Morning at the Beach - Landscape Photography

When is a wide angle too wide

There are times when in landscape photography, a wide angle lens is just simply too wide.  When the sky has nothing to offer, but it's color, and when the ground has nothing to offer either.  It's not easy sometimes to photograph the mood of a landscape, when the sky is blue, and the ground is flat and feature less.  Yet there is a certain mood in the air, like that morning on the beach.  There was a mist coming from the ocean, and hanging low on the beach, but the sky was featureless and I had to work hard to find something interesting on the ground.

Big Zoom

This is a perfect time, when the big zooms come out to play in landscape photography.  This is a perfect time to focus on something far away, instead of up close, and that's what I did.  The mist coming out of the ocean, created this incredible mood.  The people walking along the beach became ghosts, appearing and disappearing.  With a long zoom, you can capture a beautiful mood, and add a completely genuine human element to the landscape.  Here are some shots from that beautiful morning.  Enjoy!

Mac

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Candid Beach People - Street Photography

Street Photography... what streets?!?

I don't know if you can call this street photography, as there are no streets really... so what do you call beach people photography?  I guess I'll stick with street photography, since to me that definition basically says, that these are candid photos of people.  Just the setting is a bit different from a street.... it's a beach.  Anyhow, now that we got this out of the way, let's continue. I really enjoy photographing people.  I am normally the biggest introvert you'll ever meet, and going out among people and taking their photo, scares the crap out of me.  I'm usually the creepy creep, training my lens on you, from far away :)

Candid Photography

When people are not aware that you are taking their picture, they behave as they normally would.  The moment they spot a camera pointed at them, their behaviour changes instantly.  They either hide, give you a fake smile, or just pretend to ignore you, but their natural behaviour, that moment, vanishes with out a trace.  This is why I try to use either a very wide angle lens, or a long zoom.  The wide angle is perfect for hip shooting.  What I mean by that is, you pretend to adjust settings on your camera, and without raising the camera to your eye, you take a photo.  Or you carry the camera nonchalantly in your hand, and point in the general direction and hope for the best.  Wide angle lenses are best suited for this, as it is hard to miss the subject.  Other lenses require lots of practice, to know exactly where to point to get that awesome image.  Changing from a 17mm to a 35mm lens had disastrous effects, as none of the hip shooting images came out.  I just didn't know how to aim the lens properly.  So my tip to you is... try hip shooting, or find some balls and don't be afraid of people :D

Here is some examples of beach street shooting, enjoy!

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Long Beach - Landscape Photography

Long Beach... Here we come!

After a full day of traveling from Vancouver, we finally managed to get across to Vancouver Island.  Personally I though the trip across the island to the west coast is going to be relatively short and smooth.  I was wrong.  The nice smooth highways turned, narrow and winding very quickly, and that slowed us down considerably.   It would be a great place for some wonderful landscape photography, unfortunately the roads being so narrow, there was hardly any place to pull over.  This is the time where you soak up the landscape and store it, not on a digital memory card, but a biological memory card in your mind.  It's not easy, being presented with really spectacular British Columbia landscapes, and not being able to capture it with our cameras.  We also had our destination, and a search for a place to stay to consider, and the day was coming to an end.

Arrived

After a long and tiring drive across Vancouver Island, we have finally arrived at the west coast, and started searching for a place to stay.  Almost immediately we found a small bed & breakfast that was quite reasonably priced and very nice.  Still had some a couple of hours, before the sun went down into the ocean, so we drove around looking for a good spot for a beach landscape photography :) . Windy, sand blowing, and a little cold, the beach was far from what we expected.  I dared not the change lenses on the camera, and even though I didn't, I still ended up with a whole bunch of sensor spots on the Sony cameras.  Fuji X-Pro 1, faired a lot better.  No spots, even though it was blasted with beach sand just as bad as the Sony NEX cameras.  Interesting.  Here is what I managed to capture during the last hours of that long day.  Enjoy!

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Memories of Banff with Fujifilm X cameras and 14mm - Landscape Photography

FujiFilm 14mm f2.8

When I finally got this lens, I had my doubts that it might not be wide enough for landscapes.  I like to shoot landscapes at least at 17mm on full frame camera. and this 14mm translates to roughly 21mm, when factoring the crop of Fuji X cameras.  I decided to give it a try.  I was really impressed with the results.  I think 21mm is wide enough for me, although I'm still looking forward to the new 10-24 f4 Fuji lens.  Best of all, all this equipment is light, easily transportable, which makes shooting with it so much more fun.

Banff

It was a perfect day.  The morning was beautiful and we found a few photographers already positioned at Vermillion lakes waiting for the sunrise.  The weather conditions were quite perfect for a great sunrise shoot.  After the sunrise, we traveled to Lake Louise.  Another great iconic location for landscapes.   A day of beautiful light, beautiful mountains, and great time shooting it all.

