Muskoka’s Woodland Waterfalls in Winter

Hatchery Falls, Muskoka, Ontario, Canada

This morning I awoke at 5:00 a.m. to begin my journey north to Ontario’s Muskoka region to meet up with fellow photographer / friend Kyle McDougall. Do take a moment to check out Kyle’s work as he is a very talented photographer.The plan was to visit several of the areas secluded, woodland waterfalls. The weather forecast was for cloudy conditions with temperatures hovering around 2-3 degrees Celsius. Perfect weather for a comfortable day photographing winter waterfalls.

Ontario’s Muskoka region has been hit hard this winter with tons of snowfall. There is roughly four feet of snow on the ground and significant ice formation at some of the waterfalls, due to the brutal cold temperatures encountered this winter. At each of  the destinations it was somewhat tricky getting into position for some of the images as I would often sink to my waist in deep snow along the riverbanks. My lower back problems did not appreciate this very much and are now getting even with me for heading off without my snowshoes.

Potts Creek, Muskoka, Ontario, Canada (10-stop Neutral Density Filter Used)

On today’s waterfall excursion I experimented with some new techniques, gear, and camera features. In the image that opens this blog post I used the focus stacking technique, whereby I created three separate images with each focused at a different point from foreground to horizon and then assembled them in photoshop to create one image file. In the above image at Potts Creek I was very disappointed to see lots of foam floating in the creek below the falls, but I noted that it was floating around in a circular motion. By attaching a B&W 10-stop Neutral Density Filter to the lens I was able to create an image with a 30 second exposure that would record the circular motion making it a pleasing element within the composition.

Skeleton Falls, Muskoka, Ontario, Canada (in-camera HDR)

The final experiment I tried was setting my Nikon D800 to it’s in-camera HDR function. By doing so the camera would create a natural-looking TIFF file of 100 MB. I was quite pleased with the in-camera HDR results and will use this mode often. For winter imagery I found it opened up the shadowed areas nicely and brought out the greens in the cedar trees well too. While optimizing these images I chose to add a touch of Nik / Google’s Detail Extractor filter from Color Efex 4 to bring out the fine details in the snow.

Please click on each of the images to see the larger, sharper version.

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Cuban Treefrog Before & After & Quiz

Optimized Version of Cuban Treefrog on Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

I have just spent the last hour optimizing the above photograph of a juvenile Cuban Treefrog. During my trip to Cayman Brac in the Cayman Islands. Each night I would leave the villa and go for a night-time stroll in search of some night-life. The Cuban Treefrogs were plentiful and I spent many enjoyable hours creating numerous images of them. In the original RAW capture below you do not need to look too closely to identify many of the issue.

Original RAW Capture – Cuban Treefrog

First and foremost I was not holding the camera square with the world, there are two unsightly, tiny stones on the frog’s lip and if you click on the images to see the larger, sharper version you will see a lot of flash generated spectral highlights. To optimize this image I first rotated until I felt that froggie was square with the world and then using both a series of quick masks and clone stamp tool I painstakingly worked on the image at 400% to effectively evict each of the spectral highlights. The nice thing about the massive image files created by the Nikon D800 is that you can afford to lose a few pixels when rotating and cropping such as this with no degradation to the image quality.

Now for the quiz: to photograph the Cuban Treefrog I used a Nikon D800 and what lens? The frog measured about an inch in length. I will reveal the answer in 2-3 days.

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The Bat Cave on Cayman Brac

The Bat Cave on Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

The island of Cayman Brac, found within the Cayman Islands, is noted for its numerous caves, which are found at various locations around the island. These caves were typically used as hurricane shelters many, many years ago. I briefly explored a couple of caves while on the island in February and quickly became quite fond of the interesting formations that were to be found inside The Bat Cave, located a stone’s throw away from the villa I was renting for my trip. I found my Nikon 18-35mm lens on the Nikon D800 was the perfect combo for creating the images that I envisioned. This set-up was firmly mounted to a Manfrotto BeFree Tripod, which was a real life-saver due to its light weight, durable designed that was a pleasure to use in the field during this trip.

