Tag: photography technique

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Photography

Morning fishing in Ogunquit, Maine

Early morning fishing in Ogunquit, Maine.
Early morning fishing in Ogunquit, Maine.

A fisherman profits from the beautiful morning to try to catch an Atlantic Striped Bass.

Since the fisherman will be on the beach for at least an hour, I have enough time to install a tripod on the beach and use the telephoto lens to bring in the man artificially. It is worth waiting for a few seagulls to fly nearby; this always add a bit of life to the scenery.

The compressed perspective offered by a telephoto lens and the significant cropping allow to increase the presence of the houses on the Ogunquit and Wells beaches, in United States.

Ogunquit fisherman with Atlantic Striped Bass web
Ogunquit fisherman with Atlantic Striped Bass web

The Atlantic Striped Bass can grow up to 1.5 meter  (5 feet) in length and weight up to 35 kg (77 pounds). Fishing laws are different for each State. I believe that in Maine, a fisherman cannot keep a fish that is less than 71 cm  (28 inches) in length.

Although I am quite far away from the fisherman, he has nonetheless noticed me. He turns around and proudly shows the Striped Bass that he just caught. A few seconds later, he puts the fish back in the water, knowing that the fish is still too small to be kept.

Click on the link for other photos of the United States on my blog.

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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.

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Photos of Canada

A partial view of Lake Agnes, Alberta 2018.

A partial view of Lake Agnes, Alberta 2018.
A partial view of Lake Agnes, Alberta 2018.

The picture above, taken in 2018, shows a partial view of Lake Agnes. The photographic composition is limited to elements that reinforce the diagonal lines crossing the scenery. In the foreground, the branch reinforces this composition by following the reflection of the rocks in the water.

The limited number of colours in the picture allows for a better view of the diagonal lines in the landscape.

At the extreme right in the foreground are a few people following a pathway along Lake Agnes in order to start the ascent of the Devil’s Thumb (visible in the background) or the more popular Big Beehive.

The picture was taken with a Canon 5DSR camera equipped with a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM telephoto lens.

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

Other Provinces and Territories of Canada Photos
Province of Quebec Photos
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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