Photo of the Week 2024-11-11

 

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them

 

For the Fallen

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,

England mourns for her dead across the sea.

Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,

Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal 

Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,

There is music in the midst of desolation

And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,

Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: 

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again; 

They sit no more at familiar tables of home;

They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;

They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound, 

Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,

To the innermost heart of their own land they are known

As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust, 

Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;

As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness, 

To the end, to the end, they remain.

 

                                                                         Laurence Binvon

 

 

Note: Photo by John England, processing & treatment by Doug England
 

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2024-11-04

 

As we docked, then left St. Margaret's Hope for our Orkney accommodations in Stenness, rain came and then quickly passed. By the time we parked our car to unload, the heavy skies were breaking up ...

 

' Across to Graemsay and  further to Hoy '

 ... this was the view that greeted us from the entrance to our home for two nights on Orkney. The sun was beaming rays through the cloud down onto the northern tip of Hoy.

 

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2024-10-28

 

The Old Packhorse Bridge

On the third day (second day of driving) in Scotland we made our way through the eastern highlands to Inverness. The day's route was planned to include a stop in Carrbridge with plenty of time for photography. Why, because the Old Packhorse Bridge was there.

 

This bridge instantly became a "must see" when I first learned of it while researching locations for our trip. It was one of the first places added to a map of locations to visit for photography. Labeled "the oldest stone bridge in the highlands", whether true or not, it certainly was something to see and a little challenging to find just the right composition.

I’ve visited historical sites before and been surprised to find them surrounded by elements of modern living. Such was the case here, but with some time to explore compositional options I was able to come up with something a bit different than the typical tourist snapshot.

For this subject, one obvious shot was from a viewing platform located st the bottom of a staircase that brought you down closer to river level. Another would have been from the modern road bridge spanning the river slightly downstream. I worked both of these using different focal lengths and even ND filters to get some water smoothing long exposures. Ultimately, the image I like best was from the viewing platform "ish". I say "ish" because I put down the camera bag and stepped up, over and onto the rock of the river bank to get further left than the platform would allow so that I could include the wonderful leaves of a maple sporting fall colour.

 

 

' Fall Colour at The Old Packhorse Bridge '

 

It was hard to get the composition I wanted with some of those "elements of modern living" encroaching on the upper right but I worked it the best I could and took care of the rest in post ;-)

I made a number of shots to document the bridge in context with it's surroundings and offer them here to provide a bit of background story of getting an acceptable image in such conditions.

' commemorative plaque '

 

 

' branches in the way '

' someone move that other bridge '

' what a spot to put a petrol station '

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

' no clear view '

 

 

' at least this shows the upstream rapids '

 

In my ranking, this final one might be a distant second to the featured image.

'  The Old Packhorse Bridge '

DJE

Photo of the Week 2024-10-21

 

I was still going through a bit of a backlog of images from Scotland, selecting, editing, processing when the Aurora Borealis event of Oct 10 struck. That provided a totally new experience of shooting, selecting, editing and processing which I blogged about those last week. Now, as I turn back to Scotland, the autumn colours here in Southern Ontario are firing off and of course I'm drawn capture them ...

... although I'm always eager to get to my latest captures, I also want to make the time to continue learning processing methods and techniques. Like my cameras, there is still much capability that I don't know about and use. Today's learning, included reworking an image after viewing an online tutorial showing how to use some of the latest Lightroom masking techniques to transform RAW files.

' Rocky Perch IV.v2 - reworked '

' Rocky Perch IV - initial version '

In the reworked version I used the sky masking feature to increase structure, detail and tame the highlights. I also used a radial gradient to enhance the natural sidelight from the sun, subject masking to bring up shadow detail slightly in the cliff. Finally, I used both radial and linear gradients to darken the foreground and bring more attention to the sunlit castle ruins.
 

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2024-10-14

 

While working through a number of photos from my recent trip to Scotland, an opportunity to photograph the Aurora Borealis at an intensity seldom seen had me out with camera at a local viewpoint, Pilkington Overlook, north of Guelph. To say it was a special is an understatement, it was possibly a once in a lifetime experience with the Kp predicted at 8 and clear sky conditions. 

