There Is Trouble With The Trees

This is one of those odd photos where something grabs my eye and I need to snap away.  What we see here is a tree that is comfortably planted along the Rideau Canal in Ottawa.  The front of the tree appears to be rather dead, with two branches reaching out like arms.  That's what drew me to this tree in the first place.  It looks like a refugee from the Lord of the Rings films.  I was on a boat ride along the canal when we passed this guy, thanks Paul's Boat Lines, and I had to take a picture.  I noticed that a cyclist was coming down the path near the time when we would be passing the tree, so I crossed my fingers that he would pass at just the right moment since I couldn't ask the skipper to stop the boat.  I think I got him at just the right time where it looks like the tree is reaching out to try and scoop up the cyclist.  That's what I saw anyway.  My Lovely Assistant claims that I have quite the imagination in order to see all of that.  Guilty as charged.  This photo was taken at f/6.3, 1/400sec, ISO 400 at 48mm.  I shot at ISO 400 because it was a rather cloudy day and I figured I'd need the extra shutter speed that the higher ISO would allow me, especially if I wanted to freeze the cyclist.  Shooting at f/6.3 was important because I didn't want to risk having the tree or cyclist be blurred out by using a larger aperture.  So there you have it, most people see a cyclist going by a tree, I see a dangerous man-eating tree about to snack on a cyclist.  Maybe my imagination is a little out of whack after all.  Wouldn't have it any other way.

Time To Relax

Ahh, that's more like it.  Just getting back from a relaxing trip to Ottawa and then Lac Desert in the Mt. Tremblant region.  The camera got a good workout with the wide variety of buildings, statues, critters and insects that I found.  Most importantly, it was essential to take a few minutes and relax, as My Lovely Assistant is doing here.  She doesn't really like to have her picture taken, so I had to wait for her to have her back turned before I took this shot.  I also had to explain to her that I set the camera to better capture the lake and forest, rather than where she was sitting, thus keeping her in the shadows.  It's fun to throw the camera into Manual Mode from time to time.  I took a reading of the lake/trees and then set my camera.  I even slowed down the speed that the camera suggested by one stop as I found it to be nicer than what the camera had suggested.   This photo was shot at f/5, 1/400sec, ISO 100 at 50mm.  We had a great couple of days up at the cottage and in Ottawa and there will be some stories to tell and photos to show.  I'm going to need another vacation in order to process all of the photos that I took.  Something tells me that the photos I took back in May are going to be bumped to May 2014.  Either that, or we'll have to go with five updates a week.  Nah, I don't see that happening either.

Better Luck Next Time

One of the little projects I wanted to try out this year was to try out capturing light from passing stars in the night.  As you can see from the image on the left, I kind of succeeded, but not really.  I needed to photoshop the crap out of this image, using the Levels tool to get the sky to be black.  There is also a bright spot in the middle of the image and all kinds of red pixels.  I had used some tips I read online to try this photograph and it was shot at f/2.8, 93min15sec, ISO 100 at 70mm.  Obviously, this wasn't what I had in mind.  I read somewhere else that I should have shot several 30minutes exposures and put them together in photoshop.  If anyone out there has any ideas, it would be appreciated.

Keep Photographing Everything

Those of you who were here over the last year have probably seen me write several times that the best way to get better at photography is to keep on shooting things.  Photograph everything is something that has been written several times on these pages, with examples always included.  Here's another little situation that I believe helps my case.  From the 16th-21st of August there was some work being done on the building where I live.  The metal guardrails were removed and repaired, but before they were replaced, I took out my camera and took a few shots of the old wood that the guardrails had previously been connected to.  I then used photoshop to crop the photos into different sizes and do some re-framing.  The first photo you see at the top of the page was shot at f/5, 1/2500sec, ISO 400 at 60mm and then cropped to 12" x 6".

f/5, 1/2000 sec, ISO 400 at 60mm

f/5, 1/2500sec, ISO 400 at 60mm

f/5, 1/2500sec, ISO 40 at 60mm

I like doing little projects like this where I take one photograph and I end up turning it into four, or more, separate photographs.  This also something else you've seen me do if you've been here for a while.  I think that all four of these are interesting photographs, and the subject was nothing more than a weathered piece of wood.  Get out there and shoot.

