53Weeks 002 of 371: Hatton-Baker House

Just up the street from "The Ottaway" is this house which I haven't paid much attention too until lately. I have Baker ancestors on my father's side - I wonder if I am related to Jacob?

This is what the text on the plaque reads:

"The Hatton-Bake House was constructed by William Hatton, the first leader of the local Primitive Methodist congregation, whose first house built in the 1830s still stands across the road at 10754 Woodbine Avenue. The simple, Symmetrical form for the house at 10761 Woodbine Avenue is representative of the vernacular Georgian architectural tradition. Constructed c. 1850, it is one of the oldest remaining buildings in Victoria Square. Modest in scale and simple in detail, the house is a good example of a worker's cottage designed to meet the housing needs of a village tradesman and his family.

Jacob Baker, a carpenter and member of an early Pennsylvania-German family, updated the house c. 1880 with patterned polychrome brickwork, a veranda decorated with fretwork, and the reworking of the original 6/6 windows to 2/2 glazing. From 1938 to 2005, the Mortson family were significant later owners. Gord Mortson operated a bus line from the property in the mid-20th Century, using a converted bard behind the house as a garage. In 2011, the house was restored by the Cesaroni Holdings Limited to form part of a new commercial development.

The Hatton-Baker House has contextual value as one of number of heritage buildings comprising the crossroads community of Victoria Square and is the only remaining 19th century building on the east side of Woodbine Avenue, north of Elgin Mills Road. The house is an important reminder of the early historical development of this street corner, which once contained another early house and a hotel that served travellers (sic) on the Markham and Elgin Mills plank road."

Hatton-Baker House
10761 Woodbine Avenue,Markham,Ontario
3 Image HDR via HDR Efex Pro
24 mm f/7.1 ISO 400
Canon EOS 40D EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM 



Hatton-Baker House
10761 Woodbine Avenue,Markham,Ontario
24 mm f/7.1 1/1000 ISO 400
Canon EOS 40D EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM 



Hatton-Baker House
10761 Woodbine Avenue,Markham,Ontario
105 mm f/7.1 1/250 ISO 400
Canon EOS 40D EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM 



Hatton-Baker House
10761 Woodbine Avenue,Markham,Ontario
105 mm f/7.1 1/1250 ISO 400
Canon EOS 40D EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM 



Hatton-Baker House
10761 Woodbine Avenue,Markham,Ontario
84 mm f/7.1 1/1600 ISO 400
Canon EOS 40D EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM 



Hatton-Baker House
10761 Woodbine Avenue,Markham,Ontario
24 mm f/7.1 1/500 ISO 400
Canon EOS 40D EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM

53Weeks 001 of 371: The Ottaway

My first theme for project '53Weeks' will be images of historic homes local to my area.

Although this his was originally built by James Stoutenburgh c.1860, to me it has always been the Ottaway home. In my childhood memory it was the biggest and fanciest house I knew. In comparison to the 'modern' mansions in Markham it would pale in size, but in my mind, never in grandeur.


The Ottaway
10748 Woodbine,Markham,Ontario
5 image stitch using Microsoft ICE.

Introducing 53Weeks - My Project365 for 2013.

In 2011 I did Project 365 for the first time. Although it was hard work, I enjoyed it a lot and I it did improve my photography a lot. I didn't do it in 2012 because I though I needed a break and I was going to focus on more contemplative, week long projects. That didn't work out so well. In 2013 I am going to do 'Project 365' again, but with a little twist; instead of 365 days, I am going to do 53 weeks - 371 days. I will do a theme every week, with an effort to not repeat the themes from 2011, but no promises. A new theme will begin on Monday. So my 2013 project will actually start on December 31, 2012.

To help with the workflow, I have set-up several things in Lightroom. I have created presets for import, metadata, develop and export. The import preset is my standard preset except that is set file name prefix, and specifies the metadata and develop presets. The metadata preset has my copyright, keywords as well as the posting headline text (encoded in the IPTC Job Identifier). I set the caption with text to remind me to change the key fields. The develop preset specifies Lens Correction, plus my default tone curve, clarity and camera calibration settings. Finally the export preset brings it all together, because it will create the posting to blogger using LR/Blog and prefill a lot of the text using text set from the other presets.

