Naptime

It's a Monday... on a Tuesday. The first day back after a long weekend is always hard. This is what I would rather be doing:

(No, this little girl is not spoiled at all!)

Water water...

Sadly, this did not work out quite as well as I wanted.

I was trying to get a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the drops, however it wasn't bright enough out, so the high shutter speeds resulted in a very dark image. This was the best of the middle ground. It's a wading pool (in the summer and a skating rink in the winter) with large water sprays from either side. The kids have a lot of fun, but I was pleased to be able to practice this when there were no children around - so I didn't creep out any parents.

1/250 sec, f/5.0 aperture, 19.8mm focal length, ISO 80

Buying a photoprinter?

Earlier this year, PCMag published an article about buying a photoprinter. They don't tell you which particular one to get, just explain the different factors involved, questions you need to ask yourself, and things to consider. How To Buy A Photoprinter

And Christmas isn't too far away, so if you're going to ask for one as a gift, you might want to do the research for yourself and ask for something very specific!

Framed Duck

Almost perfectly framed by the grasses at the edge of the lake. But not quite perfectly. Which makes me sad.

1/160 sec, f/5.0 aperture, ISO 80, 35.6mm focal length

Wordless Wednesday: Frog/Toad... Amphibian!

Do not photograph me.

1/60 sec, f/5.7, flash used, ISO 200, 100mm focal length

American Crow

He could be a bit sharper. But I love the profile, I love how he seems to be looking out from behind the tree. I love how soft and out of focus the background is, with the sharp leaves in the foreground.

1/200 sec, f/5.7 aperture, ISO 200, 100mm focal length

Contrasting colours

More killing time while waiting for people to walk by! I loved the contrasting colours between the pale leaves and the rich berries.

1/50 sec, f/4.0 aperture, ISO 80, 16mm focal length

Great Blue Heron

Absolutely at the distance limit of what my camera could manage clearly. But it is very obvious that this is indeed a Great Blue Heron. We actually followed him for quite a while, unintentionally. When we got too close (which wasn't close at all) he would take off, and watching him in flight was just breath-taking.

1/160 sec, f/5.7, ISO 80, 100mm focal length

Pretty Butterfly

Had to track this one for quite a while before it settled enough for me to get this picture. And I'm very pleased with the results of my patience! I'm of two minds about whether I should crop this one. On one hand, I'd like to focus in a little more on the butterfly, but on the other hand, I love the contract with the rocky ground.

1/640 sec, f/5.7, 100mm focal length, ISO 160

Wordless Wednesday: Coloured Fire

So many things are wrong with this picture... but the colours are so right!

1/4 sec (with tripod), f/3.5, ISO 200, focal length 10.4mm

Plains Bison

A Plains Bison. (And I have learned that buffalo is not the singular of bison, it's a different species.) This shot was taken from the safety of a large van. I was not the driver, and he was ready to bolt if this guy had looked bothered by us. He never showed any care for our presence.

1/320 sec, f/4.5 aperture, ISO 80, 19.8mm focal length

Tips for Improving Wildlife Photography

Are you looking for some tips to improve your photography of wildlife? As you may have noticed on these pages, it's one of my favourite subjects. If you enjoy it, or just want to get better in case the opportunity arises, the Digital Photography School offers this article with 10 Tips for Improving Your Wildlife Photography. And even if you aren't in to shooting this kind of image, the pictures used as examples are worth clicking the link, all by themselves.

Blue Dragonfly

This guy was not feeling well, so pictures were easy to get. I got him off the road by coaxing him on to my bus pass, and then after a while I moved him to the grass, where I thought he'd be safer. Anyway, his lethargy gave me the opportunity for an amazingly clear and close picture!

1/30sec, f/5.0, focal length 62.5mm, ISO 80

Random Saturday: Cleo Drives

There is nothing stellar about this picture, except for the subject. Cleo wanted to see where her other human had gotten off to! What amused me the most is that she is too light to honk the horn.

When you are a super curious pup, sometimes you just need to get higher! Just don't ask how she steers with all four paws on the wheel.

Too good to miss

This duck was diving for lunch under the water. The view was priceless - including the feet visible beneath the surface of the water! Strangely, I actually like that it's off-center. Usually I'm not fond of it, but this one works. Maybe that's because it's only a little off?

1/125 sec, f/5.0 aperture, ISO 80, focal length 41.4mm

Wordless Wednesday: Sunset over Lake Astotin

0.4sec, f/2.8, exposure bias -2/3, ISO 80, focal length 5.2mm

Candies in Water

Are you looking for some inspiration? A creative idea to break you out of a rut you're in? Take a look at these beautiful candies photographed in water drops.

