Your Canon Photos No. 39: 28th January to 3rd February 2024

This weekly thread is principally intended for you to showcase your photos made with Canon cameras of all sorts: SLR, DSLR, Mirrorless, M-series, APS-C, film, etc. But any brand of camera will be accepted, including photos taken with your phone. We do enjoy reading an accompanying text explaining your photo and any special techniques you may have used. Comments and helpful criticisms on others' photos are also welcome: we can all learn something from each other. We look forward to seeing your contributions and new participants to this series of threads are always welcome!

A new thread for the following week will be posted next Saturday around 10 pm UK time.

Digirame and I will be active here and are sharing the hosting, but we are used to all joining in and commenting on others' photos.

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Review of last week

Digirame took full advantage of the recent snow, with the luxury of an assistant to drive him around while he took photos! Probably because snow is much rarer in the pacific NW than in the central and north eastern parts of the USA, the roads were not cleared, giving us good views. He later showed shots of people playing with sleds, or sledges, as they are called in some places. It seems all the ducks gravitate to him! His weather quickly improved and it looked as if there had never been any snow. This attracted a heron, well camouflaged on the opposite bank from the geese... His post processing of the birds and trees photo was up to his usual very high level.

Photobygms also had snow and managed to photograph some lovely little birds, hopefully enjoying the cold weather.

Meanwhile, Steve had his Ozark Trail seat out to enjoy the small amount of snow he had! He also introduced a useful discussion of the principle of ETTR, which we continue to explore. Then the cats moved in for an early morning conflab in the mist -- shades of Macbeth!

Simplejoy continued to amaze with his creative closeups: I am running out of adjectives to describe these wonders.

Meanwhile, determined to capture something and get some exercise, I went out during the week when the temerature rose to a balmy 15°C for one day. The picture I took with my back to the Karlskirche showed the threatening skies, which never actually delivered. I also explored the amusing situation with station clocks around here. I will try to follow up this and other recent themes this week -- my phone predicts some sun in the early part of the week, but I dont rely on its accuracy.

If the weather is getting you down, why not surprise us with a shot of a local landmark -- either outside in the cold or indoors!

David

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On Friday I passed the Rathaus (town hall) where an ambitious skating rink has been erected on the same area where the Christmas market was in Advent. This annual attraction (more for residents than for tourists) is artificially frozen and will last until March. There are two levels (notice the ramps on the right) and two other areas (not shown) for less experienced skaters. In the background can be seen the recently cleaned Parliament building.

A shot of the Rathaus tower with the skiing ramps at the bottom.

Enlarge the copy below fully to explore the detail of the carvings, which deserves a later visit.

I set +1.3EV to compensate for the predominant whiteness of the scenes but, apart from cropping and resizing, made no pp changes to these shots.

David

No Ice and skating rinks here at the moment. We acually can and did enjoy multiple days with nice sunny weather.
No long hikes this weekend just a short 5km stroll 😁
Visited an area close to home again called Balloerveld, but this time the more Northern part.
And we went with limited gear for a change.
Only a Canon Eos R and one of our Rf 24-240mm lenses (and a CPL filter)

David,

Thanks for sharing with us the skating rink picture. The details on the Rathaus tower are amazing. I really liked seeing the statues.

Photobygms,

I saw the blue sky and I immediately knew I was going to like your pictures. 😀 We in Oregon still have lots of rain and clouds, but I think tomorrow might be better. I liked seeing the wooden walkway in the last picture. We have a lot of those too near where I live. It keeps people high and dry over areas that can be very wet.

Subject: Second Set of Snow Pictures

Snow in the valleys does not happen much where I live. But when it does, I sure like to document it. Here's some more, which is a continuation of what I showed last week.

Photo No. 1 - The snow was less here, probably because it was blocked by the trees when falling down.

Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/125 seconds
FNumber - 7.10
ISOSpeedRatings - 4000
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 41 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 2 - Going down is easy. It's going up...that's not. 😀

Model - Canon EOS Rebel T7i
ExposureTime - 1/640 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 8000
ExposureBiasValue - 1.33
FocalLength - 55 mm
Lens Model - EF-S55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM

Photo No. 3 - There was just barely enough snow to have some fun.

Model - Canon EOS Rebel T7i
ExposureTime - 1/200 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 3200
ExposureBiasValue - 1
FocalLength - 50 mm
Lens Model - EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

Photo No. 4 - People were bundled up. It was still below freezing.

Model - Canon EOS Rebel T7i
ExposureTime - 1/200 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 5000
ExposureBiasValue - 1
FocalLength - 135 mm
Lens Model - EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

Photo No. 5 - Snow or not, people still take their dogs for a walk. This park is popular for that, as long as the dogs are on a leash.

Model - Canon EOS Rebel T7i
ExposureTime - 1/200 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 3200
ExposureBiasValue - 0.67
FocalLength - 42 mm
Lens Model - EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

Photo No. 6 - They were getting ready for another run.

Model - Canon EOS Rebel T7i
ExposureTime - 1/640 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 10000
ExposureBiasValue - 1
FocalLength - 95 mm
Lens Model - EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

Photo No. 7 - Here also....

Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/30 seconds
FNumber - 8
ISOSpeedRatings - 4000
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 17 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 8 - Again....

Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/30 seconds
FNumber - 8
ISOSpeedRatings - 4000
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 17 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 9 - I think these people were looking for other places to slide down the hill. Later after the snow melted, the bench behind them was all covered with water.

Model - Canon EOS Rebel T7i
ExposureTime - 1/200 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 10000
ExposureBiasValue - 0.67
FocalLength - 67 mm
Lens Model - EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

Photo No. 10 - Another one....

