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
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
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
“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)
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
The Queen Mary 2 comes twice a year in the Quebec Harbour during the autumn. It obviously always attracts a lot of onlookers. The vessel carries 2620 passengers who are prompt to visit Old Quebec upon arrival.
In order to take a picture of this superb ship and the architecture of Old Quebec’s houses, it was worth waiting until evening, when the colours were more subtle. I could have chosen to do a close-up of the Queen Mary 2, but by doing so the photo would have lost some of its dynamism since the quartier Petit-Champlain’s alleys and its pedestrians would have been absent from the scene.
There is only a small portion of the sky visible in the picture and this is voluntarily since it does not present any interesting details, especially when compared with the rest of the scenery. The front of the Queen Mary 2 has wilfully been located in the superior right corner of the photo since it is toward this part of the image that the eye ends its initial inspection.
There were quite a number of viewers installed on the Dufferin Terrace, most with a portable camera, trying to capture the scene. All those onlookers and photographers constantly moving on the wooden terrace were nevertheless creating vibrations: a tripod, usually the perfect tool to prevent any shaking of the camera, was only useful here providing that there was a shorter exposure time. The ISO had to be increased accordingly to respect the shorter exposure and avoid a blurred picture at low speed.
Still, the photo taken with a Canon 5DSR full-frame camera successfully portrays the mood in Old Quebec on that evening of autumn 2016.
For other ship photos posted on my website, click on the following link:
Autumn colors in the Jacques-Cartier National Park
The picture above was taken at the Jacques-Cartier National Park, in the Province of Québec, in 2016 with a Canon 5DSR full-frame camera. You can find this exact location by heading towards the “kilometer 10” inside the park, immediately behind the service center.
Even if the autumn colors were beautiful and would have deserved a close-up, there was also a possibility to include an interesting foreground. The natural shapes and alternance between the strips of land (1-3-5) [see the picture below] mixed with the water and sky (2-4-6) helped form a virtual diagonal that was used as a lead-in line until the eye meets the superior right corner of the photo.
The rule of thirds was easy to apply here and no compromise was necessary. I decide to cut most of the sky since the time of the day was not ideal as the light was too bright. But I also wanted to give precedence to the geometric shapes of the foreground. The skyline was relocated in the first third of the scenery, immediately at the base of the mountains. The main interest of the picture, which was the colorful forest, now rested in the upper right portion of the frame.
Jacques-Cartier National Park in the Province of Québec and photography theory
For other photos on the province of Quebec and also Quebec City, click on the following links from my blog:
Harbour Air Twin Otter floatplane C-GQKN and Turbo Otter floatplane C-FODH in the sunset in the Port of Vancouver during summer 2016
The picture above has been taken with a Canon 5DSR full-frame camera in the Port of Vancouver, in British Columbia, during summer 2016. Following a very busy day of take-offs and landings, everything is now peaceful. The Harbour Air Twin Otter floatplane C-GQKN and Turbo Otter floatplane C-FODH are now parked for the night.
Pictures taken at dusk or dawn benefit from a unique light. Nonetheless, taking pictures of aircrafts against the light, with the last sunrays still visible, requires a special attention with regards to blown out highlights.
When contrasts are too important, it is possible to correct the situation by taking several pictures with different exposures and merging them using an image editing software like Photomatix (HDR photography). This is done in a few minutes only. Nonetheless, with floatplane aircrafts that are still slightly moving even when tied for the night, there is an increased risk of a blurred picture. The best way to proceed is to use a ND grad filter and to place it exactly where the light is the strongest. Naturally, there will still be some blown out highlights.
This being said, you still have a good margin of manoeuver, since there is no problem in showing a limited amount of over-exposed highlights in the brighter part of the sunrays, as there is not much details to lose there anyway. While purists would argue otherwise and spend hours in front of their computer trying to correct everything, you are making the best of another day of photographic exploration.
If the picture was taken using RAW files (or RAW with JPEG), it is possible to improve the scene even more by correcting some aspects like the contrasts, the brightness, the colours, the saturation and ambient light, etc. This also requires very limited time in front of the computer once you understand the basic principles of an image editing software.
Westcoast Air Twin Otter floatplane C-FGQH arriving in Vancouver Harbour, in British-Columbia, during Summer 2016. The photo was taken with a Canon 5DSR camera.
The picture above was taken in British Columbia, during summer 2016, with a Canon 5DSR full-frame camera equipped with a Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS II USM telephoto lens.
A Westcoast Air (C-FGQH) Twin Otter floatplane (DHC-6) was about to land in the Vancouver Harbour. It is obvious that adjusting the shutter speed to 1/1200 would have given enough speed to obtain a clear image. But this would have taken away any movement sensation by freezing the propellers and background.
