Posts Tagged: beaverhill lake

Abstract / Macro / Plants / Water — No Comments
27
Jun 12

There Will Come Soft Rains

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It seems like all my favorite photos lately are taken during storms or on rainy days. Looking back through my photos from this spring, none of the photos from sunny hikes grab me, and I gravitate towards softer, rainier photos. I think water adds a dramatic element to photos (as well as stories – yes, I’m a Ray Bradbury fan) — it sets a mood.

The first photo was taken near Beaverhill Lake on a blustery day with my Sigma 150mm Macro at 1/125 of a second and f5.0. The second was at Chickakoo Lake – 1/800 of a second at f2.8.

Galleries and Shows / Photo Gear / Plants — No Comments
10
May 12

Random Updates

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On Saturday in the afternoon (between 2 and 4pm for sure, and probably a little longer) I’ll be at Tix on the Square if you’d like to stop by. I’ll try to bring more cufflinks too (just have to package them up)!

The Daffodil now has my first extra large square pendants which have been requested by a lot of people! I just dropped them off yesterday.

Today I’m going to pick up my new Olympus OM-D! I’m super excited about this camera. It looks like it will have really good image quality, and because it’s light and weather-sealed it should allow me get to more places and take more interesting photos. I’ll report back once I get a feel for it, but I think it will be good. Now I just have to save up for a couple more lenses. Speaking of which, anyone interested in a Panasonic 14-140 or a Canon 50 f3.5 macro? I’ve used both of them very little, and they’re in great condition.

The photo above was taken at Beaverhill Lake with a Canon 5d and 300 f4, at f4 and 1/400 of a second.

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Photo of the Day / Prairie — No Comments
17
Nov 11

Beaverhill Lake Grass

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Warm sun and cool breeze: a beautiful fall day. The wind had matted the grass into interesting patterns in some places.

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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.

Abstract / Forest / Photo Gear / Photo of the Day — No Comments
10
Nov 11

The Path Ahead

It’s all unclear, but beautiful.

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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.

Abstract / Photo of the Day / Plants — No Comments
12
May 11

The First Grass of Spring

Things are finally turning green and the sun is shining.
New Grass Shoots in the Sunset

Abstract / Photo of the Day / Plants — No Comments
8
May 11

Twisting Grass

The curving lines of dry grass provide so much picture fodder.

Taken in Elk Island National Park.
Curves of Grass Melting Snow
Taken near Beaverhill Lake.
Grass Stalk

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.

Composition / Editing / Photo of the Day / Water — No Comments
5
May 11

Flowing Water and Shutter Speeds

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.
Overlapping Flowing Water
1/200 of a second.
Ripples in Flowing Water

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.

Forest / Photo of the Day — 1 Comment
31
Dec 10

Balsam Poplar at Beaverhill Lake

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).

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Macro / Photo of the Day / Winter — No Comments
30
Nov 10

Snow Layers

Frosty snow. Taken near Beaverhill Lake, Alberta.
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Landscape / Night Photography / Prairie — No Comments
9
Nov 10

The Light You Can’t See

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.

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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.