Parc de La Gaudinière

The day was definitely less sunny than on the picture below, but I decided to add the needed warmth nevertheless.

Nikon D7100, 105mm, 1/60s @ f/11, iso 400

Lantern people

One autumn evening it was finally time to see the Chinese garden light show hosted in Montreal's botanical garden. The display was pretty nice, with some of the most prominent paper figures reflecting in the water. Lots of crowds and they did not allow tripods though.

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/50s @ f/2.2, iso 800

Autumn reflected

Another picture from the enchanted place on the Shawinigan River.

This time I felt like bumping up the reflection to be almost on par with the real trees and also added a bit of a white vignette. Enjoy!

Nikon 7100, 50mm, 1/50s @ f/6.3, iso 400

Life and death

Sometimes you just take a camera and go around your neighbourhood, not sure what it will be that you will be photographing. In the rain, plants and flowers are a good bet though.

In this case, I took a few pictures with my Nikon and also a shot directly on the phone, for Instagram. I am pretty much satisfied with both of them.

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/50s @ f/3.2, iso 400

iPhone 5s, VSCOCam, Instagram filter

Enchanted place

While in Quebec City during the long Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, we visited Montmorency Falls. What a disappointment! Not only the falls are not that pretty (though large they are!), but also the crowd was almost unbearable. So we just turned around and left without taking a single picture.

On our way to Montreal we decided to visit the town of Shawinigan. Another disappointment. Someone decided to build as many supermarkets in the middle of what could be one of the nicest places to live.

Then, on our way out, we encountered the enchanted place. In the afternoon light, the fall colours looked almost unreal. Add few little waterfalls here and there, play of shadows between areas still lit by the sun and those already dark. You get the picture :)

Speaking of which - I am extremely grateful for the Lightroom panorama feature - it was not intended to be one, but of the few shots I've taken, none was framed right. Only combining two shots gave the effect you see below.

Nikon 7100, 105mm, 1/6s @ f/22, iso 200

Color my world...

In a stark contrast to the previous picture, this one was taken on the same day, but not in the morning fog, but in the strong noon daylight.

As I said before, autumn is just starting here in Quebec. You have to observe the hills and mountains to see the colors, because on the road level they are still just a few specs of yellow here and there. But when you take your eyes a bit higher this is what you're going to see...

Nikon 7100, 105mm, 1/100s @ f/10, iso 100

Famous Schwartz's smoked meat

Fujifilm X100s, f/5.6, iso 800, HDR

There is a place on Saint-Laurent Boulevard where there is almost always a line of people waiting. Nobody can quite explain, why they lining up to this particular charcuterie, as there are two others equally good nearby.
But Schwartz's is listed in every possible guidebook about Montreal as a "place to visit". The smoked meat sandwiches are indeed pretty good. And the staff is so proud of working there for years, that you can almost feel like they're saving the world.
I thought it would be funny to capture the line on the picture. The HDR developed pretty well (and yes, I was too lazy to remove artifacts created by people in motion), but I went a step further and tried  to make it look like it could happen 100 years ago in a similar sunny winter morning.

Autumn - for as long as possible!

iPhone, Camera+, auto (+1EV)

I am still uncomfortable taking pictures with iPhone (I feel that Android phones give you more control over photos), especially in cloudy, wet days like this. But maybe it was just an effect of the long jog...
Anyway, the autumn feel could be partly restored thanks to Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro. I am only worried the next picture I'll take will be with lots of snow in it.

Autumn morning by Nature's brush

Fujifilm X100s, 1/680s @ f/5.6, iso 400

Fujifilm X100s, 1/400s @ f/5.6, iso 200

Code: RED

Fujifilm X100s, 1/125s @ f/11, iso 1000

Halloween is near

Fujifilm X100s, 1/640s @ f/2.8, iso 200

RGB

Fujifilm X100s, 1/240s @ f/11, iso 400

Live color picker found in Ottawa. Now, where's my brush?

Dreamy vs. edgy

 Fujifilm X100s, 1/125s @ f/11, iso 250 - clarity -100

Fujifilm X100s, 1/125s @ f/11, iso 250 - clarity +50

It's been a long time since I last posted, but I just wasn't in the mood and I didn't want to push it. But then, the fall came and all the colors simply beg to be photographed...
The shot above was literally the last take of the long Thanksgiving weekend - with the sun almost too low to be any good. And I liked this picture so much I tried two different variants of it. While the sharp version looks better on the screen to me, the dreamy soft one is more in line with the spirit of that day.