The shutter speed had to be slow enough to allow the rotation of propellers. It is clear that an aircraft’s propeller rotates more slowly on final for landing than during take-off. So the camera had to be adjusted for a shutter speed varying between 1/40 and 1/125.
A slower shutter speed increases the risk of getting a blurred photo, especially when the photograph must move with the camera to obtain the desired effect of movement. The fact that a telephoto lens is used also increases the possibility of a blurred picture. It is thus imperative to activate the stabilizer and horizontal panning function of the telephoto lens.
To obtain a background without any precise details, the camera is panning and follows exactly the aircraft’s movement. This requires a progressive acceleration of the panning, according to the aircraft’s position from the photographer.
When the Twin Otter gets closer, things get a bit more complicated as everything speeds up. It is necessary to already have positioned the feet in the appropriate direction in order to avoid a major switch in the body’s posture. The slightest useless or brisk movement would immediately be visible on the photo.
With a bit of practice, a photographer will achieve success by respecting the following elements: a shutter speed between 1/40 and 1/125, an appropriate position of the feet, no brisk movement while pivoting and a progressive acceleration of the body’s rotation aligned with the aircraft’s speed. A slower shutter speed will enhance the aircraft movement. But expect more blurred pictures when working with speeds between 1/40 and 1/60.
A last detail: as soon as the aircraft’s floats touch the water, the deceleration starts. The photographer’s pivoting speed must immediately slow down otherwise the photo will be blurred.
Here are some photos of Toronto that were taken in February 2016 with a Canon 5D MKII DSLR camera. The photos were all saved in RAW and JPEG files to facilitate any additional work that could have been required with an image editing software.
Architecture and photography both offering unlimited possibilities, I did not impose any limitations. The primary goal was to profit from any opportunity that would arise while profiting from the softer light offered by the winter season.
Toronto Harbourfront, Winter 2016
The first article with regards to photography in Toronto that was published on my website showed only one subject: the CN Tower. It was published during Winter 2016:
In the present article, I develop other angles of Toronto which is a city in constant evolution and where you can find multiple styles of architecture. In the picture below, a recent rain shower helped to add unexpected reflections.
Toronto and CN tower by night. Winter 2016
Some architectural subjects are naturally imposing. This is the case when all you have to do is look straight ahead, enjoy what you see and immediately try to compose an interesting photo.
A good example is the interesting reflected shapes that can be seen on the windows of a building. I could not help to take the picture below as I was surprised that a windowed building could send back images that were so totally different from each other. I am curious why there is so much distortion between the windows…
Toronto building reflections (2016)
Instead of taking pictures of the newly designed Art Gallery of Ontario, I used its reflective properties to capture something a lot older, which was the design of the row of older houses on the other side of the street.
Some houses are reflecting on the Art Gallery of Ontario (2016)
It is also possible to add variety and fun to a photo session by looking for special shapes, angles or contrasts that are not already obvious.
As I was walking downtown, I passed by the Brookfield head office. The architecture of this relatively new building is quite interesting. The architects were able to preserve the facades of older surrounding buildings by integrating them and assigning each one a role inside the new construction, possibly because the city required their protection in case of any new development.
But it is only once I was leaving the sky rise that I found the idea for the next photo: a vertical wide-angle shot from which all lines would be straight, all this possible by using the advantages of the Canon 5D MKII full frame sensor coupled to a Canon 14mm 2.8L wide-angle fixed lens. Image sharpness was insured through manual focus, a tripod, a remote trigger and the mirror lock-up function.
Toronto sky rise, Ontario 2016
The last photo is essentially about contrasts: the colour contrasts (light and dark) and the density contrasts that one can find in different constructions of Toronto.
In the foreground, we see the aquarium, with its pale and inviting colours, as well as lots of space where only few people are visible. In the background, there is the exact opposite, with very dark high-density condo towers, very close to each other, where every inhabitant hopes to have an interesting view on the Lake Ontario. All this in a photo divided in two parts and cropped very tightly to increase the differences and eliminate any visual distractions.
Contrast between the Ripleys Aquarium of Canada and the condominiums in the background. Toronto, Ontario (2016)
For more articles in the category « Photos of Canada », click on the following link : Photos of Canada
In June 2016, I spent a few days in Montreal to look for photo opportunities in the city and in the Old Port. I had never seen so many construction projects going on at the same time in that city. We could feel that the city managers wanted everything to be perfect for the 375th anniversary of the city in 2017. Here are 2 percent of the photos that were taken during that photography session. (The files were in RAW and JPEG).