Model - Canon EOS Rebel T7i
ExposureTime - 1/200 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 6400
ExposureBiasValue - 0.67
FocalLength - 67 mm
Lens Model - EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

Photo No. 11 - This is the flooded area near the bench that had turned to ice.

Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/60 seconds
FNumber - 7.10
ISOSpeedRatings - 2500
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 18 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 12 - Finally we see some wildlife, taken with my wide/normal lens in the flooded icy area. The birds were hoping around looking for food (I assume). Fortunately, the snow did not last long.

Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/60 seconds
FNumber - 7.10
ISOSpeedRatings - 2000
ExposureBiasValue - 0.33
FocalLength - 36 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Subject: Bird Feeder

This is the bird feeder I used to visit many years ago (I saw it yesterday). It was constructed near a wooded wetlands area. At the time, there was not this structure with a roof.

This may be interesting for some of you. What I would do, is stand there for up to an hour waiting for the birds to get used to me. I had to keep very still. I waited until the birds landed on a branch or on a fence rail near the feeder and take a picture of them with my Canon 55-250mm lens. That was before I purchased the Tamron 150-600mm lens.

I've offered this idea to people previously on Dpreview. Create a feeder with tree branches nearby. Then wait for the variety of different birds to come. This might be ideal for Steve on his farm. The only thing is squirrels like this idea too, so you have to make it so the squirrels can only get the droppings from the birds.

You will get super nice photos. Try it, if you would like. I would do this also, but I'm so busy taking other types of photos. Maybe some day I'll go back to this bird feeder.

One day, I brought with me a chair. But on that day, wouldn't you know it...the birds decided to not come. 😀

Model - Canon EOS RP
ExposureTime - 1/100 seconds
FNumber - 7.10
ISOSpeedRatings - 10000
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 50 mm
Lens Model - RF24-105mm F4-7.1 IS STM

I don't think that my surroundings are anything special... but then again, aren't we all so used to the place we live in, that we tend to forget about what might make it special to others?

Here's part of a small (and quite popular with tourists) village near me:

The village by simple.joy, on Flickr

It was a wonderful experience walking through the snow and take some shots close to a small mountain stream:

I see, icy… moss interesting! by simple.joy, on Flickr

It's a little bit higher up compared to where I live, so down in the valley, there isn't any snow left at the moment. However it did rain A LOT. Wasn't great in terms of getting out and taking shots, but when weather allows for it, I love going out after the rain and capture some details:j

Setting the example by simple.joy, on Flickr

A drop too mush by simple.joy, on Flickr

Simplejoy,

Your surroundings are special. The mountainside is very beautiful.

I know what you mean... we get used to where we live so much, that we might forget that it is interesting to others. That's what brings in the tourists. 😀 It truly is special.

I took a few pictures of some icicles too. I would wait for the water to drop, so that I could catch a few of these drops in the air.

@simplejoy. These photes do bring me back to Hoch-Imst (Tirol)
Do like them, only thing you might have the White Balance a bit off ?
The snow is a bit blue/greenish? Have seen this now on a few monitors to check If I need to calibrate my monitor

I only see that effect in the shadows, as expected. The snow at the top of the photo is white white, e.g. top left in the distance, and top right on the ski slope.

David

Photobygms,

The mountain snow does look slightly blue/greenish on my monitor, but it's only slight. I find it acceptable. In my snow pictures, I could have made some minor adjustments also. For example, on pictures 7 and 8 where I have a relatively low shutter speed of 1/30th of a second and high ISO levels, it's different. The reason is that the sun was setting or about to set, so I don't know if I should change that. It was getting dark and there were clouds. As usual, I didn't know when to quit and I kept taking lots of pictures, even though I was losing light. So with snow, does the white balance change (or should change) with this natural light changing during the course of the day? I don't know if I said this correctly. In other words, should the snow change slightly in appearance as we see it from early morning to late evening? Or should it all look the same no matter the time of day, or whether there were clouds or bright sun? Maybe you, David or anyone could comment. We don't get enough snow around here, for me to really know.

Digi,

I would say that your snow looks OK on my monitor. I cant even tell from colour what time of day you took the photos. Naturally, the colour temperature of the light will depend upon the angle of the sun, but this is more important in the shadows. That said, you dont appear to have had any very strong sunlight while you were taking thowse photos.

What I find strange is that 20 years ago I frequently had to take care to set white balance with my Minolta camera, whereas now, with the Canon, or the Leica, 95% of the time I can just select automatic white balance and forget about it! I guess cameras have become more sophisticated.

David

Glad they do! Yes, Imst is quite similar in some aspects...

You're spot-on of course. That image is not trying to depict accurate colors - quite intentionally, if I may add. I love to emphasize color contrasts. Of course the shadows are way more blue, if I apply correct WB. However what our eye sees in a moment (or rather what our mind creates from it) can stray significantly from what's really there for a camera. So I'd rather go with capturing a scene as I perceive it, than accurate color.

If you're interested, here's another panorama shot, almost from the same spot, which I perceive to be a bit closer to "accurate colors" even though not quite as well...

If a color polarizer can help make blue skies bluer and white clouds whiter, I wonder what it could do for snow scenes.

Steve Thomas

Simplejoy,

The panorama of the mountain looks great. It must be a lot colder without that sun.

No, I guess it doesn't. On further reading, a CPL will help reduce glare and haze, but it doesn't do anything about making your snow whiter.

Suggestions include setting your white balance to about 6500K and adjusting it up or down, and using exposure compensation to add +1 or +2 stops.

Steve Thomas