Happy Birthday!!!

The blog turned One today.  I'm actually very happy with this place as it has forced me to go out and keep taking photographs and experimenting with photography.  I hope that all of you out there have been enjoying it as well.

Good-Bye Cotton Street

Here's a bit of news that I didn't think I'd write.  My parents sold their house.  This bit of news wouldn't really figure to be that important in my little world of photography, but where my parents live has provided me with many flowery models through the years and produced some of my favourite photographs as well as providing all kinds of practice when it comes to framing and experimenting with aperture and shutter speed.  In other words, my Mom & Dad's backyard has kind of served as a photography school where I have shot hundreds of photographs over the years.  I ended up paying my last visit to their house today, and in-between moving boxes around and picking over family relics, I did what comes natural for me.  I took some pictures.  This isn't really the end of the line for photos from what will now be know as my Mom & Dad's old backyard.  I have photos taken all the way back in May that I still haven't had the time to share with you just yet.  As a matter of fact, I may need to keep those photos in reserve for a while if my Mom doesn't have the time to weave her magic on a new flower bed for me to take pictures of come next Spring.  An obvious choice for my final Cotton Street picture would have been a Day Lily.  They're the flowers that have seen the most screen time here on the blog.  You can see some shots of my Mom's Day Lilies here and here.  Instead, I chose to go with something a little more colourful, because my Mom's flowerbed has always been full of colour.  This photo was taken at f/4, 1/800sec, ISO 100 at 51mm and features some yellow Rudbeckia Hirta's (otherwise known as Brown-Eyed Susan's) as well as some blue and pink Phlox.  We had some good times on Cotton street, and don't worry Mom & Dad, we'll have plenty more at the new place as well.

Grammie's Daisies

August 22nd will mark the second year since my Grandmother, Grammie, passed away.  I'm not really the sentimental sort, but Grammie was kind of important to me.  I know that I have the full support of my entire family and friends, but I always seemed to feel it that much more from her.  She was always a big fan of my photographs and one of my big regrets was that she passed away before my I had the chance to have my exhibition.  I really think it's something that she would have really enjoyed.  I remember showing her some photos I had taken of the Victoria Bridge one time and she went on to explain to me how the way that the shadows of the bridge fell on the water must have caught my eye and been the reason why I took the photo. I won't lie, I was impressed.  Most people had commented on how nice the bridge had looked, but nobody had ever mentioned the shadow.  For the record, she was right.  I did take the photo because of the shadow.  If the photo was digital, I'd probably show it to to you all here, but it was taken back when I was still using film.  One of these days I'll get around to scanning all of those old photos, when I have a year or two free to spare.  Since the bridge isn't available, these Daisies will have to do.  I chose the Daisy because it's a flower that I always associated with her.  It might be because they always grew everywhere around the farm that my Grandparents lived on.  Back in the summer when I'd stay with her while my parents would be away on business or vacation, we'd go out into the field and pick them.  I was even introduced to the famous 'She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not' game thanks to Grammie and her Daisies. I like to take pictures of Daisies whenever I see them, just because they remind me of my Grandmother.  Keeping the family connection going, these Daisies came from my Mom's yard where, much like many places, they grow wild pretty much wherever they want to.  I used my 60mm Macro lens to take these photos for two reasons.  The first being that it really brings out the center yellow disc of the flower.  The second being that since these flowers grow wild anywhere, these found themselves around the cement deck in the backyard.  Cement isn't really all that interesting to look at, so by shooting these flowers with a wide aperture, the cement in the background gets blurred, which draws more attention the flower while making what would be a rather drab background, look a little bit more interesting.  In order of appearance, the photographs you see were shot at f/4, 1/60sec, ISO 100 at 60mm.  f/4, 1/50sec, ISO 100 at 60mm.  The third photo was shot using the same settings as the second, and the fourth photograph was taken at f/4, 1/800sec, ISO 400 at 50mm.  Those of  you still reading will have noticed that the final photo was taken at a different focal length than the previous three.  This was done because while the Macro lens does a great job of magnification, it doesn't work so well when you want to take a wide angled shot.  For the final photo, I also wanted to show some of the cluster of Daisies that were all growing together.  The Macro lens couldn't get the job done, but the wide angle worked great.  My Grammie was never big on computers, but I'd like to think that somewhere up in the sky she gets the chance to look down once in a while and sneak a peak at all of the photos that I've been sharing with all of you.  Maybe she's even letting the others up there know what I was thinking when I took the pictures they're looking at.

