Tag: tips in photography

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Ship photography

Ship photography: the Havelstern between Quebec City and Lévis

The Havelstern is a chemical tanker sailing under Canadian flag which was built in 1994. Its draught is of 8.5 meters. It is photographed here on June 3rd 2017 in front of Quebec City, with Lévis in the background, heading to Point Tupper in Nova Scotia, Canada.

The Havelstern between Quebec City and Lévis on June 3rd 2017
The Havelstern between Quebec City and Lévis on June 3rd 2017

Several vessels are visible in the picture above. In the foreground, it is possible to see the two chimneys of the Louis Joliet, a boat essentially used for tourist excursions. Then there is one of the two ferries constantly traveling between the south and north shore of St. Lawrence Seaway between Lévis and Quebec City.

The small boat riding by the Havelstern is used to carry one of the St. Lawrence Seaway pilots. A pilot who masters the navigation specifications on this part of the seaway boards the ship and takes control until he can transfer the control to another pilot farther down the seaway ( Pilotes du St-Laurent ). In the background is the second ferry used to carry passengers and cars from one shore to the other.

The full-frame camera used to take the pictures was a Canon 5DSR equipped with a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens. With a 5.0 aperture and the ISO set at 200, the shutter speed allowed was 1/1000 sec.

The Havelstern ship and île d'Orléans in the background, June 2017
The Havelstern ship and île d’Orléans in the background, June 2017

While the tourists are having fun in Quebec City, the picture above shows the Havelstern heading to Île d’Orléans in a rain shower.

The picture below represents the Havelstern making a wide turn to navigate around the southern portion of Île d’Orléans. The ship was quite far away and some serious cropping would have to be done in order to enlarge the image. In order to get a picture that would not be blurred, I had to increase the shutter speed a bit.

The Havelstern ship is approaching Île d'Orléans in June 2017, heading to Point Tupper in Nova-Scotia
The Havelstern ship is approaching Île d’Orléans in June 2017, heading to Point Tupper in Nova-Scotia

The ISO was adjusted to 200 and the focal length was set to 200mm. The aperture was only 4.0, allowing a shutter speed of 1/2500 sec.

For other pictures of ships on my website, click on the following link : Ship photography.

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Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec Ship photography

The Bulk Carrier Ferbec in front of Quebec City

CSL Bulk Carrier vessel Ferbec passing by Quebec in May 2017
CSL Bulk Carrier vessel Ferbec passing by Quebec in May 2017
CSL Ferbec Bulk Carrier vessel in 2017
CSL Ferbec Bulk Carrier vessel in 2017

The picture above shows the Bulk Carrier Ferbec. It belongs to CSL (Canada Steamship Lines). It was built in 2002 and regularly travels between Sorel and the North Shore to carry ore. It is seen here in front of Quebec in May 2017, with Lévis in the background.

The picture was taken using a Canon 5DSR equipped with a Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM fixed lens.

Instead of taking only a picture of the vessel, I thought it would be more interesting to keep it at a distance and capture the scene when I would see, in the viewfinder of the camera, vegetation partly surrounding the ship.

Weather was quite unstable around Quebec. On the north shore, the sky was mostly covered by a thin veil of cirrus clouds while on the south shore were numerous towering cumulus with rain showers.

Since there were only thin clouds on the north shore of the seaway, a part of the sunlight directly hit the side of the ship, adding some dynamism to the scenery.

Surprisingly, there was only a very light wind directly over the seaway, which helped improve the ship’s reflection in the water. All the elements were now present to capture a souvenir shot of the Ferbec in front of Quebec City.

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

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
Categories
Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

Night photography of Quebec City

Quebec City Summer 2014
Quebec City Summer 2014

Here is a night picture that speaks volume about the ambiance that generally prevails in Quebec City. Wherever he walks, the photographer will notice citizen and tourists admiring the town.

The photo was captured with a Canon 5D MKII full-frame camera equipped with a Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 fixed lens. This kind of maximal aperture allows to take pictures at this time of the day without the need of a tripod and without grossly increasing the ISO, thus protecting the picture’s quality. The use of a tripod is always giving better results, but for the occasions where the photographer does not have one with him, the maximal aperture of 1.4 (or even better 1.2 for the lucky ones) can save the day.

The stars surrounding the city lights do not result from using a special photography equipment. Instead, they are produced by the multiple elements present in the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 fixed lens. Since every lenses available on the market are not of equal quality, some lenses naturally offer a much nicer bokeh than others.

