HDR photo of the Château Frontenac and surroundings at dusk 2022
Here is a view at dusk of the Château Frontenac and the surroundings of Old Québec. Even before taking a first shot, you can anticipate that the illuminated tower of the castle will distort the reading of the camera sensor, because it is much brighter than the surroundings.
To correct this frequent error in advance, it is best to look for an HDR (High Dynamic Range) effect by taking five photos with complementary apertures which will then be compiled in an appropriate software.
The most important challenge for this night photography photo was however to avoid taking pictures of too many tourists walking in the foreground. When they are in five close-up photos, people form what are called “ghost images“. You see them in duplicate or triplicate, half decomposed. They are useful when comes the time to add special effects, but this is not the case in the scene above.
Cruise ships in the Port of Quebec in the fall of 2022
Another great time for Quebec City merchants begins with the arrival of multiple cruise ships each fall. Not only do the thousands of tourists pour into Old Quebec and its Petit-Champlain neighborhood, but the ships must also be restocked in anticipation of the continuing voyage.
In terms of photography technique, the Promenade des Gouverneurs and its staircase act as an entry point to the center of the photo above. It is of course important to preserve some autumn colors, as they are so ephemeral. A wide-angle lens helps the photographic composition, but it certainly distorted the street lamps on the left of the photo, which had to be straightened with an image processing software. Finally, the rule of thirds worked perfectly here to highlight the magnificent view from the heights of Quebec City.
The Queen Mary 2 arrives in Québec City on September 29th 2022.
The Queen Mary 2 in the Quebec City harbour in 2022.
The exhibition of Mosaïculture of Québec City 2022, entitled “Once upon a time…the Earth“, ends in a few days, after having been a great success throughout the summer.
Two elephants at the Mosaïcultures de Québec 2022
More than six million plants were used to build 200 animals and insects in the Bois-de-Coulonge, not to mention the flowers along the way to further enhance the tour.
Four zebras at the Mosaïcultures Québec 2022
In a few months, hundreds of thousands of visitors will have walked through the circuit of 90 minutes to visit the largest edition of mosaiculture since its creation in 2000 in Montreal. In Québec City, more than 80% of the works were exposed for the first time.
A beekeeper and his bees at the Mosaïcultures de Québec 2022
The site had to be prepared nine months in advance. As intensive watering became mandatory, Québec City temporarily modified its watering regulations, explaining that it was an exhibition and not a horticultural production.
The man who plants a tree at the Mosaïcultures de Québec 2022
Above, a shepherd plants a tree in a place that seems to be very unfertile, indicating at the same time the need not to give up when it comes to saving the planet.
These Québec 2022 mosaicultures will have been another major tourist attraction for Québec City, after a cascade of other summer events. In fact, there have been times when so many tourist activities overlapped at the same time, that residents and tourists had to make choices. A spectacular rebound from a pandemic that forced people to make sacrifices for two years!
A vintage car show is held every year in Quebec City on St.Paul street and surroundings. About a hundred cars, as well as a few motorcycles, can be admired by the amateurs during a weekend in September. The picture above represents a 1958 Oldmobile 98.
A Mercury Parklane 25th Marauder 1964 and its owner Clément Allard on St.Paul street in Quebec City.
Above, 81-year-old owner Clement Allard, a former businessman, proudly poses next to his 1964 Mercury Parklane 25th Marauder that he acquired at an auction in Detroit. Taking the time to talk to the owners is part of the fun: it helps to understand what they went through in order to finally get their car.
Plymouth Superbird 1970 Road Runner on St.Paul street in Québec City.
This year, the owner of the Bistro St-Malo on St-Paul Street had the idea of putting a hot plate outside his business and offering hamburgers and hot dogs at a very low price to satisfy the hunger of walkers. He spent the rest of the afternoon catering to the high demand. This first initiative could encourage other restaurant owners on St-Paul Street to imitate the gesture next year and thus improve the offer. Above is a 1970 Plymouth Superbird (Road Runner) parked on St-Paul Street. A car similar to this one just got sold at the Barret-Jackson auction for $1.65 million.
Une voiture de collection Chevrolet Belair 1956 à Québec en 2022.
At the 2022 Quebec City classic car show, the owner of the 1956 Chevrolet Belair above had the idea of including a tray with a meal and bill, as was done in those days. He could have filled his car with gas for the amount we pay today for the same meal and dessert.
Exhibition of antique cars in Quebec City. Chevrolet 1940 Coupe Special Deluxe 2 Doors.
A very nice retired teacher from Saguenay has owned this 1940 Chevrolet Coupe Special Deluxe 2 door for decades. Below, a close-up view showing the details of the wheels. The green color of the neighboring vehicle is reflected on the chrome.
