Photo of the Week 2010-04-19

cherry blossom hillside

Thanks to stumbling on a post about the cherry blossoms being out at High Park in Toronto, Lynn and I headed there Sunday morning. The skies in Guelph were overcast but as we approached Toronto the cloud cover was clearing and the sunshine of a spring day replace whatever that was we had on Saturday.
I expected the park to be busy with the improvement in weather but it was ridiculous. I had not known we would be participating in the centuries old Japanese tradition of Sakura Hanami. The areas around the blossoming trees were packed with visitors and more than a few photographers. While I really would like to have gotten an image without all the people, the challenge was to get an image despite all the people.

... what a beautiful day ...

DJE

Photo of the Week 2010-04-12

Morning Shadows - Mt. Nemo Trail

There is something about the light on the forest trails of Southern Ontario in the early morning light. My eye is always drawn to the patches of light and shadow across the paths and forest floor. This early in spring, the sun penetrates so much more than when the trees are fully adorned with leaves. There are strong linear shadows falling over the terrain. Textures of the rocky escarpment outcrops are defined in extreme detail. I could wander these trails for hours on end but the sun rises and the magic is gone ... until tomorrow.
DJE

North Along Lake Superior

While planning for my work travels to Northern Ontario later this year, I was reminded of the beautiful scenery from my travels last fall. I had been meaning to go back through my image library from the trip and this was just the nudge needed.

Driving from Thunder Bay to Marathon and back in early October, the weather was very unsettled and skies were overcast for most of the trip. As the weather system moved through, there were opportunities when the cloud cover would break and provide drama that would compel me to stop and grab an image. I wish the drive could have lasted much longer ...

reflection beside Hwy 17


Lake Superior Fall '09


On the last day, I wanted to make time for a stop at Ouimet Canyon to capture it in fall colours. A twenty minute drive off the main highway brought me to the park. I had not encountered a single car since turning off Hwy 17. This late in the season I did not expect anyone else to be around but I encountered one visitor on his way out. Other than that, for the 30min that I was there, I was alone with the sun, wind and scenery .... quite a feeling, especially when you are on a platform overhanging the side of a 100 m deep canyon. I wanted an image to capture the scale of the canyon and the strong sun and shadow posed a challenge but this was my only opportunity. The following image was saved with some shadow and highlight adjustments in CS3.

Ouimet Canyon sun blast


Fall of this year ... north along Lakes Huron and Superior from Manitoulin to Wawa.
I can't wait.
DJE

Photo of the Week 2010-04-05

a view of the lane

Some images need a little work after the capture to present them in a way that represents the scene as it appeared to my eye.

On a recent photo outing to an abandoned farmhouse with some friends, I was drawn to the view of the lane from an upstairs window. I knew the bright morning sun outside and the dark interior presented more dynamic range than a single exposure could capture. I decided to bracket 3 exposures to process as an HDR once I returned home. HDR is not something I do much of but for scenes like this it can be a perfect solution.

I wanted the scene outside the window with the lane curving down to the road to dominate the image yet have the interior of the room visible. My goal was to keep the "HDR effect" from overpowering the image which proved difficult. I ended up adding a layer mask in CS3 to hold back the interior and adjusted opacity to allow just enough to be revealed.

Photo of the Week 2010-03-29

South Bruce - homestead

New roads offer up new possibilities for images.
A trip to Paisley for the Saugeen Maple Syrup Festival this weekend would provide numerous opportunities for images, both on the drive there and at the festival. As we travelled the scenic route there was a fair bit of banter on the walkie talkies between the 2 vehicles. Grant spotted the swamp backdrop to this old log homestead right along the road and said ... "we gotta stop there on the way home".
Returning a few hours later, the sky had improved and the sun was providing light with a warm quality. The others poked around the other side of the building while I went for a location that would allow me to catch the sun on the log walls and some of the colour in the sky. It was an interesting find and I'm pleased with this image.
DJE