Topaz Clarity along the Rosseau River

Lower Rosseau Falls, Muskoka, Ontario

I have been having a rather hectic week. Last weekend was our annual opening of the cottage on Horseshoe Lake in Ontario’s Parry Sound region, and there is always tons of work to be done to get it ready for the coming season. After much of the work was completed it was time to take a break and make the short drive over to Lower Rosseau Falls on the Rosseau River in Ontario’s Muskoka District. It almost felt like an autumn photo trip as many of the newly emerging maple leaves were brilliant reds and yellows.

These two images have been processed differently than usual as I having been using the new photoshop plug-in Clarity from Topaz Labs. I have only first begun to use the software but so far I am loving the way it naturally boosts the contrast in the images. To find out more about this new product from Topaz Labs please click here. And if you decide to purchase the software use the coupon code “claritynew” and pay a mere $29.99 US. That’s exactly what I did tonight!

Do remember to click on each of the images to see the larger, sharper versions and let me know what you think of the Topaz Clarity treatment.

Lower Rosseau Falls, Muskoka, Ontario

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Reich Falls and the Drivers River, Port Antonio, Jamaica

Reich Falls near Port Antonio, Jamaica

One of my favorite locations visited during my 10 day trip to the Port Antonio region of Jamaica was Reich Falls. This stunning waterfall is found in the rainforest-like environment of Jamaica’s John Crowe Mountains. On the day I traveled to this destination I was blessed with over-cast conditions, which are often the favored conditions for waterfall photography. The easiest way to photograph this river was to leave the footwear on the riverbank downstream and walk up river, photographing along the way. The processing of these image files has varied somewhat but I do find that I am using Nik/Google’s Detail Extractor Tool found in Color Efex Pro 4 often, to reveal additional detail in cascading rivers.

Please take a moment to let me know which image is your favorite and why and do remember to click on the photos to see the larger, sharper version.

Drivers River in the John Crowe Mountains, Jamaica

This is the river scene that greeted me as I made my way through the forest and reached the riverbank. I was in awe. This is perhaps the most photogenic river I have ever had the pleasure to photograph.

Drivers River in the John Crowe Mountains, Jamaica

Above is a scene a little further upstream from the previous photo. The Detail Extractor Tool in Nik/Google’s Color Efex Pro 4 really enhanced the foreground water nicely.

Drivers River in the John Crowe Mountains, Jamaica

A beautiful, turquoise pool at the base of a small cascade along the Drivers River. I could not get over the stunning color of the water. This is a true representation of the water’s color.

Drivers River in the John Crowe Mountains, Jamaica

Directly above and below you will see the same scene captured in both vertical and horizontal orientations. This something I do for almost all of my landscape work. While I will usually tend to favor one version over the other, I find it to be a good practice to create an image in each orientation, especially if you plan to market your imagery one day.

Drivers River in the John Crowe Mountains, Jamaica

In addition to the above, I am pleased to announce that I am now a moderator in the Landscape Forum at BirdPhotographers.net. Do check out the links to BirdPhotographer.net, a premier online educational nature photography community. I have been a member for a several years now and find it to be a great educational resource. The critique forums are beneficial to folks at all stages in their photographic development.

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Reich Falls

Reich Falls on the Driver’s River, Jamaica

As I work my way through the edits from my recently completed 10 day trip to the Port Antonio area of Jamaica, I wanted to share this image of Reich Falls – pronounced Reach Falls. This waterfall is found off the beaten path within the John Crow Mountain Range, in the Portland Parish, on the Driver’s River and is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful waterfalls in all of Jamaica. I will feature some additional photos from this waterfall and scenes from down-river shortly. This can be a very popular destination for tour buses operated from the tourist resorts, however, by connecting with the local folks we were able to visit the falls at such a time that was absent of crowds of people.

After I completed the photographs I had hope to take, it was time for a relaxing swim, at the base of the falls, in this cool, clear mountain stream – simply amazing! By the time we had hiked back out to the car we were greeted with a torrential downpour that lasted for most of the rest of the day.

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Silver Toned Water and Stone

Autumn on the Oxtongue River near Dwight, Ontario

One last post before heading off to Port Antonio, Jamaica for a week and a half of sun, fun, and of course photography too I am planning on visiting a couple of lovely waterfalls, a hike in the Blue Mountains, and of course assorted bird life and reptiles as well.

Lately I have been using Nik Software’s Silver Effects II software to convert some of my river / waterfall images captured over the last year or so into B&W photos. Often I am finding that I like the B&W versions just a little bit more than the color one. I guess I will have to try my hand at some tropical B&W images upon my return.

Please remember to click on the images to see the larger, sharper versions and leave a quick note letting me know which is your favorite and why.

Take care folks.

See ya soon!

High Falls on the Muskoka River, Bracebridge, Ontario

Details at Magpie Falls, Wawa, Ontario

Autumn along the Magnetawan River, Emsdale, Ontario

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Top 12 for 2012

Male Bullfrog in wetland on Horseshoe Lake, Ontario

Looking back over the past year I realized I probably photographed a little bit more wildlife than landscapes, which is some what different for me. Mostly I was photographing frogs and toads for various chapters in the frog book that I am currently writing. As a result it is easy to see why my top 12 images from 2012 contains a few frog photos

Here is a selection of a few of my favorite images created in 2012.

