Sunday, August 30, 2009

A few taken while out for a stroll





I can seemingly find almost anything if interest if the light is just right. There was some mist one morning last week when I decided to go for a walk, I can kill two birds with one stone if I take a camera with me. The walk was well worth it, and I felt b/w images were suitable for the time of day.

It wouldn't hurt to have my house washed.

LaHave River Yacht Club






One evening after work last week, I decided to take a drive towards LaHave as I could see it might be foggy down that way. I felt the Yacht Club could be an ideal spot for some interesting photographs if the light was just right, and, thankfully, I was not disappointed.

All taken with the D80/ 70-300mm VR.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Temple flowers








I had hoped I might be able to catch some glorious early-morning light at the temple, this morning, but the dawn gave way to clouds and showers soon engulfed. Anyway, I was able to capture some very decent macros using the 500D on the AF-S 70-300mm VR; the key is the wind was not a factor as it often is.

I think you can appreciate the challenges when stopping down to f/16 or even further, minimal light and using ISO 100.

The image of the rose against an out of focus temple wall background is symbolic, has it really been ten years since we have had the privilege to worship and work here?

Friday, August 28, 2009

A few from Lunenburg









I was in Lunenburg on Monday trying to peddle some of my aerials, I visited many of the local craft shops. I seemed to get some good feedback but my email inquiries to various companies have gone unanswered. Anyway, I did record some good images as the town is very photogenic, if nothing else.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Struggling with macro work




I am still not 100% convinced the close-up lenses are the way to go when attached to a quality zoom; in theory, they can work extremely well and I have had good results, but it's very sporadic. The Canon 250D and 500D are the best on the market, I've had both, but I still linger about getting a dedicated macro lens.

I still cannot tell which of my two telephoto zooms is best for doing this kind of work; today, I was using the AF-S 70-300mm VR.

Compounding the frustration is the always-present wind and/or poor lighting. When I had a 1:1 macro lens years ago for film use, I seemed to get a higher percentage of keepers and that was in the days of being ruthless with editing my slides.

The current season is almost over, autumn awaits, and I'll keep trying.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Swelling seas







Our power decided to take a few hours off, this afternoon, thanks to the high winds. I grabbed the Coolpix 8400 and set out to find something of interest. I drove down along Highway 331 to Cherry Hill and then to Broad Cove, lots of spectators along the road to see the swells.

I kind of kicked myself for not having my DSLR kit with me, the 70-300mm would have been great for shooting the distant activity. However, the extra-wide zoom range on this compact was handy for these images. The CP8400 is kind of frustrating to use after getting so accustomed to the operation of D40 and D80, but picture quality always seems to come through.

Anyway, Bill came and went and he will not be missed...........

Calm before the storm





I seem to have trouble trying to get my blog entries in their proper order. Anyway, I went down for a jaunt to Blue Rocks, last night, the sky was kind of eerie as there was a nice calmness just ahead of the pending hurricane.

I was having fits trying to get the horizons straight (the D80 has grid lines), and had to rely on Capture NX 2 to fix. The 16-85mm VR is a very sharp lens but it has an odd rendition of slight wide-angle distortion. Anyway, as always, post-processing is equally important to recording succssful images as taking them.

Hurricane Bill visits Nova Scotia





It's that time of year, again, weather systems are created in equatorial waters and sometimes make their way up the eastern seaboard to play havoc with us Maritimers. We were nailed with Juan a few years ago and we take a lot more notice of these storms when they are headed our way.

Church was shortened, today, we had only sacrament and it was unusual to have most of the Sabbath to ourselves; I decided to see if there were any photo opps along my drive home, seems I was able to find something worth recording, even in the remnants of a hurricane.

I played around with close-ups on rain, slow shutter speeds, etc, all in the safety of my Sentra (with the passenger's side window carefully opened!). I even tried to outsmart the VR and the pics still are reasonably sharp, even at 1/2 second! I learned from past (and sad) experience that you keep your distance from water when it's like this, Mother Nature can hit you hard if you are stupid........

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

More magic light






I had the AF-S 70-300mm VR attached to the D40 as I drove to work, the hot nights/cool morning produce tons of mist and fog, all accentuated with the rising sun and light. These were not difficult to nail, I used my experience with light and got the exposure about perfect.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

My brother, Roger



For years, Roger and I worked in the Bridgewater Mall, people would always get us mixed up; similar build, round eyeglasses, we both looked like salesmen. In fact, many would often say we were brothers.

20 years later, we both work on King Street; we are both clean-shaven and have goatees, people still think we are brothers.

Oh well, it's always good for a laugh.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Light on tree


There is nothing great about this image, the lighting is rather nice. I was able to hand-hold the AF-S 70-300mm VR for 1/25th sec to get this, you have to love technology!

Friday, August 14, 2009

Yummy veggies



I took these last week at our Saturday farm market, they look good enough to eat=) Sometimes, color can really make the image work..........

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Have you had enough of fog?


I don't know if it's just my diligence in catching the best light or maybe we have had more fog this summer than I can ever recall, but I am having a lot of fun capturing it all. I took the Sigma 50-150mm for a short spin with the D40, yesterday, I found this framed in my viewfinder. One of the few shortcomings of the teeny D40 is its AF is not too great in poor light and often can't find focus - I did get it to work after some tweaking.

Fall colors in the summer?



I guess it's no big surprise how the seasons seem to be starting at off-times these days, certainly not what we are used to seeing. I have already found some vibrant autumn colors in my travels such as can be seen with these images. Although I love the fall, it's just too early to start taking photos..........