Stephanie Beach Photography: September 2008

Hogs Back Park

>> Tuesday, September 30, 2008

A quick look through my photo collection effectively shows that one of my favourite places to take photos is Hogs Back Park. I first went to this location as a reward for biking the along the canal as hard as I could – I got to stop and leisurely take pictures in a pretty setting. I later started going there on a semi-regular basis since I moved right around the corner from the park. It was fast and easy to get there and gave me something to do when I was bored or looking for creative release. There are the pretty standard animals, chipmunks, chickadees, crows, squirrels as well as the odd rabbit or raccoon. Of course the Hogs Back Falls are right there waiting to be captured on film and the abundance of trees, which are absolutely beautiful in the fall. Sometimes the paths can be a bit dark and hard to take non-flash pictures, but they are usually pretty well lit and wide enough to sit down on the side of them and set up some great ‘patience’ shots of more timid animals. I have found that one of my greatest tools when coming here is a container full of bird seed – though I have recently decided to trade up for a container full of sunflower seeds as the animals tend to just pick those (and the peanuts and corn bits) out of the seed.

Recently, I moved a little further away from the park and have found myself stopping there on my way back home from other locations. It is a great standard and if I am feeling a bit iffy on any shots I took other places I can always stop here and know I will get a couple good ones.

The above shot was taken at Hogs Back Park two weeks ago . I sat on the side of the path with some birdseed and my Nikon D80 and waited for the chickadees and chipmunks to get used to me and start coming closer. It was a great couple of hours.

*Note* I am considering using this photo for my photography course at Algonquin College so any and all advise, comments and/or suggestions you have about it would be greatly appreciated.

Fountain View

>> Monday, September 29, 2008

Another shot from Beechwood Cemetery. This one is of the bird fountain with the crematorium in the background. Again I think the changing colours of the leaves add a bit more drama to the scene - maybe it's just me.

*Note* I am considering using this photo for my photography course at Algonquin College so any and all advise, comments and/or suggestions you have about it would be greatly appreciated.

Gamble I

This photograph was taken on my first visit to Beechwood Cemetery here in Ottawa. I like it because of the bright fall colours in thebackground trees which I thinks makes this typical picture of a tombstone a little different.

*Note* I am considering using this photo for my photography course at Algonquin College so any and all advise, comments and/or suggestions you have about it would be greatly appreciated.

The Weatherman

>> Saturday, September 27, 2008

Unfortunately the weatherman was right. It rained and is raining and is dark and dreary and miserable outside. This doesn't make for good pictures. I do not like the weatherman.

How 15 minutes turns into 3 hours...

>> Friday, September 26, 2008

The photography class I am taking on Wednesday nights is 3 hours long, minus a 10-15 minute sbreak halfway through the class. During that time we usually cover about 4 or 5 different topics and look at an abundance of photographs taken by the teacher. I have recently come to the conclusion that the information I have picked up from any of the classes I have attended so far could be taught to me in about 15 minutes, including the time it takes me find the buttons or other necessary features on my camera. Though it would be nice to save the time and magically have the other 2.75 hours back, I feel that I would not want to pay $280 for 3.75 hours of training (I believe there are 15 classes), so I guess I will stick with the 3 hours.

Continuing to Learn

>> Thursday, September 25, 2008

I attended Class #3 last night and I know believe I will learn one or two things with each class. This time the teacher spoke about ISO, file formats, depth of field and the hyper-focal point. I have always understood ISO (aka film speed or sensitivity) as I used to work with traditional film and it really was crucial then. When it comes to depth of field I like to think that I am quite learned and experienced. I enjoy playing with the depth of field in pictures and I find it useful when trying to get the viewer to see the image the way I intended it to be seen, so there wasn’t much new information here either. The new data I picked up comes with the other two topics: file formats and hyper-focal point.

In terms of file formats, it was not the actual formats that were new. Jp(e)g, tiff, gif, raw – I had heard them all before and used them as well. The new stuff came when he brought a raw file into Adobe Photoshop and showed us what it could do. He could basically ‘re-take’ the shot under any lighting situation he chose. He could warm up or cool down the photo, increase or decrease the exposure, fill in dark spaces, etc. He could even set the white balance to a certain spot on the picture and have the rest of the image change as required. He showed us an example of a jet engine testing area. Due to the lighting needed to protect the bulbs from the high temperatures, the picture came out completely yellow. By setting the white balance on a spot he knew to be white (from being inside the area), the entire image changed as if there were no lighting problems whatsoever. Walls turned yellow from the lights, went white as if there had been no problems at all. It was amazing!

The second new topic was the hyper-focal point. As I understood it, the hyper-focal point is essentially the distance at which one should focus their camera to have everything in the picture focused. In other words, you will have the greatest depth of field when you focus your lens at its hyper-focal point. It has to do with the depth of field ranging from 1/3 of the focal plane in front to 2/3 of the focal plane behind the subject (the focal plane is the area in focus). The hyper-focal point puts the end of your ‘2/3’ at infinity and therefore as long as nothing is between your camera lens and the 1/3 mark, everything will be in focus. We were given a term to Google to find websites that would give you the hyper-focal point for specific lenses, etc: depth of field calculator (original huh). Anyway, if you are interested in getting those great landscape shots, this is definitely something to look into.

