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

Autumn accents

So the summer is gone, the days are shorter and shorter and the nights cold enough to scare Sunday campers :)

But this means there will be soon more and more shades of yellow and red around. Hunting for them, I went to the parc national de la Mauricie. Even this far north there are only few signs of coming autumn, mostly on higher hills. As this picture was taken on the river bank, only this one tree was not green. The scene looked so nice in the fog though that I decided to make it monochrome with just one color accent.

Nikon 7100, 105mm, 1/125s @ f/9, iso 200

Pine kindergarten

Another nature picture from the Frontenac National Park (see the previous one). It gives a certain pleasure to use the telephoto lens. However, it is still difficult for me to operate the depth of field, so I chose a small aperture for this one and added bokeh in the post.

Nikon 7100, 360mm, 1/50s @ f/20, iso 1600

In the wild

It has to be the best "wild animal" picture I have ever taken in terms of sharpness, at least. It usually takes an enormous amount of patience to compose the image, check for sharpness and make sure the subject hasn't moved too much. Thankfully, Nikon 7100 has a lot better autofocus than my previous 5100.

This particular rabbit I spotted walking down La Tourbière trail in the Frontenac National Park in Quebec. I am guessing the animals there don't really feel threatened by humans. If they were, it would be gone before I even decided to set up my tripod.

Nikon 7100, 450mm, 1/250s @ f/5.6, iso 900

Fishing

Recently I experiment a bit with Affinity Photo software, which - at least for me and for now - is an "easier-to-grasp" version of Photoshop CC. Though not as powerful as PS, Affinity Photo has many interesting features and - being a new player on the market - it is easier to find tutorials that are actually relevant from beginner's and photographer's point of view.

Anyways, the picture was taken in the wonderful spot in Montreal - Parc des Rapides. Situated on the bank of St-Laurent River, it has multitude subject to photograph: from birds to far-away river landscapes to water cascades.

Usually, I don't take many bird pictures. This one, a heron I believe (?), was still pretty far, so this is the result of a small crop. And - as the contrast with the green grass wasn't particularly great, I decided to develop this picture in monochrome, using Lightroom for RAW development and then Affinity Photo for black-and-white conversion and this silver effect.

Nikon 7100, 450mm, 1/125s @ f/6.3, iso 200

Sunday special - rain & flowers

It's been a while since I took my camera out with the very intention to take photos. Recently it is more like: "hmmm, I am going to this nice place, if I take a camera, maybe there'll be an opportunity to get few nice landscapes?"

So today, I was walking in the light rain down the street I live on and I noticed all these plants extending their leaves to catch the water. And by the way: the plants are the only ones happy with this kind of summer. People just hate it.

But to the point. Seeing the beauty is just around the corner I geared up and went for a short walk. And now I am publishing not one, not two, but ten pictures!

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/320s @ f/2.8, iso 400

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/50s @ f/5.6, iso 1250

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/50s @ f/2.8, iso 3200

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/50s @ f/5.6, iso 1000

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/50s @ f/5.6, iso 560

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/250s @ f/2.8, iso 400

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/50s @ f/11, iso 1250

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/80s @ f/11, iso 400

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/50s @ f/9, iso 1600

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/250s @ f/5.6, iso 400

Spring panorama

It was a nice weekend hike to Mt. Sourire (~450 m), where we were greeted with this view. Notice the snow still lying on the hills where ski trails are supported by snow guns.

Sony RX100M3, 24mm, 1/160s @ f/5.6, iso 80

Crémerie Holy Donut

A sunny spring day. Noon. A car. An ice cream shop. A small town on a lake. A funny name. All you need for a perfect "opening season" picture.

I could have gone with a retro post-processing, but decided to keep the original colours, just warmed up a little. A very cheerful result!

And for the record - Saint-Donat is the name of a saint. But who knows, maybe he liked donuts?

Sony RX100M3, 31mm, 1/160s @ f/5.6, iso 80

March 27th :|

The same morning, different place. Unlike the picture from the previous post, this one really captures the feelings of every person in Montreal right now. Which are: will it ever stop?? And - believe it or not - this photo looks even sadder in colour...

