav.com/fleet/all-vessels/