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Masked - Boudoir Photography

When it comes to boudoir photography I really love using masks.  They add an air of mystery, seduction, and maybe a little ... je ne sais quoi.. :) This particular piece I found right before Halloween, in a costume store. When it comes to props during a boudoir session, they can enhance the look, or completely destroy it.  It's all about how they are being used.  One thing to keep in mind is to never over use them.  They should never distract from the subject.  In our boudoir sessions we seldom use props, unless they will enhance the session, or will create a certain mood that the you ,as a client, wants.  Sometimes props can be really simple, like his favorite shirt or a tie.  They can also reflect your personality, like your favorite cowboy hat, or boots.  Another great idea that may involve props, is to step out of your comfort zone a little and maybe do something risque, like having your boudoir session done... outdoors. :)  Like this one.  Enjoy!

 

Being... - Art Photography

As you can see from the title, I had a tough time classifying these images.  They could be part of a boudoir set, or part of an lifestyle series studying the human form.  Thus I decided on art, as it is very general :).  I guess the only thing that suffers here is my SEO, I think I can live with that.  I just really like these images, and even though they  don't fall into any theme (I personally called them Yoga), I still wanted to show them to you.  There is something about them that is calming, peaceful.... I let you judge for your self. Enjoy!

Alberta Winter Landscape

I don't usually process images this way.  Mostly because I don't know how, and most often then not I just couldn't be bothered :) .  This time I decided to give old Snapseed from NIK a go.  Getting images to my iPad is still not an easy task, specially when I forgot to take the special adapters with me.  All I had was the USB adapter for the iPad.  I was shooting with my Sony NEX-7, and I thought that the iPad might have a problem with recognizing the RAW files, I decided to shoot RAW+jpg.  At least I could move the jpg files onto the iPad.  Right..... Hooking up my little SD card reader to the USB adapter, didn't do anything.  iPad did not see it.  So, I thought, I could connect the camera directly.  Nothing.  Connected the same card reader to the computer, transferred the jpg files do my dropbox account and then was finally able to pull them to my iPad.  Sheeeeeesh...  From there it was easy.  Load them up in Snapseed, and go crazy.  Here are my attempts at creating art... I hope you like it.  Enjoy!

Postcards from Banff - Landscapes and the 500 Rule

A few weeks ago, we wanted to get away.  To go somewhere.  Mountains is always a good choice.  Packed up the gear, and the kids :), and headed out for a photo filled weekend.  It was a beautiful weekend weather wise, and my wife wanted to get some star and landscape photos.  Banff, Alberta is a perfect place for star pictures, as the whole area has very little light pollution.  It was a wonderful evening, beautiful sunset, and a wonderful time with the family.  The stars finally showed, and so did the milky way.  Unfortunately, I completely screwed up the settings on mine and my wife's cameras.  My exposure times were completely wrong, and I did not realize this until we got home.  The exposure was way too long, and although the mountains looked great, the star started streaking, and the images looked bad.  Sad really.  I completely forgot about the 500 rule, and was using settings I normally use on Northern Lights.  So not only did I ruined my photo's, I ruined my wife's too.  Perfect. So what is this rule?  It's very very simple.

500 divided by the focal length of your lens equals the time of exposure

So let say you are shooting with a full frame camera with a 15mm lens.  The exposure time before the stars start streaking is calculated by 500/15=33.3.  33.3 is the time in seconds you have to capture the stars before they start moving across the image.  Now on the crop sensor cameras it is the same thing, but a 15mm is really a 24mm, so this calculation 500/24=21.8.  So as you can see, with the same lens you have a 9 second difference, between the full frame camera and a crop sensor camera.  Yep, and I messed it all up.  Shame on me.  As a consolation here are some of the landscapes I managed to capture before the sun went down.  Enjoy!

A walk in the forest – Lifestyle Portrait Photography Part 2

Continuing from the previous lifestyle portrait photography session, here is another part of the walk.  It was a beautiful day, and fall colors were spectacular.  It was hard not to take a bad picture.  Then again using my two favorite cameras, namely the Fuji X-Pro1 and the Sony NEX-7, makes taking images great fun.  Not much can be said about this part of the walk, so please enjoy the images!

A Man that Plays with Fire - a Different Angle

Several weeks ago in his post A Man that Plays with Fire and the Fuji X-Pro1, Mac has posted some of his shots from our trip to Elk Island where we've had the opportunity to shoot a talented young artist (Bryton Keomanivong) who does some very cool things with his hoops and fire.  I took a side line position, wanting to capture him working his art from a different perspective.  Here is a few of my images taken that evening.  Enjoy! Kasia

Harvest Time on the Alberta Prairies - Part 3

As my wife wrote in the last part of the Harvest Time, the day that we planned the trip wasn't the best in terms of lighting.  We started early trying to get the sunrise that morning, then the whole day turned photographic.  The day did finish with a very beautiful sunset.  I have to say the sunsets in Alberta are quite spectacular.  They can range from almost non existent, when the sun quickly disappears, to really spectacular with colors truly out of this world. When we are together, my wife and me,  on these trips we tend to shoot the same things, which is not necessarily bad, but it's not great either.  We have different processing techniques, but essentially our subjects are very similar.  It was the case on this trip as well.  Maybe I will learn eventually to take different images :) Enjoy!

