What's he doing Mama?

Do you find that horses, more than most other animals seem to be thinking when they look at you? Douglas Hofstadter, in his book "I am a Strange Loop", talked about the idea that various animals have different sized souls. Perhaps within the animal kingdom, horses are larger than most. This not-so-little foul was bery curious about what I was up to, but never ventured out from behind his mother's 'skirt'. Mom seemed to keep a pretty focused eye on me as well.

The black and white conversion was done in Lightroom. Since the horse in the back was much redder than the foul, I lightened her up to give more tonal separation. If I had a choice I would have preferred to not chop the nose of the rear horse, but my timing (and the foul's) was just a little off.


1/400 f/4.5 ISO 400 EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM @ 120 mm Canon EOS 40D
Schickendantz farms,Markham,Ontario

Land of the White Birch

In school and also in my early music lessons, we sang or played the song "Land of the Silver Birch". This image was captured near Sudbury. The song speaks of Moose, Beaver and rocky shores. Sounds like a pretty apt description of Sudbury.

One thing I noticed with this image is that there was severe purple fringing along the boundaries between the white bark and the dark shadows.  This once taken with one of my older (and cheaper) lenses. Chromatic aberations like that are a common artifact.

I like the white birch as a subject, and there is more I'd like to do with it. So I will return once more.
Boom de de boom boom.


1/640 f/5.6 ISO 200 75.0-300.0 mm @ 300 mm Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL
Sudbury,Ontario

Tractor and Plough - Revisit

Some of you may have seen my Plough (or Plow) post from Monday. I want to revisit one of the pictures and focus on the a technique which can be helpful in some cases. The technique is "tone mapping", some may think of it also known as HDR. But in today's discussion, 'tone mapping' is the technique.

As I wrote on Monday, when I first saw this equipment, it was somewhat early in the morning and it was bathed in some pretty decent light. I couldn't stop and take the picture then and I returned in mid-afternoon. The light was not nearly as good. The resulting images were not like the scene I had seen in the morning, they were somewhat flat and dull.

I am in the processing of writing a tutorial on HDR and tone mapping and as part of that process I have been working on improving some of my skills in that part of image processing. For practice, I picked one of the tractor series.

The first image below is the result of some of that practice and I have repeated the same image from Monday for easy comparison. I am sure you can easily see the difference. The tractors colours have more pop and if you look inside the tire you can see some detail.

The bottom image was the best I could achieve with Lightroom. The top image was processed with Photomatix Pro (as a Lightroom plug-in). One of the complaints held by many is that the images don't look natural. Although this image is not what I saw in the afternoon, it is very close to what caught my eye in the morning.

By the way, I almost always shoot in RAW format, which means I have more colour and brightness data to work with, which would not be the case if I were to shot in JPG format only. I'll explain this in more detail in the forth coming tutorial.

Which image do you prefer?


1/800 f/4.5 ISO 400 @ 73 mm Canon EOS 40D, processed with Photomatix Pro

Victoria Square,Markham,Ontario

1/800 f/4.5 ISO 400 EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM @ 73 mm Canon EOS 40D
Victoria Square,Markham,Ontario

Home Sweet Homestead

This is a view of the family homestead in the fall. This property has been in the family since 1806 - over two hundred years.

The trees in this shot form a nice natural frame. I had to make a compromise between the mailbox and the twist in the tree trunk. I don't like the mailbox in the frame and if I want to make a 'art' print from this I would photoshop it out.

1/15 f/8 ISO 100 18.0-55.0 mm @ 55 mm Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL
Homestead, Gormley, Ontario

Plough (or Plow)

I grew up on a farm. Part of the fall routine is ploughing.  The plough cuts down several inches (maybe 6 or so depending on the top soil) and folds it over, essentially flipping it upside down. Organic material from this years crop is buried and air is worked into the ground.

Our tractor and plough were small in comparison to this big rig. We had a three-bottom plough, this one has nine. It was spotted on Sunday morning on my way to church. At that time is was bathed in a decent morning light but I couldn't stop then. I went back in the afternoon and captured it against a stormy sky. This might has been a good opportunity for a pair of off-camera radio controlled flashes so that the sky would not be so bright in comparison to the equipment.

