During my layover in London at the beginning of January I tried to find an interesting view of Tower Bridge. I wandered about trying to get down to the river’s edge. I got there, but the view wasn’t very good. On the way there though, I passed this cool stairway in an apartment building.
This was shot at Jokulsarlon, Iceland, where icebergs come crashing down from the Vatnajokull glacier and begin their journey out to sea. Some of those icebergs, after melting down enough to escape the narrow exit to the lagoon, become trapped against the shore by the crashing waves. These three were amongst many scattered here, slowly melting away.
The icebergs take on various different colors based on the atmospheric conditions. The black one in the background is the result of volcanic ash frozen into the ice.
Jokulsarlon is a large glacial lagoon in South East Iceland. Here, huge icebergs carve off of the glacier and head for the ocean. The lagoons exit is narrow and the glacier’s are bottlenecked here. They have to shrink in size before they make their way through the gap and out to sea. Once there, some of them are forced back onto the beach by the waves. It’s an incredible place, and I’ll definitely be making my way back there again.
This small chunk of ice is all that’s left of one of the great bergs that made it’s way out to sea only to get washed up on the shore again. The ice comes in a few different colours. Some are crystal clear, some are black due to volcanic ash deposits. This one is an example of the amazing pale blue glow many of the bergs possess.
A beautiful, sunset in a quaint Canadian town, provided the perfect backdrop for this calm scene on the shores of Lake Ontario. This was taken just as winter was turning to Spring. It was an early Spring, hence the boats are on the dock rather than in the water chomping at the bit. The serene surface of the lake provided a perfect mirror to help show off the sky.
Only a chain-linked fence threatened to ruin the shot. In a panic, as the light looked ready to fade, I figure out how to use the fence in concert with my tripod to get the shot. You can read more about how I did that here.
I’ve had a few questions about what camera equipment I use so I’ve put together a “My Gear” page outlining what I use and what I like. I’ll update it with more bits and pieces as I get them.
Setting out on a cloudy day to attempt to photograph Somerset Bridge was never likely to work out well. It did provide opportunity to scout out the area. Upon arrival, it became clear that photographing the smallest drawbridge in the world may not be as easy as expected. It’s beautiful and in a beautiful area but portraying this on camera may not be as easy as it seems. It was high-tide and one conclusion that can be made is that it will be best to go at low tide, to wade out more in front of the bridge. This would not be possible.
After scouting out the area I went to check out a couple more locations. Unfortunately, as it turned out the researched spots were all on private property. After wandering a bit lost in Hog Bay Park I arrived here, the beach covered by the tide. I snapped a few photos, well after sunset, not really expecting to make anything of them. However, I did get today’s photo. It’s simple, but I like it.
It was far less confusing when my alarm clock woke me up this morning. It was still a little startling, but I remembered why I’d set it. It was lighter this morning, making me think that maybe it wasn’t as cloudy. Upon setting off for horseshoe bay, I realized that it was still completely overcast. When I got to the top of the rock I realized that there was a clear band at the horizon for the sun to slip through briefly.Unfortunately, as it approached sunrise a band of rain blocked this gap. I spent a while trying out different vantage points and then noticed a break in the clouds moving across the sky. I waited for it to move into frame and caught the sun bursting through it. It may be quite interesting, but it’s not what I’m after.
I realized I didn’t mention what I was trying to capture yesterday. I’d like to manage two shots. For one, I want a spectacular sunrise forming a backdrop to the beach. For the other I want a blue sky with a few interesting clouds and the beach bathed in golden morning light. I think Thursday will probably be the best day for it.
This is another view of the city from the shoreline near Ontario Place on the way out of Toronto. I wound up in this location after researching Toronto viewpoints on blogTO. It’s not quite where they recommended, which was actually a pedestrian overpass nearby. I got up there and couldn’t frame a shot I was happy with. I think it would be better at night, with light trails leading into the city. I’ve actually had a couple of my Toronto shots picked as blogTO’s photo of the day, which is pretty cool. If you poke around their site a bit you’ll find them.
This is the photo that I had planned on uploading for my first entry. I decided this would be a good start as I consider it my first successful HDR photo.
I had woken up late and had to rush out of the house as I’d seen a purple glow developing. Had planned on getting to one of the Tucker’s Town beaches when i came across this scene.
I used 7 exposures from -3 to +3. The boats had swung on their moorings while taking the photos so when combining in Photomatix I used the selective de-ghosting tool. This took a few attempts but I eventually settled on one big circle encompassing most of the water. Still some motion blur on some of the boats but not sure I could have avoided this. After HDR processing I worked with layers to bring up details in the foreground and particularly focused on getting some green into the trees in the background. Finally, run through Topaz Adjust to bump up the level of detail before using Noiseware to smooth it out.
