Winter Trees and Fractalius Fun

Fractalius Rendering of  Winter Tree

Fractalius is a Photoshop plug-in that is both fun and highly addictive. The winter tree above was photographed on a slightly foggy morning just down the road from my home. Often during periods of winter fog or hoarfrost I will jump in the car and go for a drive down some of the rural roads in search of pleasing subjects. For the fractalius treatment above I chose the ‘ArtFlakes’ preset as a starting point. I was quite pleased how the Artflakes preset picked up on the greenish lichen that covered much of the tree’s larger branches. Finishing touches were applied to the image using Nik Software’s Color Efex 4 Detail Extractor filter.

To find out more about photographing winter trees be sure to take a look at my latest article in Denise Ippolito’s ‘Creative Photography eMiniMagazine’ and while you are there be sure to check out the other great articles by the many talented contributors.

On another note: Denise Ippolito and I have completed working on an eGuide to using the Fractalius plug-in which should be published in the near future by Arthur Morris. The guide is loaded with many images with the Fractalius rendering applied to them, and we will be including both the before and after versions of each image, as well as our custom presets that we frequently use to achieve our desired results.

Do remember to click on the photo to see the larger, sharper version.

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Beautiful Poison

 

Golden Poison Frog (Phyllobates terribilis)

I have long wanted to photograph tropical species of frogs and had a wonderful opportunity to do so a couple of months ago. All of the frogs in this post are captive bred and raised in Canada. Since many of these photos will appear in the eBook I am writing on frog photography, it was of the utmost importance to me that none of the frogs photographed were wild caught specimens. One of the chapters in the eBook will provide tips and instructions on photographing captive specimens such as the ones you see here.

One of my favorites is the lovely poison dart frog that opens this blog post – the Golden Poison Frog (Phyllobates terribilis). This is perhaps the deadliest of poison frogs. Its skin is coated with an alkaloid poison (batrachotoxin). It is estimated that one milligram of this poison is enough to kill 10,000 mice, 10-20 humans, or two bull elephants. Yikes! Good thing they are captive bred. Poison dart frogs tend to lose their toxicity in captivity as they are no longer feeding on the ants and termites of their rainforest homes, which is where they get their toxicity from. Nonetheless, poison has never looked so beautiful.

Here are a few additional poison dart frogs from the shoot….more to follow in a later blog post.

Please click on the photos to see the larger sharper version.

Ranitomeya amazonica (rare species in the wild)

Zimmerman’s Poison Frog (Ranitomeya variabilis)

Blessed Poison Frog (Ranitomeya benedicts)

Ranitomeya vanzolinni

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Country Images Camera Club Presentation

 

Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario

On Tuesday October 16th at 8:00 p.m., which is tomorrow evening, I will be presenting at the Country Images Camera Club’s October meeting. If you happen to be in the area feel free to drop by for the presentation and do say hello if you do. The presentation will cover numerous inspiring landscape locations that may be found throughout the province of Ontario, many of which can be found in the eBook ‘A Photographer’s Guide to the Ontario Landscape‘ written by yours truly I will also be presenting how I photograph frogs and toads, winter songbirds, tips for captive wildlife photography, and also my techniques for creating inspiring artistic renditions of some of my most cherished photos.

The Country Images Camera Club presentation will be held at the:

Art Ferguson Building

16195 Bayview Avenue in Newmarket, Ontario @ 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 16th (tomorrow evening)

Hope to see you there!

Please remember to click on each of the images in this post to see the larger, sharper version.

Oxtongue River Blur

Junkyard Grunge

Rosseau River

Poison Dart Frog Fractalius

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Ontario Waterfalls

Beamer Falls on the Niagara Escarpment, Grimsby, Ontario

For several weeks I have been very busy with little time to get out the door for some fresh landscape images, but I have been processing some image files from last season’s crop of photos. With the recent rainfall we have had and the trees greening-up with a lush crop of leaves I must have been inspired to optimize some waterfall imagery. For folks living in the Hamilton, Ontario area now is the perfect time to visit the great number of waterfalls that can be found along the Niagara Escarpment. But don’t stop there as there is a vast number of waterfalls worth exploring throughout the province. Some of my all time favorites are Brook’s Falls, Webster’s Falls and in Lake Superior Provincial Park many nice scenes await photographers along the Sand River. What I like best about these waterfalls is that they usually produce excellent opportunities regardless of the river’s flow. When river levels are low these waterfalls will often produce excellent imagery. To find out more about these favorite locations and many more please check out my eBook A Photographer’s Guide to the Ontario Landscape. Although this eBook does focus on many inspiring locations throughout the province of Ontario, it is also full of numerous, helpful tips that you will find quite valuable to creating the best possible images in the field. Below you will see some of my recently processed images from last season.

Webster’s Falls, Niagara Escarpment, Hamilton, Ontario

Beamer’s Falls details, Grimsby, Ontario

Brook’s Falls, Magnetawan River, Emsdale, Ontario

Sand River, Lake Superior Provincial Park, Ontario

Sand River details, Lake Superior Provincial Park, Ontario

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