Ploughing can actually be a competitive sport. If you think it is not very physical you would be right until you considered the horse drawn version where the person walks behind the plough and actively guided it through the ground. In the fall we often would travel to the ploughing match. My uncle would often compete. For those in Ontario, I think that big match has already been held. Make a note for it next year.



1/800 f/4.5 ISO 400 EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM @ 73 mm Canon EOS 40D

A close up of the business end of the plough. These are the moldboards.

1/125 f/13 ISO 400 EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM @ 70 mm Canon EOS 40D


A good subject for a depth-of-field shot. (pun intended). Each of teh moldboards are on an arm that can flip up if a rock is struck. The springs that are visible here are part of that mechanism.

1/250 f/8 ISO 400 EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM @ 73 mm Canon EOS 40D



1/100 f/13 ISO 800 EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM @ 185 mm Canon EOS 40D



1/200 f/8 ISO 400 EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM @ 73 mm Canon EOS 40D



1/100 f/8 ISO 640 EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM @ 73 mm Canon EOS 40D



1/60 f/8 ISO 640 EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM @ 70 mm Canon EOS 40D



1/400 f/2.8 ISO 400 EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM @ 70 mm Canon EOS 40D



1/160 f/8 ISO 400 EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM @ 70 mm Canon EOS 40D

This is looking underneath the operator's cab at what I think is a brake disc.

1/100 f/4.5 ISO 500 EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM @ 73 mm Canon EOS 40D

Mud left on the step.

1/500 f/4.5 ISO 400 EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM @ 73 mm Canon EOS 40D

Engine detail.

1/100 f/4.5 ISO 400 EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM @ 70 mm Canon EOS 40D

The turbo charger.

1/200 f/4.5 ISO 400 EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM @ 70 mm Canon EOS 40D
Victoria Square,Markham,Ontario

Distortion

A variation from the fall theme today. This image was made in Manhattan (no, not the movie with J. Lo).

While on a business trip I looked out my bedroom window and saw this wall of distorted images. The colours in the original were browns and greys which I didn't find all that interesting. By switching to black and white, the tonal variations become more apparent and, to me, more interesting.

.
1/40 f/9 ISO 500 EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM @ 105 mm Canon EOS 40D
West 55th and 6th,New York,New York

Poets Walk

In New York's Central Park there is a well know path called "Poet's Walk". I am not sure who photographed it first, but this image by Henri Silberman is what comes to mind when I think of Poet's walk.  Well maybe that has changed.

In the midst of our Sibbald Point adventure I came across this vista. Everybody else in my group walked right on through towards the beach. But I had to stop and capture it. When you are out for a walk don't just look straight ahead. Look all around as well. You might find a treasure overlooked.


1/100 f/5.6 ISO 400 EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM @ 28 mm Canon EOS 40D
Sibblad Point Provincial Park,Ontario

Looking Closer - Pre-Visualization and Chess

When a typical computer plays chess it might start the game by using a playbook of classic game openers, after a while it will begin to do exhaustive evaluations of every move and possible counter, and counter-counter, etc until it arrives at a move that ranks strongly.

When I play chess it is somewhat similar but it don't do exhaustive move evaluations. I may for certain key pieces but generally i feel the balance of power between the two sides and look for specific vulnerabilities.

When I make an image my approach is similar to chess. There may be certain 'openers' that I use. These might be easily expressed as following the rules ... the rule of thirds, fill the frame, get low, get high, principles of design, Gestalt, positive and negative space, etc, but from there it is more about feel. At least that is the way I work.

For this image I knew I wanted to be up high so I could look slight down on this leaf. A nearby rock gave me a platform for that. I wanted to look mostly across the surface of the leaf with the emphasis being the base of the leaf. I knew that I wanted a general wash of colour in the background made up from similar leaves - similar colour. This is the result.

How do you pre-visualize?

1/200 f/6.3 ISO 400 EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM @ 105 mm Canon EOS 40D
Sibblad Point Provincial Park,Ontario

We've only just begun

We spent some time this weekend past at Sibbald Point Provincial Park. It was a great day. The leaves were not yet at their peak of colour. Some tress were still quite green. This leaf might be representative. 1/3 changed.

One of Rick Sammon's compositional rules is get in close, and then get closer. The idea being that we often get shy and don't get close enough even with things like a leaf. "The name of the game is fill the frame" - Rick.


