InFocus Imagery

CS5?

2010-05-28T02:55:00.000-07:00

Seems so. CS5.

Strange Days

2010-04-30T06:09:00.000-07:00

Working on the Alzheimers unit of a local retirement home is an interesting experience.

An interesting experience made more interesting when the full moon is on it's way. Some people don't believe that the moon can have an effect on people and their behaviors; I'm a firm believer now that it's not all myth.

Early season

2010-04-30T06:05:00.000-07:00

Got out for a night fishing session with Meg earlier this month.

Extremely low water levels at the spot; hoping for some rain soon before opening weekend on May 15th.

Within city limits

2010-04-30T05:49:00.000-07:00

I often head out into the rural areas outside of town in search of good nature and wildlife opportunities. Lately it seems I don't even have to leave my own back yard.
While outside BBQing a few weeks back I couldn't believe my luck when I noticed a bald eagle circling above my house while being chased by angry seagulls. I'm assuming the gulls are nesting nearby and the eagle has found it to be a chance for a quick meal.
I really wouldn't mind a 400mm f/2.8 for shots like this; problem is I don't have $9,000 to spend on fast glass. My 270 was barely able to capture this sequence from a distance of approx 200' up.

Time flies when you're... busy.

2010-04-05T17:52:00.000-07:00

It's the common excuse around these parts - haven't had time to post anything lately because I've been too busy. It's an excuse and it's also the truth. With school winding down I've been inundated with studying, exams, and placements; hardly any time to get out and do any cam work.
Truth be told, I probably don't even have time for this now. I start another placement tomorrow evening and should probably be getting some sleep. Sleep has been super important lately. Sleep and coffee.
I might not get many chances to post much more until the end of this month so here's some stuff from lately

"Green Anaconda" : An older shot re-visited in the realm of green. Robbie loves green anacondas lately.

Robbie's been enjoying driving classes lately. Always a good photo op.

First one of these for the season. Shot this so long ago there was still ice in the river.

Kiki. B&W. Had to.

Bella. She could usually care less about most stuff.

Another one of these. I'd like to get out and do some more of this type of shot at night soon.

We've been having trike lessons lately too. Robbie has been showing me how to ride one. It's pretty hard.
I'm too tired now to keep posting so I'm going to end off with this one and a few words that aren't my own. If you have kids, you'll understand. If you don't, you will.

"Encourage your children's deepest joys
not their superficial desires.
Praise their patience,
not their ambition.
Do not value the distractions and diversions
that masquerade as success.
They will learn to hear their own voice
instead of the noise of the crowd."

A few things

2010-03-13T18:30:00.000-08:00

"There are a few things you must know
to become a wise parent.
You must know that you are going to die,
for then you will be able to truly live.

You must know when you have enough,
for then you will be content.
You must know how to laugh,
for then you will find healing.

There are many things you need not know.
You need not know everything your children think or do.
You need not know their secret dreams and hopes.
You need not know how life will unfold for them, or for yourself.

Live your own life,
with all your heart,
with all your mind,
and with all your soul.
There is no need to live theirs.
They will do that wonderfully
by themselves."

The ice is melting

2010-03-09T04:47:00.001-08:00

As most Canadians do when the sun comes out and the snow starts to melt, we went out to enjoy some of the warmer temps over the weekend. Spent some time out on the ice of Lake Superior at Sliver Harbor.

While the ice was still over 2' thick in most places, there were spots that looked a bit more sketchy and probably a touch dangerous. Not a place to let your kids wander around unsupervised I would imagine. I guess not every parent is responsible. The 2 kids in the above shot just wandered over to us while their parents sat over 100 yards away seemingly without a care in the world.

These pressure ridges can be highly unstable; 2 feet thick in one spot and near nothing just feet away. Meg performs an unsafety check while we debate the pros and cons of trying to cross to the other side. We opted to stay put.

That doesn't mean common sense applies to everyone. We had a good time watching these guys attempting to find safe passage across this ridge. They got a little wet but didn't go through.

Supposedly someone fell in near here earlier this month. She was pulled out.

It has to be said though that late winter ice is unpredictable at best. Lake Superior is no joke and it will kill you if you end up in the water. A local man found that out the hard way this week while venturing out onto the ice not far from here.

I think I'm done with venturing out on to the ice for another season. I'm not a big fan of cold water and I would rather not die for some photos. Cheers to spring, cheers to good times with good friends and cheers to free ice fishing desktop backgrounds that you can click on and download full size.