Tiny Marsh Provincial Wildlife Area, Ontario

Eastern Massassauga Rattlesnake, Killbear Provincial Park, Ontario

Rosseau River at Lower Rosseau Falls, Ontario

Over-under juvenile Bullfrog

Willet on Liebeck Lake, Ontario

Horseshoe Lake wetland at sunset, Ontario

Common Loon with chick on Horseshoe Lake, Ontario

Zimmerman’s Poison Frog

Beaver Pond, Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario

View from the dock at sunset, Horseshoe Lake, Ontario

White-breasted Nuthatch

The White-breasted Nuthatch image above represents the last photograph captured for 2012. It was visiting my suet feeder set-up frequently yesterday while I was out in the blind for another round of winter songbird photography.

Wishing everybody all the best in 2013.

Happy New Year!!!

Please remember to click on each of the photos to see the larger sharper version.

See ya soon!

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Intimate Landscapes at Muskoka’s High Falls

High Falls on the Muskoka River

Please note: starting with this post you can now ‘click-to-enlarge’ on each of the images in this post and all future posts to see much larger versions of the images. I hope you enjoy this updated feature of the blog and look forward to hearing your thoughts on the new views.

High Falls has long been one of most impressive waterfalls in Ontario’s Muskoka Region. It is easily located near the town of Bracebridge. A few years ago the town of Bracebridge began diverting much of the flow, especially in winter, for hydro-electric power, but this has by no means lessened the photographic possibilities that abound at this location. In my opinion it has actually created more photographic opportunities, especially the intimate variety of landscapes. The reduced flow has also exposed some wonderful rock formations for intimate views of the remaining cascades that can be found here, however, one must keep in  mind that the exposed rocks have been smoothed over time, by the constant flow of water and can be quite slippery and even dangerous if folks do not proceed with caution. On Friday, I drove an hour and a half north of my home, in the wee hours of the morning, to arrive at first light, and hopefully well ahead of the predicted rainfall. I was able to get in about three hours of photography before the rains arrived and forced me to pack up and head for home.

When I arrive on site, setting-up my tripod is often one of the last steps I take when photographing a scene. First and foremost I will walk around, camera in hand, and frame possible image opportunities. Once I find the compositions I want I will then position my tripod to capture the scenes I have chosen. Each of the images in this post was photograph using a Nikon polarizing filter on my 12-24mm lens. This polarizing filter is designed to eliminate vignetting on wide angle lenses such as the 12-24mm lens. The polarizing filter is also the absolute, must-have filter for landscape photography.

New to this post is the ‘click-to-enlarge’ feature for each of the images posted. Please click on each image to view the larger version and take a moment to let me know which is your favorite and why.

High Falls on the Muskoka River

High Falls on the Muskoka River

High Falls on the Muskoka River

Little High Falls on Pott’s Creek

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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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Chutes Provincial Park

Aux Sables River in Chutes Provincial Park

Chutes Provincial Park is a small, but very photogenic park to visit, it is located in the town of Massey, Ontario along the Trans-Canada Highway. The Aux Sables River flows through this park. Along the way, there are several sets of rapids and a few small cascades along the river’s course. This river setting is best photographed in over-cast light. As I drove to Lake Superior Provincial Park last September I was passing through the town of Massey on an over-cast, drizzly day so I made a stop in hopes of walking along the Twin Bridges Trail to photograph various locations along the river. After making a few images of the main cascade I ventured further along the trail, but the over-cast conditions cleared and the lighting became rather harsh so I packed up and continued onward to Lake Superior. Here are a couple of fresh images of Chutes Provincial Park’s main attraction and I also applied Topaz Labs’ B&W Effects using my custom preset “Waterfall Setting” that I created for an artistic rendition of the waterfall. A Nikon 12-24mm lens and Nikon polarizing filter was used in the making of these images.

Aux Sables River in Chutes Provincial Park

Custom “Waterfall Setting” preset in Topaz Labs BW Effects

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Balls Falls

Balls Falls, Twenty Mile Creek, Ontario

Sorry for the lack of posts to the blog lately folks. I have been very busy lately with various projects, not too mention by bad back acting up on me. With the workload nearing an easing up time period and my back pain subsiding somewhat, I have been going through many of my image files that I have been unable to attend to until now. Above you will be Balls Falls on the Twenty Mile Creek along Ontario’s Niagara Escarpment, an UNESCO World Biosphere. Often I have visited this waterfall and there has been virtually no waterfall due to low levels of rainfall. This past spring was rather wet and it made for some excellent waterfall photography, especially along the Niagara Escarpment. This is one of my favorites from my visit to Balls Falls. And below you will see that I just could not resist the temptation to run the image through Topaz Labs ‘BW Effects’ plugin for Photoshop. I have saved a selection of settings in BW Effects for my ‘waterfall preset’ and will share those settings in an upcoming post soon. Hope you like today’s images.

Balls Falls with BW Effects applied

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Creative Cascade

Spencer Gorge Wilderness Area

I have been busy processing a backlog of images from this past spring, summer and fall and also trying to catch up on much needed rest. While going through my files I came across this small cascade that I photographed at Webster’s Falls in the Spencer Gorge Wilderness Area in Hamilton, Ontario. This is found along the Niagara Escarpment. The Hamilton region is noted for its numerous waterfalls on the Niagara Escarpment, many of them really only show any flow after periods of significant rainfall. I found this one to be particularly attractive with the escarpment wall for a backdrop. After processing the image file I decided to run it through Topaz Labs B&W Effects to create the effect you see above.

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