1/500 f/6.3 ISO 400 EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM @ 105 mm Canon EOS 40D
Sibbald Point Provincial Park,Ontario

See You Next Spring

Back in the summer we had the pleasure of spending some time with some other couples at one of their cottages. We had a good time for sure.

I also grabbed some images I was really happy with. In particular were a series of humming bird images. Conditions were great. The only thing that could have been better was that my 70-200 was in the shop, so I had to fall back to my less capable 75-300. But it does go to illustrate the point that great pictures can be made with any gear.

By the way I am not going away - the hummingbirds have. I hope to see them next spring. I'll be putting up a feeder for them in my backyard.



1/800 f/5.6 ISO 400 EF75-300mm f/4-5.6 USM @ 300 mm Canon EOS 40D
Huntsville,Ontario

Grasses

I have always found tall grasses appealing. When I was young they were a great place to play and hide. I don't do that anymore. Now I like to make pictures from them.

There are two things I'd like to point out. First is the colour. This image was made in the late afternoon sun; when it's light turns a goldish colour. This is why it is called 'the golden hour'. Scenes take on a wonderful warm feeling because of the light colour. Look for it.

The other thing is depth-of-field. We can see that the grasses on the left are in sharp focus, but those on the right and a little further away are not. The trees in the distance are lightly blurred. This is a result of the f/2.8 aperture that was used for this image. The blurry background is one way that photography differs from your eyes. We don't perceive the world like this (unless we aren't wearing our glasses!). The effect simplifies the image by not providing detail to draw our attention.



1/500 f/2.8 ISO 200 EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM @ 145 mm Canon EOS 40D
Victoria Square,Markham,Ontario

Pumpkin Pie

I love all kinds of dessert pies and Pumpkin pie is a definite favourite. So my title is appropriate for that kind of vision. Sort of like Homer Simpson and doughnuts.


1/500 f/13 ISO 400 75.0-300.0 mm @ 300 mm Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL
Richmond Hill,Ontario

One should ask what is the subject of an image? In this case it is obviously the pumpkins. Is there much else that attracts the eye?

The colours are vibrant - or should I say colour, since orange is so strongly represented.  And there is good variation in tone. Maybe that was good for me five years ago, but I now look for more.

I was intending to go out and find a collection of pumpkins this year and try to improve upon it, but my friend Sam already did. Why do I think Sam's photo is better? The subject is still the same but the elements of repetition and line and make a stronger composition.

By the way which camera is the best camera - as Chase Jarvis says, the one you have with you. In Sam's case this excellent image was made with a camera phone (iphone).

I Am Not the Centre of the Universe

But this picture might make it look like I am. My friend Joe P, pointed out this tutorial on creating 'planet shaped' images. I finally got around to creating one myself.

I started by taking my camera and tripod up to my roof top. Warning: Attempt this at your own risk - I cannot be held responsible for any damage to your camera equipment if you fall of your roof (or you either). I shot fifteen overlapping images .My technique for overlapping uses the right and left most focus squares along the centre line of my viewfinder.

I frame up my first shot, press the shutter, take note of what is in the right hand square and then reframe so that the left hand square is in the exact same spot and take the next image. This way I get a consistent overlap of about 25%.

Once again I tried to stitch in photoshop. It just did not produce a good result. So I dropped them into MS ICE which produced a very good result which you can see here.

After exporting the image from ICE as a jpg I took that into photoshop and followed there directions with one small variation. When I followed there directions the white circle that you see in my image below did not exist and my entire roof was very pincushioned. So I made the image, almost square - 90% high and then added a white border on the top edge (Image - Canvass size) to add the remaining 10% to make the square. Then I applied the polor coordinates.



P.S. Thanks Joe for the tip.

Hay, Hay, Hay

I grew up on a farm. Many a summer day and evening were spent haying; cutting, raking, baling, or hauling. I first started to 'drive' when I was six or so. I can still remember sitting on the seat of that big old W6. I think my brothers and Dad did more driving than I did - but I was sitting in the seat. I loved that tractor, the motor always ran so smooth even when idling so slowly that you could count the fan blades as they spun around. Now in those days we used square bales; they only weighed 50 or 70 lbs, I suppose. You sure got a work out throwing those around. Those are a rare sight these days, most often we see these big round bales, 10 or 20 times the weight and can only be moved by a tractor. Much more efficient, I am sure, but not nearly the same cardio-vascular work out.

