Thursday, January 31, 2013

Meet Posy

For this photo I had to do a fair bit of editing; the background was a little too busy for my liking; I used Topaz Remask software to get rid of it.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Meet Posy

This is Posy and she wants to do some acting...or maybe it's more acting....in any case she needed her portrait taken - here's a sample.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

My Latest Discovery

Here's another example of how the Snapseed centre focus filter can be used to control where the eyes fixes; in this case a photo of Sandra, her sisters and mother.  With four gorgeous faces in the frame all sharply focused who cares about the rest of the stuff?

Monday, January 28, 2013

My Latest Discovery

The eye tends to hone in on that which is in focus; using the Snapseed centre focus filter allowed me ensure that only the brides face is sharp in this photo.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

My Latest Discovery

Here's another photo edited with Snapseed.  That's our goddaughter and her brother.  I used the centre focus virtual filter to achieve a vintage camera effect, converted it to black and white and added some grain to enhance the effect and finished it off with a funky border.  The whole process took about 90 seconds.  This is a dynamite piece of software - highly recommended.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

My Latest Discovery

To achieve a miniaturizing effect in a photo a tilt shift lens to gain precise control how much of the photo is in focus.  The trouble is they are designed to be used on a big camera, they are costly ($1600 and up) and have no autofocus capability.  One option is to use your point and shoot camera and achieve the effect using Snapseed after the fact.  Canon G11 capture taken in 2012 August in Bruges, Belgium

Friday, January 25, 2013

My Latest Discovery

I recently downloaded a demo version of Nik Snapseed.  It is a photo enhancement tool that simulates a variety of vintage film camera effects.  After 2 minutes of monkeying around with it I am hooked.  This is my first test image; our friend Ross's '68 Beaumont photographed at the U of A south campus.  Edited to look like an old photo just found in the back of a drawer.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Looking Back

The early morning light reflected on the ice of Abraham Lake is fantastic; and definitely worth getting up early to see.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Looking Back

This photo was taken in All Stones Creek west of Nordegg in February 2010.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Looking Back

In the winter many mountain canyons are filled with ice from which things protrude, like this sapling for instance.

Monday, January 21, 2013

Looking Back

The ice on Abraham Lake is a target rich environment for any photographer.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Looking Back

Warm weather on great ice yields great photos; the ice seems to shimmer when it's a bit wet.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Looking Back

Sometimes when one looks back it's amazing what got left behind in the editing process.  The RAW file looked a little flat - but then RAW files always do.  A few Lightroom adjustments and a final tweak in Photoshop and Voila!

Friday, January 18, 2013

Looking Back

Next up in the 'looking back' series; big horn sheep near Highway 11 in central Alberta.  Canon 5DII and Canon 70-200 F/2.8 lens at 200mm.  F/11 at 1/30 sec.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Looking Back

Here's another photo that I had overlooked from 2010 February; this is the shores of Abraham Lake.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Looking Back

Sometimes it worth looking back through older photos to see if there's anything that's been overlooked in the editing process.  This photo is from 2010 February; I went back and re-edited the RAW file and this is the result.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Edmonton Architectural Details

As you can see, the Hudson's Bay Company has a long history in Canada and Edmonton.  They moved out of their Jasper Avenue store years ago and these days it is home to the University of Alberta Faculty of Extension.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Edmonton Architectural Details

My architectural details project is a work in progress; here's another photo in this series.  The Walterdale Theatre is housed in an old fire hall; this is one of the vintage doors.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Action Photography

The Canon 1Dx is particularly well suited to action photography.  Having the subject running full speed toward the camera makes for difficult focusing in most cases but this camera nails it.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

The Heartbeat of Alberta

Here's the last in this short series of work site photos.  Looking sharp at this energy sector construction site in Calgary.

All photos in the series taken with the venerable Canon 5DII fitted with my Canon 24-105 lens.  Black and white conversion of Camera Raw Files made with Oloneo Photo Engine.

Thanks to the folks at Ganotec West for inviting me along.

Friday, January 11, 2013

The Heartbeat of Alberta

Sometimes on these assignments one gets a less than cooperative group to photograph; other times they carry on like supermodels.  'Can't we find a clean truck?' or 'How should I stand?' are the kinds of things I hear.  There's usually a lot of heckling from their colleagues too.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

The Heartbeat of Alberta

My client for this photo shoot wanted colour images and that's what they got - but don't you love the inky black and white version of this photo?

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

The Heartbeat of Alberta

All over the world there are folks who grab their PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) as they start their work day.  In Alberta it's maybe a little more intense with all the work going on in the energy sector in addition to more traditional construction sites.  There are a few 'rock stars' on these sites but most of them just quietly go about the business of constructing the extraordinary.  I think they are rather like a sports team in that they have different roles, are similarly dressed and with a confident just-do-it attitude.

Photographed at the Enbridge tank facility in east Edmonton.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Edmonton in Winter

Here's the coming together of the seasons in Edmonton; the remnants of a summer wasp nestled in the winter snow.

Monday, January 7, 2013

Winter Along the North Saskatchewan

I took this photo while out with the dogs over the Christmas break; Canon G15, ISO 200, f/8 at 1/50 sec.  Sepia tone image made with Nik Silver Efex Pro.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Edmonton Architectural Details

What's the point of a flag pole with no flag?  As I drive around town I'm continually surprised at both the number of barren flag poles there are as well as with how many tattered flags that shamelessly flap in the wind.  You certainly would not see that in a major US city.  For this photo of the McLeod Block I had to harvest a flag from another photo I took a few years ago.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Edmonton Architectural Details

Commerce Place and Manulife Place house many of Edmonton's high-end retail shops and list many of Edmonton's blue chip corporate offices as tenants.

Friday, January 4, 2013

Edmonton Architectural Details

Before there was a CIBC there was the Canadian Bank Of Commerce.  Here you can see the letters C B C intertwined on this French balcony on the Canadian Bank Of Commerce building at first and Jasper in downtown Edmonton.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Edmonton Architectural Details

The CN Tower in downtown Edmonton has been a landmark since it's construction in the mid 1960s.  Canon 1Dx with Canon 70-200 f2.8 IS lens.  Black and white conversion made with Oloneo Photo Engine.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Edmonton Architectural Details

In selecting the photos for potential use in the hotel guest rooms I was searching for photos that had both artistic merit and that presented recognizable buildings in a non-traditional way.  The request for these photos caught me off guard, in the future I plan to make creating more images like these both part of every assignment and to make it an assignment in itself.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Edmonton Architectural Details

I think this extractive detail photo of the Art Gallery of Alberta is a winner; it has a nice sculptural quality to it I think.