I have already shot my first day's photos and today's selection will be posted shortly.

Snowfall

We went for a drive last weekend and contrary to what the weather forecast predicted we drove into snow; beautiful soft snow which draped over the evergreens.

Snowfall
South River,Ontario
24 mm f/8 1/400 ISO 400
Canon EOS 40D EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM

"Reflect" by David Hunter

Today I attended the opening of a new exhibit at the Gerrard Art Space by photographer David Hunter. Although my work and Dave's diverge almost as soon as light hits our lenses, I greatly appreciate his art.

His work is all black and white; and all traditional wet darkroom processed. There is a great deal of power in images that is achieved as a result.

The show runs through to October 7th, if you are in the Toronto area, plan to make a visit.

Apple Blossom Blues

An apple blossom a day keeps the photographic blues away?

Apple Blossom

Tommy Thompson Park,Toronto

1/250 f/5.6

Canon EOS 40D, EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM +2.0x

The Devine Miss O

I had just a few moments with three Orioles forgaging in the bushes before a cyclist scared them off. If you don't understand the title, listen to this.

 

The Devine Miss O

Tommy Thompson Park,Toronto

1/125 f/8

Canon EOS 40D, EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM +2.0x

The Squid

This looks very much to me like a squid. I suspect the person who placed it there thought so as well. TThe first version was processed in color Efex Pro 4, and the second in Silver Efex Pro 2.
Which do you prefer?

The Squid

Tommy Thompson Park,Toronto

1/250 f/8

Canon EOS 40D, EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM +2.0x

The Squid

Tommy Thompson Park,Toronto

1/250 f/8

Canon EOS 40D, EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM +2.0x

Red-Winged Black Bird

Red-winged black birds are fairly common, but they like to spend their time down in the reeds so often difficult to get a clean shot.

Red-Winged Black Bird

Tommy Thompson Park,Toronto

1/250 f/8

Canon EOS 40D, EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM +2.0x

Black-Crowned Night Heron

There are hundreds of these birds nesting in one grove of trees. Vert cool to see so many birds in such a small space.

Black-Crowned Night Heron

Tommy Thompson Park,Toronto

1/800 f/5.6

Canon EOS 40D, EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM +2.0x

Tree Swallow

Yet another bird from TTP. There were hundreds of these.

Tree Swallow

Tommy Thompson Park,Toronto

1/200 f/5.6

Canon EOS 40D, EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM +2.0x

Brown-Headed Cow Bird - Perhaps

Another image from my visit to TTP. By no means am I an expert in bird identification, but I think this is a Brown-headed Cowbird.

 

Brown-Headed Cow Bird - Perhaps

Tommy Thompson Park,Toronto

1/200 f/7.1

Canon EOS 40D, EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM +2.0x

Common Tern

I attended the Spring Bird Festival at Tommy Thompson Park yesterday.It is a great place naturalized area to visit in the Toronto area. I love the back ground of this image, it has a very painterly feel.

Common Tern
375mm, f/8, 1/400s
Canon 40D EF70-200 2x Extender.

Performance Boost for Silver Efex Pro 2

I was working on the image below with Silver Efex Pro 2 , and was wishing there was someway to speed it up. Every new preset I applied would take a second or so to paint the screen. I decided to jump through the settings and see if there was anything that might help. Low and behold there is a setting in the GPU section named 'Enable GPU processing'. I check the box and restarted the program and the performance boost was fabulous. I did notice in some of the forums that it can cause some people stability problems but so far for me it works great.

A gorgeous walk in the hard wood maple forest at the end of winter.


A Walk in the Woods
St. Catharines,Ontario
1/100 f/6.3 73 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
Silver Efex Pro 2

Frosted

I went for a winter walk at the Ken Reid Conservation area in Lindsay awhile back. Its a nice place for a walk. I went for a winter walk at the Ken Reid Conservation area in Lindsay awhile back. Its a nice place for a walk.


Frosted
Lindsay,Ontario
1/200 f/2.8 200 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
Color Efex Pro 4 - tonal contrast detail extractor, skylight and borders

Daylight Savings Time - Don't forget your camera!