Photography and architecture. Habitat 67 in Montreal
The picture above represents Habitat 67, created in time for the 1967 Universal Exhibition by the architect Moshe Safdie. You can click on the following link if you wish to obtain supplementary details in regards to the conception and construction of Habitat 67: Moshe Safdie and Habitat 67
To take the photos, it was better to wait for the evening, a few minutes before nightime, in order to benefit from a better luminosity and prioritize the reflection of light sources on the water. Several boats passed by while I was taking the pictures and it momentarily diminished the quality of the light reflections. Eventually, after several trials, I benefited from a flat water surface. With ISO at minimum, I was able to limit the digital noise that would unavoidably become visible after cropping the images.
Habitat 67 Montreal
A photographic exposure lasting a few seconds helped to flatten the water surface and emphasize the light reflections. I made sure to keep the tugboats in front of the buildings since I consider that they added some dynamism to the scene. As usual, the use of a tripod, remote trigger and mirror lock-up helped to reduce the camera vibrations. Liveview was activated and the focus was done manually to ensure optimal image sharpness.
The picture below shows the abandoned grain silos in the Old Port of Montreal. They are protected since 1996 and will possibly be given a new role next year, just in time for Montreal 375th anniversary.
Grain silos in the Old Port of Montreal in 2016. Photo taken with a Canon 5DSR.
The bulk carrier Venture (formerly called Balder), built in 2002 and belonging to the CSL company, was docked in the Old Port. I tried a few shots, among them one with a telephoto lens Canon 14 mm 2.8L.
The Bulk Carrier Venture (CSL) in Montreal in 2016
To get a privileged access to the harbor installations, where all the loading and unloading operations are performed, would have been really interesting, but, since it was not the case, I had to try to capture an idea of the Port activities from a distance. I wanted to include the wagons loaded with containers and the ships. The use of a polarizing filter allowed the enhancement of the colours of the wagons. I thought necessary to include the venerable Molson Brewery building in one of the shots.
View of the Montreal Harbor, Molson Brewery and the Jacques-Cartier bridge in 2016
Then, profiting from the cancellation of the low pass filter in the Canon 5DSR DSLR, as well as the impressive enlarging capacities offered by the 50.6 megapixels full frame sensor, it was possible to capture a bit of the Port activities by cropping the photo later on, without any loss in quality, using an image editing software. The picture was taken with a telephoto lens Canon EF 24-70 mm f/2.8L USM at 70 mm.
Port of Montreal with ships and containers. Photo taken with a Canon 5DSR in 2016
For other photos on the province of Quebec and also Quebec City, click on the following links from my blog:
Coming back from Old Quebec after a photo session, I took the opportunity to stop in the area around the Hotel Le Concorde Québec. Restaurants on Grande Allée are particularly well lit which is ideal to capture colorful pictures.
Pot de vin restaurant, Quebec City 2016
The photos show the Pot de vin restaurant, which replaced the Voo Doo Grill and is now associated with the Maurice Nightclub. It is also possible to see part of the Cosmos restaurant located just below the Pot de vin.
Grande-Allée restaurants in Quebec City 2016
A huge banner has been installed on one of the Hotel Le Concorde Québec’s wall announcing the coming Série Cubaine 2016, several baseball games between Cuba’s team and the Capitales de Québec’s team, during Summer 2016.
Hotel Le Concorde Québec and the Cuban Baseball Challenge 2016
The photo below, showing a black vehicle in movement, was a bit more touchy to take since it was already quite dark outside and I still wanted to capture the local population clearly enough. A shutter speed adjusted too slow would have made the people almost invisible as they would have been too blurred. But too fast a shutter speed would have frozen both people and vehicule, taking away the photo’s dynamism. This would have also demanded an exaggerated ISO setting, thus degrading the shot’s quality by increasing the digital noise to an unacceptable level.
Grande-Allée Avenue in the evening, Quebec City 2016
Here are the camera settings that were necessary to obtain the desired effect: an ISO at 5000, which is already high enough, an aperture set at 5.0 to get an acceptable depth-of-field and a shutter speed at 1/13, which allowed to see that the vehicle was in movement but was slow enough to freeze the people waiting at the red light. A few seconds before, I had tried a shot while people were walking near the street’s corner, but everything went blurred. Waiting for the appropriate green light allowed the vehicule to move while forcing the pedestrians to stand still.
The pictures were taken with a Canon 5DSR DSLR camera mounted on a tripod, with a remote trigger and the mirror lock-up function active to reduce the camera vibrations. Liveview and manual focus were also used to ensure the image sharpness during that night photography session.
For more articles in the category « Photos of Canada », click on the following link : Photos of Canada
