Top 14 for 2014

Sunrise on Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

 

At this time of year I usually take a moment to repost some of my favorite images that I captured throughout the past twelve months. I did not do as much traveling about as I had hoped to due to various reasons, but I did mange to find the time to travel to the beautiful Caribbean island of Cayman Brac (a return trip is planned for March 2015) for some memorable imagery and discover the awesome Georgian Bay Rugged Hiking Trail in Parry Sound, Ontario. Here is a selection of my 14 favorite photos from 2014. Hope you enjoy them and please remember to click on each image to view the larger, sharper version.

I would also like to thank each of my subscribers for their continued support here and wish you all a safe and prosperous New Year!

Happy New Year!!!

Barn Owl in Cave on Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

Octopus on Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

Snowy Owl in Blizzard Conditions, Thornton, Ontario

Green Frog Chorusing in Pond at Night, Thornton, Ontario

Fisheye Lens View of Hatchery Falls, Muskoka, Ontario

Soldier Crab on Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

Bullfrog on Horseshoe Lake, Parry Sound, Ontario

Skeleton River in Winter, Muskoka, Ontario

Cuban Tree Frog at Night on Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

Conch Shell Sunrise on the Caribbean Sea, Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

Sunrise at Pollard Bay, Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands

Skeleton River in Black & White, Muskoka, Ontario

Sunset on the Georgian Bay Rugged Hiking Trail, Parry Sound, Ontario

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Fire Engine Red

Old Fire Engine – Topaz Detail

 

This afternoon while on my way home from running a few errands in Barrie, Ontario I decided to take one of the backroads home, and am so glad I did as I came across a wonderful old fire engine parked beside a lovely grouping of blue spruce trees. We had a very light dusting of snow last night as well, which helped add another element of interest to the scene. After creating a few quick images I rushed home to play around with the images in some of the various Topaz Labs plug-ins that I have. Above is a quasi-grunge version using Topaz Detail. Below are two alternate renderings using Topaz Impressions and Topaz Black & White Effects 2.

Please remember to click on each of the images to see the larger, sharper versions. Which artistic rendering do you prefer most?

I have decided to change the way I post images to the blog for the coming year. I will go into more detail on what prompted the change soon.

Old Fire Engine – Topaz Impression

Old Fire Engine – Topaz Black & White Effects 2

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Season’s Greetings

Just wanted to take a moment to thank everybody for their continued support here at the blog and do look forward to chatting with you in the coming year.

I would like to wish you and your families a safe and joyous holiday season and all the very best in 2015.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

PS: please click on the image to see the larger, sharper version of the card 🙂

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Odds & Ends – Part Two

Glacial Erratics in Arrowhead Provincial Park, Ontario

As I await the cold and snow so that I can head out for some fresh winter photography, I thought I would post a few additional images that I have worked on over the last few weeks. I have been busy trying to get caught up on a back log of image processing over the last couple of months, and am pleased to say I have almost completed my task.

Please remember to click on the images to see the larger, sharper versions.

Pink Flamingo at Elmvale Jungle Zoo, Ontario.

Great White Pelican, Toronto Zoo, Ontario.

Bullfrog on Horseshoe Lake, Parry Sound, Ontario.

Bullfrog on Horseshoe Lake, Parry Sound, Ontario.

Mute Swan at Humber Bay Park, Toronto, Ontario.

Underwater View of Lily Pads on Horseshoe Lake, Parry Sound, Ontario.

Muskoka Woodland Details near Parry Sound, Ontario.

Red-tailed Green Rat Snake, Toronto Zoo, Ontario.

Soldier Crab on Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands.

Aerial View of Owen Island off the coast of Little Cayman Island in the Cayman Islands.

Winter Details on Frozen River – one from the 2013 archives.

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#treesinfourseasons – Autumn

For my final installment for the #treesinfourseasons photo challenge I bring you an Oak tree sapling photo which was created a couple of years ago on a frosty morning in the Parry Sound District of Ontario. I was immediately drawn to the frosted red leaves as they contrasted nicely with the yellow Aspen leaves below. Using my trusty Nikon 105mm micro lens I positioned my tripod low to the ground to create the photo.

I challenge my friend and colleague Kyle McDougall to the #treesinfourseasons challenge.

