Photo of the Week 2020-07-27

Once every 6,766 years ...

Finding Neowise

The NW view from the Tugs Deck in Tobermory at twilight, with little Neowise below the Big Dipper, above the last vestiges of a Huron Sunset.
 

I had attempted to see and photograph the comet Neowise a few days earlier but cloud cover obscured the SW night sky, thwarting the effort. With clear sky forecast from 10pm midnight, conditions were perfect for another go.

It took a while to 'see' it, even though online resources had me looking in the correct spot. The lights from the Dock and Chi-Cheemaun made if difficult for my eyes to adjust to the dark (I really wish there were a way to dim the dock lights and those of the ferry but still manage to maintain security in the area). As it got closer to 11pm, the sky had darkened enough for long exposures on the camera to pick up the faint tail and orb of Neowise.

I had chosen a good viewpoint, but not a good platform from which to photograph. The small deck, that provides access to the area of Little Tub where snorkelers go to see the sunken remains of the Tugs, was transmitting vibration from the waves striking it's supports, making most exposures (10 - 20 s) show as jittery points of light. I found I could not zoom in and get a larger image of he comet without exaggerating the issue and without skyline for context, I found it wasn't a really interesting composition anyway.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2020-07-20

Saturday night after dinner, the winds got up, the trees started to buffet around, the skies started to darken, there was thunder and then this passed overhead ...

evening stormfront

The rain started before I could get back inside and it came down, boy did it come down. Then in the morning, the skies were grey and heavy and it started to thunder and rain heavy again.

This image is a panorama stitched together in LR Classic from 6 vertical orientation frames, providing a wider view of the scene than I could capture in a single frame at 18mm on the M5 crop sensor.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2020-07-13

Sometimes it's the right place at the right time ... fully prepared or not !

After stopping on an evening walk to use our friend's new dock as a different vantage point for some sunset photos I was underwhelmed with the show. Chilled from the dropping temperature and wind of Lake Huron I headed back to the cottage for the night ...

They call it Devil Island
(... and now I think I know why)

... but I had to head back out looking for the lens cap I had dropped somewhere along the route I had taken. I checked all of the places I stopped, including the deck and when I got to the end of the road I got distracted by the sky ablaze through the trees. Investigating a little further, I made my way a short few meters through the bush to what used to be shoreline, but the water level is up and now into the trees leaving no room for dry footing and a clear view out over the water.

Suffice to say I got my shoes and pants soaking wet ... but I got the shot !

DJE

Photo of the Week 2020-07-06

Scanning though the library for files captured with a particular camera, I came across an image that I had marked for processing and never got back to ... that was in 2014 ;-)

Well, this weekend it was time. I recall the outing with a couple of friends where we explored the trails around Spencer Gorge in Dundas. I'm not even sure if the trails are still accessible as I'd heard part of the route was closed after landowners finally got fed up with the nonsense taking place in and around their home. (that is another story entirely and you can read about it here if you like). But when we explored on an October morning back in 2014 it was lovely.

I recall working to find the right composition of a scene with a fence skirting the edge of the trail with large overhanging branches for an old maple tree. It was during a time when I was experimenting with camera modes and setting and I screwed up a number of shots, overexposing by almost 2 stops ... talk about expose to the right. I really liked the scene and one composition I processed for an B&W sketch effect, marked it and others for further processing and that was it ... until now.

With the original capture overexposed,  I got the idea (from my recent buttercup image) to work with it an create a higher key, more ethereal version of the image and eventually worked up a B&W image and finally one corrected for the overexposure (ain't the new processing tools wonderful ;-)

I like 'em all. You decide if you like one better than the others.

Grand Old Maple (as captured)

Grand Old Maple (B&W)

Grand Old Maple (recovered)

DJE