Family Ties...Part II

I know a winner when I see one, and like a Hollywood executive chomping at the bits after a successful summer blockbuster, the thoughts of a sequel immediately come to mind.  I love taking photographs of fireworks, flowers, cars and all kinds of other things, but some of the best numbers I get are when the lovely Alexia graces my pages.  So, here we go with Part II.  There's not much more to add to the story for those of you who read Family Ties, so I'll just add the technical information underneath the photographs for those of you who are interested by such things.  As with the previous photos, they were all taken using my 50mm lens.  The first photograph on the page here was taken at f/4, 1/320sec, ISO 100 at 50mm.

The 'Blow Me A Kiss' Photo

f/4, 1/160sec, ISO 100 50mm

Comfortably Seated

f/4, 1/250sec, ISO 100, 50mm

Tickled By The Invisible Man

f/3.5, 1/200sec, ISO 100, 50mm

Laurence, George and Alexia, it was lots of fun.  We'll have to do this again sometime.

Family Ties

Way back in March, I introduced you all to the lovely, Alexia.  I babysat her while her parents were both busy at work.  Okay, my Lovely Assistant took care of her while I ran from room to room trying to make sure that none of my stuff got broken.  I also found the time to take a bunch of photos of Alexia, that her parents really liked.  They asked me if it would be possible when the weather warmed up if I could take some more pictures of her, and of themselves as well.  While I like to consider myself as being pretty good at photographing 'stuff', I've never really had that much success when it comes to photographing people.  I've been trying to change that.  My March photos of Alexia proved to be very popular, as were some photos I took of my cousin's newborn son back in December.  I took these photos two weeks ago and gave my friends, George and Laurence (I suppose we can give them names) this past Saturday.  They loved the photos and were nice enough to allow me to share them with all of you.  It's not easy to take photos of kids, especially kids that are full of energy and don't want to sit still for very long.  I had one thing going for me in my favour.  Alexia is already comfortable with me as we've seen each other several times.  I was told that she even says my name when she's sees my picture on my Facebook page.  Ah, I can't tell you how awesome it is to be popular with the under-three demographic.  Even with the familiarity, Alexia got a little tired of the camera after a little while, and began to hide from the lens.  I kind of new then that the photoshoot was over.  My Lovely Assistant and I still stuck around for a little bit.  Gotta make sure that the little tyke still thinks of me as 'friendly' in case some more photos are requested in the future.  We met at Seaway Park in Saint-Lambert, and I had a little twinge of worry as soon as it dawned on me that much of the park was currently torn up or littered with construction equipment because of work being done on Riverside Drive.  George and Laurence were more worried about the weather, was it was a tad bit cloudy and the forecast called for rain.  I assured them that this would not be a problem, but rather was better as the clouds would act as a natural diffuser against the sun.  We all got to the park around the same time and managed to find a little green space that didn't have any water tubes or large tractors in the immediate area and got right to work.  As I don't do that many photographs of people, I don't have a large library of poses in my head that I can call upon when trying to get people to have their picture taken.  This was a similar problem back in school as we needed to know how to get the right poses out of the models for our Fashion Photography course.  One tip that was given to me back then was to look through fashion magazine and cut out some of the photos of the models and then use those to show to the model that you are shooting.  My Lovely Assistant was kind enough to sacrifice some of her magazines back then to my education, but at the moment, neither one of us has any 'family' magazines around the house.  So, I hit the internet the night before and did a search for 'outdoor family pictures'. I'd like to say that it made a difference, but the poses you see today were 100% decided by Alexia.  Telling a two-year old to 'sit on the rock with your right hand against the other rock while you let the wind blow through your hair', doesn't really go over all that well.  Here's the simple truth.  The kid is in charge.  You shoot, and you better be ready to shoot, when she stops.  The first picture was taken at f/4, 1/400sec, ISO 100 at 50mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/4, 1/200sec, ISO 100 at 50mm.  Photograph number three was taken at f/3.5, 1/200sec, ISO 100 at 50mm.  The fourth photo was taken at f/4, 1/200sec, ISO 100 at 50mm and the final photograph was taken at f/4, 1/60sec, ISO 100 at 50mm.  It was also cropped to 12" x 12" as I liked the circle inside of a square look.  The observant among you might have also noticed that all of the pictures were taken at 50mm.  That's because I used my 50mm prime lens.  It's little, it's plastic and it probably my second favorite lens in my bag.  Whenever friends ask me what kind of lens to get, I always tell them to get this lens (link leads to a review by The Digital Picture).  This was a great way to spend an afternoon and I had a blast taking these photos.  Alexia has a really expressive face, as do most children, and I'm really happy that I manage to capture some of her unique smiles on my camera.  The fact that George and Laurence really liked them is a real bonus.  If there are some people who you don't want to disappoint, it's the parents.  Especially when the parents are friends of yours and requested that you take the pictures in the first place.  I hope that all of you out there like them as well.




