Tag: Old Quebec

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Photos of Quebec

Old Quebec, photographed with Canon’s ultra-wide-angle lens.

St. Louis Street in Old Quebec in June 2026.
St. Louis Street in Old Quebec in June 2026.

Here’s a photo of Saint-Louis Street in Old Quebec before the massive influx of tourists. Nothing blocks the view of the buildings across the street.

Photography Technique

Today, the area is beautifully lit, and the few clouds add dynamism to the sky. Rather than capturing the scene around noon, it’s better to wait until dinnertime. The light remains bright, and the sun’s angle at that hour creates some nice shadows.

I’m taking advantage of a clothing sale to add some life to the photo. By framing the shot with a Canon EF 11–24 mm f/4L USM zoom lens, I can include the little multicoloured dresses in the image. We use whatever we can to improve the final result of the photographic composition.

Canon’s high-performance zoom lens allows me to capture numerous buildings while preserving all the vertical lines, without distortion.

Old Quebec buildings and virga.
Old Quebec buildings and virga.

Above is an alley in Old Quebec, near Saint-Louis Street, but in a different context. This is a composite photo, meaning the sky is not the original one. I had some fun using digital editing software to search for clouds with precipitation that doesn’t reach the ground (virga).

The final result creates an interesting atmosphere, though it’s a bit gloomier than the first shot. The pronounced bluish tint on the building on the right comes from adjusting the vibrance. I moved the slider a little further to the right than usual.

So, we have two very different photos: an unaltered, authentic view of Rue Saint-Louis, and a composite alleyway.

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

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Photos of Quebec

Old Quebec photographed with the Canon EF 11-24 mm f/4L USM lens.

Old Quebec in the evening during Spring 2026.
Old Quebec in the evening during Spring 2026.

The narrow, winding streets combined with the tall houses of Old Quebec are captured beautifully with the Canon EF 11-24 mm F/4L USM ultra-wide-angle lens. It is the widest zoom lens Canon has ever produced.

It has the appearance of a “fisheye” lens, but it doesn’t distort vertical lines, even at 11 mm. This results in more realistic-looking buildings when that’s the desired effect.

Photography Tips

The photo above requires waiting until the end of the day for better light. Position the tripod so that it captures two alleys at the same time. The rule of thirds helps place the main building for a superior photographic composition. This rule of thirds, like other rules for that matter, is always just a suggestion.

The houses at the end of the alley on the right add colour and variety. They also create a visual barrier that draws the eye back to the foreground.

A remote shutter release connected to the camera minimizes camera shake. Five photos taken at different apertures achieve the desired HDR effect.

Of course, fleeting shadows—“ghosts” are often unavoidable in a city with many tourist attractions. This occurs when people move while the camera takes five photos spaced a few seconds apart. The Photomatix software offers the option to reduce the number of these ghosting effects, but you shouldn’t overuse this feature, as it can compromise the picture’s quality.

Verify in Photoshop or a similar digital editing software if the buildings are straight. Shooting in RAW rather than JPEG allows for additional adjustments to achieve a superior final result.

Click the link to see more photos of Quebec City on my blog.

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Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

A quick outing in foggy weather in Quebec City

The Château Frontenac in the evening with low clouds during Spring 2026
The Château Frontenac in the evening with low clouds during Spring 2026

In Quebec City, we had several consecutive days of rain in April while there was still snow on the ground. The warm rain melts the snow quickly, saturating the air with moisture and leading to fog and low-hanging clouds. Night photography enthusiasts know that this is an opportunity not to be missed for capturing special effects.

In the photo above, you can see low-hanging clouds above the Château Frontenac in Old Quebec. Fortunately, the central tower remains clearly visible. This is the perfect moment to capture the light reflecting off the clouds and onto the street.

Photographic Composition

Train in foggy weather in Quebec City during Spring 2026.
Train in foggy weather in Quebec City during Spring 2026.

Tonight, the wind is blowing less strongly near Gilmour Hill than in the Port of Québec. A persistent fog covers this section of Champlain Boulevard.

For the composition, I use the stationary railcar as the focal point between the lit road on the left and the headland on the right. It serves as a link for an imaginary diagonal line that cuts the image in half, running from the lower left corner to the upper right corner of the frame.

