Photo of the Week 2024-03-04

Wow! 

 

March already! 

Spring will arrive in just over two weeks and it seems like winter never really arrived here in Southern Ontario. That may please some, perhaps even many, but it causes me concern over what the summer may hold in terms of temperatures and water levels. I expect it will be hot, damned hot and dry, damned dry and that there will be complaints about that, likely from the same group that complains about winter, but I digress ...

 

...  I've not had as much "winter" to photograph this year. Though I've had both stints visiting Matt & Claire at their farm and many more at our cottage, it wasn't a "real" winter this year. Facebook has reminded me of that with memories showing deep snowdrifts along the cottage road and a deck drift from 10 years ago the blocked out view of the bay from the picture window.

 

That's not to say there were no winter photo opportunities, they just weren't as dramatic or intense as I would have preferred. Sunsets always provide opportunity for a striking shot. Not every one of course but I do have the fortune of having a place to see regular end-of-day displays.

 

' burning through the ice '

I submitted the image above to a monthly challenge for a photo group and it was selected as the March banner image for their home page.

https://guelphphotographersguild.com/

 

 DJE

Photo of the Week 2020-11-09

 

An alternate route for a regular trip can offer some visual stimulation, particularly during the colourful fall season ...

 

Sunlight streamed through broken cloud cover and over the top edge of the escarpment to spill over this group of trees and light up their yellow leaves.

 

Five of a Kind

 

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2020-08-31

' a familiar scene '

I regularly walk past this location just off the road near our cottage. The morning light filters through the trees to illuminate an area of moss surrounding the base of an old snag in a way that always makes me take notice.

The scene has intrigued me for several years now and always confounded my attempts to capture it as I "see" it. That is until the other day when my 'morning walk' was delayed until just after noon. There were heavy broken clouds and in a moment when the sun streamed through an opening and washed over just as I walked by ... of course with a camera over my shoulder.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2020-08-10

Following a recent web presentation for Orchid Fest 2020, I turned my gaze downward on my walkabouts on "the Bruce', not just to watch for the Massasauga Rattlesnakes that seem to be more numerous this year, but to watch for some of the 44 species of Orchid that make their home there.

The season for Yellow Lady's Slipper (large & small) has come and gone this year. And I was surprised to find Striped Coralroot growing on our cottage property a few weeks back, Then a short while ago, thanks to the webinar, I noticed Helleborine growing in several spots around the perimeter of our property.

Helleborine Orchid Flower

Helleborine

 

Helleborine Plant

As you could read in the links I've provided, Helleborine (Broadleaf Hellleborine, Common Helleborine) is found widely over the North-Eastern US and Easter Canada. It's considered a common non-native species that can actually become invasive. Not as flashy as the Yellow Lady's Slipper or Showy Lady's Slipper, it can be easy to miss. The flowers are small (1cm) and generally point downwards making it east to overlook their miniature beauty ... unless you are specifically on the lookout for some of the natural treasures 'the Bruce' has to offer.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2018-10-01

Weather always makes for interesting photography, images and experiences ...


As a recent system pushed through the province, it was severe enough to batter some areas with thunderstorms and a number of reported tornadoes. In Tobermory though, high winds were the main feature.

My objective, as gusts up to 90kph whipped up spray off the whitecaps on Hay Bay, was to make images capturing the feel of the storm. With late day sun providing sidelight from the right, the spray was nicely highlighted and I used a 100-400 zoom to narrow in on a series of small islands and the far shore facing the brunt of the wind off Huron.

windswept waters

2018-09-21

DJE

Photo of the Week 2017-03-13

Winter Morning Hues 2017-03-12

Instead of bemoaning the loss of an hour of sleep, I was up just after 5:00 am (would have been 4:00 am without the change back to DST) having morning coffee and puttering about on the computer when I decided I should open the blinds and enjoy the arrival of dawn.

Daylight slowly arrived and muted hues of pink, purple and magenta began to glow in the western sky as sun prepared to crest the opposite horizon. Gradually, the sun would top the treeline and direct light would begin to spill onto the iced waters of the bay. The magical transition wouldn't last long and I began preparations, donning some gear to keep out the -15*C morning air and readying my camera gear.

With spare batteries and anticipation, I exchanged the warm comfort of the cottage, for the icy chill of morning air, the crunch of the frozen shore and the otherwise sublime silence of a winter morning to capture the magnificent hues ... 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2017-02-20

This week's photos are more about the experience around the photo rather than showcasing a single image that I'm pleased with ... quite the opposite actually. I wish I'd been able to get a lot closer to capture a stunning image of the activity I experienced on a gorgeous sunny winter afternoon.

The background ... it begins with me heading into the cottage after a short walk with Lynn  and Murphy. I'd been fighting a cruddy cold, coughing, sputtering, wheezing, sniffing and generally feeling crappy since Thursday. Tired out from the walk, I decided to go in and rest for a bit, while Lynn headed down to sit in the chairs at the shoreline and take in the sunshine.