It is quite difficult to obtain something else than human silhouettes when the light is so weak. The lower third of the image also proves to be a problem for the camera, as the luminosity created by the streetlights is much more intense. Nonetheless, it was not too difficult to correct the contrasts using an image editing software, since the photo was taken using RAW files.

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
Categories
Photos of Canada

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

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

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Photos of Canada Ship photography

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

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

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Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec

Landscape photography: Quebec City in winter

Quebec City in winter, in the Cap-au-Diable area (2016)
Quebec City in winter, in the Cap-au-Diable area (2016)

The picture above was taken in December 2016 at Cap-au-Diable, in Quebec City, with a Canon 5DSR full-frame camera equipped with a Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L US telephoto lens. A polarizing filter was not really needed here due to the soft light and the sun being in line with the lens. The exposure was still corrected by +1/3.

At this time of the year, the temperature is not too cold for the photographer’s bare hands and the light intensity is ideal throughout the day. The temperature hovering around 0 °C favors wet snow showers. This snow lightly sticks to the tree branches and, as long as the wind does not increase too much, it is possible to take interesting winter pictures. But it is necessary to act quickly

For the photo above, I was able to profit from a St-Lawrence Seaway that was still unfrozen, which allowed to capture the winter sun reflection. I had to proceed rapidly since there were clouds moving from the west, visible to the right of the picture. One minute later, the sun and its reflection were no longer visible.

The photos below were taken during in the same park.

Parc du Cap-au-Diable, Quebec City (2016)
Parc du Cap-au-Diable, Quebec City (2016)
A house in the Cap-au-Diable park, Quebec City (2016)
A house in the Cap-au-Diable park, Quebec City (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
Categories
Aviation photography

Aviation photography: the Harbour Air DHC-2 Beaver floatplane

An Harbour Air DHC-2 Beaver floatplane is just airborne from Vancouver
An Harbour Air DHC-2 Beaver floatplane is just airborne from Vancouver

The photo above portrays a Beaver floatplane belonging to Harbour Air. It is seen here a few minutes after its take-off from the Vancouver Harbour floatplane base in British Columbia. The picture was taken with a Canon 5DSR full-frame camera equipped with a Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS II USM telephoto lens.

The aircraft, quite small in the photo, could have been enlarged using the Canon 5DSR’ s 50 megapixel full-frame sensor. The image would still have been of excellent quality but I would have lost the effect I was initially looking for.

As opposed to what seems obvious at first sight, the scenery was not captured sitting in another plane but from the ground, while I was standing near the Harbour Air seaplane base. The morning’s constant precipitation saturated the air with moisture and helped create a low level cloud base.

An image editing software was then used to crop the scene. I used a non standard photo format to show the kind of flight the pilot was dealing with, between two cloud layers and with a mountain range on his right. It seems to me that a photographer does not have to feel obliged to follow an arbitrary format if the latter has a negative impact on the intended result.

Cliquez sur le lien pour d’autres photos d’avions sur mon blogue.

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Photos of Canada

Bird photography: a crow in Georgia Strait in British Columbia

A crow in flight over the Georgia Strait in British-Columbia
A crow in flight over the Georgia Strait in British-Columbia

This picture of a crow in flight over the Georgia Strait in British Columbia was taken with a Canon 5DSR full-frame camera. The aperture was set around 4.0. This allowed for a faster shutter speed. A reasonable ISO setting also kept the digital noise to a minimum.

In order to increase my chances of getting a precise photo of the crow, and to ensure that the background was blurred to limit distractions, I decided to follow as much as possible the exact speed of the bird with the camera. This is always risky as one can lose unique photo opportunities. But when it works, the picture is always interesting.

A significant cropping was then necessary to increase the size of the crow in the photo but this had no negative impact on the image’s quality since the initial ISO setting was quite low and I had access to the Canon 5DSR’s 50 megapixel full-frame sensor. Such a huge number of megapixels makes it easier when comes the time to enlarge pictures.

A bit of patience was necessary in order to capture an interesting subject but the wait was worth it. The specimen above landed about fifty feet from me on a Parksville beach. It started to look for small pieces of wood and, when satisfied of its finding, took-off for its nest.

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

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Photography Books

Photography books: “Full Frame” by David Noton

The photography book « Full Frame », by David Noton, was written in 2010 but the content is still totally pertinent today. It’s possibly the best photography book I’ve ever read. The images are fantastic and the text is loaded with practical and accessible information.