Bumblebee

Lovely shot of a bee taken while waiting for people to clear out so I could put a geocache back in to hiding! I need to crop this one to bring the focus more on the bee, since it's quite sharp and the wings are fairly detailed.

1/400sec, f/5.7, ISO 80, focal length 100mm

A long absence

A long time since the last post! Between having a broken computer for several weeks amd yhe amount of time spent on my two new favourite hobbies, the blog has fallen by the wayside. (Those hobbies are playing with/teasing the puppy, and Geocaching.) My camera does provide great cover though, when I'm trying to be stealthy in hunting for a geocache. I've gotten some great shots while waiting for people to walk past, so I can dive back in to the bushes or a tree!

Like this one! It probably breaks a million "rules" - like rule of thirds, since the bird is smack in the middle of the shot. But for me, it works.

Airtime take 2

And now, for a totally different kind of airtime!

They set up their jump and I did my best to set up the shot - without getting in the way of the guy with the controller or of the car. Wouldn't tickle to get hit by that! It was very bright out, so I darkened up the picture just slightly to keep the brightest parts from blowing out. I think it worked well!

1/250 (0.004sec) exposure, aperture f/5.0, 27.6mm focal length, -2/3 exposure bias, ISO 80

Airtime!

A lot of the pictures I took of the parade are mediocre at best, because there are street lights and power lines in the way. (The joys of shooting through an office window!) But there are some shots that are improved by the height:

I saw the Edmonton Eskimoes Cheer Team setting up, and I just pointed at them and hit continuous shot - which resulted in this great shot. I'm very pleased!

1/250 exposure (0.004 sec), focal length 45.6mm, aperture f/5.0, ISO 80. Nothing else fancy!

Parade Day!

I love parades. I think they are a ridiculous amount of fun and silliness. Consider yourself forewarned for a few days of parade-ness!

Before a parade, you often find different costumed people, clowns, etc. wandering around entertaining the waiting crowds. Here we had someone in an awesome snail costume! Note the brilliant skateboard under the snail shell, to keep it from dragging on the ground.

Taken from an office window, a block away, and then cropped to reduce the busy-ness.

Wordless Wednesday: Chalk art

Artist Ulla Taylor

Roses are pink, in Alberta

This was taken on the same day as Just buzzzzing along.

Our provincial flower is one of my favourites. There's just something about it that hits a chord with me. In this shot, I love how it's peeking between two fuzzy, out of focus leaves. It looks kind of shy. I also really like the way the pink pops out from among the greens and browns. It really stands out!

0.01 sec exposure, 5.7 aperture, 100mm focal length, 200 ISO

Rainy day

Cue sequence of events: Dog starts to bark like crazy. Woman gets up to look outside and see what's going on. Woman sees nothing of note for the dog, but a lovely photo opportunity. Woman gets camera, and does her best to get the shot without having to go outside in the rain!

As I've said before, I love my SX10, but every once in a while, the lack of true manual focus drives me to distraction. Today, I could NOT get the autofocus to do what I wanted, so here we are - this is what I could eck out with the limited manual focus the camera offers. Overall, I'm quite pleased with it. The focus may not be razor sharp, but it is very good. the background is beautifully blurry, to make a muted and not-distracting canvas for this pretty iris leaf.

And did I mention I shot this through the window? (which is a little smudgey, and that might contribute slightly to the sharpness issue.)

0.02 sec exposure, f/5.7 aperture, ISO 200, 100mm focal length

Random Saturday: Meet Cleo!

This is Cleo!

She is 7 months old and a ball of energy and fun. In this shot she decided to visit me (with a little human help in behind) to see what I was up to - I was looking at pictures of her! You can just see her two tiny paws sitting on top of the monitor.

I'm sure you will be subjected to much more Cleo in the months to come - assuming I can ever get my little girl to sit still long enough to pose! I have a lot of very blurry pictures of her.

Just buzzzzing along

I am thrilled with how this picture turned out! I stopped to take some pictures of these beautiful Alberta Wildroses at the same time as a couple of bees were visiting. Normally I hate bees, but I decided to gather my courage and take this fabulous opportunity. And my efforts were rewarded! The bee is perfectly in focus, you can even see the detail in her wings. The flowers are sharp, but the background quickly drops away to a soft, fuzzy green. I'm thrilled!

Bird Stalker Pt 3

This guy came to visit us at work. Getting a good shot was hard, given the time of day and that it was through a dirty window.But I think it still turned out alright!