Here are some additional images created inside The Bat Cave. Please do remember to click on the images to see the larger, sharper versions.

The Bat Cave on Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

The Bat Cave on Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

Roof Details Inside The Bat Cave on Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

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The Brac of Cayman Brac

Intimate View of the Bluff on Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

As folks who have been following along here at the blog know I visited the island of Cayman Brac in February, which is found in the Caribbean Sea, among the Cayman Islands. Cayman Brac is located 90 miles northeast of Grand Cayman. It was on the 10th day of May in the year 1503 when Christopher Columbus discovered Cayman Brac, with its large, central, limestone bluff that rises steadily as it travels the length of the island, to reach a height of 140 feet above sea level at the eastern most tip of the island. The name ‘Brac’ comes from the Gaelic name for bluff.

In the previous blog post I featured the vistas as seen at Long Beach. After creating numerous sunrise photos at Long Beach I made my way closer to the bluff to create some intimate imagery of the bluff and the limestone rock that is strewn about. Since the bluff was still cast in shadow at this time of the morning I had the even lighting needed for this intimate view. I explored the base of the bluff to find a pleasing aray of scattered, limestone boulders to use as foreground elements that would lead up to the vertical face of the bluff. This was my most favorite intimate view created on this morning. I will share other bluff details in a future post soon 🙂

Please click on the image to see the larger, sharper version.

Please check out this link to ieyenews, A Cayman website that I have shared my Cayman Brac trip.

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Long Beach – Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

Long Beach on Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

On the second last morning of my two week visit to Cayman Brac, in the Cayman Islands I awoke to the alarm at 5:00 a.m. and drove out to the eastern tip of the island along the road running along the north side of the island. The entire island of Cayman Brac is 12 miles long and on average 1.5 miles wide, so it does not take too long to get from one end or the other, but one must remember to drive on the left side of the road.

Long Beach on Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

Long Beach is hardly a beach as the shoreline is a rugged and jagged terrain that easily chewed up the soles of my sneakers. This rugged shoreline extends from the ocean to the bluff, which stands roughly 140 feet above sea-level. I knew photographing sunrise here would be tricky at best because the sun rises on the south side of the bluff and I was facing the north side. If the conditions were right though, it just may make a wonderful scene. The waves at Long Beach were a little troublesome as there was lots of salt spray to contend with. In order to cope with the resulting salt spray I chose to do what I most often do back in Ontario when photographing waterfalls. I will typically place a clear plastic bag over my camera and compose the scene. Once I have the composition I am happy with I will raise the bag up and away from the front element of the lens, focus, and press the shutter – this technique usually works very well and minimizes the amount of time spent cleaning the front element of the lens and/or filters that may be attached to the lens.

BTW – that large, house-sized boulder sitting in the ocean at the base of the cliff is affectionately referred to as ‘Little Cayman Brac‘ 🙂

Please click on the photos to see the larger, sharper versions.

 

 

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Conch Chowder Daydreams

Conch Shell at Daybreak on Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

As I continue to edit and process the images I created on the island of Cayman Brac in the Cayman Islands, I came upon this one of a perfectly intact conch shell that my 6 year old daughter had found one day. I made sure to hang onto it for a few days to use as a prop at sunrise. When I began to optimize this image file I began daydreaming of the amazingly, wonderful conch chowder, which was served in restaurants on the island. I guess I’ll just have to go back next winter for more 🙂

The above photo was relatively simple to create. I used my Nikon D800 with the Nikon 18-35mm lens and a Singh-Ray 3-stop Reverse Graduated Neutral Density filter. All of this was mounted on a Manfrotto BeFree Tripod, which is a great, light weight tripod designed for travel photography. If you did not get a chance to read my review of this tripod yet, please follow this link. I would then await the waves to wash in to shore and then as they retreated back into the ocean I would create the images, until I captured what I considered to be the most pleasing, outgoing wave blur.

Please click on the image to see the larger, sharper version.

