Halloween!

You can't take a look at the colours and spirit of fall, without including Halloween!

This was taken with my cell phone camera, so it's not the best picture. The sun was also in an awkward spot, but I wasn't going to be around at a more convenient time, so here it is! This is a great yard for the holiday (IMO). It's not just random stuff, there's actually a bit of a plan and some unity to the whole look and design.

As for the quality of the picture... well, the best I can say is that at least it's in focus. The road here is too busy for me to feel comfortable going out in to the middle to take a better shot - not without another person with me to watch for cars.

                                                 HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Colours of Fall, part 3

These colours are completely different, but equally fall. That clear, but cold blue sky says winter is not too far away. The pine tree has pushed out an absolute plethora of pinecones, most of which still have their places on these upper branches. I just love how the tree is completely framed by the unbroken blue. I feel like it could somehow have been framed or set up better, but I'm not sure how, just off the top of my head.

Colours of Fall part 2

The colours in this bush are very different from yesterday's. Here the leaves have that beautiful yellow gold, tinged here and there with orange and red. The dark berries make such a fabulous contrast.  I wasn't at quite the right angle to get the same great clarity of the leaves as yesterday's picture, unfortunately. So the colours are clear, but the sharp details of the actual leaves are missing.

Colours of Fall

I'm going to do several photos over the next few days, trying to capture fall. I guess the bare branches from a couple of days ago would be the first, and the multi-colour tree from the 19th, as well.

If you have any suggestions for other themes I might try, leave a note!

I am completely in love with the colours in this bush. The reds with a touch of gold and orange. So rich and stunning. There's even a single brownish berry to the top left. I love the clarity of the leaves in the center, you can see the very veins of each leaf.

Comparison

Yesterday morning there was a lovely view from my office window. The sky was all kinds of pretty colours from the remains of the sunrise. I tried taking the pictures two different ways. First, I used essentially "automatic" settings (P setting). (Note that both pictures were taken through the same window.)

Contrast that with the second picture, where I used the "sunset" presetting.

In the end, they are both failures. The first washed out a lot of the colour, while the second just made everything too dark. I will definitely have to take more direct control next time I want to capture colours in the sky, as leaving the camera to sort it out just results in disappointment. Lesson learned! (If I had to pick one, I would take the first. I think overall the colours are truer than in the second.)

Fall is here.

The colours didn't really come through, but I still like the picture. Blue blue sky (which looks grey) showing flawlessly through the rawness of the bare branches. No clouds, no power lines, no noise. Season changes are really quite beautiful.

Out of town

Nuts, being out of town broke my perfect streak! I will get some new pictures up tomorrow.

Sunrise, looking west

It's a shame about the power lines, but I'm glad I took this when I did, because by the time I had made it a couple of blocks further to a more open area, the colour was much less impressive.

This could probably be improved with some editing, even if just by some cropping. But when I try to think of how to force it to fit the rule of thirds, I feel like I would be losing an important part. The power pole on the left could be cut without loss, but I like the sky further above the cloud and something about the quiet street below it.

Moon set

This was taken not long after sunrise, looking west.

A handheld shot from a camera that's not all that powerful, considering how far away the item was I was shooting. I love the shadows and colours, which are partly from clouds.

Amazing nature

Nature always amazes me. For example, apparently only about a third of this tree has received the memo that it's autumn now. So the right third is entirely red and yellow, while the top bit is confused and the left is entirely green. (The yellow at the bottom left is actually another tree.)

Beautiful colours!

The kick!

Overall, this is not a great photo. Nothing about it is really in focus. I was a split second too late and the ball is already out of the frame.

What I like about it: I was fast enough to catch him at the peak of his kick - that man is flexible! This was a particular accomplishment since I was wearing mittens at the time and couldn't actually see when the ball was snapped back to the guy who holds it for the kicker. I also like the way it's framed - a bit of field all the way around gives it context. And I like how very blurry the opposition team members are, since it helps indicate how fast they were approaching.

Dedicated fan

This is what you would call a dedicated fan! Or a crazy man. I'm not sure which. It was about 8C for a 5pm start, and only got colder as the sun set. But as far as I could tell, he stayed like this the whole game. He didn't even appear to cheat and hide under a blanket while sitting in his seat. Given how cold I was in all my layers, I'm impressed!

In Motion, Part 3

The third part of the motion assignment was "Freeze the Action". There's a little more blurriness than I would like around the feet of #49, but all in all, it hits the mark. Not bad for being at maximum zoom. And I like that neither of his feet are touching the ground.

