Saturday, July 21, 2012

Green

Ok, old pictures but I'm getting back into the swing of things. I doubt it will be daily again soon, if ever.


Anyways - found this toad outside my house in June when I came home from work. Likely the last day of school because I finally brought the camera home and so had it to take pictures with. I am considering either of these shots as an entry in the fall fair under the photography category "green". Not sure which, currently leaning to the top one because I think it is a better photo technically and if someone else is judging it.


Find the toad! Its actually not as hard as I thought it would be compared to the back of the camera version.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Scenery and Wildlife

From Photo of the day 2012

My front yard on Monday morning. We got some snow over the weekend and I liked how all the branches on the deciduous trees were highlighted against the black of the conifers. On a somewhat related note, I also like that its now LIGHT when I leave my house in the morning at about 7:30 am and STILL light when I get home in the afternoon, which enables me to actually take pics for this blog. This one is straight from the cam with my wide angle lens, unfortunately don't recall the exact settings.

From Photo of the day 2012

This one I took on Friday (I think - I know its late being posted) when I hoofed out to the round bale stack in my back field after school. I liked the light on the hay and and the pretty evening sky. Oddly, this is taken with my long lens at minimal focal length (70mm) because I wasn't packing my whole kit and had only brought that lens. I had to stand way back. I wasn't sure this was actually the shot I wanted when I took it, tried a bunch more with a barn in the background, and then ended up using this one anyways. The moose have been chewing on the one in the bottom corner, a number of times last week I had to go walk the dog in the other field because they were still there and I didn't her (or me) to get trompled by and angry/startled moose.

From Photo of the day 2012

Taken on the way back from the hoof out to the round bales - I liked the lighting and the contrast of the plant (I always called them ant flowers as a kid, no idea what they are actually called) with the shadowy background. The stems came out nice and sharp too. Another successful straight from the camera shot.

From Photo of the day 2012
This one is a short-eared owl I spotted on the way home from school yesterday. I went out way past him as I was driving fairly quick then pulled a u-turn and came back on the other side of the road. He put up with a bunch of shots before this one (him taking off) but I botched most of them by underexposure. This one was salvageable and he was in an interesting stance. I have cropped this, increased highlights and fill light and slightly sharpened in Picasa 3.

From Photo of the day 2012
And the rouge pack of deer on the way home from work last week. They were considering crossing the road, one had even hopped the fence, but when I slowed down they turned tail. Got to love being in northern BC where you can stop in the middle of the road for 5 minutes and take pictures with the window rolled down and not get in anyones way. Of course I had my wide angle lens on and by the time I got the long one on they were a considerable distance away so I got a trail of butts. I cropped it to remove most of a distracting blurry bit of grass or fence in the bottom left. I suppose the deer create a bit of a leading line, the shot is mostly included because I thought the deer were cool (hence its included at the bottom).

Obviously my students are beating me at keeping up with the whole 3 shots posted a week thing. Hope to do better next week!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Ungulates

From Photo of the day 2012

Spotted this big white-tailed buck on the way home from school on Monday with his girlfriend. I think he has 5 points, regardless he was big. I'm not really happy with this picture because it was waay to dark and I had to tweak it too much in Picasa 3 - highlights, fill light, too much sharpening, etc. Looked at anywhere other than here it would be grim. But it works and a neat subject. I liked how he held his head up and looked fairly regal.

From Photo of the day 2012

These two moose I spotted on the way home from school on Friday. It was intended to be posted as part of last week, but I got too busy. Again, the shot was far to dark and this is much over edited. After marking my student's work I am beginning to think I am getting horribly out of practice, as their current shots put these to shame. The moose were cool though - these are the first moose I have seen since moving up here, though there are loads of tracks in my backyard.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Catch-up and recommit

I am now teaching two photography classes and have challenged my grade 11 and 12 students to keep a photo blog as part of their course work. That said, I didn't think it was fair for me to not hold to the same standards. So. Three photos a week, taken in that week, not necessarily posted in three separate posts (because of time constraints) but hopfully so. Here goes....

From Photo of the day 2012


Technically this one doesn't count because I took it over the Christmas break a few weeks ago. This is at Echo lake outside of Vanderhoof on the frozen lake. I went snowshoeing with Meg in the -20C or so, and there were a number of abandoned ice fishing holes. I'm not sure how they cut these giant chunks (or got them out of the hole) as they were square. Maybe someone here will enlighten me. I think I tweaked the lighting in Picasa 3 afterwards. I used Meg to give the blocks and the hole a sense of scale. She wasn't to sure about the black part.

From Photo of the day 2012


Another taken at the same time - the contrast of the white crystals against the smooth black ice was cool. I think the dog came by to check out what I was doing and had a go at digging the hole again (ruining the smoothness of course). Ah well, I liked it. I may have tweaked the lighting in Picasa, don't really remember.

From Photo of the day 2012


This one I did take yesterday - after work no less! Those down south don't appreciate their longer winter days enough. It is now light to about 5:30 pm (bliss!) so I don't have to run Meg in the dark in the morning AND the evening. This is almost straight from the camera - I liked the long red light and the fence leading off into the back - I did have to touch up a big sensor dust spot in the sky with Picasa 3. Now I just need to find my sensor cleaning stuff so I don't have to fix all my pictures... where did it get put after the move??

From Photo of the day 2012


The side of my house - this has made me laugh over the last week or so. It makes me think that the house must have an itch and is trying to scratch it with its 4 ft long curly chunk of snow. I like how the icicles are no longer verticle and get a curve as the gravity has changed for them. Not the most spectacular picture, but one I've been meaning to get for a while (hard when its dark most of the time you are home). I did take some others from other angles but they just didn't work. I guess thats two for this week. I will have to find another.