Black & White Conversions

 

Lake Superior Provincial Park. Nikon D800, Nikon 18-35mm lens @ 22mm, ISO 100, f16 @ 20 seconds, B+W 10-stop Neutral Density Filter

This evening the winter wind is howling outside and snow squalls are rolling through the region, so I decided to play around with converting some older photos to black and white. I have always liked the original color versions of these images but for one reason or another I never did get around to optimizing them. Often when situations like this arise I will open the images into Nik / Google’s Silver Efex Pro 2 for a B&W conversion that suits the scene. In the opening photo, which was created on the shores of Lake Superior near the mouth of the Coldwater River I used a 10-stop neutral density filter to ‘calm‘ the incoming waves and help reveal the boulders beneath the surface. A small crop from the top to evict a rather boring cloudless sky rounded out the image optimization.

In the Georgian Bay scene below that was created in Ontario’s Killbear Provincial Park I used my Tiffen 3-stop neutral density filter to achieve the same calming effect on the bay, which allows us to focus our attention on the foreground rocks, which received a light-handed dose of Nik / Google’s Detail Extractor from Color Efex

Georgian Bay at Killbear Provincial Park. Nikon D800, Nikon 18-35mm lens @ 18mm, ISO 100, f16 @ 5 seconds. Tiffen 3-stop Neutral Density Filter

After creating the above scene on Georgian bay I simply turned around to create one of the terrain that was behind me. Killbear Provincial Park is noted for its spectacular vistas of Georgian Bay and the rugged granite shoreline is wonderful for both color and B&W images.

Rugged Terrain at Killbear Provincial Park. Nikon D800, Sigma 15mm EX DG f2.8 Fisheye Lens, ISO 400, f16 @ 1/200.

And finally below is an older capture created on the Sixteen Mile Creek at Hilton Falls Conservation Area upstream from Hilton Falls. This lovely river and waterfall are situated on the Niagara Escarpment. Many of the waterfalls and rivers of the Niagara Escarpment are best viewed in early spring when water levels are typically high.

Sixteen Mile Creek in Hilton Falls Conservation Area. Nikon D800, Nikon 18-35mm lens @ 24mm. ISO 100, f16 @ 1.3 seconds, Nikon Neutral Polarizing Filter

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

On another note: I am now active on Intsagram. You can connect with me on Intsagram at MCLACHLANWILD. I have also added an Instagram widget to the sidebar of the blog for easy access. Hope to see you over at Instagram too 🙂

 

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Gotta Go Hang-out With the Bullfrogs

Male Bullfrog Among Water Lily Leaves, Horseshoe Lake, Parry Sound, Ontario

Alas, the time of year has come where I head north to the family cottage on Horseshoe Lake in Ontario’s Parry Sound region. As a result the blog will be quiet for about one week. I hope to return with a new batch of froggie pics and even a few new images from one of Ontario’s premier photographic locations – Killbear Provincial Park. Below you will see a Black & White conversion of an image created at Killbear Provincial Park during one of my numerous visits last year.

In the bullfrog image above, if you click on it to see the larger, sharper version you will see the clear translucent skin floating beside the frog. Did you know that frog’s shed their skin and eat it too?

See ya all soon 🙂

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Killbear Provincial Park and the Sigma Fisheye

Woodland Interior at Killbear Provincial Park, Ontario

I often found while photographing with the Sigma 15mm f2.8 EX DG Fisheye Lens that I was creating images of subjects that I would normally walk by and not give any passing consideration to their photographic possibilities.  The Sigma 15mm f2.8 EX DG Fisheye Lens was on loan to me for  a week by Gentec International, the Canadian distributor for Sigma lenses. With the fisheye lens mounted on my Nikon D800 it was like a whole new world of photogenic subjects materialized before me. One such scene is the image above of a large boulder that was most likely deposited here by receeding glacial action long ago. The boulder sits beside the footpath that is the Twin Points Trail in Ontario’s Killbear Provincial Park. In fact each of the images in this post are from this lovely and scenic trail leading out to the Georgian Bay shore. As you proceed along the trail, closer to Georgian Bay, the pink granite typical of the area becomes more prominent among the numerous rocky outcrops within the woodlands and along the shoreline, which can be seen in the two photos below.

Granite Outcrop at Dusk, Killbear Provincial Park, Ontario

Pink Granite Woodland Outcrop at Killbear Provincial Park, Ontario.

Stay tuned for more fisheye fun and do remember to click on the photos to see the larger, sharper versions.

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The Endangered Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake

 

I have been away for the last couple of weeks up in Ontario’s Parry Sound region where I have been photographing a variety of subjects that range from landscapes to environmental issues, avian to amphibian, and an endangered Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake. I have tried on several occasions to locate and photograph these remarkable snakes, Ontario’s only venomous snake. I discovered this specimen in Killbear Provincial Park on the shores of Georgian Bay. It was a young snake being only about 12-14 inches in length and a small two segment rattle, however, it’s markings were striking. As I photographed this snake for well over an hour, several folks stopped to see what I was taking photos of and I let them see an enlarged , close-up view of the snake through the Live View feature of the D800. The kids that stopped thought it was pretty awesome to see a close up view and personally the more folks that think these snakes are awesome critters the better chance they will have for survival. I was pleased that the snake had a peaceful pose to it. All to often I see photographs of rattlesnakes that are curled up and in position to strike, a clear indication of a snake that is agitated. And for the record, only one person has ever died in Ontario from an Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake bite and that individual never sought treatment. Furthermore, roughly 25% of venomous snake bites are considered to be ‘dry’ bites, that is no venom is injected. The snakes would rather conserve their precious venom for subduing their next meal.

Since the snake was in rather heavy shade I bumped up the ISO to 800 and selected an aperture of f16 to keep as much of the snakes body as possible in focus. Once I composed the images that I wanted I switched the camera to ‘Live View’ mode and zoomed in on the snake’s head and eye and manually focused my tripod mounted Nikon 80-400mm VR lens (VR off). The more I play around with the usefulness of the “Live View’ mode the more I am liking it.

Click on each of the photos to view a larger, sharper version.

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