***BONUS COVERAGE****

This photo wasn't originally going to be part of my post, but Laurence thought it was very funny and asked me to put it up as well.  We titled this photo 'A Couple Of Monkeys' and how long you get to see this picture will depend on how much of a sense of humour George has.

Siberian Iris

Back to my Mom's garden we go.  I have so many pictures to go through that the flowers will be blooming again next spring before I run out.  That's part of the fun with taking pictures.  There always seems to be something new and interesting to take a picture of.  My opinion may change come February, but that's okay because, as I mentioned, I have all kinds of flowers sitting here on the bench waiting to be put on the page.  This particular flower, a Siberian Iris, was photographed back in June during a Mother's Day/Father's Day lunch.  It's one of the many flowers that grow in my Mom's garden and I think it looks great.  The flower generally grows in Northern areas but is known for it's ability to grow in a wide range of climates.  It's main characteristic is its purplish colour, mixed with a lighter yellow center.  It may sound a little childish, but I purposely positioned myself to take this photo the way you see it because it looked like some kind of devilish flower demon that was sticking it's tongue out at me.  Don't look at me like that, I can't control my imagination.  I also love the details in the 'tongue', they almost look like veins.  This photograph was shot at f/4, 1/320sec, ISO 400 at 60mm.  I used my Macro lens to take the picture, and coupled with shooting at f/4, it really helps separate the flower from the green foliage in the background.  Another example of how flowers make great models.