Wordless Wednesday: Muttart

Raindrops on Flower buds

Macro shot that I think turned out beautifully.

Bird Stalker Pt 2

Another little guy sitting above me. He kindly stayed still long enough that I could get a good shot!

Focus Control

On this particular day, I was working on controlling my focus - my camera has a great ability to put everything in focus, but I want to be able to be more selective.

A brilliantly sunny day, an aperture of f/2.8, and a 5mm focal length (macro) gave me these bright pink flowers in lovely focus, with the conference centre in the back a recognizable but out-of-focus object. I think the shape of the building adds to the picture, without taking the shine away from those beautiful flowers.

On the flip side, here I had fun looking through a tall, grassy plant that is blurred, while the hillside on the opposite side of the river is clear and sharp. Aperture f/4.0, 15.5mm focal length. (Note the horizon isn't actually crooked, the hill just isn't straight. I should have pretended it was and tilted the camera slightly to compensate.)

In both cases I tended to focus on what I wanted to have clear, and then recompose the image to get the shot just how I wanted it. This is a neat trick I learned from my last instructor, and I really like it.

Bird Stalker Pt 1

Once again, I have been a bird stalker lately. For me they are a great challenge because they don't usually sit still for a long, involved process of composition and fiddling with settings. Especially these little guys.

I haven't got a clue what kind of bird this is. I love the contrast though between this very lively little bird and the old bars and concrete around him.

1/80 sec exposure, f/5.0 aperture, 44.5 mm focal length, ISO 200

Wordless Wednesday: Moon

1/400 exposure, f/5.0 aperture, 59.2mm focal length (to eliminate background items), ISO 100

Focus just where I want

My camera is not a DSLR. I only have a very awkward and imprecise manual focus. So things that are easy with a spin of the lens on a DSLR are a real challenge with my lovely SX10.

This is the first time I was able to get both the foreground AND background out of focus, with something in the middle clear and sharp! I'm thrilled with the results of these beautiful bleeding hearts.

1/60 sec exposure, f/5.0 aperture, 63.6mm focal length, ISO 200, Flash on (it was later evening), non-macro

Rainbow!

These were all taken of the same rainbow. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find my polarizing lens (stupid move!) until the rainbow was nearly gone, so I didn't get to experiment with that nearly as much as I would have liked. These are all with just a regular UV filter that is always on my camera.

The left part of the rainbow. It really stands out against the dark clouds.

I thought about cropping this, but then decided to show it with all it's warts! Those warts are... two tips from my umbrella, creeping in to the top of the frame. I had my umbrella out to protect the lens from getting spotty, but as I didn't have a tripod, sometimes it was hard to balance everything at once - and this was the result. Aside from that, I LOVE this picture. The rainbow enters and exits the image at pretty much the same height on each side. Yay!

And for balance, here is the right side of the rainbow.

All were taken with a bit of zoom to cut out roof tops and so on. There was in fact a bit of a double rainbow at one point, but the second one was so faint, I don't know if I caught it at all. It was still beautiful to see!

Bribe you with pretty

I will bribe you with the pretty, so you'll forget how long I've been MIA!

I was thrilled to discover that our new house has a small army of giant irises in the front flower bed! Here's a beautiful macro shot of one of those flowers.

1/100 exposure, f/4.0 aperture, focal length 5mm, ISO 80

Wordless Wednesday: Calm

Owl in the City

I looked out the office window the other day, and the City was hosting an event downtown, where they were showing off city services and attractions. It seemed like a fun way to pass lunch, so I headed out to see what was what... and discovered that the local zoo had brought 3 raptors to show off!

This is Cortez, a South American Spectacled Owl from Edmonton's Valley Zoo. He was very calm, but definitely aware of and interested in what was going on around him. He only tried to take a nibble out of one person, and even then it seemed like only a half-hearted attempt - he didn't move very fast! It was also quite warm out, so he may have been feeling a bit lethargic. The zookeeper was paying close attention to signs that the heat was getting to Cortez.

And this is a close-up of the foot of Cortez! I'd rather not find myself on the wrong side of those powerful talons. The detail of the feathers is also great, I love how sharply in focus this image is.

This was an amazing experience. To be so close to this bird - I even got to pet his chest! Beautiful bird.