Already Learning

>> Tuesday, September 23, 2008

I have attended two of my photography courses so far and I have already learned several new things such as:
1. How to increase/decrease my exposure using the exposure button my camera (as well as where it is, etc.)
2. What the metering mode button does (and where it is on my camera).
3. How to use histograms generated by the camera.
So far, I have found number 3 the most useful bit of new information yet.

I went out both Saturday and Sunday of this weekend to take pictures for the class and though I took LOTS of picture I only have about 30 I want to work with to try and perfect. I am of course going to have to see if I can get the teacher's opinion on them - in advance of any marking of course, hehe. Once I decide that the photos are complete I will of course post them here for everyone's viewing pleasure.

15. Food

>> Tuesday, September 2, 2008

So many pictures for this one - I love taking pictures of great food. Especially when you can take great macro(esque) photos!

Fresh fruit for breakfast.

Or how about croissants?

Yummy toasted bagels anyone?

Or how about a variety of fruit.

14. Concentration

I really thought I would put a picture of people playing backgammon or some other intense thinking game for this one.

But when it came down to it, Chris making the sign for their "Canada Day" Party fit the bill the best.

13. Butterfly

Oh no - my first (and only) missed category. Throughout the entire weekend I saw one butterfly - as we were pulling out of the driveway heading home. Evil butterfly just wanted to rub it in my face that he got to stay there and I had to go back to Ottawa.

12. Bubbles

Ah bubbles - they are so great.

Yet again, not a traditional view of bubbles - but without a bubble set or the idea to make our own, this is as good as I got on the trip - air bubbles in the waves hitting the shore (and party streamers tangled in the drift wood).

11. Mechanical Things

This category isn't really hard to fill really, it is just hard to find pictures of mechanical things when you are trying to espace from it all. So here are my two pictures for this category, both a little forced in my opinion.

The fan is mechanical - it has gears and runs on electricity.

The BBQ has many valves, which are types of mechanisms.

10. Time Passing

A tricky category to say the least. I could of course play the "see number 8." card as technically that is two pictures of the same sand castles (the second just had some additions put onto the property), but let's see what else I have shall we.

Still somewhat tacky series of photographs to fill this category - but it seems to be all I got.

9. Death

I didn't want to go traditional on this photo - as most death pictures are rather sad and bleak. Instead I went semi-metaphorical.
This picture is two-fold. The first, and more obvious, is the dried, fallen leaf in the driveway. The second is the driveway itself as this was the end (aka death) of our cottage vacation - so sad.

8. Sand Castles

Little Fi makes great sand castles and since she is oh so smart she has even figured out how to make them last longer by adding water to the sand.

But even the greatest sand castles eventually fall victim to the weather and time in general.

7. Sleepy Boys

An easy and potentially adorable category. One I fulfilled without even realizing.

This can't actually be comfortable Mike?!

Baby Ethan taking a snooze in Jerrica's arms - now this is the adorable I was talking about.

6. Candles

I have a similar photo from last year - but can't get enough of the way the light hits these candles in their wine bottle vases.

5. Drift Wood

There is definitely no limit to the drift wood along the beaches of Lake Erie. I have more than one shot to fill this category for sure, but I will keep it short - promise.

The traditional drift wood covered in algae and other great lake 'stuff'.

Dave posing for me in the early morning along the beach on one of the few pieces of dry drift wood we found.

4. A Bugs World

Ahh, a category near and dear to my own heart. We all know how much I love the macro photography - if there is bug around I will chase it with my camera lens!

This little guy was also holding on for dear life as we tacked and tilted from side to side on the boat.

3. Fear

So for this category I was sure I would get a good fearful pictures of Jerrica on the boat - but little did I know that everytime she was scared, I was too. So to say the least I missed almost every opportunity because I felt as if I needed both hands to keep myself out of the water.

The above picture was taken just as we were leaning about to tack (a fun yet fearful experience to say the least).

Near the end of the trip I tried to make Jerrica fearful - was successful but she knew what I was doing and wouldn't give into me too much.

Though it did make for some good laughs, so it was worth it.

2. Raindrops

To be honest - I have no pictures of raindrops from the cottage trip. I do have a picture of a rainbow, which is made from light going through raindrops...does that count?
Yeah, I didn't think so either, but it was worth a shot.

1. Dirty Feet

I have a couple different ideas for this category - the most obvious one is the first:

This is Chris' foot after walking up from the lake - covered in the beautiful soft sand of the beaches of Lake Erie.

Another is this one:

A dog's footprint in the sand.

The third is along the same lines as the second one - it just turned out a little different:This is my footprint but for some reason it looks more like it is raised when in actuality it is a depression.

Cottage Assignment

Once again this year I spent the August long weekend at my friend's family cottage. I love it there - it's peaceful being away from the stress of my city life.

This year, as last, family friends were also at the cottage and one of them gave me a list of moments to capture with my new camera. I was very excited about this list and only know have gotten around to posting it here. The list follows, but my goal is to post as many of these pictures from the cottage trip as possible - though I don't think I got them all.

1. Dirty feet
2. Raindrops
3. Fear
4. A bugs world
5. Drift wood
6. Candles
7. Sleepy boys
8. Sand Castles
9. Death
10. Time passing
11. Mechanical things
12. Bubbles
13. Butterfly
14. Concentration
15. Food

A Long Time Coming

So updates and recent pictures have been a long time coming for this site as well as my DeviantArt site. I have taken many new pictures - just haven't had the time to put them up anywhere. I am hoping to get around to that to some degree at least now and in the coming days.

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