Your challenge images must represent all four seasons, one from each season. With each entry please challenge one other person and use the hashtag #treesinfourseasons so everyone can search to find all the entries as the challenge progresses.

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#treesinfourseasons – Summer

My third installment in the #treesinfourseasons photo challenge comes to you from Ontario’s Temagami Region, which is noted for its old growth forests. This massive White Pine tree had a trunk that was roughly 4 feet wide near the base of the tree. I came across this beauty while hiking through the White Bear Forest.

Today I challenge my brother, and founder of WorkCabin Gregg McLachlan to the #treesinfourseasons photo challenge.

Your challenge images must represent all four seasons, one from each season. With each entry please challenge one other person and use the hashtag #treesinfourseasons so everyone can search to find all the entries as the challenge progresses.

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#treesinfourseasons – Spring

 

My second entry into the #treesinfourseasons challenge is a macro photo of a spruce tree seedling that I photographed while exploring the edges of a woodland beaver pond many years ago. I was immediately drawn to the way the radiating patterns of the hair-cap moss and the seedling resembled each other.

Today I nominate Roy Ramsay, the editor of Outdoor Photography Canada to continue the #treesinfourseasons photo challenge..

Your challenge images must represent all four seasons, one from each season. With each entry please challenge one other person and use the hashtag #treesinfourseasons so everyone can search to find all the entries as the challenge progresses.

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#treesinfourseasons – Winter

Yesterday I was nominated by my good friend and colleague Mike Grandmaison to take part in the #treesinfourseasons photo challenge. This is my first entry in the challenge. I created this scene on a day when I had planned to visit Tiny Marsh for sunrise. As it turned out the trees in the adjacent agricultural fields looked a whole lot more promising as their silhouette’s were cast against the light winter fog at sunrise.

The rules state that each day I must nominate a fellow photographer to continue the challenge. Today I nominate Ethan Meleg

Your challenge images must represent all four seasons, one from each season. With each entry please challenge one other person and use the hashtag #treesinfourseasons so everyone can search to find all the entries as the challenge progresses.

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Odds & Ends

Sunrise on the Agawa River in Ontario’s Lake Superior Provincial Park.   Nikon D800, Sigma 15mm Fisheye Lens, ISO 1250 f11 @ 1/400 sec.

I have been on a mission lately to go through some of my folders of older RAW captures that for one reason or another has eluded the optimizing step. Surprisingly several of the ones I took the time to work on over the last few days were from one of my favorite places on Earth – Lake Superior. The rugged terrain and stunning shoreline vistas to be found in the Lake Superior region are a must see for anyone who enjoys landscape photography.

Rocky Shoreline of Lake Superior.                          Nikon D800, Nikon 18-35mm lens, ISO 50, f22 @ 1/13 sec.

In the scene below I was playing around with my B+W 10-stop Neutral Density Filter to create some motion blur to the mid-day clouds and also to ‘calm’ the waves of Lake Superior.

Lake Superior Provincial Park near the Coldwater River                                    Nikon D800, Nikon 24-85mm VR Lens, ISO 200, f16 @ 20 sec.

Often I will use my Nikon 80-400mm VR lens to extract intimate scenes from within the landscape as I did below with the spruce trees reflecting in the water’s of the Agawa River.

Spruce Tree Reflections in the Agawa River.                                                                          Nikon D800, Nikon 80-400mm VR Lens, ISO 400, f22 @ 5 sec.

Often Lake Superior has some decent wave action whereby you can play around with wave blurs crashing into the shoreline. Below was not necessarily a day of impressive waves, but it was a day of fun trying to capture interesting blurs from the waves here as they did hit the granite shoreline.

Wave Blur on Lake Superior.                                                                                                Nikon D800, Nikon 18-35mm Lens, ISO 100, f29 @ 1/10 sec.

When faced with a lovely sunset at Katherine Cove as seen below, rather than opt for a graduated neutral density filter or in-camera HDR, I decided to create two exposures – one for the rocks and one for the sky and then manually blend them in Photoshop CS6 to achieve the desired results.

Please do remember to click on each image to view the larger, sharper version.

Stay tuned for ‘Odds & Ends – Part 2‘

Katherine Cove in Lake Superior Provincial Park.                                                       Nikon D800, Nikon 80-400mm VR Lens

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