Peas.

Long live the Metal \m/

2010-03-05T05:09:00.000-08:00

Went out earlier in the week to check out Shadows Fall , Goatwhore, Bison BC, Baptized in Blood and a few other metal bands.

Shadows Fall frontman Brian Fair has to be one of the most laid back dudes I've had the pleasure to meet. The energy he puts into his show is insane.

Louis Benjamin Falgoust II, lead singer of Goatwhore is also an incredibly laid back guy who, with his bandmates, puts on an excellent heavy and energized show.

Here's one more of Shadows Fall covering Black Sabbath's "Bark at the Moon"

My hands got so cold

2010-02-22T11:45:00.000-08:00

Couple more ice shots from this past weekend and my early morning of laying on a frozen lake.

It's hard to make it through a winter around here without managing a few of these kind of ice shots. Now that it's getting warmer I might have to go out specifically in search of these before everything melts.

And on the eighth day, god created ice.

2010-02-20T11:52:00.000-08:00

This morning I got out early in search of something. Wasn't sure what it was or where I would find it but I went out in search none the less. Ended up at my first stop but found the conditions were shit and frankly, boring. Found another spot but the rather large and conspicuous "No Trespassing" signage turned me off that location; didn't feel like running into some moron who might attempt to ruin my otherwise good mood.

I ended up taking a quick jaunt down to the waterfront to check out any possible nice sunrise action. I wasn't disappointed. The sunrise itself kind of sucked; I've seen better. When I was about ready to head back to the car, just as the sun was coming up, I noticed a natural ice formation sticking out of the snow about 100 yards out from shore. Seeing as how the ice is still thick enough I took the walk and was able to come up with this...

I wasn't in search of ice shots; this one kind of found me. I could have just gone home but instead I decided to come to this spot and lucked out.
Had to lay prone on the ice for about 10 minutes to get a series of shots.
It's hard to get a good exposure doing these and I don't practice them enough to nail it right away.
I'm happy as long as I get a couple that I like, maybe one I can print.
Like this one...

These type of shots are always fun to play around with when the opportunity presents itself.
For a real good look at some fantastical icescapes, why don't you quit reading this and go check out the wonderful world of ice brought to you by Mr. Jay Arpin.

Peas.

The Trees effect

2010-02-19T17:54:00.000-08:00

Found a few older shots from this past fall that I guess I had never got around to posting. Not just that but I'd never really even looked at them. I do that I guess; take a ton of photos each time out and never touch 3/4 of them.

Trees. Fall. Near my house. Nothing too special.
Fall always possesses me to try new things and experiment a little bit with light and colour.

This shot for example. Same area, same day, same camera, different settings and intentionally blurred to produce a bit of a painted look. I first did this accidentally but happened to like the way these shots can look when you purposely pan the lens during exposure. It's just a different spin on the same old boring shots of fall colour. I like this one enough that I think I will print it and have it framed.
After finding the last two shots the other day, I had some spare time and happened to have the camera handy so I figured I'd take a walk and try a few more. This time around the colours were a bit more bland but the effect remained the same.

So there you have it. Boring old shots made a little more interesting.

Ansel Adams once said " There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs".

That said, I'm going to go have a scotch and catch some sleep. Photogging tomorrow morning.

Star Trails Experiment #1

2010-02-17T17:25:00.000-08:00

Tonight the weather actually cooperated for long enough for me to throw the camera on the tripod and set up in the back yard to do a test shoot for some more serious star trails.

I'd mentioned that I think I know what I'm doing now but tonight didn't seem to work out that well. I ended up shooting a 26 minute exposure at f/3.5, ISO 200, triggered via remote and aimed straight up at nothing but black sky filled with stars.
After 26 minutes I went outside to check my results and I had an image of a white, blown out square on my screen. No stars. No sky. Just blown out white.

It wasn't supposed to be anything fancy; more a shot to see if my camera (which is only capable of a maximum 30 minute exposure) could handle this type of shot without catching on fire and blowing up causing severe injury to any unfortunate passerby within a 30 yard radius.
I think my problem was the backyard light emitted from my neighbors porch and subsequent light reflected from my other neighbors olympic sized backyard hockey rink may have been picked up more than anything else by my camera's sensor, hence the overexposed white blob I ended up with.

