Photo of the Week 2021-11-29

Almost the end of November and they're baaaack !!

 

' wary glance '

I recently made some time to visit an area that has provided most of my opportunities to photography Snowy Owls and was again rewarded with sightings ... two separate sightings on two separate days (likely the same bird).

 

This image of a female or immature male Snowy Owl was made on the second day, when the bird was much closer to an accessible vantage point. I was able to get close enough for this highly cropped image (approximately 60% of the original frame height) from my Canon R5 in 1.6 crop mode with EF100-400 LII and EF1.4x III (effective focal length 896mm).

 

There is no substitute for focal length when photographing birds, not just focal length, good glass and high mega pixel resolution all play an important part. I like to photograph birds, in particular, unique species like the Snowy Owls and Bald Eagles I can find near our cottage. If I was more dedicated to bird photography, my expenditure on lenses would be significantly greater. I'm not saying never, but for now I'll stick with the gear I have and get what I can get image wise.

 

Sadly, I've decided that I will I no longer share locations of where I find and photograph wildlife on social media. I've seen and heard of too many instances where wildlife are harassed by over exuberant photogs too focused on getting the shot to the detriment of stressing the animal. I'm not saying that I have no impact on my subjects, but I strive to observe and read the animal's behaviour to know when to move on ... as I did with the owl in this week's photo.  I had spent some time at the side of a busy road close to this beauty when it became evident that other cars were slowing down and my presence I was drawing more attention to the bird. As experience has taught, soon other's would be stopping and ... well, I'll just say it usually doesn't go the way I would prefer.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2018-06-25

... last ones from the Downtown Guelph Exotic Car Show

lopsided grin

'Porsche Smiles'

black

red

white

Next week I should have something from my trip to Guatemala to visit Matt ...

DJE

Photo of the Week 2018-05-14

trillium patch in sunlight

A favourite place for a morning walk once spring has arrived ... Victoria Woods and the trails through the trillium.

It's wonderfully peaceful and refreshing to walk surrounded by the fresh green leaves and brilliant white flowers dotted here and there with their burgundy brethren. They spread across the rich soil in large swaths as readily as singles sprout in the crook of a tree root. When morning sun crests the horizon and begins to spill through still leafless trees and onto the forest floor, it comes alive.

Every year, for for some time now, I have made it a point to go and experience the trillium bloom and try to capture the fresh, clean feel in images.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2015-09-14

I've spent a lot of time in reflection over the past few months and photography has played an important role through that time ... in some ways, it has also taken a back seat.

As I have worked through the loss of my mother and the legal and financial matters of her estate, photography has provided much needed distraction, though the work I have been generating is mostly from just going through the motions. I've found it difficult to find recent images that I want to present in this blog.

While I sat and contemplated this on the deck at the cottage recently, I felt that someone was watching me, encouraging me to "get back enjoying it", and then I looked up ...

 ... and saw inspiration in the clouds. What do you see?

DJE

Photo of the Week 2015-06-01

Last Father's Day, I used my iPhone to photograph what I first saw as an interesting cloud formation while sitting at the shore of Hay Bay. Later my son pointed out that it looked like a bird in flight ... white dove or an angel perhaps ...

white winged dove II

  ... an image that has and will, I hope, bring me comfort in days ahead.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2015-05-11

I've been experimenting with my image post processing lately. It's all part of the journey. Trying new things is like creative exercise, flexing the artistic muscle if you like.

An approach that simplifies the detail in my original capture causes me to look more at the graphic elements and colours of an image. It removes reality to an extent, masks the flaws that I can become obsessed with causing me to give up on an image.  

For example, in this week's image, there are focus issues. The depth of field is too shallow, caused to some extent by me working hand held without a tripod, but also because I was shooting at a 135mm focal length at an oblique angle across a patch of trilliums, not wanting to step amongst them and cause any damage. Rather than give up on an image that I liked because the foreground and background were not in sharp focus, I decided to process the image with a Photoshop plug-in, Topaz Simplify, and create graphic photo-realistic like result.

In this, I see things that can help my photography, improve the original capture, strengthen my composition. Letting go a bit and trying something different can be a good thing. I'm not worried what others may say or think. After all, it's my journey.

By the way, I've widened the format of the blog post so the landscape format images are no longer cut off a bit on the right side when I post them large. Please let me know if you have any trouble viewing and if you see an improvement.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2012-03-26

white tulip


A field trip to the Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) in Burlington is always welcome as the grey of winter passes. The indoor garden displays provide a suggestion of the colour that is about to bloom in the gardens of local neighbourhoods.

A presentation by a expert on macro photography given at this month's meeting of the Guelph Photographers Guild and a follow up outing to RBG was planned for members to practice their macro tricks and techniques. I missed the presentation but having taken a workshop previously led by the same photographer, I decided to tag along for some of the fun.

Macro Photography (actually it's regularly close-up photography and not true Macro Photography but that's a discussion for a different day) can involve expensive gear, specialty lenses and lighting but it can also be done on a limited budget with inexpensive additions to the equipment that most photographers already have. This week's image is an example of the latter. I did go to RBG with my specialty macro lens, sturdy tripod and ball head and I did use that gear to captured a number of decent images. However, it was a standard 50mm f/1.4 lens and an inexpensive extension tube that I used to capture this image. Holding the camera by hand while hovering over a waist level bench of tulips I positioned myself to look down into one in particular.

The depth of focus (DoF) for close up photography can be very shallow and require stopping down the aperture and using long shutter speeds with supplemental lighting if you want to create an image that is entirely in focus. I particularly like the look of narrow DoF when it's used in a manner that directs attention to specific elements of a photograph or creates an abstract feeling. The DoF in this image is extremely shallow and focusing to get a specific element sharp required some effort. In order to get the focus on the very end of the pistil I set the focus to manual, adjusted it and left it fixed. As I composed the image, wavering slightly, the pistil would be in focus and then out of focus as the camera to subject distance varied minutely. Holding the composition as best I could, I intentionally moved slightly in and out and kept my breathing smooth. Just when the element came in focus I gently released the shutter to make an exposure. It's much easier to do this rather than try to stay perfectly still which actually causes you to tense up and possibly tremble slightly making a it near impossible to get the focus as intended.

A bit of inexpensive kit and a use of technique can make for a strong macro image.

DJE