For many of us in North America our clocks changed to Daylights Savings Time overnight. So don't forget to change your camera clocks as well.

My book is almost done!

It has been a whole month since I completed my project 365. I haven't touched my camera since January 1st. But I still have been working with my pictures. 

By the 29th of January I had finished the layout of the 112 page book, written all of the text and the cover design is complete.My final book will be published via blurb. It is a 30cm square layout. I am going to use their Pro Pearl paper. I am really excited to get the final result in my hands. Only a few things left to do; my proof-reader will go through all of the text and make sure it reads well (as soon as she is done writing report cards), one more pass with fresh eyes to ensure the layout is perfect, and then send it off to the printers. 

 

This image is the entire book in one image. 

Now it is time to get back to my camera work.

Working on My Book

After a year of posting almost every day, this past week has been dead silent. Project 365 is over and I am now working on other projects. To start with I am trying to compile my years worth of images into a book.

I have decided on a 12x12 book published via Blurb. I started out with a  four side per week layout, but decided that I wanted a book with fewer pages. I am now working on a two side per week layout that should work well.

I do find it a challenge to get a layout I like and using the aspect ratios of the photos.

I hope to publish by the end of January.

Project365 366: One Year Later

During 2011 in did "Project 365". I took a photo a day, every single day, and sometimes a hundred photos to get one keeper. I organized my work into weekly self assignments. The project was very successful. Not only did I take a picture everyday, but I also posted it to this blog, usually within a day of taking the image. According to Google Analytics I had 1400 unique visitors over the year. My audience was global; Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Australia, India, Germany, France, Mexico, Indonesia, and Italy were my top ten countries. With visitors from 74 countries in total. For a good part of the year the images were cross-posted to Facebook (until they turned off the RSS syndication feature) and also on Google+ . So from a shear numbers perspective, I am under counting. Although numbers are interesting, they are not my measure of success.

Note: If you were a regular visitor and would like to put a tip in the jar, click on one of the advertisements on the blog. Thanks. 

Why did I do "Project 365"? The basic goal was to improve my photography. Without a doubt I have achieved that goal. It may not be obvious by flipping through my years worth of imagery. In part because you can't see what I threw away! I found the structure of a theme useful in order to force me to stretch just that much more. I avoided the "easy out" of taken a picture of my toes before I went to bed. I also used it as an opportunity to focus on and improve some techniques. For example while working on my black and white theme, you only saw one image per day, but I experimented with many. I also combined that with specific reading on various topics, such as Andrew Gibson's "The Magic of Black and White".

I have sure you have all heard of Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hour rule . I certainly did put in 10,000 hours during my year. I didn't keep formal track, but I estimate somewhere between 500 and 1,000 hours invested. David duChemin wrote an article entitled 'Do The Work'.  He cited several quotes that I would like to repeat directly. 

“The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.” ~Emile Zola

“Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working.” ~ Picasso

“Just as appetite comes by eating, so work brings inspiration, if inspiration is not discernible at the beginning.” ~ Igor Stravinsky

This whole concept of putting in the time behind the lens, and also the critical evaluation of your work - every day - is a key benefit of Project 365.

There are some limitations that come along with the rigours of daily production, at least for me. I was not able to spin a longer tale. Although the week's work did have some consistency to it, they did not form a cohesive story. Perhaps it can be done, if one were to make it a full time job, or had more established talents. 

Many have asked me, "Are you going to do it again?" My answers is maybe some year, but not 2012. I want to spend this year coming catching up on some of the great images I took in the past year, but didn't have time to deal with and also to work on the larger bodies of work. One such effort will be a book of the years worth of imagery.

I started Project 365 with a self-portrait and for day 366, that is the way I will end it. Happy New Year to all. 

Self Portrait 2012

1/4 f/2.8 70 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

Project365 365: Three Hundred and Sixty Five!

Three Hundred and Sixty Five! I did it. Not a single day missed, but as I was reviewing my images for the year I almost thought I missed day 293. I had misplaced the file. I am glad I found it because it was one of my favs.

I will provide more of a retrospective in the new year, until then Happy New year to all!


Three Hundred and Sixty Five!
,Ontario
1/30 f/4 35 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Color Efex Pro 4 - Polaroid Transfer and frames via Fotosketcher

Project365 364: Kaput Candle

Second last image of the year's Project 365. Both the candle and I share a common theme. We are both almost kaput.