Since my original location is closed to the public for the next 3 to 4 weeks, I'm not sure I will get the chance to carry out experiment #2 any time in the near future. Time will tell.

On a brighter note, I did get out this morning and shoot some local animals. When I went over these shots with Lightroom (on my laptop) I thought they looked perfect on my monitor. When I got home and viewed them on my other monitor they looked a lot more contrasty and saturated. Almost too contrasty for some reason. I dunno, have a look see...

See what I mean. Too contrasty.

Old shots revisited

2010-02-16T12:06:00.000-08:00

No time to actually shoot new material drives me to revisit older shots from way back when.

Trowbridge falls cascades lower end

Trowbridge Falls upper river

Sleeping Giant sunrise, Pool 6

Silhouetted fishermen, Dog Lake, Ontario

Images © Ian Benninghaus 2010. All rights reserved
Not to be used without permission.

Star Trails

2010-02-16T05:59:00.000-08:00

I'm going to attempt to shoot some star trails. I've not spent a lot of time on it and have yet to give it a serious attempt.

Tried it once before without much effort and resulted in a shot with a few stars, some movement but not a lot as far as a decent result...

As it turns out, there is a lot more to it than I had first expected. From what I've been researching, star trails take a bit more effort than a simple long exposure at night.

My first half assed attempt was a 921 second (15 minute, 35 second) exposure.
Half an hour would provide for some better results but I'm not sure whether my camera will develop hot pixels resulting in unwanted noise due to sensor heat.

Seeing as how it's still somewhat cold out as of late I'm banking on the cooler night air to help alleviate this issue. We'll have to wait and see; it's going to be an experiment for sure.

I think I know what I'm doing now and have a couple locations in mind. Just have to wait for the weather to start cooperating. Hopefully I will have some decent results. Fingers crossed.

Networked Blogs?

2010-02-16T05:06:00.000-08:00

I've decided to link this blog through Networked Blogs. Not so much to increase readership (of which there is slim to nil) but more so because I can and it's something to do.

More networking. My Flickr links to Facebook, Facebook links to Twitter, this blog now links to all of them.

I really need to update this blog more often. My main excuse is that I never have the time. It's my excuse since the last update over a month ago. Here's to hoping I keep up with it this time around.

On an unrelated note, do yourself a favor and check out Seung Kye Lee. The guy is absolutely fantastic and abundantly talented behind the camera.
On that note, also check out Bliss Pictures.ca. If you're planning on getting married or even if you're not, give Alvis' work a view and be awestruck by his incredible wedding photography.

That's all I've got.

Planning a night time photo op shortly. It's specific purpose must remain a secret for now. Will update later.

Here's some cat stuff from lately since I've not been outdoors in a while...

More 2009 favorites of mine

2010-01-04T12:18:00.000-08:00

Robbie splashing in the puddles in the lane way beside our house. I've converted this one to B&W and framed it 11"x14" and it looks fantastic on my family wall I'm working on.

Probably one of my all time favorite shots period, not just 2009 shots either.

This shot was taken in almost the exact same spot as the puddle shot above. The only difference being seasonal (late October as opposed to early July).
Another favorite, not framed yet but soon.

Ghost of 2009

2010-01-04T12:10:00.001-08:00

Waiting for midnight under the full moon, December 31st 2009.

Where have I been lately?

2010-01-04T10:42:00.000-08:00

The last few months of 2009 were very busy for me. No time for anything. No time for this, that's for sure.

Here's a selection of shots from late 2009...

My Best of 2009

2010-01-04T10:35:00.001-08:00

A mosaik of my best / favorite shots from last year.

Of course you can always go to my Flickr to view each individual shot larger.

Here's to hoping 2010 can prove to be another good year with plenty of friends, family, and fotos.

Matthew Good - Vancouver Tour 2009

2009-11-23T17:10:00.000-08:00

Had the distinct pleasure of front row centre seats last night for Matthew Good as he toured his new album Vancouver through Thunder Bay. As usual, a stellar performance by a truly unique and talented artist.

Fall shooting

2009-10-19T09:07:00.000-07:00

Not much time lately. Managed only a handful of fall colour shots. This one turned out well. Exactly what I was after.

As always, this shot is available @ Redbubble.com

I've seen the future, and it's deer shaped

2009-10-19T08:58:00.000-07:00

Had to run out the other night and pick up a few things. Since this spot was close to our destination, we thought we'd take Robbie to see some deer.
As it turns out, all male whitetail deer are to be known as "Mr. Horns" from this point on.
Robbie says so.