Rock 'N Roll All Night & Party Every Day

Those of you who know me are aware of how I am the eternal optimist and believe that anything and everything good is possible.  Okay, those of you who really know me are aware that there is zero truth to that last statement at all.  However, in the weeks leading up to August 10th, I was a hopeful optimist who believed that things might work out for the best.  I was going to Heavy MTL, an annual festival of Heavy Metal music.  It's held at Parc Jean-Drapeau which is on Île Sainte-Hélène in Montreal.  I was hopeful that there would be a way for me to bring my camera to the event and take some nice pictures of the groups as they played.  I became even more hopeful when a few months before the concert, the Heavy MTL website changed their FAQ to read that cameras were allowed on the site, but that professional video and audio recording devices were not.  As the weeks to the show grew shorter, I sent an email through the 'Contact Us' form that is available on the website, asking if my camera would be allowed on the island.  I never got a formal response, just sent a link to a different FAQ that said professional detachable lens cameras were not allowed at the show.  I was kind of disappointed, but at the same time, I had a bit of an urge to try and bring my camera none the less.  After all, a Canon 30D is not really a 'professional' camera, it's a 'semi-professional' camera.  Or so it says on Wikipedia.  I thought if I showed up with just the camera body and one lens, I might have a shot at getting in with the camera hanging around my neck.  I chickened out at the last minute, not wanting to be forced into making a trip back home or to have my camera be imprisoned at some shady coat-check station.So, I didn't heed the advice of American Express and I left home without it.  Instead, I brought my Plan B, an old Kodak EasyShare Point & Shoot camera.  The kind of camera that I laugh at when I see people use.  You know what they say, desperate times call for desperate measures, and there is nothing more desperate than a guy who loves using a DSLR being reduced to trying to snap off pictures with a Point & Shoot.  The second photograph that you see on this page is one of the shots that I came home with.  It's also the only one that will see the light of day, and that's only because I'm using it as an example of why I hate point & shoots.  I suppose if you look at the photograph quickly enough, there doesn't seem to be all that much wrong with it.  You can see the band, the background and people rocking out in the foreground.  However, the thing that sticks out most in this photo is the head you see at the bottom of the photo and if you try and blow the picture up any more than it is here on this page, you'll see that the members of the band are blurry, mostly because there is no function that allows you to shoot 'Manually' on this particular camera.  I know what you're thinking, you're thinking "Eric, if you knew the pictures would be crap, why did you bother to bring the camera?"  That is a good question.  I brought the camera because I used it back in May when I took some pictures at a concert by The Darkness. Those pictures didn't turn out that bad, and I thought that in outdoor conditions and with better light, I might be able to get a few pics before the sun went down.  The problem though, was that what I made up for in light, I ended up losing in distance.  At The Darkness, I was about five people from the stage.  For Heavy MTL, I was about 20 people back.  Awesome positioning for enjoying the show, but not close enough for the camera that I was using.  After all of that, I suppose that I should talk about the pictures that you do see here on the page.  Still being in a rock and roll frame of mind, I decided to dig out some old photos from a few years back.  I took these of my buddy Louie and his guitars.  I didn't have the chance to ask him personally if I could use the pictures with him in them, though one does appear in an earlier blog post.  Oddly enough, that picture, much like these, came up the day after I had attended a concert.  These pictures were used as part of a school project where I had to shoot the pictures for, and then produce a physical copy of, a CD booklet.  It was a great project that I loved doing.  The very first picture was taken at f/2, 1/100sec, ISO 400 at 135mm while he played guitar at the top of a little hill.  You may have noticed that the I also Photoshopped the heck out of it.  I was just goofing around, but my friend loved the finished result and it actually found itself in the CD booklet.  I'd try to explain what I did to get to that final result, but I have no clue.  I just pushed lots of buttons and turned some dials and knobs.  The shot that appears after the concert footage probably shouldn't even be shown, but I just love the way that the guitar looks.  It was shot at f/3.5, 1/60sec, ISO 100 at 135mm and under studio lights as part of my courses.  The reason it shouldn't have been used is because I cut the head off of the guitar.  If you don't tell anyone, I won't either.  The third shot of a guitar in it's case was shot at f/4, 1/8sec, ISO 400 at 25mm.  I like how the guitar strings kind of lead you off to nowhere.  The final picture was kind of a reverse portrait, but with the head of the guitar in focus, while my buddy is blurred in the background.  It was shot at f/2.2, 1/160sec, ISO 400 at 135mm.  I suppose I should end things here with a couple of things I learned.  1)Make sure the head of the guitar is in the frame.  2)When watching GWAR, make sure you're atleast 20ft from the stage or make sure to bring a fresh change of clothes.  3)Michael Starr does not look like a chubby Bret Michaels, he looks like a skinny Vince Neil.  4)Watch out for bodies coming at you from behind, and above, the closer you are to the stage, and most importantly, don't bring a Point & Shoot when a DLSR is what's needed for the job.  Oh yeah, and that part about professional detachable lens camera being banned from the site.  I wish someone would have told that to the folks with the Rebel XTI's and Nikon's who were changing lenses up on the hill between sets.  Next time, I'm brining the Canon.