Note: if you try something like this yourself, watch that you don't overheat your lens or get it smoky.


Kaput Candle

1/4 f/7.1 105 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Canon 500D macro filter. color Efex Pro 4 - tonal contrast detail extractor, glamour glow and borders

Project365 363: Wishbone

The wishbone is often the last remnants of a holiday meal. My personal challenge (or wish) with this photo was to see if I could make an interesting image with a bone as the featured item. I am stll contemplating what I could have done different or better. Afterwards I took a look on some photo sites to see what other might have done. The most interesting images I found were of multiple wishbones which made for some interesting patterns.


Wishbone

1" f/5 28 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
color Efex Pro 4 - tonal contrast and borders

Project365 190: The Business End

I am going though my entire years worth of Project 365 images and discovered that I didn't post one on day 190. What can I say, I was on holidays. My theme that week was descanso, meaning to relax. Although this bee was hard at work, I wasn't.


The Business End
Puerto Vallarta,Jalisco
1/200 f/9 105 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Color Efex Pro 4 - detail Extractor, centre brighten and borders

Project365 362: The End of The Day

Sunset at Lake Wilcox; I originally had a different concept for this image. I was thinking of the dead end road with the signage being the feature and the sunet as background interest but as played around with the scene I decided that the sign didn't work and instead I would feature snow capped rocks.


The End of The Day
Lake Wilcox, Richmond Hill,Ontario
1/5 f/7.1 28 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Color Efex Pro 4 - sky Light (x2) and borders

Project365 361: Running on Empty

Many people has asked me if I am going to continue with Project 365 into another year. My answer is 'no'. Just like the fuel in my tank, I feel like it is time for a change.


Running on Empty

1/10 f/2.8 190 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
Color Efex Pro 4 - film grain and borders

Project365 360: The End of Dessert

Today marks the the beginning of the end. As is my custom I start my new weekly theme for Project 365 on Mondays. This week my theme is 'Finis' as in 'The End'. This week will feature the end of things.

I might also use the opportunity to explore some more complex lighting setups. I now have a new Apollo softbox that I need to learn how to use.


The End of Dessert

1/50 f/20 40 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Color Efex Pro 4 - tonal contrast and borders

Project365 359: The Family of Snow

They are taking refuge on our window sill. There was not enough snow on Christmas day for them to be outside. They were happy nonetheless.


The Family of Snow

1/50 f/14 50 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Color Efex Pro 4 - tonal contrast and borders

Project365 358: Ornament

"So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them." Luke 2:16-18


Ornament
1/40 f/4 105 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Frame added with Fotosketcher

Project365 357: Street Scene

We went out to see the Mayan exhibit at that the ROM (recommended). This was the Yorkville scene on the way back to the parking spot.

Street Scene
Toronto,Ontario
1/30 f/4 84 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
color Efex Pro 4 - tonal contrast Levels and Cruves, and borders

Project365 356: A Royal Tree

The pick for today was a toss up between the Christmas Spirit Tree at Union Station and this tree in the lobby of the Royal York. I liek the way this turned out.

I'm not going to show you the image from Union Station. It was a pretty good shot - I thought. I had the tree and the central clock in balance with each other. It was thinking about the idea of travelling home for Christmas. And then I had both of those refelcted in the polished countertop. I thought I had nailed it. When I got home I realazied that I had missed a big item; Also in the reflection was a brochure stand with bright white papers. It is amazing to me that I didn't see that when composing. I guess I was too focused on the main composition and mental assumed that the relfection would match. Lesson learned - probably not. :-(


A Royal Tree
Toronto,Ontario
1/10 f/4 24 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
color Efex Pro 4 - tonal contrast and borders

Project365 355: Catch a Falling Star

But reindeer don't have pockets!  The Eaton Centre has these massive reindeer on display. They have these stars decorating their interiors.


Catch a Falling Star
Toronto,Ontario
1/60 f/4 67 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Color Efex Pro 4 - detail Extractor, centre brighten and borders

Project365 354: Glass Flowers II

The TD Centre has these large urns with a Medusa like growth of glass flowers with a light bulb on the end. Interesting.