Try heron, you'll like it.

2009-09-11T05:10:00.000-07:00

From my experience, these fellows are notoriously hard to catch a decent shot of.

The sun was just coming up last week and after inadvertently scaring him away once, I waited for him to come back for his morning meal and managed to get in fairly close without being noticed. I'm pretty happy with the way these turned out all things considered.

I didn't go unnoticed the whole time either. For this next shot I purposely stood up to attract his attention. It worked. He flew off seconds later.

While heading back to the car to go fetch some coffee I noticed the sunrise was coming along nicely as well...

All in all another good morning. Back in school now. Learning and the like.

As usual, if you'd like to view these shots larger you can always try to "view on black" by checking flickr.

What are the odds?

2009-08-26T10:10:00.000-07:00

From my last post it's fair to say that a good lightning shot is a one in a million chance that takes some know how, timing and a little bit of luck.

Make that 2 in a million.

A contact of mine, the uber talented Thunder Bay photographer Jeannie Paul was able to capture the same bolt of lightning that I did, all be it from a different location at the exact same moment in time (9:37 pm).

When I first saw her shot on the local Flickr group I thought it was a joke.

Not only did she capture the exact same bolt of lightning within a split second but from two entirely different vantage points and no communication between the two of us, we were both able to compose our shots in an almost identical manner.

The only real difference in the shots is that while mine was taken from atop the hill at the scenic lookout, Jeannie shot hers from her house which is just down the hill to the left, perhaps even visible in my shot were I to look for it.

I think it's entirely amazing given all of the localized lightning strikes on the night that two separate people at two separate locations could manage to pull off almost identical shots. It's baffling. Prior to shooting my shot I had been panning the lens north to south, south to north, following the most concentrated strikes particularly those off to the extreme left of my shot (northeast). For whatever reason I panned back to my right (southeast), noticed the Sleeping Giant slightly illuminated from behind by sheet lightning and hastily attempted to frame it into the shot in almost complete darkness.

Who'd have thought at that exact moment Jean was doing the same thing from a literal stones throw away.

The odds were astronomical. And somehow completely possible.
If one could call that luck or chance then I am going to go and buy a lottery ticket.

Congrats to Jean on an equally remarkable capture. Truly a two in a million shot.

Life should taste as good as lightning

2009-08-25T10:33:00.000-07:00

We had a fairly violent electrical storm roll through the area last night and for the first time this season I had the opportunity to attempt a few lightning shots.

Once the rain had let up enough I headed out to the scenic lookout near where I live and shot the storm as it moved east over Lake Superior.

The way I shoot lightning is usually with a long exposure. Not too crazy, a few seconds, anywhere up to 25 or 30 will usually do. These shots were all about 15 second exposures, tripod mounted and triggered manually (I hastily forgot my IR remote as I ran out the door.)

Kept my ISO at 200, Auto WB, Spot metered at about f/8 to f/10 and not wide open as I wanted to focus more on any potential lightning strikes rather than city lights throwing the exposure out of whack too much. I also kept a Hoya ND x 4 filter on my lens to give me a greater DOF (if need be) and more importantly, to give me that extra one or two seconds exposure time which might have made the difference between a shot with a lightning bolt in it and a shot with some boring clouds. Even with the ND I did miss quite a few by looking in the wrong direction at the wrong second.

All in all I was decently happy with my few results from last night. I'm no expert on lightning photography and I don't have a ton of fancy gear. All I know is that with a few basic pieces of equipment and some basic know how coupled with patience and a bit of luck, anyone can capture a real split second in time and come home with good lightning shots.
It's not that hard.

Support starving artists. We need food to live.

A few randoms

2009-08-23T14:39:00.000-07:00

So you're cooking some chicken for dinner and the phone rings. It's someone inquiring about your website. The website where you display your work. More specifically, it's someone inquiring about your website in relation to the wedding you've been asked to shoot next weekend.

So you give out your website info to the lady on the phone, realizing only after you've hung up that there is practically no wedding related samples posted on your site. So you decide to go through your last wedding shoot and post a few randoms for those who are looking to look...

(Forgive the fact that the right hand sidebar chops the end off of each horizontal image on the main page. Just click to view full.)

Weddings

2009-08-23T14:14:00.000-07:00

While weddings have never been my strong suit, I have to say that I'm flattered whenever my name is brought up for having anything to do with either photographing or video documenting someones big day. Thanks to those who take an interest and also to those who've been spreading the word. It is much appreciated.