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A Pile of Rocks on Cayman Brac

Sunrise on Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

Just a short stroll down the beach from the villa I was renting on the Caribbean island of Cayman Brac, in the Cayman Islands was a small grouping of rocks at the water’s edge. Several mornings I made use of these rocks as foreground subjects as I strolled along the beach. Each of the images in this post were created on a different morning. Some mornings the skies were more impressive than others, but I believe it is always a best practice to go out regardless – if I don’t I am missing something.

My most frequently used filter for sunrise imagery is the Singh-Ray Filter’s Daryl Benson 3-stop Reverse Graduated Neutral Density Filter. Aside from polarizing filters, the graduated neutral density filters are a landscape photographer’s best friend. Some folks prefer not using these filters in favor of taking several, bracketed photos and either manually blending them or creating an HDR image with them. I prefer to create one image in the field, so I can spend less time at home on the computer. Using graduated neutral density filters allows me to do this easily.

Hope you like the rockpile 🙂

Please remember to click on each of the images to view the larger, sharper versions.

Sunrise on Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

Sunrise on Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

Sunrise on Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

Sunrise on Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

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Nesting Season for the Brown Booby on Cayman Brac

Brown Booby nesting on the bluff. Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

Before leaving Ontario last month for the Caribbean island of Cayman Brac my research indicated that it would be nesting season for the Brown Booby on the island. The Brown Booby typically nests on the top most edge of the island’s bluff, which is at the most easterly point of the island. I made several trips up to the bluff during my stay, hoping to photograph some newly hatched boobies with their parents, as the eggs would be hatching any day. I had no luck with my hopes and only photographed the adult birds, but they were loads of fun to photograph nonetheless.

As I so often do when photographing any wildlife species I look for opportunities to create animate landscapes – that is to show the animal within their habitat. I found the best time of day to photograph these seabirds was at the end of the day as the male boobies would return and perch on the cliff top after spending the day at sea, diving for fishes. This was also a great time of day to create flight images of the boobies circling along the edge of the cliff, lit by the setting sun.

Here is an assortment of Brown Booby images that I created during my two week stay on Cayman Brac, in the Cayman Islands. Each of the photos was created using my Nikon D800 and Nikon 80-400mm VR lens. I used a variety of sensor crops, which are available on the Nikon D800. Often to extend the reach of my Nikon 80-400mm VR lens, when warranted, I will select the 1.5 sensor crop to effectively make the lens a 120-600mm lens – it is kind of like having a built-in teleconverter.

Brown Booby, Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

Brown Booby in flight. Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

Brown Booby, Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

Brown Booby, Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

Brown Booby at the nest. Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

Brown Booby at the nest. Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

Brown Booby, Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

Brown Booby in flight, Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sigma Fisheye Lens Promo

For the folks that have been following along here at the blog you may recall I spent a great deal of time last summer using a Sigma 15mm f2.8 EX DG Diagonal Fisheye Lens, which was loaned to me by Gentec International, the Canadian distributor for Sigma lenses. Today I am pleased and honored to have been featured in a recently designed promotional piece for this lens. Each of the images featured on the promo card were created as I traveled throughout my home province of Ontario, Canada. To view more of my photos created with this lens please follow this link to the Sigma 15mm f2.8 EX DG Fisheye Lens and scroll through the various thumbnail images, clicking on each to view the larger, sharper version. This lens was an indispensable tool for my frog-scapes, landscapes, and everything in between…not too mention highly addictive and a ton of fun too 🙂

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A Cayman Tornado

Waterspout over the Caribbean Sea, Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

At 2:00 p.m. on February the 11th as I stood in the sunshine on the island of Cayman Brac, looking out over the Caribbean Sea, towards the island of Little Cayman I saw my first Tornado ever. What a cool sight to see. This type of tornado is actually called a waterspout. Waterspouts typically are very short lived with many lasting only 20 seconds or so and they are somewhat tame in comparison to tornadic waterspouts. By the time I grabbed my camera from the backpack this waterspout was already dissipating, but a few seconds earlier it was touching down on the ocean’s surface. Note the torrential rain on the right side of the composition. Either way, it was a good day to be on dry land 🙂

 

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