No matter. This weekend showed signs of spring. And yes, I've already went to buy coffee wearing only a t-shirt. Because I can! :D

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/200s @ f/10, iso 3200

Let it snow?

This is probably the most frustrating thing about Montreal in March: after a few days of sunshine and (relative) warmth there comes a morning like this... BAM!

The world is suddenly dark, the sky is cloudy, and the dreaded frozen flakes are falling from up there... It is nice in November, exciting in December, normal in January, already depressing in February, but March??

However, a beauty can be found in this, too. What I like about the picture below is how great the bokeh looks in ISO 3200. Usually I would shoot this kind of picture with ISO 100-200, but I may experiment with that high ISO grain a bit more.

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/1600s @ f/5.6, iso 3200

Through the Looking-Glass

This picture reminds of Fringe, the science-fiction TV show (mostly) about parallel worlds. Granted, there are no zeppelins anywhere in sight. Another easy to find parallel (sic!) would be that with Alice in Wonderland (Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There).

Mirrors are very special. Everything looks almost the same, but is not. And - even if it's only a moment of distraction - one can sometimes see something that can be only seen in the parallel world. Or at least I'd like to think so... :D

iPhone 5s, VSCOCam

Lights of McGill

And again, having the heavier camera in my backpack paid off (too bad I did not pack a tripod too)! I've been just returning home from a meet-up when this sight caught my attention. It was almost dark, only the sky was a bit lighter with one of those cloud formations that make pictures interesting.

Not having a tripod I improvised by resting my tele lens against the fence. With high ISO and VR mode active I managed to get a pretty decent shot at 70mm (105mm in 35mm terms) and f/10. I tried 85mm too (the second photo), but I like the framing in the first one better. On afterthought, I could have tried to step up the aperture a bit.

Nikon 7100, 105mm, 1/6s @ f/10, iso 3200

Nikon 7100, 127mm, 1/6s @ f/10, iso 3200

Dark Hedges of Mont-Royal

North Ireland has got its Dark Hedges, in Montreal - at least for me - that would be the park alley, an extension of Rue Rachel, that leads to the Monument of Sir George-Étienne Cartier. I pass this place almost every morning on my way to work. Today was a very sunny day, so I took my tele lens to make the most of it.

I tried two different versions - the original picture was the darker one. Then I tried the overexposed settings of the Silver Efex software. And I have to admit, the lighter variant looks better, more along the spirit of the season, which in Montreal - unfortunately - is still winter.

Nikon 7100, 255mm, 1/200s @ f/9, iso 100 (overexposed)

Nikon 7100, 255mm, 1/200s @ f/9, iso 100 (dark variant)

Stop winter!

A snowy Montreal Sunday morning - from a week ago. Not that this weekend was any different.

This time I tried a tele-zoom. Has a nice way of bringing the object on the picture closer.

Nikon 7100, 105mm, 1/100s @ f/9, iso 1000

In passing...

Almost leaving the Rosemont subway station, rushing to see a prospective apartment to rent, I was faced with this scene. Lucky for me it was a day when I took my camera to take some nice winter pictures. Unlucky that the settings were still in the "landscape mode".

But, considering it all, it is a pretty nice "still life" kind of picture.

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/8s @ f/16, iso 3200

Lost in winter

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/60s @ f/14, iso 125

Choices, choices... 

The moment I imported the photo into Lightroom I knew it has to be black-and-white with a colour accent. Few adjustments later I ended up with the picture #1 (below). The problem was, even though the red is strong, it wasn't enough to make the subject stand out from the background.

I thought blurring with a radial filter was the answer (picture #2). But the blur was looking very artificial, like I tried to fake a DOF very clumsily, as some of the critics noticed. Oh, I posted those two photos to the Street Photography group on 500px looking for tips.

After a bit more pondering, I finally toned down the background a bit, but without blurring it too much. A bit of shadows brightening, a tad of contrast and voila! The end result is exactly, what I was trying to show.

I had two good titles actually three) for this photo:

1. Lost in winter
2. Looking for summer
3. Which way to summer?

Ended up using the first one. What do you think?

Sharp (#1)

Blurred (#2)