She had taken the binoculars with her, as she often does now, and soon there was a knock at the picture window and some words that were just mumbles through the glass. But she turned and seemed to hurry back down to the shoreline so I figured there was something to see. I grabbed my 7DII with the 100-400mm and went down to see what was up.

It turns out she had spotted a Bald Eagle flying along the far side of the bay and by the time I managed to get out there I figured it was long gone on it's search for a meal ... not so. Lynn managed to spot it again perched in a tree along the far shore and directed me to the spot.

Even with the longest lens I had, there would be no close ups given the distance so I settled into a chair and we watched the eagle for well over an hour. We saw it fly from the tree to the ice, where it caught something (fish likely) and had a meal before flying to perch on top of an ice mound. As it sat there we scanned around and we both noticed some other activity that turned out to be a family of three otters bobbing in and out of the open water. Apparently there was a meal in the area and eventually I was able to capture a scene with with all the payers in one frame.

3 Otters and an Eagle

Yes there's actually and eagle out there ...

an Eagle ... crop

 Yes there is actually a family of 3 otters out there ...

3 Otters ... crop

 ... and yes I'm wishing I had a longer lens but even 600mm @ $10,000 wouldn't have gotten the image that I wanted in this case so I'll save my money.

One final image as I followed the eagle over onto the ice flow where it had another meal and then flew back to perch on the ice mound for a while before taking off for who knows where.

touchdown

... what a memorable experience.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2017-02-13

With a camera newly converted for infrared photography, I set out in the freshly fallen snow on a favourite trail ...

winter wonderland

Back at the cottage after a refreshing hike with 30cm of snow blanketing everything around, I sat down at the computer to process some very red & white exposures and this was one result. 

I was uncertain of exactly what to expect when shooting infrared (IR) for colour images in winter, even more so with the conversion I had selected for this particular camera (more on that in a moment). In the past when I've shot IR it was with the intention of creating final B&W images during spring and summer where the result renders greenery (trees & grass) as white, producing a very surreal look.

For this outing, my goal was to shoot and process for false colour images knowing that there would be a learning curve with post processing. Kolari Vision made getting started easy thanks to their free false colour actions for Photoshop. Fast forward a couple of hours, some red & blue channel swapping, a little NIK Color Efex Pro 4 and you have the surreal image above where the evergreens are turned a light red.

Background (a bit of the geek stuff, for those interested and wit a little understanding of IR photography):

I had a couple of EOS M mirrorless bodies that I've been wanting to convert to IR. Their compact size makes them ideal to take along in addition to my regular gear. They allow me to use the native EOS EF-M lenses, 11-22, 22 & 18-55 or I can pack the EF - EF-M adapter (also compact) and use any of my regular Canon and Sigma glass. Either way, there won't be a lot of extra weight or volume to pack and carry along.

There are benefits to converting mirrorless cameras over DSLRs for IR. Mirrorless cameras that focus directly off the sensor eliminate the need to have a DSLR camera's separate auto-focus system calibrated to IR wavelength and ... since mirrorless cameras use either live view or electronic viewfinders reading right from the sensor, you see exactly the exposure and colour rendition that will be recorded, rather than having to look through a darkened viewfinder and guess at the result.

For this first camera conversion I used Kolari Vision because they offer a "two-spectrum" conversion, leaving the image sensor sensitive to both infrared & visible light. This allows for shooting handheld with a variety of IR filters to achieve different results. Along with the conversion, I ordered 590nm & 850nm filters for false colour and high contrast B&W images respectively. This will give me a good start and I can always get additional filters and/or convert the second body once I have more experience working in IR.

For those who need to know more about IR photography and camera comversions, you can read about the "two-spectrum" conversion on Kolari Vision's website here or delve more deeply into the realm if IR photography from their main page.

I can see that this is going to be fun ...

DJE

Photo of the Week 2017-01-30

Ontario Parks recently posted a great article on etiquette for nature photography to their Facebook page. I shared and posted the following to my Photography page:

"Great article from Ontario Parks that made me do a quick "gut check" on my practices when photographing. I never bait, work to maintain a suitable distance, never chase/follow wildlife, don't use recorded calls, don't destroy habitat ... but I admit I could improve by always sticking to the marked trails.
My wildlife and nature photos may not be as "impressive" as some of those from others ... but I'm OK with that. And I'll keep working in a responsible way to get better ones."

So this weekend, while up at my 'happy place', armed with some intel on the location of a male snowy owl (code named Popeye ;-), I headed out early Saturday morning making the drive to said location. Arriving just after sunrise on a very overcast day with intermittent snow squalls, I prowled the grid if rural concessions and side roads in search of my target. Driving with 3 cameras on the front passenger seat within reach should something catch my eye, also keeping an eye out for other cars approaching from behind, I edged over to stop and frequently scan the surrounding area with binoculars (a little more convenient that using the camera).