Play Ball!

This weekend (Aug 8 - 11) marks the 29th Annual Mike Reid Softball Tournament in Greenfield Park.  Teams from far and wide come to the little town of Greenfield Park to participate and to also raise funds for the Mackay Center School.   I didn't know Mike Reid or the Reid family, but I have been to watch the tournament many times.  If you'd like to know more about the Reid family and why this is such an important fund raising tournament, follow this link to a story by Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette. The photo you see here is not one that I took at the Tournament, but is one that I took while serving as unofficial photographer for the Journal l'Action Régionale for a story about the Saint-Basile-le-Grand Softball League.  I was hoping to capture the ball leaving the hand of the pitcher so I placed myself behind the screen at Home Plate and shot away.  I was worried that the screen would show up in my shot, but I was pressed so close up to it that the chain link fence didn't show up at all.  The photograph was shot at f/2, 1/320sec, ISO 400 at 135mm.  I cropped it a little bit to tighten up the image.  If you do happen to find yourself in the area of Greenfield Park this weekend, feel free to stop off at Pierre Laporte Park and cheer the teams on.

Bullet The Blue Sky

The 2013 L'International des Feux Loto-Québec ended the same way that it began, with rain.  Now, neither my camera nor myself are made of chocolate, but I'm still not to keen on getting it wet.  So, instead of a couple of shots from last night, you get another from the archives.  This shot came from 2009 and the show put on by Italy.  It was also one of the final cuts from my photography exhibition from last fall and one of the photos that also hang in my home.  I think those are some pretty good credentials and make this photograph worthy of being presented to all of you out there in Cyber World.  This photo was taken on a bicycle path just a little bit beyond the Jacques Cartier Bridge.  Oddly enough, I didn't go back to that location this year.  I'll have to be sure to go back next year as I really like the results.  I especially enjoy the reflections of the fireworks in the water at the bottom of the picture.  I don't know if you can see it at the size and resolution I chose for presentation here, but on the second whole boat from the left, you can actually see someone standing up on the boat to get a better view of the fireworks.  Just a small detail that I picked up and thought I would share.  This shot was taken at f/9, 21sec, ISO 100 at 70mm.  I'll probably take a little break from fireworks for the moment, but to those of you who have enjoyed seeing them, don't worry.  I have plenty more in the archives so I'm sure it's a safe bet to say that you'll be seeing more around here before the 2014 competition begins.

Good Evening, Clarice

Some of my favorite photos end up being the ones that I had no plan on taking, they happen out of the blue.  Such is the case with this suave looking grey moth.  I found this guy resting on the wall outside of where I live when I got back home from taking pictures of the Canadian Flag.  I almost did see it as it only caught my after I was already half-way through the door.  I quickly turned around and snapped off a few pics, but wasn't very impressed when I got them on the computer.  The shots were a little dark, mostly because the moth was on a wall that had little natural light because of an overhang that caused the wall to be in it's shadow.  I went back in, grabbed my flash and took another picture.  The flash allowed for the colours and pattern of the moth to really come out.  I also cropped the final image to 12" x 12" rather than the usual 8" x 12" because there isn't really anything very attractive about the brick wall.  Also, by cropping it in a square, I was still able to preserve the 'rule of thirds', but having both wings and the head of the moth on separate thirds.  This photograph was taken at f/10, 1/250sec, ISO 100 at 68mm.  I had originally tried to take the picture with a much larger aperture, like f/4, but the moth was so flat against the wall that there was no way to try and blur the background without blurring much of the moth as well.  Since the pattern on the back of the moth is, in my opinion, the most important part, it would not have made much sense in blurring any of it.