Details of a Chevrolet 1940 Coupe Special Deluxe’s wheel.
Study on reflections on a Chevrolet 1940 Coupe Special Deluxe
I used the reflections on this 1940 Chevrolet Coupe Special Deluxe for the last picture of this series on the old cars of Quebec in 2022. You can see both the walkers in the reflections on the side doors and the photographer at work in the back of the car. It is not a face superimposed on the fender thanks to Photoshop or other software, but the quality of waxing and maintenance that made this result possible.
Cyclists turning for côte Gilmour in Quebec City in 2022
An interesting vantage point to photograph the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec is at the intersection of Grande-Allée and the avenue leading to the famous Gilmour hill. The cyclists are riding at high speed and must brake hard before making a sharp left turn to begin the descent to the portion that will take them along the St. Lawrence River. There are no obstructions for the photographer at this point.
2022 Quebec City Grand Prix Cycliste
To capture the effect of the cyclists’ movement, the shutter speed must not be set too fast, preferably between 1/125 and 1/160. Otherwise, everything looks immobile, even the wheel spokes.
Quebec City Grand Prix Cycliste in 2022
Positioning yourself immediately after the curve allows you to capture a long line of bicycles. You can focus on the cyclists on the right in the viewfinder and leave the line of cyclists around the curve out of focus. To do this, make sure that the chosen aperture will blur the background. It is also important to follow the movement of the cyclists with the camera. If you stand still, all the riders will be out of focus, as the shutter speed is too slow for the high speed of these riders.
Cyclists racing on Grande-Allée in Quebec City 2022
An occasional close-up obtained through cropping allows us to see details that we would otherwise miss. In the case of the photo above, it is clear that not only is the rider in the front relaxed, but he has also recently crashed, with his right arm still in recovery. Sometimes we also see the result of deformities in the knees of cyclists following numerous surgeries.
Quebec City Grand Prix Cycliste 2022
The cyclists want to maintain their position in this tightly packed group that must maneuver in a small space. With a telephoto lens, one can see the facial expressions change as they approach the turn for the Gilmour hill. Note the concentration on the faces of the cyclists in the foreground…
Grand Prix Cycliste in Quebec City in 2022
Following moving cyclists with a camera remains a difficult art to master. Several pictures are taken before a successful one is achieved. Fortunately, film photography is behind us and we don’t worry as much about missed shots. The important thing is to have fun and try to get a little better with each photo session!
Fontaine de Tourny and the Quebec National Assembly building.
The fontaine de Tourny and the parliament building in Quebec City are often photographed separately. This can give very good results. However, the visual impact can be increased by combining the two architectural styles in close proximity in the same photo.
By paying attention to the photographic composition, I sought a balance while creating a tension between the two works. In the scene above, the fountain and the Parliament building appear to be of similar height. The vertical axis of the center of the Parliament tower is about the same distance from the right side of the photo as the vertical axis of the fountain is from the left side. This is close to the rule of thirds, but not dogmatically so. Both works are deliberately framed tightly.
Other elements contribute to the interest of the scene. First of all, each architectural work has a specific color that is well marked and luckily the colors are almost complementary. Still on the subject of color, I chose to take the photo during the “blue hour”, that time of day just before dark when a very soft light illuminates the landscape for a few more minutes.
Finally, the water jets and the people in the background add a little dynamism to an essentially static subject.
On his knees he could have carried on more box in the grocery store.
The deliveryman above avoids unnecessary trips by carrying a stack of boxes so high that he can barely fit through the door of the St-Olivier grocery store in the St-Jean-Baptiste neighborhood in Quebec City. He could have added another box to the pile, but he would have had to enter the establishment on his knees. We don’t ask for that much…
Scenes like this feed street photography, which requires the photographer to be ready to capture ephemeral situations. The time allowed to camera settings is reduced to a minimum. Sometimes a photo is taken without looking through the viewfinder, hoping to have captured the essential.
This is the case of the scene above. I had just parked in the area and was getting out of the car with the camera still in the bottom of my backpack. Across the street, a delivery man was walking with a stack of boxes taller than him. In a few seconds he would be in the establishment, if the stack didn’t collapse after catching the top of the door frame.
To capture the scene and gain speed, I pulled the camera out of the bag with its preset settings adjusted for street photography and shoot without taking the time to make sure the subject was captured.
Just looking through the viewfinder to frame perfectly would have taken a few extra seconds and been enough to ruin the scene, as in the absence of the delivery man, only the man holding the door would have appeared in the photo. And it is obvious that he is not the main subject. He is very kind to hold the door (it’s the least he can do), but apart from the fact that he seems to have a white support stocking on his left leg (because of the sun), he was the secondary subject from the beginning…