Glass Flowers II
Toronto,Ontario
1/125 f/4 35 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Color Efex Pro 4 - detail Extractor and borders

Project365 353: Portrait of an Angel

Christmas, its traditions and its Christian roots are both important to me. Luke 2:8-15 tells the story of an angelic visit to a group of shepherds some 2000 years ago. The song they sang was “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” Every year we place an angel on the top of our tree. There must be millions of angels on top of trees around the world, perhaps much like it was back then.


Portrait of an Angel
Richmond Hill,Ontario
4.9999996711455" f/32 195 mm (This was simply a coincidence that this image was also a 5 second exposure)
Canon EOS 40D, EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
Frame added with Fotosketcher

Project365 352: What Time Is It?

It is said, "That a man with one watch knows the time, but a man with two is never sure!" But what if your watch has more than one second hand?

My final image from my "5 Second" series. Exposure time was 5 seconds. Flash set to pulse every second, which is why there is six second hands.


What Time Is It?

4.9999996711455" f/32 150 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

Project365 351: Descending

This was a very experimental piece. Water droplets and a five second exposure? Since they would just be in the field of view for a fraction of a second, how could I catch anything interesting? To freeze the motion I used my flash and set to to pulse at one flash per second, so during my 5 second exposure it would pulse 6 times. So the droplets in this image are different droplets, each caught during separate pulses. The orange hue comes from the bottle of dish soap sitting in the background. I originally tried to smooth out the noise in the background, but then changed my mind and decided to enhance the noise to give a texture to the background.


Descending
Richmond Hill,Ontario
4.9999996711455" f/18 153 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
dFINE, Color Efex Pro 4 - detail Extractor, tonal contrast, and borders

Project365 350: Spinning Wheel

I recently discovered (thanks JM) that Toronto has its own Christmas Market at the Distillery District. This is the last weekend so hustle on downtown if interested. Expect crowds and parking to be a pain. Check out the web site at http://torontochristmasmarket.com/. I'll post some photos of the place sometime soon. But this image is for my weekly theme of '5 seconds'.


Spinning Wheel
Toronto,Ontario
4.9999996711455" f/16 18 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
Frame added with Fotosketcher

Project365 349: Too Much Coffee

This was taken from the Go Train Window as we approached Union Station from the east. You can see the Toronto Star building on the left side. The train was moving along slowly and as the shutter was open I zoomed all the way out and then back in again to create the 'V' formation. Ironically and despite the title I hadn't had any coffee yet that day. Perhaps it could be described as withdrawal jitters.


Too Much Coffee
Toronto,Ontario
4.9999996711455" f/11 18 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
Frame added with Fotosketcher

Project365 348: Shooting Stars

The technique I explored today also involved a car, but this time I set up my tripod in the passenger seat and pointed the camera out the side window. I used a 'cable' release to hold the shutter button down and turned on the repeat exposure feature. I set the exposure manually (eventually) with a Tv=5. Then I drove around the neighbourhood looking for front yards decorated with Christmas lights. I drove past them slowly to capture a streaking light effect. This image was rotated slightly for effect.


Shooting Stars
Richmond Hill,Ontario
Frame added with Fotosketcher

Project365 347: Warp Speed Mr. Scott

I found this an interesting way to explore longer shutter speeds. I mounted my camera on a gorillapod and set it in the dash. I mounted ND filters to be able to hold back enough light. Try all of your windows not just the front. There were some out the side window that I really liked too. A few tips. Make sure your sensor is clean as you will likely need to use very small apertures. Use ND filters to stop down the light. Wear black and bring a black cloth to cut reflections of the dash. Clean your windows. And don't forget safety: wear your seat belt and have somebody else drive.


Warp Speed Mr. Scott
Richmond Hill,Ontario
4.9999996711455" f/32 41 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
Color Efex Pro 4 - detail Extractor and borders

Project365 346: Ghosts of Christmas Present

This week I am going to try making images that has a particular and yet arbitrary constraint - 5 seconds. More specifically a shutter speed of 5 seconds. I haven't pre-planned the weeks worth of images as I sometimes do, so this will be a week of discovery.