First image: 1/250 exposure, f/4.5 aperture, ISO 80, 19.8mm focal length (the slight zoom was just to minimize the background)

Second image: 1/200 exposure, f/4.5 aperture, ISO 100, 22.4mm focal length (slightly zoomed in to focus on the foot)

A Day in the Life of the World

If you were not already aware, today is a special day for photographers, professional and amateur alike, around the world! Here's the link and description they've provided:

http://www.aday.org/

Photograph on May 15th!

You have one day to join thousands around the world in using the power of photography to create, share and compare perspectives on daily life! Don't miss it! You can upload your images until May 22nd.

Interesting portraits

I saw this little article today and I just love the idea! These are photos taken of various individuals in and out of their work uniforms - out of uniform means they are in their ordinary street clothes, not nude! The eclectic nature of the jobs is wonderful, and include a bishop and a geisha!

http://www.photozz.com/fizz/28212518.aspx

Scale

I was taking a series of images of several large pieces of equipment. Starting up close, I would move back and take another picture every few steps. I held the camera at the same position throughout, without recomposing the shot. Several times I paused to allow people to pass easily, including for this man.

Except as he passed, he stopped and asked if I wanted a picture! I said sure, if he would like, and he happily walked up next to the huge tire. I did stay with my same purpose, and I did not recompose the shot. I actually think it looks neat with part of it cut off on the top and right. And the man in the picture really gives it a sense of scale. He's also got such a pleasant, easy smile. I got one shot and said thank you quickly as he carried on his way.

1/200 sec exposure, f/4.0 aperture, ISO 80, 5mm focal length

Looking through lines

This man spent a few minutes joking with me and teasing me good naturedly as I took pictures of some large machinery in a downtown square. When he left, I set up a shot through these tubes and wires, only to have him pass on the other side. He made a joke about being in my way, but he really made the picture!

I loved the idea of shooting through the linkages, but there was nothing really to focus on on the other side. The other picture I took just looks messy and confused. But with his great, laughing face in the middle, this man gives a bit of focus to the other side of the tubes.

1/200 sec exposure, f/4.5 aperture, ISO 125, 25.2 focal length

Random Saturday: Stroller

I was walking downtown and saw this stroller...  just sitting at a bus stop, alone. It was there for several hours, but did eventually go away, so it may or may not have actually been abandoned.

My first thought definitely was that it was abandoned, so I intentionally took the shot from a ways back. With no people in the picture, it seems to me that it adds to that lonely feeling - a stroller alone on a city street? No parent, no child? It would be even better without the bright strawberry on the bench ad. Then all the colours would be of a drab grey or brown nature and just add to that feeling of abandonment.

1/160 sec exposure, f/4 aperture, ISO 80, 5mm focal length

Spring has sprung!

Please Note: We are preparing to move, so posts will likely be a little spotty for the next 4 weeks or so.

Okay, I admit it, I took this picture on March 31st. So it would have been cooler to post it then, when it felt like we were still in the grips of winter around here, but I didn't.

My irises came back! I planted several last year, but really didn't look after them well or do any of the things that I think you are supposed to do to keep them happy and coming back for a second year. But the hardy little things did it anyway. It was a great pleasure to see them as an early sign of spring.

I took this very quickly in passing, so no great attention was paid to camera settings. Please also ignore the dead plants from last year - those have not all been cleaned out, although some of the annuals appear intent on returning as well!

Chess... as it would be in Alice in Wonderland

As I mentioned last week, there are some great games brought out to the square outside my office each summer. Sometimes, this includes a rather large chess set. Over the course of the day, I caught several different groups using it.

I seem to have caught these two right at the end of their game, and it looked like they were cleaning up. Thanks guys!

Then I caught these kids...

They were obviously having fun, although no chess playing occurred.

These gentlemen seemed to be having a pretty serious game - they even brought chairs!

Anyway, it's always fun watching the comings and goings on the square, and as it's the centre for many summer events, you may well see more pictures of it on these pages in the future!

Photo Class: Week 1

I have started a new photography class. It's just 4, 1.5 hour classes, but I'm already really enjoying it. The instructor spent a little time on ISO/aperture/shutter speed and so forth, but also gave us information about lenses and filters. There's so much to learn! Anyway, each week we will be given an assignment for the next class. This week's assignment is to take a picture with a filter. He's given us a very broad definition of filter for the purposes of the assignment, as many people don't have a DSLR and therefore can't attach a real filter to their cameras.

I decided to stick with something somewhat like a real filter, of the kind you would hold in front of your camera, rather than attach to it. Homemade, it looks like this:

I used clear wrapping paper, essentially, and made the frame with 4 chopsticks. Not pretty, but functional.

And the result is this!

It's not a stunning piece of artwork, but it IS fun.