Tag: photography technique

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Photos of Canada

A picture of the Kelowna Yacht Club at dusk.

The Kelowna Yacht Club in British Columbia.
The Kelowna Yacht Club in British Columbia.

For this picture of the Kelowna Yacht Club, in British Columbia, I was more interested in capturing the general atmosphere rather than the whole yacht club with all its boats and installations.

The words Kelowna Yacht Club and the boats being  obvious in the midground, there was no need to add more details. It was nonetheless important to position the tent in the superior right corner of the picture since the name of the yacht club was showing and it was well lighted.

The photographic composition includes elements of the surrounding natural environment that made Kelowna’s reputation. The boats are framed between the rocks and the plants in the foreground while the mountains are visible in the background.

In order to achieve a good photo at this time of the day, a tripod was necessary. It was nonetheless mandatory to limit the exposure time due to the winds, in order to avoid a blurred picture. The shutter speed was limited to 3.2 seconds and the ISO adjusted to 320 to limit the photographic grain. An aperture set at 13 allowed a sufficient depth of field to offer a sharp image.

A Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM lens mounted on a full frame Canon 5DSR was used for the picture. The focal was limited to 32mm. The visibility was somewhat limited due to the active forest fires in the region, but the additional condensation nucleis in the air helped to obtain beautiful colors in the sky.

For other pictures of Canada, click on the following links in my blog:

Other Provinces and Territories of Canada Photos
Province of Quebec Photos
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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 Ship photography

The MS Zuiderdam in the port of Quebec.

Le navire Zuiderdam ancré dans le Port de Québec à l'automne 2018.
Le navire Zuiderdam ancré dans le Port de Québec à l’automne 2018.

During a beautiful autumn day in Quebec, it is worth making a detour by the “promenade des Gouverneurs”. This promenade is accessible through the Dufferin Terrace and the Battlefields Park. The staircase has a few hundred steps but it is worth the effort.

During this period of the year, several cruise ships, among them the MS Zuiderdam, are anchored in the Quebec harbour. This adds an additional interest for photographers.

The photographic composition of the picture above required a lot of attention since several essential elements had to be included in the picture, without the latter being overloaded.

The main obstacle was the huge difference in lighting between the background and the tree in the foreground. Using RAW files helped a lot when correcting the luminosity with Photoshop. The picture was taken with a Canon 5DSR camera.

The Zuiderdam cruise ship, property of Holland America Line, has a 1916 passenger capacity. It made its first cruise in 2002. The vessel is decorated with numerous artwork, among them a painting of Queen Beatrix (without surprise!) painted by Andy Warhol.

For other ship pictures, click on the following link of my blog:

Ship photography

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 Street photography

Street photography in Old Quebec.

Playing with the fountain in Quebec City.
Playing with the fountain in Quebec City.

The boy tests the water temperature before running across the water jets located beside Quebec City’s City Hall.

The light in the water jets required an exposure correction of + 1/3. The shutter speed was set at 1/80 which allowed to see the boy clearly at a time when he was not moving too much. This shutter speed also allowed to visualize the water jets effects while limiting the ISO to 1250, even with such a low light. The aperture was only 6.3, just enough for what had to be photographed.

The picture was taken with a Canon 5DSR full frame camera equipped with a Canon EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Click on the link for more on street photography on my blog.

Categories
Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

The blue light in Old Quebec.

Beautiful evening in Old Quebec.
Beautiful evening in Old Quebec.

The light is always interesting when a picture is taken just before the nightime or the sunrise. The scenery above was captured in Old Quebec during Summer 2018. The use of a lens requiring very little light, like the Canon EF85mm f/1.2L USM mounted on a Canon 5DSR made the task easier.

I wanted to ensure that the people were not mere shadows and that the water effects in the fountains were visible. The shutter speed was adjusted to 1/50 and the ISO set at 6400. The aperture was limited to 4.5 to respect the shutter speed. Photography is always a matter of compromise…

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
Street photography

The ideal access to school in Quebec City

The St-Louis-de-Gonzague school in Quebec City.
The St-Louis-de-Gonzague school in Quebec City.

By cropping very tightly a picture of the St-Louis-de-Gonzague school’s entrance, in Quebec City, it is possible to modify the access to the school.

To the right of the hole in the wall, you can see “Entrée des élèves”, which means “Entrance for students”. With this reinterpretation, the students are invited to leave school as soon as they arrive. At a time where the society promotes an alternative education and the environment, this is an ideal opportunity for the students!

For other street photos, click on:

Street photography

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.