Birds and Water

An acquaintance guided myself and a few others for a couple of outings last weekend. It was nice to go with a small group for some shooting time, and a chance to try and tame the beast! (see previous post).

Last Saturday we went to Howland Falls near Bear Island. A nice falls just off the road, about 45 km west of Fredericton. I can see myself going back on a cloudy day for some long shutter shots!

Howland Falls - Bear Island Area

On Sunday we headed out in the other direction to look for Osprey! About 60km east gets you to the Gagetown Ferry Road in Jemseg, where a number of platforms have been erected to keep the Osprey from building nests on the real power poles. I will be going back soon when the chicks have hatched – apparently you can catch much more fishing action!

The new lens performed well, and for my first time with the lens, and shooting birds – I was happy with the results. I was mainly shooting at 640 ISO, and an aperture of f/5.6 or f/8, and a shutter speed around 1/800th sec. I also had my Tamron 1.4x teleconverter attached to give me an equivalent view on my Canon 50D of a 157-

Osprey - Along the Ferry Road

448mm f/4 IS lens. I was shooting in Evaluative metering mode, with AI Servo autofocus mode, and 3 frames per second drive mode, in aperture priority mode.

My main lenses now are the Tokina 12-24mm f/4, Tamron 17-50 f/2.8, and Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS. I now realize that I have no large diameter ND filters…..oh well back to E -Bay!

The Beast has arrived!

Yes I finally saved up, broke down, or what ever you call it – I purchased a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L Image Stabilized lens! For a measly $1,900 US (ouch) I get one of the most highly rated Canon lenses, and my first “L” glass (a.k.a. professional lens).

Yay!!!!!!

Recent chatter…

OK – no post for a while :(

Let’s start with a photo…

Here is a warm toned black and white conversion of Garden Creek Falls. This is a great and close place with hundreds of photo opportunities!

The photo details: Canon 20D, Tokina 12-24mm lens @ f/16 and 0.6 seconds, at 12mm with a Polarizing filter. Tripod mounted. ISO 100

I just bought a wonderful New Brunswick Waterfall guide written by fellow photo club member Nicholas Guitard. While some waterfalls take some effort to get to, others, like this one, are literally steps off the highway. And this one is minutes outside of Fredericton! I cannot wait to get to some others, and go back to this one!

Canon service – what a fantastic experience! I was a little upset when I noticed the * button (exposure lock) on my Canon 50D was only working about 20% of the time. I contacted Canon service and filled out their online process and shipped my Camera to Ontario – I think I had it back in a week! Luckily I have a backup (my 20D). Great service, now if only I did not have to pay to ship it to them……

New lens… no, I don’t have it yet, but I am specifically saving up for a Canon EF 70-200 L f/2.8 IS version I. I am 3/4 of the way there and cannot wait! My first L glass :)

That’s all for now – have fun taking photos!

-André

Last minute

Our latest competition theme for the club was 'Saint John River'. I had no photos, and was considering letting this month pass by without entering. But I changed my mind, and went out with a friend at 10pm monday night to see what I could do. I was quite happy with the results, and played with some off camera lighting. Here are the 2 photos I entered:





While I didn't place, my second image got very close, and elicited a booing from the audience when the score was read. :)

What to shoot on a cold day?

Frost on the storm door! What else? But be quick before it melts!

 

Shot with a Canon 50D and a Nikon Micro-Nikkor AI 105mm f2.8 lens (set at f16 I believe, maybe f8), with mirror lockup and remote cable release on my Manfrotto 190D tripod, with a ball head (can’t remember the model right now). White balance was Sunny (Daylight), ISO 100, and a shutter of about 1 second. A little tweaking in RAW and PS (but not much)

BRRRR!!!!!

Christmas Present – A Scott Kelby Book on CS4!

For Christmas I got Scott Kelby’s book “The Adobe Photoshop CS4 Book for Digital Photographers”. I have the same book for CS2, and this one is just as great! I have started thumbing through it and trying some of the techniques.

Here is something I did up today – you like?

I also did a little learning about Bridge (file renaming and keyword manipulation) I can’t wait to try some other topics as well!

Forgotten shot

Odd title I know, but last month we had an intense Photo Club workshop on portrait photography and lighting, and then portrait-centric photo editing. I never posted my shot. I didn’t have many as I was giving the workshop – but I learned a little as well – bonus!

Here is my favourite shot, after post processing – I think it turned out well!

Here is a little before and after – now Michelle is already an attractive woman, but a little editing put on the polish! The left is the JPG file straight from the camera, and the right is after my work on the RAW file.

(I am still playing with Windows Live Writer – so far so good!)