For those interested, although I've shot many weddings, in fact only one "officially" which you can view here.

Lightroom

2009-07-31T05:29:00.000-07:00

For those who are interested, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is probably the best editing suite I've tried lately. It's fantastic.

Save yourself a few $ towards a new lens or something and download it.

If you really want to know, look in the Fractalius

2009-07-31T04:52:00.000-07:00

I came across a new plugin for Photoshop that adds some absolutely fantastic treatment to photos.
Fractalius is a pretty cool effect that, when used on the right photo, can produce some fairly artistic results. I gave it a try recently and was decently happy with my first few results...

Black and White - Classic

2009-07-29T07:38:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to shoot some B+W lately.
More specifically, I've wanted to shoot some B+W images of my son.
More specifically still, I've wanted to shoot some B+W images of my son splashing around in puddles in his rubber boots.

He's growing up so fast, soon it won't be "cool" for him to put on his boots and run around in the puddles.

We've had 5 solid days of rain here and the other night before Robbie's bedtime I finally got my window of opportunity to shoot a series of shots. Over 180 images shot in the lane way beside our house and I could not be happier with the way things turned out...

There's always room for The Blues

2009-07-06T11:15:00.000-07:00

Scored a couple of tickets to the Thunder Bay Blues Fest last night and checked out Robert Cray, a very soulful and mellow blues man who, in my opinion, is highly under rated.
Managed a few shots just after the sun set and I lost my precious late evening light.

Ribbed for her Desktop Background

2009-06-30T05:46:00.000-07:00

Found myself out early last week in search of some sunrise shooting and although the sunrise wasn't spectacular, I was able to come up with this one of the local marina which makes for a decent desktop background.

It's full size so have at her.

You've got questions. We've got wedding.

2009-06-22T04:46:00.000-07:00

Recently drove down to Sault Ste. Marie after being asked to be the official photog person for my counsin's wedding.

I've been to my fair share of weddings and always brought the camera but this was the first one where I was technically "the" guy for doing the photos.

All things considered it worked out really well and I was decently happy with the results. You can view the set on Flickr.

Get the photojournalism habit

2009-06-09T16:40:00.000-07:00

A few shots from some work I did for Lake Superior News.com

Huge windmill parts being offloaded from a ship onto rail cars bound for BC.
A fun afternoon shooting stuff I normally wouldn't shoot or get the opportunity to shoot for that matter.

Of course if you want to view these shots larger, you can always check out my Ships of the Greatest Great Lake set on Flickr.

Don't be vague. Ask for reptiles.

2009-06-08T09:18:00.000-07:00

Had a chance to take Robbie out to see some real live creatures thanks to a traveling show from Little Ray's Reptile Zoo and their exhibit of reptiles, raptors and insects.

Robbie had a blast and was able to see some really neat things (for a 19 month old) such as a 200lb boa constrictor, spiders, turtles, lizards and he even got to touch a crocodile!

Cool stuff for the little guy.

While I spent a good deal of time making sure no alligators were latching on to my son, I also got a chance to shoot a handful of shots under some horrible indoor lighting conditions.
Since I have no external flash at the moment and I hate to use the built in flash on my Nikon, I just set everything to Nikon's superb Auto ISO and fired away.

Of all things present, Robbie liked the owl best.

I named this guy "Snappy McBite Bite" aka "Smiley McSnapps Alot", aka" Rippy McShred Shred" and "Toothy McKill Kill". He wasn't too keen on the lens in his face and I was lucky enough that he gave me a little grin rather than bite my face clean off.

This shot of a yellow anaconda has become one of my favorite shots I've taken lately. While I set up to shoot this, it coiled back into this position as if it were ready to lash out and have me for dinner. At the time I wondered if my yellow and black Nikon neckstrap had anything to do with it's aggressive posturing. Either way, ambient light, no flash and an ISO of 1600 helped my pull this one off.

I've got to say, even though I'm sure the staff of the reptile exhibit are trained experts at handling the various creatures at the show, at the end of the day an alligator is still an alligator, whether or not you tell me it's docile and tame. There's a reason that they've been around for millions of years. It's because they are highly efficient killing and eating machines.