1/80 f/5.6 ISO 640 EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM +2.0x @ 380 mm Canon EOS 40D
Warden and Elgin Mills,Markham,Ontario

A good rule of thumb is to try to things in groups of three. It seems to resonate well with peoples brains. One thing might be too simple, but lots of things might be too complicated to take in. Three seems to be about the right balance to have enough interest to draw in the viewer, but not be too much and scare them away.

Welcome Home for Thanksgiving

If you're American, I likely think I am a month early. Today is Thanksgiving day in Canada. When looking at the images I had pre-selected for the month to make today's selection, this one stuck with me as fitting. It looks like homecoming to me. As if I have been traveling and I just turned the corner for the finally stretch down the lane. I can smell the turkey!

No matter what part of the world you are from, take a few minutes and be thankful today. The world will be a better place if we all do.

1/400 f/4 ISO 100 @ 75 mm Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL
Aurora,Ontario

Among the Fallen

The forest floor can be a wonderful place to explore. Barbara and I did that a few years ago and we came across many wonder and beautiful things. This mushroom is a great example. It is all dressed up for October, don't you think.

Full disclosure - I doubt I took this picture. We swapped roles during this hike. I was the sherpa and she was the photographer. It was fun to watch her explore the world through the lens.


1/100 f/5.6 ISO 200 24.0-105.0 mm @ 105 mm Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL
Taylor Island,Gravenhurst,Ontario

A Different Perspective

A recent conversation with a colleague over focal length and wide angle lenses inspired today's posting.  I happened to find two images in my fall collection which illustrated some of these concepts.

A 'normal lens' is one that is said to approximate normal vision. For a full frame camera, that is best approximated by a 50mm lens with a small aperture for a large depth of field, but that is just an approximation. This first image was taken at 54mm with a crop-frame camera which works out to about 83mm (full frame equivalent - 54*1.6). So a little more 'zoomed in', that is tighter than what the eye might have perceived. 


1/80 f/8 ISO 100 18.0-55.0 mm @ 54 mm Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL

This second image was taken at 18mm. It intentionally includes a lot more sky - the clouds at a lot more drama. It also included a lot more ground, but I though that to be boring so cropped it out. You can see the same stand of trees in the middle of the frame.
 
1/125 f/8 ISO 100 18.0-55.0 mm @ 18 mm Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL


If you would like to learn a little more about the effects of different focal lengths, Canon has an excellent tutorial - it doesn't matter what brand of camera you use, the ideas are the same. The numbers may vary based on your sensor size, but that is a topic for another day.

Two more things:

1. Bonus points for anybody who can identify where these images (above) were taken, and
2. It is a beautiful weekend in the GTA - get out there and take some pictures.
   

A Smack of Sumac

I have a love-hate relationship with Sumac. And it is all about their colour. The Sumac tends to be on the early side of fall; by that I mean that they are early to change colour. That is why I hate it, because I always want more summer. On the other hand I love the colours of autumn and the sumac always puts in a good show.
 
1/100 f/5 ISO 400 75.0-300.0 mm @ 95 mm Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL
Leaside,Toronto,Ontario

Apple of my Eye

Although life seems to be too busy to fit in everything I would like to do, I really should make more time for apple picking. There it something that appeals to me about picking them locally myself. I like apples and the things we can make from them: pies, crisp, tarts, sauce, butter and of course, cider. Bit of all of these I think a tart, juicy crisp apple is one of the best things in creation. Perhaps that is why we have terms like 'The apple of my eye', and the concept of the tree in the garden of Eden being an apple tree.


1/640 f/5.6 ISO 400 75.0-300.0 mm @ 300 mm Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL
off 19th Avenue - Cashel,Markham,Ontario

Photographically there is a bit of noise in the image - that is what the original Rebel did at ISO400. I could have dropped down to ISO 200 and a shutter of 1/320. without much problem. I am not sure where the focus point was really set in this case. The very front of the apple seems a little soft so I don't think I nailed focus like I should have. Finally the bottom part of the image is some what yellow, I think I would have preferred - in retrospect - to have lowered the camera just a little so the background was a more even green.

By the way - support your local farmers.

Happy Endings

When I first saw this scene, there was something I saw that I really liked. So I took a picture of it. Later, at home, I liked at the image and was disappointed because the image was really flat - boring. Almost deleted it. Almost. This month as I was going through my fall images putting together the blog posts for the month, I rediscovered it. I tried to rescue it. Eventually I found a combination of Lightroom settings that I began to resonate with me. It has a very painterly feel that I like.