Photography book "Full Frame" by David Noton
Photography book “Full Frame” by David Noton

The author is known as one of the best landscape photographer in the world. Every page of his book is divided in three sections: before, during, after. This means that you read about everything that the author had to deal with as he travelled around the world with his wife to capture landscapes: the preparation, technique, priorities, obstacles, successes, etc.

All along the book, I had the feeling that a friend was writing me since the text is written with a light and humoristic approach in mind, and certainly without pretend. Here are some of his remarks and advices:

“Luck is where preparation and opportunity combine.” (p.38) This certainly applies to everything we do in life.

“Stick with the full frame quality and crop as when required, keeping all the [sensor’s megapixels] information in reserve”.

“Sometimes a new lens or format will serve as a catalyst for a whole new way of looking. It’s all part of the evolutionary process.” (p.64)

Sharpen all digital images. Pictures are made of square pixels and need microadjustments.

To choose among your interesting similar photos which one is the best, start with a very good one and compare it with each other photo, one at a time, throwing away the ones that are inferior. You will save a lot of time.

A bit of blinking in the highlights is not terrible since RAW files can easily be adjusted. Don’t forget that the camera’s monitor shows an histogram adjusted for JPEG files.

Use a grad filter to control the contrasts only, not to add mood or create an artificial contrast.

There is no need to always show the tops of mountains.

“The best pictures are the simplest. Composition is the art of knowing what to leave out.” (p.71)

“Be flexible and strive to extract the most from seemingly adverse conditions.” (p.77)

“For wide angle views on the world, a full-frame sensor is imperative.” (p.93)

Back cover of the photography book "Full Frame" by David Noton
Back cover of the photography book “Full Frame” by David Noton

“Scout the location, analyse the options in different lighting situations, previsualize the image, plan the shoot then keep returning until it’s nailed.” (p.113)

“Location finding is everything; the photography is the easy bit.” (p.125)

“Don’t be afraid of “blinkies” in the brightest part of the sky where the sun shines through […]. We don’t expect to see detail there.” (p.138)

“Using movement is an essential technique in a photographer’s repertoire.” (p.143)

“The classic, golden rule of thirds is a good starting point, but it’s only a guideline to ignore at will.” (p.149)

“A camera’s sensor is not a linear device so the right half of the histogram contains far more information than the left. Those apparently overexposed images, when processed with the brightness brought back to the desired density, will have richer tones and less noise than a frame exposed to the left.” (p.153)

“We photographers can only continue to improve if we keep pushing ourselves.” (p.187)

For more photography books, click on the following link: Other photography books

Title: Full Frame
Author: David Noton
Edition: David & Charles
ISBN-13:978-0-7153-3615-1
©2010

Categories
Aviation photography

Aviation photography: the sunset colors on a Bombardier Q-400

Sunset colors reflecting on an Air Canada Bombardier Q-400 in Toronto
Sunset colors reflecting on an Air Canada Bombardier Q-400 in Toronto

The Air Canada Terminal installations at the Toronto Lester B. Pearson international airport are such that a voyager intending to do a flight from Toronto to Quebec has to walk outside the building to catch his plane. This has some advantages, especially when it is an evening flight and there is, at the time of boarding, a superb sunset.

But to directly photograph the sunset colors without any filter or tripod, while hand holding the camera, is a recipe for disaster. And a photographer cannot stay immobile for very long in that restricted area where security agents and passengers walking towards the DHC-8-400 demand that everyone move with the flow.

A practical method that offers very good results is to indirectly photograph the beautiful sunset colors by using the aircraft as a reflector.

First, it is better to use a camera lens that requires very little light. This will limit the grain size while allowing a shutter speed that is high enough to avoid a blurred picture. The scenery was thus captured with a Canon 5DSR full-frame camera equipped with a Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM lens.

Secondly, the photographer must crop the photography using an image editing software so that all useless details are absent from the final shot. There are two objectives: 1) it is obviously necessary to keep the aircraft parts that will best show the sunset colors and 2) do the best possible use of the elements presenting graphic interests for the viewer.

If I had kept only several oversized windows in order to show the superb sunset colours, there would have been only clear bright colours, without contrasts. That would have given an uninteresting photo. The advantages of protecting the shadowy top of the aircraft are that it adds a strong luminosity contrast, allows the inclusion of the Q-400 diagonal lines (1-2-3-4-5) and a reflection of the reflections themselves (6) under the aircraft’s wing. All this is highlighted in the photo below.

Photography theory: diagonal lines on a Bombardier Q-400 photo
Photography theory: diagonal lines on a Bombardier Q-400 photo

Click on the link for more aviation photos on my blog.