Letting my son sit on the floor some 6 feet from an animal with a bite force of up to 3000lbs/sq inch was not something I was prepared to do on the night.
I really didn't feel like kicking an alligator's ass that evening although if push came to shove it would have made for some interesting shots that's for sure.

Peas.

Fishing tested, Mother approved

2009-05-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

Where I'm from the May long weekend usually brings to mind one thing. Fishing.

Opening weekend for pickerel (walleye) has always been one of my favorite occasions; the weeks (and months) before hand spent planning and buying new hooks and line to make sure that dinner is put on the table.
This May long was no different as we headed out to one of our favorite local hot spots to try our luck. As luck would have it, we made out good and I spent 4 our of 5 nights out on the lake until the early morning hours.

When there's a lull in the fishing I always make sure the camera is handy too. Here's a few shots from the opening weekend for pickerel season in Northwestern Ontario... enjoy!

Just what the tattoo ordered

2009-05-08T07:27:00.000-07:00

This post is purely to attract some attention to another art form that I love - the art of tattooing.

Meghan did a fantastic job on my wife's ankle yesterday (our son's initials, cherry blossoms and vine around the leg). If you've got a second, take a look at Meg's flickr photostream and if you live in the Thunder Bay area and would like an appointment with Meg, don't forget to look her up at Underground Ink on St. Paul St.

Candice couldn't be happier with the work. Now some careful aftercare, healing and this beautiful piece will last a lifetime.

Me myself, I booked me another appointment for my birthday.
Can't wait. Will post results later.

Stop. Go. Art.

2009-05-01T06:01:00.000-07:00

There was a thread on our local Flickr group that had mentioned that people should get out and document some of the artwork at the site of a demolished grain elevator down at the waterfront.
The Pool 6 property, as it's know locally was demolished a number of years ago and since then, local grassroots artists have taken it upon themselves to brighten up what would otherwise be just another industrial eyesore.

Hundreds of monolithic pieces of concrete, the remnants of the old grain elevator, litter the site and many have been turned into fantastic art pieces by local spray paint artists.
Some may call it vandalism. Some like to call it graffiti, both terms conveying a rather negative image.

I like to call it art because to me, that's what it is. It's art. The people behind these works have taken nothing and turned it into something far greater, that's what art is all about.
Too bad that within a number of years it will be gone. Waterfront development dictates that the site eventually be "cleaned up" and from what I hear, these artworks will be bulldozed into Lake Superior in an attempt to reclaim land for Thunder Bay's ever expanding waterfront development initiative.

So that's why I decided to head down and shoot a few shots because sooner or later it will be gone and all that remains are these images.

Just because, here's another from last year...

Timing is everything

2009-04-15T17:54:00.000-07:00

Due to circumstances beyond my control I almost missed an extraordinary sunset the other night.
Lucky for me I was able to make the best of a bad situation and improvise a bit.

This shot was taken from my bedroom window and the huge birch tree (although obstructing my view) provided for a great silhouette shot and quite a decent desktop background. Help yourself, it's fullsize.

Featured

2009-04-15T17:40:00.000-07:00

Earlier in the week I was contacted by Andrea from www.thedailykitten.com asking if I would be interested in having my two cats KiKi and Bella featured on her site.

Not one to deny them their day in the sun as they are obviously fans of the spotlight, I decided it would be fun to have them featured.

You can check out their spot HERE.

Shipping season begins

2009-04-15T17:05:00.000-07:00

Where I come from you know that summer is just around the corner when the icebreakers make way for the large ships on Lake Superior. This week I had heard that the first ocean going vessel of the year (The Federal Saguenay) had arrived in port to officially kick off the international shipping season here in Thunder Bay.

I decided it might be a worthwhile trip to head down in the early morning and check it out for some shots...

As usual lately, the above 5 shots were all taken from the same 10 foot patch of shoreline using my ultra capable Tamron AF18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC LD Aspherical (IF) MACRO. It's a fantastic lens and has made my others obsolete.

Since I was out and had some time to play around, I figured the scene was a good candidate to practice a technique that I rarely employ and to be honest, have never really been good at. I figured I'd attempt some HDR. The next two shots are both HDR versions and I have to say I was pleasently surprised by my results...

My Anti-Drug is Deer

2009-03-02T04:45:00.000-08:00

For a change of pace I went out on the weekend with hopes of capturing a few shots of some local residents. The sun had just come up and I was able to capture the attention of this fellow while he and about 30 to 40 of his pals were feeding along the side of the road.