Only 40 minutes or so after arriving in the area, I spotted something white on top of a leaning utility pole up ahead at the edge of a narrow side road. Stopping the car, I grabbed a camera and zoomed in, Yup ! It was a male snowy. Zipping up my jacket and putting on hat & gloves, I grabbed some gear (spare battery too when it's cold) and got out to slowly approach, stopping to snap shots at various points.

Staying aware to maintain suitable distance from the owl in my eagerness to get a good image, I stopped to make the image below, which I call 'Q-Tip'

Q-Tip

The image was made at 400mm on my 7DII so he's still a good distance away. I had checked the frame on the camera LCD and was satisfied that I had at least one decent shot so I decided to stand and wait for a bit and observe the bird's behaviour. He remained settled in position, feathers ruffling with the wind, swivelling his head from side to side as they do while listening, hunting for prey. I waited a good 5 min without moving, then decided to move another 20m or so closer. I looked down to be sure of my footing on the icy road and when I looked back up he was in flight dropping down to skim across the field behind some bushes at the edge of a drainage ditch. I had no chance to catch him in flight but walked up to the pole where he had perched to have a look around. I managed to locate him again, far off, perched on a fence post out in the middle of the fields. I stayed and watched, just taking in another experience with these lovely birds.

The tech ...

Using high-end gear for photography has many benefits ... and it's not all about the megapixels. My 7DII has a 20.2 MP sensor, high by some standards but not others considering the 36,42 and 50 MP sensors available in the highest end DSLR/Mirrorless cameras these days. Still, the 7DII captures an file that can be cropped significantly and still provide a quality image. 'Q-Tip' as shown above is roughly a 90% crop (for compositional purposes) of the the original 20.2 MP image. To show the extreme crop possible with high quality images from this (and other high-end cameras), consider the image below, cropped from the already 90% image above. This is cropped to roughly 20% of the original (and then upscaled in Lightroom to 1200x1200 for web viewing) and still shows nice detail.

Q-Tip (crop)

DJE

Photo of the Week 2017-01-16

I've recently had a couple of conversations online regarding how I "see" what I photograph, so ... here's my thought process while creating two different compositions, two quite different interpretations of one scene.

Composition can significantly alter mood and feel and it can make or break an image. That's one reason I usually survey the location and make a number of different images from different viewpoints or at different focal lengths when I'm out photographing.

An example of this can be seen in the two images below. For this first image, I used a tighter crop, zooming in on the scene (43mm with my 24-105 Sigma on 5D MkIII according to EXIF). This composition creates a dramatic image, emphasizing the warm orange-gold glow of the sun spilling into the clouds and reflecting onto the ice and open waters of the bay. I chose to position the ice ridge in the foreground bottom of the image to provide an anchor point for the viewer to step into the scene. I also decided to place the horizon in the centre of the image vertically, against the "rule of thirds", as I preferred a balance between cloudy sky and frozen waters.

Huron Sunset I (2017-01-14)

For this second image, made while standing in the same spot, I zoomed out (24mm with my 24-105 Sigma on 5D MkIII according to EXIF) to include more of the surrounding grey sky, ice and shoreline trees. I still chose to place the sun 1/3 of the way into the frame from the left but I lowered the horizon a touch, otherwise I felt there was too much foreground with little interest. I also decided on a slightly brighter exposure by 1/3 stop to lighten the foreground ice and snow. This alters the mood of the image to some degree, making it less dramatic but more pleasing in my opinion. The result is an image showing the context of a glorious Huron sunset

Huron Sunset II (2017-01-14)

To me, they are both print worthy images. I like both, for different reasons. You can let me know what you think.

DJE

First Light 2017

Best Wishes for Health and Happiness in 2017

Those that have followed me for some time will know that it has become tradition to make an image at official sunrise on the first day of a new year. It started as a challenge from my good friend Alan Norsworthy, first I think to just get out of bed early on New Years Day, but also more ... to start the new year off on the right foot photographically.

It requires one to get up and out before really knowing what the morning will bring. It requires some measure of dedication to making images and, from me, some measure of planning to select a location and envision the photographic possibilities so that arriving on location in mostly dark, I can do final checks and get set up.

This year I selected the pier at Dyers Bay on the Bruce Peninsula, a location that would afford a look at the sun rising over Georgian Bay, should the cloud cover cooperate and actually provide that look. Indeed it did and another 'First Light Challenge' is in the bag.

First Light 2017

DJE

Photo of the Week 2016-12-26

... and for the last post of 2016, I almost missed it. With Matt home for Christmas and winding down on Boxing Day, preparing to leave for the cottage tomorrow, I didn't realize it was Monday until near dinner time ... and Mondays are Photo of the Week blog post days !

