SLR photos

Ok, so here's a few of my Nikon shots over the last month.

From Photo of the day 2011

Just after I got back from Toronto, I drove up to Vanderhoof for a teaching job interview. After my two days up there getting to know the people at the school and the area itself, I took a drive around some of Vanderhoof before I left. While I should have been taking a few shots of the houses by the small airport I was interesting in renting, I ended up taking pictures of a Long-billed Curlew (too far off) and this little insect that fixed itself to the driver's side window of my truck. I believe its a kind of ichneumonid - a type of wasp-like thing - though my entomology ID is a little rusty. This was not the shot I thought I would keep, but on the screen I could make out his reflection in the glass, and the lighting came out better. I cropped this, and did just a touch of highlights/shadows and sharpening in Picasa 3.

From Photo of the day 2011

I took this Sunday- wow, I've got down to take-process-post within a week! - on a hike down to Mckenzie bight in Gowland-Todd park in Victoria. The light was nice, so I stood back and took this with my zoom lens. I liked how the sun picked out the flower. Unfortunately, my Nikon is having some issues with cards, and I think it ate the photo I was actually going to post. This one was the best of the rest, though it took a little work. I played with highlights/shadows, and sharpened it quite a bit. Way to go camera - soon to go into the shop and get serviced.

From Photo of the day 2011

This is cropped only enough to remove some distractions, and is nearly full frame. It was way too dark to be taking hand-held shots however, and turning this into a yellow-filtered black and white with Picasa 3 produced the best contrast and sharpness I could bring out of it. This barred owl was hanging out near the trail when we came back up from the beach at McKenzie bight on Sunday night. Its a neat shot, pity I was thinking like a film photographer and didn't up my ISO to get some better exposure. Well, you only have so much time with wildlife I suppose.

Collection of mobile photos

I took most of these photos several weeks to several months ago. I was going to make this post the day after the last one but, of course, things and work got out of hand and it didnt happen. This a collection of neat photos I took with my phone (HTC Desire). I am not impressed with the sharpness of the photos it takes - they tend to be very pixel-y - but I guess that is what you get with a lens and sensor only several mm wide. It may be 6 mega-pixels (or more I'm not sure) same as my good camera, but its obvious that it is glass and lenses that make a picture nice.

Anyways, on to the pictures!

From Photo of the day 2011

One of the first set of pictures I took with my phone, back when I got it in February. This weird ice stalagmite had grown underneath a park bench on the trails at Elk Lake. I liked the way the light came through it, and how often do you get to take cool ice pictures in Victoria? I don't think I did much (if any) editing - possibly fill light in Picasa, but I don't recall.

From Photo of the day 2011

This was taken a few days after cabbage pictures in March (see "Getting a bit behind... March 2011). Its amazing the number of pictures I have spotted in my friend's helicopter hangar. There is another one I need to take my Nikon out to get - some sunny evening I'm sure. Anyways. This is a small convex mirror sitting on the work bench. I liked how it reflected everything behind me. You can make out the back end of the R-22 Helicopter and the pattern of the rafters I took a shot of earlier. It took me a couple shots to make sure I wasn't in the shot, and to get the extras right (jar of screws, etc). No editing, but seen in its larger version, the pixelating and over contrast from the phone camera is evident in both the reflection and the jar of screws.

From Photo of the day 2011

I was kicking myself when I took this one. The shot would have been really nice with the Nikon, but I had left it in the car because it was raining. This the path down to the beach on Dallas Rd. The grey sky brought out the brightness of the flowers up the hill, and the lines just worked to lead the eye into the shot. Pixel-y again, but it was better than not taken at all.

From Photo of the day 2011

I had a trip to Toronto in the last few weeks - training for new employment. I didn't bring my Nikon - too bulky for such a short trip. Really, I didn't have time to take a lot of pictures anyways. After training on the Saturday I walked around in the Yonge-Bloor neighbourhood and spied this on the way back to the hotel. My first reaction was along the lines of "try this one on, Escher!". I liked how all the corners were reflected in each other, making it hard to figure out where the building edges actually start and end. The only shot I took in Toronto.

I will get back to some more Nikon shots next post.