The Boulevard Champlain in Quebec City in fog, April 2026
The Boulevard Champlain in Quebec City in fog, April 2026

The fog softens and unifies the elements of the scene above. The photographic composition takes into account the path that guides the eye toward the center of the photo. There, a strategically placed fir tree prevents the gaze from wandering off toward the horizon. On either side of the image are two contrasting elements, differing in height, color, and state (nature vs. industry).

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

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Photos of Quebec

HDR Photography of the Château Frontenac at Christmas

HDR picture of the Château Frontenac at Christmas 2025 from Côte de la Montagne in Quebec City.
HDR picture of the Château Frontenac at Christmas 2025 from Côte de la Montagne in Quebec City.

During the holiday season, the Château Frontenac is decked out in red and green. For an interesting effect, try taking a picture of the castle’s main tower from Côte de la Montagne. To do this, you have to point the camera upward, but all the lines that are normally vertical become slanted.

Photographic Technique

To correct this effect and restore the architectural lines to near verticality, some computer work is necessary. In a few minutes, after cropping and changing the photographic plane, the photo regains the natural appearance that the eye observes when climbing Côte de la Montagne.

HDR photo of the Château Frontenac and surroundings in winter in Quebec City.
HDR photo of the Château Frontenac and surroundings in winter in Quebec City.

The photo above shows another beautiful view of the Château Frontenac. In the middle of the tourist season, passersby in Old Quebec are plentiful in front of the camera lens. Long exposure times mean that several “ghosts” will appear to be moving around when taking nighttime photographs.

How can you avoid these “ghosts” as much as possible? Timing is important. Once the blue hour has passed, complete darkness provides uniform lighting. This allows you to choose a moment when no one is passing by the camera when taking each shot to achieve the HDR effect. Five shots with different apertures will give you the desired HDR result. I use a tripod and a Canon EF 11-24mm f/4L USM wide-angle lens mounted on a Canon 5DSR full-frame camera.

There is only one person very close to the camera lens during the entire session. I remove her from the HDR photo. Since she was working with a tripod, she moved very little during my five shots, which allowed the correction tool in the digital processing software to teleport her to a parallel universe.

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

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Photos of Quebec

Two photos of Old Quebec between Christmas and New Year’s Day 2025.

Château Frontenac during Christmas time in Quebec City
Château Frontenac during Christmas time in Quebec City

The photo above shows a section of the German Christmas market in Quebec City in front of the Château Frontenac. As usual, there was a large crowd that day in Old Quebec but I waited for the pedestrians to disperse a little before taking the picture. The blue hour is approaching…

Below, the huge Christmas tree installed at Place Royale occupies the foreground of this photo of Notre-Dame-des-Victoires Church in Old Quebec. This year, anonymous donors have made it possible for the interior of the church to be festively illuminated for the 2025 holiday season.

The Notre-Dame-des-Victoires church in Old Quebec during Christmas time in 2025.
The Notre-Dame-des-Victoires church in Old Quebec during Christmas time in 2025.

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

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Photos of Quebec

Christmas decorations and atmosphere in Old Quebec.

Christmas time near rue Saint Paul in Old Quebec
Christmas time near rue Saint Paul in Old Quebec

While visiting Old Quebec, I took the opportunity to practice my night photography. The photo above shows some Christmas decorations at the intersection of Saint-Paul Street and Saint-Pierre Street. This is HDR photography, as I stacked five photos of 50.6 megapixels each.

Christmas decorations on rue Saint-Pierre in Old Quebec
Christmas decorations on rue Saint-Pierre in Old Quebec

For the photo above, I am a little cramped in the old Rue Saint-Pierre. It was only with the help of a Canon EF 11-24 mm F/4L USM super wide-angle lens mounted on a tripod that I was able to take this shot. There is only one shot, because the HDR effect would not produce anything interesting, accumulating the lights on the illuminated sign to such an extent that everything would become diffuse.

The format is not standard, but that only matters to photographers who are unable to break free from the theoretical rules of photography.

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

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Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

Winter in Quebec City and the approach of Christmas.

On a beautiful day in December 2025, I spent a few hours in Old Quebec and its surroundings to take some pictures on the eve of the holidays.

Two pedestrians in Old Quebec during winter 2025.
Two pedestrians in Old Quebec during winter 2025.

At this time of year, the German market in Quebec City attracts residents from neighboring towns and tourists alike. Today, it’s -10°C and very windy, but people are still out and about.

Since photography requires the use of a tripod and often involves standing still, the priority is to dress as warmly as possible.