Ghosts of Christmas Present
Toronto,Ontario
4.9999996711455" f/20 52 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
Color Efex Pro 4 - detail Extractor, tonal contrast, and borders

Project365 345: Chocolate and Cream

I mentioned on day 343 that Poinsettias are a common decoration in my house at Christmas. Chocolate is another common ingredient. So I mixed those two up with a chocolate-cream duotone rendition of this white Poinsettia.


Chocolate and Cream
Markham,Ontario
1/15 f/4 67 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM

Project365 344: Blue Christmas

One of the neat things about black and white conversions is that you can also tone the image. This is a blue and cream combination that I like. In Lightroom I have set the highlight hue to 50 and the shadow hue to 217. (Don't forget to pull up the saturation as well). The original image was very warm with a lot of red and orange hues.


Blue Christmas
Richmond Hill,Ontario
1/5 f/4 105 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Black and White conversion in Lightroom

Project365 343: Red Poinsettia

Poinsettias have long been a part of Christmas for me. More so in recent years because they are one of my wife's favourite.


Red Poinsettia
Richmond Hill,Ontario
6.0000020764427" f/18 67 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
BW conversion in Lightroom

Project365 342: Red Balls

These red balls have been the common seasonal decorations in the Cadillac-Fairview buildings in the TD Centre. I used HDR capture so I could retain some of the detail in the background outside.


Red Balls
Toronto,Ontario
f/7.1 105 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
HDR EFx Pro and then Silver Efex Pro 2

Project365 341: Gold and Blue

Two beach ball sized spheres hanging in the an atrium area of First Canadian Place. There was a ceiling light behind the top one that give it a bit of a hallow. The top one is the blue one.


Gold and Blue
Toronto,Ontario
f/7.1 50 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM

Project365 340: Orange, Gold and Green

I liked the variety of decorations on this tree at the Sheraton. The colours weren't my favourite choice but that doesn't really matter for a black and white image, does it?


Orange, Gold and Green
Toronto,Ontario
f/7.1 47 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
HDR EFx Pro and then Silver Efex Pro 2

Project365 339: Red Berries

For many Christmas is a season of rich colours and bright lights. For this week's theme my personal challenge is to present those commonly colourful images but in black and white.


Red Berries
Toronto,Ontario
1/6 f/4 35 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Silver Efex Pro 2

Project365 338: Stepping Stones

To wrap up this week's theme of steps I wanted to do something different. These aren't traditional steps, but finger and toe holds on a rock climbing wall.


Stepping Stones
Richmond Hill,Ontario
1/250 f/11 70 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
Color Efex Pro 4 - detail Extractor, tonal contrast, and borders

Project365 337: The Path of Ancestors

These steps are inside the old family barn. I don't know how old these actual steps are, but if they are original, then I they have been used by at least four generations.

I used to flashes to light them up in this dark interior. Not a lot of space to work, which really limited my options. I also learned that I need more practice with my flashes.


The Path of Ancestors
Gormley,Ontario
1/125 f/8 24 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Color Efex Pro 4 - detail Extractor, tonal contrast, and borders

Project365 336: Criss - Cross

I have been spying these stair cases from the GO train for quite sometime, and have been contemplating the best vantage spot. I tried to get to a location on the north side of the Gardner, but it was not accessible. In the end right from Queens Quay East worked out fine, just a little lower perspective than I imagined.


Criss - Cross
Toronto,Ontario
1/13 f/7.1 73 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
Color Efex Pro 4 - detail Extractor, tonal contrast, and borders

Project365 335: The Underside

 I originally was going to capture the end of these steps, much like yesterdays, but as I approached the stair case from the rear I liked this repeating geometry of the supports much better. The reflection on the bottom is from the polished stone surface on the stop of the garbage container.


The Underside
Toronto,Ontario
f/7.1 24 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
HDr Efex Pro - -2,0,+2, then Color Efex Pro 4 for borders.

Project365 334: Stone Steps

On the way to a dinner meeting I was looking for my daily pick. When I saw this, I knew I had what I was looking for. I love the stone texture.


Stone Steps
Toronto,Ontario
f/4 24 mm
Canon EOS 40D, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
HDr Efex Pro  -2,0,+2, then Silver Efex Pro 2