 

I managed to get back from a trip to visit our sons in Eastern Ontario and scramble to prepare for the possibility of a very late and possibly very long night. Arriving at the spot I had selected, it was evident that a crowd had gathered and cars filled the parking area spilling out to the nearby roadsides. When I saw a couple walking to there car I asked if there was anything to see and they indicated that there was but they were going to check out another location. So I continued to grab a camera, tripod, headlamp, had and some gloves to find a place to set up.

Although it was much earlier than I had expected, the show had already started. There was subtle aurora activity across the horizon from NW to NE. Over the course of just over an hour, the performance built to a stunning climax before fading away ... 

Here is a screen capture of all 72 RAW files from the shoot, all without any enhancement, the way the camera captured the scenes with consistent exposure settings. It shows the progression of activity from 21:41 to 22:46 ... it's near unbelievable.

 

At it's peak, I was astounded by what was being captured on the camera sensor. No, it didn't look like this to the naked eye and for an explanation of why, I direct you to this resource so I can focus the discussion on and showing the images I made.

Over the past couple of days, I've been eeking out some of the images I made, mostly those leading up to the crescendo of colour that occurred where I was just after 22:00. The colour really started to come on just before 22:00, with red becoming as prominent as green in the sky. By 22:10 it was all around, ahead to the north, to the west, to the east, overhead and even behind me. It was simply overwhelming, even with the naked eye.

I've attempted to select a set of images from the 3 dozen that I've processed to illustrate the progression of the event during the period I was photographing. Here they are in sequence ...

 

Find me on FB, Insta and flickr to follow along as I post the complete collection of images from this amazing event.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2024-10-07

Recently, day two in Scotland had us picking up a rental car and navigating our way out of Edinburgh (a story in itself) to the Battery Road Bridges Viewpoint in North Queensferry. All three of the bridges, The Forth (rail) Bridge. The Forth Road Bridge and the Queensferry Crossing are something to see. As a retired Civil Engineer, my interest in what we build remains keen and I was particularly eager to make this stop at the base of the Forth Bridge because of it's historical and engineering significance some of which which can be read via this link.

 

Worth singling out is that the Forth Bridge, once the longest single cantilever span bridge in the world, is a Scottish icon, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and today, second longest to the Quebec Bridge which I intended to visit again with sufficient time to photograph (spoiler alert: potential future blog post).

 

' Forth Bridge '

Following my intention, as laid out in a previous post, to look for something a little different, something creative and unique to my vision in "Photography When I Travel", I created the image above. Getting close to the north support base, I was able to use an ultra-wide focal length to capture this powerful composition. Of all the images I made during the brief stop we had on Battery Road, this is my favourite.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2024-09-30

 

Back from Scotland for a week and I'm still posting images from the first day we were there, almost three weeks ago. At this rate it may take me a while to get through all that I shot during the trip :-D

After making a stop at the Scott Monument (last week's post), the next stop while in Edinburgh was Dean Village. Research on potential locations to visit and photograph led me to add this to our Day-1 itinerary as it was just a short walk from our hotel. There was much to photograph (see my Scotland 2024 Album on flickr for some additional images), and the old stone bridge carrying Bells Brae across the Water of Leith really caught my eye. So much so I had trouble selecting just one image, so here's a collage.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2024-09-23

 

I don't do "Travel Photography" per se, I do Photography, while I Travel. What's the difference? Well, to me Travel Photography is done in a documentary style that that provides a straightforward and accurate representation of people, places, objects and events. Straightforward being the main differentiator.

When I do Photography while I Travel, in addition to the straightforward, common subject compositions to document the journey, I'm looking for something a little different, something creative and unique to my vision. Travel schedules do not always allow for me to explore photographic options to the extent I would like and such was the case on the Scotland 12-Day Self Drive tour Lynn and I just completed. I'll elaborate ...

 

This trip was not a photo specific tour, it was a trip for Lynn and I to see Scotland and would have us on a schedule with pre-booked accommodation each night and with check in and check out time windows to meet as well as set distances to navigate by car each day. Given that I was both driver, navigator (for the most part) and photographer, it was not possible to be at locations at optimum times or in optimum conditions for photography. I was very much, you're there when you are and you get what you get as far as light and weather, then move on to the next. Far from the planning I might do ahead of shooting to check weather conditions, arrive at time for the best light, schedule a time to avoid excessive crowds etc.

