Day 38: Bulldozer at Rest

I really dig this: Saw it sitting there the other day, when I was driving a friend to test drive a car. Watched the weather forecast, and planned my trip to hit the site after everyone had cleared out, and near sunset. Hit it right on the button, too!

Day 37: Church

I get the feeling this week will all be HDR. That said, there’s something about shooting a church in HDR that really seems to work, it gives it that godly glow.

Day 36: Ottawa River in the Morning

I have a hard time stopping to take pictures, especially long-exposure HDR setups, at 6:45am, when it’s -15oC.

But, once in a while:

Day 35: Bitten in the Winter

Shockingly, more HDR.

I’ve shot these damaged telegraph poles before, but I’ve generally done ’em in black & white. However, since I’ve been getting the HDR ‘right’ again, I figured it might give an interesting feel to the damage.

And it’s some damage. I generally see the damage on the inside, sidewalk-side of the poles, but this is one of the big plows from the streets, and it hit it hard. This things gonna have to be replaced soon, or it’ll fall down, i think. One good hit from a driver who’s not paying attention and there’s a world of trouble.

So, with that, here you go!

Day 34: Zebra Mussels in the Winter

More from the Canal.

I think pretty much everyone in North America knows about the Zebra Mussel problem, these days. Basically, they’re non-indigenous shellfish with no natural predators in the Great Lakes. They breed like rabbits, and travel on the bottoms of boats that don’t get cleaned properly. And once they’re there, they take over, and kill everything else off, by using all the resources.

You don’t normally see them, but to prep the Rideau Canal for winter, and skating around Winterlude, they drain it about eight feet, in the fall. So, you get all the mussels on the walls of the canal, exposed. This leads to excellent macro opportunities.

Which I took. Thanks to the 1.5x multiplier the camera provides, plus the 2x-3x tele-converter, the basic 55mm Micro-Nikkor became just about a 220mm macro. Reaaaaaaaal close up.

f/3.5, 1/200th second, ISO 200
Nikon D70s, Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5, Sankyo 2x-3x teleconverter

Day 33: Motion.

The girlfriend is taking a photography class, and I’m sort-of ‘auditing’ it through her, and her assignments. Her assignment this week? Motion.

And motion panning is something I’ve wanted to get better at, so, this is my shot. I took a bunch more, but this is probably the best of ’em, or at least the most interesting. The trick is, to set the shutter low enough that you can move the camera so that the lens follows the moving subject, and stay open while you do it. What I’d not considered when we set out was just how BRIGHT it was. I was getting reasonably quick shutters even at f/29, which is a tiny pin-prick of an aperture. I finally had to set at f/29, in the shade, and push the exposure compensation.

f/29, 1/25th second, ISO 200, +1/3EV
Nikon D70s, Nikon 18-70mm ED DX

Day 32: Erskine Presbyterian Church

A while back, on flickr, I started shooting Ottawa’s churches. Apparently, there are 182 churches within the core of the city. So, I set out to try and get good shots at all of ’em. I actually love this church. It’s big, it’s bold, but it’s got the classic church look to it, rather than some of the newer ones that were trying to reinvent the wheel. However, I never shot it. It’s all of two blocks from where I live, and I’ve taken my camera there repeatedly, but I never found the shot that I thought did it justice, and properly flattered the building.

Today, though, I saw it.

And, yes, again, it’s an HDR shot, processed in Photomatix, and Bibble.

Day 31: Walking Home

I’m always walking home. Despite how it looks, this is right next to a major office building, and a major through-way.

Ok, I know, it’s blurry. I shot three, hand-held HDR shots (jpgs, to combine in Photomatix) and, well, they didn’t match up perfectly. So, it’s… imperfect, technically. However, I like it, and I’m not sure why.

Day 30: Birds on a Wire

I’m not 100% on this one. It looked neater in my minds eye than it does on the screen, but it’s still got interest, with that one white bird. Also, HDR let me really play with the levels and get the effect I wanted. I think it’s just… too small, really.

It’s the week of HDR, apparently.

Stay tuned tomorrow for more HDR! I’ve got a good one in mind, and we’ll see how it works.

Day 29: More Snow

Seriously. It’s snowing like CRAZY.

f/4.5, 1/500th second, ISO 200