Mac

End of Summer - Portraits in the Park... Part 2

Shooting with Fuji X-Pro1 definitely changed my way of taking pictures.  It slowed me down, and made me think.  I found that with a DSLR, I would take more than a few images of the same scene, and really end up with way too many images that then would have to be scrapped.  Lots of time wasted.  With the Fuji, I found myself evaluating the scene in front of me, and try to capture it the best way.  Which means less images, but more keepers.  These portraits, were taken during the End of Summer shoot... I somehow ended up shooting a lot more with Brittany, then any other model in the group.  Did not shoot a lot of frames that day, but it's not the quantity that counts, at the end of it all.... it's the quality.  So please... Enjoy!

A Man that Plays with Fire and the Fuji X-Pro1

Since I got the Fuji X-Pro1, I wanted to try it out at night.  Something more interesting than the normal night street photography.  The opportunity presented itself when we were asked to photograph a local artist, who wanted to show off his skills.  We quickly agreed, and setup a date at Elk Island National Park, which seemed appropriate for these activities.  I brought two cameras, my Sony NEX-7, and the Fuji X-Pro1.  My wife brought her Canons 5D, and 40D.  All tripod up, and ready for action.  I have to say, Bryton Keomanivong is pretty damn amazing.  The way he was, almost with out any effort, playing with fire hula hoop, and other fire accessories (for which the name escapes me), was simply astonishing.  One of the best performances I have witnessed, and was allowed to photograph.  Since I had only one tripod, the Sony went to the bag and Fuji came out.  I was hoping to freeze some of the action using an off camera flash.  I was using my old Canon speed light.  The setup worked just as I intended.  Fuji X-Pro1 again exceeded my expectations, as did Bryton.  You have to check out his Facebook page here: BrytLyght.  Here are my shots from that spectacular evening....  Enjoy! Mac

Jasper in June with Fuji X-Pro1 - The last part.

We got a little lucky this time around in Jasper National Park.  We did manage to see a bear, which is usually rare for us, plus some possessed molting mountain goats.  Both great opportunities to try out my 200mm f4 Pentax lens.  I find that even though the lenses are manual, it gives me a lot more creative freedom on a great camera.  The 200mm lens is really easy to focus, smooth, and light, making it perfect for hand holding.  Here are some wildlife images from the park, shot with the 200mm.  The last set of images are of an amazing sunset we encountered on our way back from Jasper.  A perfect ending to a perfect trip.  Enjoy!

Sexy in the Snow

I have shot Christmas boudoir with Jenna a last year and we wanted to take it one step further.  She is a great model to work with and she looks great in Christmas lingerie.  This time we wanted to do this outside, in the snow.  Just for fun. Edmonton gets cold in the winter so the challenge was upon us. Turned out to be a great session... cold, but great.  We traveled to Elk Island National Park, in the morning, knowing it's going to be deserted, and started shooting.  Great big thanks to Jenna for rocking the shoot.  It was awesome.  Enjoy!

Fall leafs in Jasper

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Last time I was in Jasper, the fall was in full swing.  That morning when me and my family arrived, it was a little frosty.  It was most evident on the colorful leaves.  I have borrowed the macro lens from my wife, tried to capture it.  Here are the results. Enjoy!

Hacks and early mornings

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It seems that my site alongside a whole bunch of others got hacked over the weekend.  I have absolutely no words for that.  None.  I knew I had a backup of my entire site, and I knew that my host provider has those backups as well.  So was I worried? Nope, not at all.  So in the morning, as planned, I grabbed my gear and headed out to my favourite spot, Elk Island National Park.  Personally I was hoping for more dramatic sunrise, but the skies were clear.  There were some lingering mists, and these provided some nice mood.   So here is one of the pictures taken with my old 1D MKII, as I hardly take the new Canon 7D out anymore.  With all the focusing problems that 7D has..... ah but we'll leave it for the next time I think.... so enjoy the bright sunny morning.

Lights in the Sky

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University of Alberta has a website that monitors geomagnetic activity in the  Edmonton area, called Aurora Watch.  There you can sign up for free email alerts, when aurora borealis or northern lights have a chance of occurring.  I received a red alert a few weeks ago, and decided to take my oldest son with me to Elk Island Park for a "capture the lights in the sky" mission.  Unfortunately at the site, Konrad realized that his little point and shoot camera did not have the settings necessary to record the northern lights.  I setup both of my cameras, one with fish eye lens, the other with wide angle, on the beach of Astotin Lake.  Since Konrad wasn't able to take any photos, I let him operate one of the cameras.  It was a great time, just being there, chatting, counting down exposure time, and watching the amazing light show in the skies above us.  Great great time.  Enjoy!