 

Our first night was in Edinburgh and since we had done the Castle and Royal Mile on a previous visit, we started at the Scott Monument close to our hotel.

In this lead image, I used an 11mm focal length and extreme upward angle to capture a dramatic perspective emphasizing the grandeur of this monument to one of Scotland's iconic personalities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This pair of shots were made from the lower walkway behind the monument to include some of the colourful flowers and flowing lines of the steps up to street level.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the final images for this post, I composed with the bright blue sky and white clouds, some would say not the norm for Scotland, to capture the beautiful weather we were fortunate to have as a welcome to Alba.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 DJE

Photo of the Week 2024-09-16

 

' 2024-09 Travel Kit '

While I was getting organized, I decided to grab a phone pic of the camera gear I would take on our return trip to Scotland ... missing is my Benro Travel Angel Tripod that would be packed in the suitcase.

What is all of this?

Cameras - 3, a Canon EOS M5, M3 (blk), M3 (wht)  full spectrum infrared conversion - all 24MP

Lenses - Sigma 18-300 DC on EF to EF-M mount adapter, EF-M 11-22 (x2), 15-45, 18-150

Filters - 58mm var ND, 72mm var ND, 58mm 590nm IR and 720nm IR

Memory Cards - SD, various capacities

Business Cards

Batteries - 3 in cameras plus 5 spares

Battery chargers 3 AC plus 2 USB for in car charging

Accessories - spare Arca Swiss plate and allen wrench, wired remote, wireless remote, rocket blower, lens pens, AC adapters and reading glasses

Lens cloths in the RedRock outdoor gear backpack that will fit everything (and more) for carry-on for flights.

Stay tuned for what I was able to capture using this gear during a 12 Day Self Drive trip.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2024-09-09

 

Another from a short outing to work on some in-camera double exposure ICM images using the darks blend mode with the Canon EOS R5.

 

' breeze in the trees '

I've been busy leading up to what I hope will fill some serious GB if not TB of space in my photo catalogue. It may be a week or two before the results start trickling out on my social media streams. Stay tuned !!

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2024-09-02

 

The need for an image to post weekly on the blog motivates me to pick up the camera even when life seems busy and full with other things as it is now. With bright sun and wind on Hay Bay, I tried some in-camera double exposure ICM images using the darks blend mode.

 

' rough shore '

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2024-08-26

For the fourth week, I'm presenting images selected from the sunset series captured  over a period of more than 40 minutes on 2024-08-02. The progression of colour and texture in the sky was sublime, subtle across the passing of seconds, dramatic overall.

 

In the final stages, the cloud structure softened as if by the touch of an artist blending bands and patches of pastel ...

' subsequent softening '

 

' subsequently softened '

I am obsessed with the sunsets over Lake Huron as seen from our shoreline. They are stunning from any location and so seductively available with just a short walk down to the water.

Here's a screen capture from my Lightroom catalogue of images illustrating the progression that always pulls me in.

 

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2024-08-19

A few minutes after official sunset, the cloud structure started to diffuse, softening in the evening sky, as a trio of kayakers return home.

 

' the home stretch '

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2024-08-12

 

' 'V' for Vivid '

Up at the cottage to make some progress on 'the shed project', there was some time to take in one of those glorious Huron Sunsets. Standing at the shore, as the minutes ticked off, colours in the clouds were intensifying.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2024-08-05

' blowin' smoke '

 

After a full day of work on the waterside shed, I 5took some time to relax and take in this gorgeous sunset. Over the course of almost an hour, 30 min before official sunset to almost 30 minutes after, I moved around the shoreline for different compositions making a number of exposures.

 

Sometimes it's not until after making the exposure and looking at it on a larger screen, that I see images in the clouds ... I see the profile of a man with smoke coming out of his mouth ;-)

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2024-07-29

Working with captures from the same night time outing used to create last week's image,  I merged 2 (unstacked) frames as a mini pano to get another composition I wanted. This, showing the crazy light pollution glow over Tobermory when everything is closed for the night ...

