Winter

Business / Winter — No Comments
17
Apr 13

Photo Class on Saturday

little-spruce-in-snow_0

I’m making some final tweaks to the slides for the class on Saturday, and I thought I’d take a break to put up a photo and let you know about the Draw for Free Stuff. You’ll get entered if you share the post on facebook, like the St Albert Photo Classes page, or blog about it and post the link there.

So like or share this: St Albert Photo Classes Facebook Page and you could win an 8×10 print or a pendant!

Also, if you want to learn all about photography and how to use your camera (it must have interchangeable lenses for this class) sign up at http://stalbertphotoclasses.com.

The photo is from Jasper. 300mm, f5.6, 1/125 of a second on a tripod.

Forest / Photo of the Day / Winter — No Comments
10
Apr 13

Stark

burned-log-and-grass-in-winter

A burnt log in a mountain forest. Taken in Banff National Park.

100mm, f5.6, 1/1600 of a second

Mountain / Winter — No Comments
25
Mar 13

Split

worlds-split-by-a-cloud

From a recent trip to Jasper.

300mm, 1/2000 of a second, f5.6

Abstract / Water / Winter — No Comments
11
Mar 13

Trio In Ice

ice-trio
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ice-trio-3

On my latest trip to the Rockies, Eric and I found some pretty great ice. This is where we found it — under snow.
finding-ice-trio
Ice may not have the same movement as water, but it still causes the light to dance.

Jen Thompson liked this post
Abstract / Water / Winter — No Comments
5
Mar 13

Icicles Forming – Low Key Nature Photography

icicles-forming-in-a-waterfall-2_0

A couple weeks ago I posted a shot of icicles forming against the sky – it was a pretty high key shot (composed mostly of light tones). This last week I went back to the same place and caught the same scene from a different angle with very different lighting. Instead of the icicles being backlit by a bright sky, they were front-lit with a dark overhang behind them. With this contrast in lighting it was fairly easy to get lots of detail in the ice while completely getting rid of the small amount of ambient light behind the waterfall.

300mm, f5.6, 1/800 of a second

Landscape / Mountain / Photo Gear / Winter — No Comments
4
Feb 13

Shaped By a Glacier

moraine-from-athabasca-glacier

The ridge around those spruce trees is called a “lateral moraine” and was left behind by the Athabasca Glacier as it receded. I took this photo at the Columbia Ice Fields on a dark and cloudy day. I get the sense that this moraine is protecting the trees — like they’re sitting safe in their own fortress. And then I notice the mountain behind, which, by it’s comparative mass, renders the trees and moraine almost insignificant.

If you’re not interested in lenses, feel free to ignore the next bit. The photo is taken with the Panasonic 100-300 lens on my Olympus OM-D. When I got this lens, I was worried about it not being very sharp. I have looked up many reviews, but a lot of the photos in the reviews had shutter speeds under 1/1000 of a second with image stabilization turned on. It seems to me that this comments on the effectiveness of the IS, but says nothing about how sharp the lens is. Even using the lens on a tripod I find to be questionable because the center of balance is far infront of the tripod. So I ordered a lens collar with a tripod foot from Rudolf Rösch Feinmechanik. It didn’t get here in time for my trip to the mountains, so I don’t have a definitive review on the sharpness of the lens, but my initial impressions are that, while not being razor sharp, it is fairly good. The lens collar itself is beautiful — I’m thoroughly impressed. I will be using it a lot in the next while, and I’ll report back on its effectiveness.

1/4000 of a second, f7.1, 140mm

Abstract / Macro / Photo of the Day / Water / Winter — 1 Comment
31
Jan 13

Amazing Ice

ice-formation-textures

A very small ice formation I found along the Sunwapta River.

f8, 1/1000 of a second, 90mm

Abstract / Camping / Photo of the Day / Water / Winter — 1 Comment
30
Jan 13

Enjoying Winter Again

icicles-forming-in-a-waterfall

Last weekend Anna and I finally got a chance to get out to the mountains, and it was a trip for trying new things. For the first time ever we tried snowshoeing together, cross-country skiing together, and winter camping. I was also giving my Olympus OM-D a torture test to see how much it could replace my Canon 5D kit for hiking.

Snowshoeing works great and is my new favorite way of getting around in winter. It lets me get wherever I want in any conditions with my hands free for photography, which is perfect for me. Skiing was a lot more fun as an activity, but I found it quite hard to mix with photography. Winter camping actually worked a lot better than expected and we slept cosily through the whole night!

I’ll post a review of my little OM-D in a bit, for now I’ll just start posting pictures from it. This photo is from Panther Falls — icicles forming against an overcast sky. I’m looking forward to printing this pretty large — the details in the ice are fantastic!

f7.1, 1/1600 of a second, 100mm
(I’ll be stating actual focal length here, not equivalent – more on this in my OM-D review)

Wildlife / Winter — No Comments
2
Dec 12

Playing in the Snow

elk-in-a-herd-of-bison snowshoes

I just got some excellent snowshoes to make my winter excursions a little easier than in past years (I’m used to slogging it with just my winter boots). And hopefully I can get out to a bunch of new places. I tested them out in Elk Island National Park today and had a lot of fun. I came across this herd of bison hanging out with some unusual friends. Click on the image to make it larger to make it easier to spot them.

300mm, f5.6, 1/200 of a second

Forest / Winter — No Comments
4
Apr 12

Birch Trees In a Spring Snow Storm

I got the chance to head out to Chickakoo Lake a couple weeks ago during a big spring snow storm. There was very little snow around at the beginning of the day, but by the end it was a few inches thick (I think Environment Canada said 10cm). This made for wonderful photo conditions and horrible driving conditions.

Birch (Paper birch around here — Betula papyrifera) trees always catch my attention. They can be so colorful or almost pure white, but they always have great contrast — light trunks and dark branches. They’re a lot less common than poplars around Edmonton, and often a forest will have a birch tree or two in it, but mainly consists of more common trees. At Chickakoo Lake the situation is almost turned around. There are still a lot of poplars around, but the birch trees outnumber them.

birch-trees-covered-in-snow
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