1/4000 f/4 ISO 400 75.0-300.0 mm @ 75 mm Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL

There are a few lessons this image has taught me:

Show Off

[For my Facebook readers, my apologies for the repeat. This post wasn't supposed to go live until Tuesday but it accidentally hit the net simultaneous with my intended Monday post "Red to Green".  So If you have seen this one already, go back one day.]

This is another of my favourite images from several years ago. I had gone out early one morning in search of fall colour. It was a bit of a foggy morning. I had parked the car and walked down the side of the road and I spotted this tree in the middle of a cow pasture that was just dressed to the nines in colour; way outdoing her (?) neighbours.

Thanksgiving weekend is coming up and I am sure there will be lots of trees in colour. Do miss your opportunity to make some wonderful images of trees 'showing off'.
1/3 f/10 ISO 200 @ 100 mm Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL

Green to Red.

This image has some faults that I'll discuss later, but the thing I like about it is the contrast of the green and red. It seems like in the fall we go from everything bright and green to vibrant red overnight. This image depicts that transition to me. It is said that a photographer is only as good as the worst picture they display. Unfortunately I have displayed many poor images. This one has a major technical fault. Do you see it? Take a close look and then hit the 'read more' and see if we agree.


1/800 f/5 ISO 400 75.0-300.0 mm @ 120 mm Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL

Untitled

Have you ever seen an artist who titles their work 'Untitled'? I would encourage you to give some serious thought to what name you might give your photographic works. I think it is an important part of building an emotional connection between yourself and your work as well as a means to help foster the creation of a connection between your artistic work and those who view it.

I know it is not easy. I always  appreciate the titles Sam Javanrouh gives to his photos he publishes every day on his daily dose of imagery site. My colleague Sharon does a pretty good job of that as well. I think perhaps becuase I share Sharon's sense of humour.
 


1/125 f/8 ISO 100 18.0-55.0 mm @ 22 mm Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL
Brickworks,Toronto,Ontario

Beauty in unexpected places

This image was created five years ago and yet it remains one of my favourite. My daughter and I got up early one Saturday morning to explore the Leaside bridge and the brickworks. I had little idea about what to expect at the brickworks, but had been told it was a good place for a photo walk. We weren't disappointed. Tucked away behind the brick works are these little holding ponds surrounded by trees. A lovely spot. They are currently renovating the brickworks and I hope it remains a great place to make images.
1/4 f/25 ISO 100 18.0-55.0 mm @ 33 mm Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL
Brickworks,Toronto,Ontario

My colleague Sam Obeid recently did an engagement session at the brickworks, take a look at some of his images to see more of the area. I particularly like this one of the couple against a brick wall.

Go Leafs Go

Friends of ours invited us up to their cottage for the weekend. Of course I took my camera. My wife and I took a lovely walk one afternoon. As is sometimes prone to happen I lost my camera - no not that 'lost', I new exactly where it was - my wife had it. I didn't take many pictures that afternoon causing she was having her own fun. Which is just fine by me. When I did get it back I spotted these leaves playing in the light. This is one of the aspects of the fall season I love. Maple Leafs.
1/1250 f/4 ISO 200 24.0-105.0 mm @ 60 mm Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL
Taylor Island,Gravenhurst,Ontario

One of the things we must learn as photographers is to see the light. Light is our main tool, we can't do anything without it. Always been watching how the light interacts with the world around you. Once you begin to learn how it behaves, and the effects it creates, you can then begin to envision how things could be and predict or visualize other possibilities.

Fall is Upon Us

Those who live in the GTA, like me, know that the march of the seasons continues. Fall is definitely here; the leaves are changing colour and carpeting the ground and we have had to dig out our jackets.

The fall offers many opportunities to practice our photographic arts, and I encourage all my local readers to get out there and do just that. Winter will soon be here, and it will be all that much harder to do so. Although the winter offers many interesting opportunities as well, it takes a lot more determination to get out there.

If you are a bear like creature, and hibernate for the winter, then I offer up today's image as hope for the springtime.

Today's tip is below the image.


1/160 f/4 ISO 100 24.0-105.0 mm @ 105 mm Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL
Richmond Hill,Ontario