(Eskimos beat the Blue Bombers, 24-10.)

In Motion, Part 2

Holy crap! I did it! The reverse of yesterday's picture is to get the vehicle (or other moving object) to be in focus, while the scene is blurry. It's not perfect, but I think it's quite a good attempt. Then add in the fact I shot this through the window of a moving bus.

Very pleased with this.

This is part of the assignments related to motion. This was #3, Show the action by blurring the background.

In motion

For being a handheld shot, this actually turned out reasonably well. The goal was to show the car's motion, but not let everything else get blurry. Because it was so bright out, I couldn't have the shutter open too long, or the whole picture would have been whited out. The shutter was 1/13 of a second, while other photos that day were in the neighbourhood of 1/200th.

If I had a do-over, I would put the car in the bottom third instead of the top third. I think the building being in focus would show off the car's motion more than the pavement does. It would also be just plain more interesting to look at.

I found the syllabus for a photography course, and while I'm not formally taking the course, I do want to work through some of the assignments. So the next few days will tackle the assignments related to motion. This was actually #2, Show the action by blurring the foreground.

Later than usual

Whoops, quite late today, but it's still Thursday so I have not broken the photo-per-day mission!

Skyscrapers make for neat photos. In this twist, instead of looking up at the building, I'm actually looking up it's reflection! It's a bit deceiving at first, because the frames around the panes of window line up very well with the building's reflection.

Fall flower

The picture is a little dark, but it was pretty early in the day, and overcast. A longer exposure time would have helped, I think, but since I was doing this handheld the risk is that the picture will be blurry. Always a tradeoff!

You can't tell from the picture itself, but what caught my eye with this flower is that it's still so perfect and alive - when fall is encroaching all around it. Everywhere the flowers are fading, the leaves are turning colours... and here was this beautiful little flower against a (nearly) completely green background. One last hurrah!

Framing

This was a bit of a crazy shot! I spotted some picnic tables with a design of holes in the top - so I used the holes as a frame for the ground underneath. You see part of a chair to the left and chair and table legs to the right. A really neat effect, and I'm going to watch for more chances to do things like this.

Street view

This was "taken blind" - I left the camera just hanging from my neck, and when the road ahead looked good, I clicked. I like the lower angle, and I love the mottled shadows from the trees.

A beautiful fall day!

Looking way up

It was a great day to get a shot of this towering downtown building. The blue of the glass against the blue of the sky is quite beautiful.

Crowds

This was taken at the annual breast cancer walk, "The Run for the Cure". I managed to get above everyone, but I couldn't effectively compensate for the length of my arms in comparison to the width of the wall. In the end, I think it kind of works that I couldn't be as straight-on to the crowd as I wanted. I love the solid band of green and yellow trees with the art gallery in behind. It gives a bit of scale or perspective for the size of the crowd.

Happy pup

I chose not to crop this one, because I thought it wouldn't make a lot of sense with the context half-gone. I always find it a challenge to capture an animal looking "natural" - when the natural state is anything other than sleeping. Often you have to get them sitting or eating. Here I feel you can really see this little guy's spunk and energy and happiness.

I really wanted to take him home, but I settled for his picture, instead.

Reflections, take 2

Now that I've discovered this method of photography, I'm having a lot of fun with it!

It's almost tricky to sort out what is the reflection and what's "real".

One small patch

A ladder would have been great for capturing this shot. It's just such a random, brilliantly green patch of grass.

Cutting aluminum

An even faster shutter speed might have made this one even better. It was at 1/13, because the garage was sort of dark. The shavings at the sides are relatively in focus, while the bit in the center is just a blur of speed.

Dragonfly

This isn't the most brilliant picture, but I think it's a neat one. It almost looks like this blade of grass has wings! I'm very pleased that it's so beautifully in focus.

The background is a pond, so there was no chance I could go around and get the dragonfly itself.

Filling the Balloon

First, the teams use a large fan to simply put a lot of air in the balloon. Then the burners are turned on and begin to heat the air, at which point the silk starts to rise...

Fox and the Hound... Balloon Style

Part of the hot air balloon competition was a "Fox and the Hound" style of hunt. The "fox" (or balloonmeister) was given a head start. His job was to go hide a target. After a pre-determined amount of time, the teams were allowed to start filling their balloons and set off on the chase!

Not quite every team is shown here, but many of them. 12 balloons total!