Warm sun and cool breeze: a beautiful fall day. The wind had matted the grass into interesting patterns in some places.
This was taken before all the snow hit. Looking out my window now, from the 12th floor, I can only see a couple blocks before the deluge of falling snow obscures everything. This snow would actually be perfect weather for photography but I really need to get winter tires on the van before I feel comfortable driving out to a natural area.
It’s all unclear, but beautiful.
Taken near Beaverhill Lake, AB.
Technical Note: I tried out a variable ND filter for the first time on this hike. ND (neutral density) filters block light, while otherwise (ideally) not affecting your image at all. This lets you have longer shutter speeds in bright light, which lets you blur subjects more easily. The above photo was a 4 second exposure.
The variable ND filter worked pretty well, but you have to be careful with ultra wide angle lenses. Like any polarizing filter, variable ND filters can create a dark stripe through your image if you use a wide angle lens, depending on the lighting.
The curving lines of dry grass provide so much picture fodder.
Taken in Elk Island National Park.
Taken near Beaverhill Lake.
If anyone knows what species of grass these are, I’d be very curious. I’m getting better at my fauna taxonomy, but when it comes to grass, I’m lost.
Returning to what seems to be my favorite subject. There are always hard decisions to be made when capturing any scene, and with this one it was shutter speed. There are things I like about both of these – I like the flow of the first, but in the second I like where the smooth water meets the ripples. I think the second is a little more unusual. Which do you like best?
1/8 of a second.
1/200 of a second.
Water near the weir at Beaverhill Lake. I had to slog through a swamp for quite a long way to get here. On the way back I found out that by going around to the north I could have avoided most of the water.
I’m taking one university class this winter, and I’m getting pretty excited about it. After getting half way through a design degree I’m switching gears completely and taking “Wildlife Biodiversity and Ecology”. Should be very interesting in a completely different way. This is possibly an explanation for my renewed interest in correctly naming trees and animals in my posts. I’d love to know all this stuff thoroughly.
I grew up differentiating poplars between white poplars (what I now know is trembling aspen – white poplar is actually a completely different tree from Europe) and black poplars (a kind of balsam poplar). Not sure if these were local names from Saskatchewan or mistakes. Anyway, these are a kind of balsam poplar near Beaverhill Lake. Not sure if they’re Ontario Balsam Poplar (Populus balsamifera) or Black Cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa).
I’ve been super busy lately with everything from web design work to McBain work to photography and product design work. Which is good, but makes it hard to get out shooting. A couple days ago, I was planning on going out for the day, but got so wrapped up in other things that I didn’t make it out until it was dark. Which was interesting.
I walked out into the darkness of the Beaverhill Lake plains. And it was really dark. New moon again (I seem to time those just right), but interesting for photography anyway. I really need to get a fast prime for night shooting. These are with my 17-40 f4.
Yes, those bright, out-of-focus dots are indeed stars. It was really hard to see to compose for this picture – I had a flashlight to help out which ruined my nightvision for the next ten minutes.