The photo below, showing part of a kiosk at the German market in Quebec City, was taken with a Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM fixed lens. Why use a 300mm lens in an area where nothing really needs to be zoomed in on?

A stand in the Quebec German market in Old Quebec 2025
A stand in the Quebec German market in Old Quebec 2025

I challenged myself to work only with a 300mm telephoto lens for part of the evening, in order to isolate scenes that my eye would not automatically see. This method sometimes leads to beautiful visual discoveries, such as the close-up of the kiosk above.

The Christmas German market of Quebec City and the Glühwein Bar 2025
The Christmas German market of Quebec City and the Glühwein Bar 2025

In contrast to the previous photo, the above result cannot be achieved without the help of a wide-angle lens. A cell phone solved the problem of low light and captured this winter scene from the German market. It even allowed the “Glühwein Bar” to be included in the shot.

This year, the Alsace pavilion at the German market is still offering hot food and drinks, but like many businesses, it is ignoring official inflation and significantly exceeding it. Be sure to read the menu and associated costs carefully before ordering, or you may be in for a big surprise.

The Grande-Allée and some Christmas decorations in Quebec City 2025.
The Grande-Allée and some Christmas decorations in Quebec City 2025.

A final nighttime photograph shows a small section of Grande-Allée with some Christmas decorations, with the Le Concorde hotel highlighted in blue in the background. This part of Quebec City has received a lot of attention from retailers.

I will explore the city again in a few days to bring back more memories of this Christmas atmosphere before it’s too late.

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

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Photos of Quebec

A pedestrian takes a break in Old Quebec.

A pedestrian takes a break in Old Quebec, with the Price building in the background.
A pedestrian takes a break in Old Quebec, with the Price building in the background.

A pedestrian rests in the evening in the shadow of the Price building in Old Quebec. Many residents and tourists alike appreciate the safety of the Old Town. Accompanied or unaccompanied, even the elderly feel at ease here late in the evening.

The Price building is the only skyscraper allowed in Old Quebec. During my photography sessions in this area, I enjoy finding different vantage points and special lighting to feature this unique building. At the time I captured the scene, there was still a bit of blue in the sky. This color blends delicately with the surrounding orange-yellow.

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

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Photos of Quebec

Between dream and reality in Old Quebec.

Between dream and reality in Old Québec. Inspired by authoritarian governments around the planet.
Between dream and reality in Old Québec. Inspired by authoritarian governments around the planet.

The photo above is the result of a recent outing in Old Québec. Why is the photo displaying such a bizarre mood? Well, the actions of authoritarian governments around the world were enough to change my photographic perception for a moment. A montage was therefore necessary to let the emotion flow through on that day.

Photography Theory

The collection of buildings in this part of the city is of interest, but to produce a special effect, I used considerable cropping. The square format leaves out unnecessary details from the original image. I didn’t want any distractions, just the essentials.

I also imagined a threatening sky over the old constructions of Québec City. But how to express this danger without retouching a normal photo? Indeed, the sky is often too beautiful or too banal to convey a sufficient impression of discomfort.

Editing the sky from a RAW file remained the solution. After digital processing, I achieved a combination of mismatched colours that disrupted the scene. The semblance of a face appeared in the clouds, an effect I hadn’t intended. But I kept it. The whole thing takes us back to a world somewhere between dream and reality.

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

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Photos of Quebec

A tugboat advances through the ice off Quebec City.

Ocean's tugboat on the St.Lawrence river in front of Quebec City in winter.
Ocean’s tugboat on the St.Lawrence river in front of Quebec City in winter.

This Ocean tug advances through the ice on the St. Lawrence River   in front of Quebec City. The photo was taken from the Dufferin Terrace in Old Quebec. The relatively mild winter still leaves passages open for ships.

Photography Theory

Good technique recommends using a tripod and an extension cable. This limits vibrations. But the wooden decking transmits vibrations caused by pedestrians. I wait for them to move away to improve the chances of a well-defined photo.

Night photography combined with a moving boat increases the risk of poor results. The shot requires a minimum shutter speed of about 1/125 to 1/160 and an appropriate ISO. The grain should be as small as possible, as you’ll need to crop to bring the tug closer.

In this case, I sacrificed depth of field, as the main focus is on the ship and the surrounding ice. The lights of Lévis in the background add a little dynamism to the scene.

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