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Been spending a fair amount of time in the Snaring area lately....I got out there early last week and got a few shots I like and thought it would be great to get out there for a sunrise shoot. Well, I made it out there with a friend on this past Friday. We made it out there well before the sun peaked into the mountains, but we arrived to some heavy cloud cover on the mountains we wanted to shoot. Like I always do when I go out, I'll shoot no matter what the weather or if the sunrise will be nice or not. Turns out one of the first shots I took is one of my faves from the day. I knew when I took the shot it would not be a color photo in the end, and that there would be some sort or mono or duo tone processing done to it. I knew I wanted some sort of Black and White-ish shot, but I really wanted to convey the mood of the scene, so that just by looking at the image people would think it was a cold winter morning and almost feel as if they were there standing on the lake alone in the winter breeze. I think I got pretty close to getting that feeling through to the viewer this time. It was also helpful that when we arrived the wind had blown away the light snow from the previous days, leaving the ice bare and making a great foreground for that picture.
So after a few minutes and making a few shots like the one above, we realized that we might not be seeing a brilliant sunrise that day, so we started to explore the rest of the ice and shoreline to see if there was anything interesting to shoot, but there was not much that interested us. Then on our way back to the van the clouds cleared and gave us a great little show of soft winter morning light that we took a few moments to shoot. I had already packed up my gear so I just pulled out the camera and tripod and fired off a few quick HDR shots, and luckily I walked away with a few that I liked, and this was one of them. After all of that, I'd still like to try to get a nice sunrise out there...but you know I'll keep trying!
Photos: Nikon D90, 17-55mm f/2.8
Here are a couple more photos from yesterday's outing. I always make sure to bracket frames when I'm out shooting, then try to put together some HDR photos when I get back to my computer. So the sunrise is only two photos. My metered exposure, and another at +2. I used Photomatix Pro to put them together, but did very little work in the Tone Mapping section of the program and ended up with what I think is a much more realistic result, that I'm quite pleased with. Second we have a view of the edge of the river, the water couldn't have been more that a foot deep there, but the ice wasn't too thick either, so I didn't bother to go in for the tight Macro shot, I opted for this view instead of risking an early morning swim. Next time I'll bring out the longer lens!!
Photos: Nikon D90, 17-55mm f/2.8
Ohhh man!! Almost two weeks with not a thing to post! There really hasn't been much going on here, and the weather the past few weeks has been rather "winter" like. There is a boat load of snow in the mountains and the temps are getting pretty cold in town. I have either been too lazy to get up in the morning, or woke up and it has been snowing. However much I wanted to go shoot, I just didn't get out. Alas, today was a new day, I got up quite early, knew where I wanted to go and I think I came out with some shots I really like. Caught this great sunrise just south of town, which I'm pretty happy about. I got a number of shots of the sunrise that I really like, but the others still need a bit of work, this is the only one that is pretty much done.
Down near the Snaring Rd., I revisited the water and mountains down there. Only now the water is frozen, which was pretty cool. I'll probably head back that way soon for a sunset/sunrise shoot. The black and white shot is similar to one I posted here, but the clouds were better today, so I shot it again. Then I just played around with the Fisheye a bunch and got some results I'm pretty impressed with. I've had this lens for a couple years now, but I am only now realizing the power and usefulness it truly has. I'll post more shots from today when they're done, as I also found a nice group of Bighorn Sheep that I got a few nice shots of. More later....
Photos: Nikon D90, 17-55mm f/2.8, 10.5mm f/2.8
Amongst all the snowfall the past few days, I did get out to shoot a bit. I headed East towards Talbot Lake, and my hopes seemed to fade as I drove into a wall of snow and cloud. When I arrived at the lake I decided to shoot anyway, and I lucked out as the clouds cleared away within 20 minutes and I ended up with at least one shot I'm happy with. What I was really pleased with was my new Cokin Slim Filter holder. I've been using the Cokin system for quite a while now, and it works well, but my only complaint was that I could never use my 17-55mm lens at it's widest focal length, 17mm. I could only go to about 20mm and then you could see the filter in the frame. (Keep in mind I shoot on a D90, which has a cropped sensor, therefore if you have a "Full Frame" camera you may not be able to shoot as wide). So yesterday I made sure to bring the Slim Holder and it worked out well. This shot was at 17mm and I was able to compose the scene how I wanted with out having to get further away to get as wide as I wanted. Needless to say this is a piece of gear that will not leave my camera bag!! And I'd just like to give a quick thanks to whoever left that canoe out so late in the season. This shot would be a lot more boring if it was not still sitting on the dock!! Thanks!!
Photo: Nikon D90, 17-55mm f/2.8
I have been trying to get some decent shots from this area for a while now. During the summer I would work to late and not be able to get down the highway in time. I'd love to get down there for sunrise, but I seem to be rather lazy of late. So today we decided to take a bit of a drive down to see if I could get a sunset shot. As the sun went down most of the coulds disappeared, but I did happen to get a nice black and white shot of an old tree with Mt. Kitchener in the background. I would really like to shoot a sunrise here soon, as the first light of the day lights up that peak.
I have been looking for a way to get a bit more creative with blog posts lately, so I decided to download the onOne Photo Frame program and try out the 30 day trial. The second shot here is an HDR I did a few weeks ago at Tekarra Lodge. There is a "grunge" frame, as well as a "instant picture" frame that I put together in Photo Frame 4. I'm sure I'll play around with this more in the future and I'll be sure to post the results here!!
Photos: Nikon D90, 17-55mm f/2.8