' Tobermory glowing under the Milky Way '

... it was a significant challenge to bring out some detail of the Milky Way given the amount of light Tobermory was throwing off but I managed to get something that I like and I'm learning along the way.

DJE

 

 

Photo of the Week 2024-07-22

 

' MW Arching Over Hay Bay '

A first go at capturing the Milky Way Arch. Six vertical images, themselves each a stack of 4 exposures, stitched into a panorama. Processed in LR, PS and ON1.

 

There is no shortage of 'nightscape' images on the internet showcasing the Milky Way over dramatic landscapes. There are nearly as many processing styles, with options ranging from subtle single exposure versions to the surreal using stacking and tracking techniques to extract the last photon of light and detail.

Recently I was treated to a clear sky forecast while at the cottage and decided to take advantage of it to try out the new (to me) Irix 15mm f/2.4 for some night sky shots. I spent some time planning with PhotoPills, TPE and other online resources to determine time and position of the Milky Way core. I had not thought to try a stitched panorama capturing the full MW Arch until I was out on the shore near midnight and noticed just how much of it I could see.

The process of image capture was relatively simple, though it was my first time out under the night sky with my R5 and with a hew lens as well. I ended up capturing six sets of four images over a roughly 150* (estimated) field of view. I applied lens profile correction in Lightroom, then exported to TIFF's, then used Sequator to stack each set of 4 exposures, following some online tutorials. The resultant output from Sequator (also in TIFF format) were touched up for light pollution and bright cottage lights in PS, saved back to the TIFF and then stitched in LR using photomerge.

 

Challenges came mostly from the quarter moon shining bright to the SW, blazing lights from cottages across the water, and the ever present glare of Tobermory and the Ferry dock megawatt lights. All the aforementioned challenges were tackled using a combination of Lightroom, Photoshop and ON1 Effects adjustments, dodge, burn, clone, heal and curves techniques and tricks to achieve the result shown above.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2024-07-15

I thought this week's post may have been about my recent nightscape photography, given that a lens purchased for that purpose had arrived late last week. While I did get out on Saturday to give it a trial workout, other aspects of life, namely a new puppy, had other ideas for time that I had planned to learn some new image stacking software for editing the resulting raw files.

 

So I sit here at the keyboard on Sunday night, resigned to the fact that I don't have enough time or energy to get through a new workflow to show you the results of last night's shoot (amazing as it was that I managed to stay up until midnight to see the Milky Way rise in the sky). Instead, I delve into the archive for something and ... lo and behold, there's a nightscape image from over 4 years ago (albeit from winter) sitting there, ready to share.

 

' Front Row Seats '

 Dark skies at our cottage on the Bruce Peninsula are absolutely awe inspiring ...

 

This image was made with the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 on a Canon 5D MkIII DSLR. A while after I got rid of the 5D MkIII, I also hesitantly traded in the Rokinon 14mm with plans to upgrade it down the road. Now I have with the Irix 15mm f/2.5 in EF mount to use with the EF-RF adapter and Canon R5 mirrorless. Hopefully, I'll have something to show from this combination some time soon.

 

Up to now, all of my night sky / nightscape images have been processed from single exposures, as is the image presented here. During my shoot Saturday night, I was capturing multiple frames to stack later with software specifically designed for night sky work. Why? Well, in simple terms, because processing a single image shot at high ISO includes noise that can result in bright pixels ultimately show up like stars making for a busier than actual night sky. How much difference will there be? I hope t' let ya know.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2024-07-08

 Introducing Sullivan ... now 13 weeks old and as of today he's been with us one whole week :-D

 

 

 

 

What does a photographer do when they get a new puppy? Well they break out the camera of course ...

 

The first two images were shot as a trial of the close focus capabilities of my new Irix 15mm f/2.4. I purchased the lens for astrophotography but wanted to try it out for some creative puppy portraits.

 

The second tow images were shot with the venerable Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS III, a known performer on DSLR's and still excellent on an R5 with an adapter. I chose this over the RF version because it is an internal zoom design which I prefer.

 

DJE