Since I've been preoccupied with thoughts of the cottage, the Bruce and Tobermory, it's appropriate to post the type of scene that frequently plays through my mind as I dream ... 

soft heavy sky

... along with my new signature photo logo thanks to PHOToLOGO. Watch for the new logo in the coming days as I prepare images to launch a new portfolio site on 500px to better showcase a selection of images available as fine art prints.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2016-12-19

A solo jaunt up north this weekend settled my separation anxiety and provided some much needed time to decompress. Yes, I need to get up north regularly lest I become restless and fixated on getting to my 'happy place'. It seems the more I'm there, the more I want (and maybe need) to be there.

With "the whole" weekend to myself, I had plans to take advantage of the many photo options available and to get a handful of items completed to be sure things were ready for our annual winter getaway between Christmas and the New Year. Oh where did the time go .....

On the photo front I decided to take a drive down some side roads I hadn't travelled in a while to see how winter's early snow had transformed the scenery ... but first I stopped at the Park Visitor Centre. I've had moderate success with multi-image stitched panoramas so I decided to climb the observation tower and capture the angry skies out over the islands and Huron.

Tobermory Skies 2017-12-17

Oddly enough, it was very calm while I was up there. Perhaps the calm before another squall came through because I could even hear bird life in the treetops. At one point I heard an eagle's cry but failed to put my eye or lens on it.

I stood at the top of this tower in  howling winds at -25* with the windchill for a photo on New Years morning a few years back ... maybe a panorama this New Years for "First Light". Hmmmmm .....

... and then it was off for a drive.

Photo of the Week 2016-12-05

Experimenting with white balance (the setting that adjusts for the wavelength of light under different conditions) can produce some interesting effects. For the most part, I try to leave my camera on daylight white balance as a standard setting when I put it away. 

early blue hour

When I went  to check out sunset form the shore a while ago, there was little, if any, trace of warm sunset light. The clouds had moved in and covered the horizon and the already blue hue of the light was enhanced further with the selection of a daylight white balance setting ... and I kind of liked it.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2016-11-28

I've been wanting to hike to Overhanging Point for some time and finally made the trek this weekend with Jordan and Lynn. We took the Marr Lake Trail to Georgian Bay for something different and what a pretty little trail it is. Our 'little' hike provided some unexpected wonder when we decided to take a route along the shore rather than the Bruce Trail that climbs up the escarpment to Overhanging Point. We scrambled through a couple of cave openings and around several large fallen limestone boulders to find wondrous views and formations.
 

wondrous view

Jordan was our leader and thanks to him pushing (pulling actually) Lynn and I along, we were able to pass under the overhang and scramble up the escarpment to connect with the Bruce Trail and take it back. Along the way we were treated to nature's fresh, moist smells, forest floors cushioned with cedar duff, natural limestone steps along with the gorgeous lookouts.

I'm glad I took my phone with me as I had forgotten the backup battery to the camera I was using and .... yes, the battery died, just as we arrived at the most picturesque spot. The image above ws made with my iPhone and pushed hard in Adobe Lightroom.



DJE

Photo of the Week 2016-11-14

At the end of a beautiful but breezy mid-November day it didn't look like there would be much of a sunset. Clouds had rolled in and I was inside, nice and comfy sitting in my favourite chair with a new reading light ...

Blustery November Sunset

... but I'm glad I went out and spent some time framing up some images with my eyes watering as I looked into both the sun and a stiff breeze that had been blowing all day.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2016-10-17

Recently, I was again reminded of how easy it is to get lazy with photography and let yourself rush through an outing, either because you are with someone who is not also photographing, or if you are being distracted by something else. If you let yourself get lazy and resort to just clicking and rushing onto the next thing, the resulting images can be good but  ... they could be better if you spend time working a location to find a compelling subject, capture that certain angle of view or wait for the light to be just right.

Such was the case while out for a short hike a few days ago with Lynn and Murphy. Both  these companions are normally very patient with me when I bring a camera along (... and I always bring a camera). After trekking out to Mermaid Cove, a picturesque little spot just outside the village of Tobermory, I had rather quickly grabbed a number of images showing the view out over the water. Being photographically lazy, I might have then said "let's go" so as not to press the patience of my companions. Instead I sat down to take in the scenery and peaceful sounds of wind and lapping water.

Lynn joined me on the bench and after a while, pointed me to a section shoreline commenting how she liked the moss and the natural path created by the rock ledge. The same area had caught my attention so I got up and spent some time working this little area along the shoreline. The sun was to the south, behind the trees, bathing this area in shade and a soft cool light that made the greens and yellows fresh and vibrant. 

I selected this composition from the the dozen or so I had made, as the best of the set.

yellow, green and rock XI

  DJE