A Deep Purple Classic

I was planning on calling this post 'Smoke On The Water, Fire In The Sky', only to quickly realize that I already had a fireworks related post called Fire In The Sky, and another called Purple On The Water.  So a change was needed.  The big theme of the night, for me anyway, was how the smoke from the already exploded fireworks turned my wonderful location into a cloudy mess within minutes.  Thus, the 'Smoke On The Water', and the 'Fire In The Sky.  As you probably guess by looking at the photos, this is another fireworks blog post.  These photos once again come to your thanks to the L'International des Feux Loto-Québec.  For those of you keeping track at home, there is only one show left, so don't miss out or you'll have to wait until next year.  The show on Wednesday night was put together by Italy and it was a pretty good exhibition.  The part that I saw through the smoke anyways. When it comes to taking photographs of fireworks, the wind is always a concern.  Since the photos you`re going to be taking have to be taken over a fairly long period of time, in the photographic sense, it is pretty important that your camera does not move.  If this happens, you`re obviously not going to end up with the picture that you originally wanted to take as the camera will not only pick up all of the light while the shutter is open, but it will capture any movements as well.  Be they caused by your own hand, or the wind.  This was an early concern that I had on Wednesday night.  The new location chosen for this shoot was a pedestrian overpass that goes over Highway 132 in Longueuil. When I got there with my Lovely Assistant, I immediately noted that the wind was pretty strong.   I was worried that the wind would cause my tripod to shake, thus ruining my photos.  When the wind suddenly died a few minutes before the fireworks began, I made sure to note how good my luck was.  I no longer needed to worry about the wind brushing my camera, just about when the overpass had been built and if good concrete had been used in building it.  Badum-dum.  My opinion about the lack of wind changed very shortly when after the first few blasts the large clouds of smoke failed to move away from the blast site. I was suddenly wishing very hard that the wind would come back, the sooner and stronger the better.  Sadly, the wind did not return.  I`m still think I took some pretty nice shots, it`s just that there is lots of smoke clouds in them.  As you may have noticed, I also decided to use a couple of different crop sizes again.  I used them in order to hide the street light that you see in some of the shots, but not in others.  We've reached the part of the post where we get a bit technical.  Time to discuss the settings that I used.  The first shot was taken at f/11, 6sec, ISO 100 at 70mm and then cropped to 12" x 8".  The second shot was taken at f/11, 18sec, ISO 100 at 75mm and then cropped to 12" x 5.5".  The third photo was taken at Shot number three was taken at f/11, 10sec, ISO 100 at 70mm and then cropped to 12" x 8".  The fourth picture was taken at f/11, 9sec, ISO 100 at 70mm and then cropped to 12" x 12".  The final photograph you see here was taken at f/11, 6sec, ISO 100 at 75mm and then cropped to 12" x 8".  I guess my biggest disappointment with these photos, is that the smoke clouds block out some of the light from the fireworks and also block out much of the Jacques Cartier Bridge, which I have been trying to get into my backgrounds since the fireworks competition began earlier this summer.  I don't want to seem negative, because I do like these photos.  If I didn't like them they wouldn't be here on the page.  I hope that some of you out there like them as well.

Somebody Might Want To Check If La Ronde Is Still There

This isn't the typical kind of photograph of fireworks that most of you have come to expect when you visit my site.  I once again set out to try shooting from a different location last night and I thought I had chosen a pretty good spot until the amusement park exploded.  Actually, I just wanted to show what happens when the wind suddenly stops blowing during a fireworks show and the spot you thought was perfect ends up getting smoked out.  I still have a couple of shots from the show to share with you all.  They'll be up here before the night is over.