Spot metering is usually something I don't dabble in all that much. I usually shoot Matrix metering (Nikon) and let the camera do the work for me.
In this case, I had gone out to practice spot metering on a subject that rarely sits still for more than a few seconds and was quite happy with the results.

For those that don't know, spot metering is more of an art form and takes some practice and know how before you get it right. If you do get it right, by spot metering a subject you are able to capture colors that are more true to what your eyes are seeing because the camera's meter only reads a small portion of the scene being shot. It helps if you have an understanding of the zone system as well. You can read up on it here.

For this shot, I knew it was a perfect chance to try out spot metering because of the contrasts between the deer and the white background of all of the snow.
I metered directly off of his neck, locked the exposure, recomposed the shot and just as if I was hunting, pulled the trigger.

As usual, this print and others are available for sale on RedBubble.com

(also, when I can't think of a title for a post, I use the Advertising Slogan Generator)

Construction zone (again)

2009-02-09T04:19:00.000-08:00

It seems that my hosting for InFocusImagery.ca has expired and due to my relative dissatisfaction with the hosting site, I've decided that for the time being I am going to let it lapse for a while and take a break before figuring out what to do next.

For now, this site, along with my Flickr are going to have to do.

I haven't the money or the time to look for new hosting options at this point so hopefully this means I will be updating here on a more regular basis.

As an aside, If you're looking for web hosting yourself, avoid Register.com. It's shit.

New Toys

2008-12-06T15:38:00.000-08:00

I love getting new toys. Some of them I get because I just want them, others I get because I need them. In this case it was the latter, I needed a new lens. A good walk around lens that can handle pretty much whatever I need it to do.

After plenty of homework on the topic (I never buy a piece of equipment without reading everything I can on it and it's possible competition) I opted for the Tamron AF18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC LD Aspherical (IF) MACRO instead of the Nikkor 18-200mm VR.

The lens, from Adorama.com, is an all in one super telephoto zoom and is brand new on the market. It is capable of handling everything from wide angle to macro all the way through super telephoto all in one remarkably tight little package, and a decent looking lens to boot.
I'm also pretty excited to try out the VC (vibration compensation) feature which should make handheld telephoto shots a lot easier and reduce the blur caused by camera shake from drinking too much coffee (my last zoom had no vibration reduction feature and only performed well either tripod mounted or in very bright daylight situations, other than that and the shots were almost always blurry). Don't be a cheap ass, buy a lens that has some sort of VR or VC if you're in the market. You won't regret it.

Havent had any time to field test this lens yet but can't wait for my chance to get it outdoors.

Weekend Sunrise Shooting

2008-10-26T13:45:00.000-07:00

It's been almost all summer and I've hardly shot any sunrise or sunset shots. Hard to believe seeing as how they've always been a perennial favorite of mine. Had a few days off work the past week and decided to go out to a favorite spot for some long exposure shots of the river and do some landscapes.
On the way there I noticed that the sky to the east was already becoming a brilliant shade of pink and red and I immediately pulled a U turn and headed east towards the lake.
Landscapes can wait; it was going to be a sunrise morning.

I ended up at a familiar spot that I'd shot earlier the same week...

- 3 second exposure
- f/22
- ISO 200
- -1/3EV
- cloudy white balance

- 4 sec exposure
- f/22
- ISO 200
- -1/3EV

I don't always shoot sunrise/sunset shots looking directly into the sun. Usually I don't even shoot the actual sunrise/set, but about 20 minutes before and after the sun has cleared the horizon. That's when you get the best colours and run less risk of blowing highlights.

When I find a great sunrise I shoot as much of it as I can but I always try to remember to turn around and catch what is behind me. Sometimes (most of the time) you get spectacular scenes bathed in all of that "magic hour" light and you wouldn't have even know had you not turned around. Although this isn't the best example, this is what was behind me on the day (the sun had risen to the far right hand side.

Back on Blogger

2008-10-13T14:12:00.001-07:00

It's been a handful of years and a handful of blogs and I've decided that it's time to jump back on the blogger bandwagon.

Welcome to Infocusimagery on Blogger. Another place for me to post shots, and ramble on about one of the most infectious things in my life, photography.

This site will serve as an offshoot from my official homepage, InFocusImagery.ca,
as well as provide links to my Flickr page and RedBubble account (for purchase inquiries).

As always, feel free to contact me for usage inquiries and any other questions
at
in.focus.imagery@live.ca