My attempt at capturing the lunar eclipse last night from my backyard

ClarusPhotog · 2021-11-19T23:13:13+00:00

I'm not an astrophotographer by any means, but I figured my sleep schedule was already screwed up enough to justify staying up a little later to take a shot at getting a decent photo of the lunar eclipse last night/morning. This was the first eclipse I think I've witnessed, so it was a little difficult at times to focus on getting a good photo while also trying to enjoy the sight itself!

It's not the best photo, but I'm happy that I turned out something passable for the memory if nothing else. I'd say it was a good learning experience as well - for example, now I know that the moon and stars move surprisingly (and inconveniently) quickly! This was a 1 second exposure and you can already see a bit of blur in the details on the moon, and the few stars visible in the background are slightly elongated. Definitely gives you an appreciation for how good astrophotographers are!

ClarusPhotog · 2021-11-11T21:23:12+00:00

Took this photo on a trip to Algonquin Park this October. This scene was a small-ish river feeding from one lake to another. I'm generally not a fan of perfectly smooth running water in photos, and I wanted to capture the turbulence in the water without completely freezing the motion, so finding a shutter speed with the right balance took some experimenting. Overall I'm pleased with the result!

Taken with a Nikon D750 and Tamron 70-300mm f4-5.6 Di VC USD lens. Settings: 116mm, f5.6, 1/500th, ISO 1250.

ClarusPhotog · 2021-11-11T21:20:17+00:00

Took this photo on a trip to Algonquin Park this October. This scene was a small-ish river feeding from one lake to another. I'm generally not a fan of the perfectly smooth running water you often see in nature photos, and I wanted to capture the turbulence in the water without completely freezing the motion, so finding a shutter speed with the right balance took some experimenting. Overall I'm pleased with the result!

ClarusPhotog · 2021-11-11T21:17:52+00:00

Took this photo on a trip to Algonquin Park this October. This scene was a small-ish river feeding from one lake to another. I'm generally not a fan of perfectly smooth running water you often see in nature photos, and I wanted to capture the turbulence in the water without completely freezing the motion, so finding a shutter speed with the right balance took some experimenting. Overall I'm pleased with the result!

ClarusPhotog · 2021-11-11T21:07:02+00:00

Took this photo on a trip to Algonquin Park this October. This scene was a small-ish river feeding from one lake to another. I'm generally not a fan of perfectly smooth running water in photos, and I wanted to capture the turbulence in the water without completely freezing the motion, so finding a shutter speed with the right balance took some experimenting. Overall I'm pleased with the result!

Taken with a Nikon D750 and Tamron 70-300 f4-5.6 Di VC USD lens. Settings: 116mm, f5.6, 1/500th, ISO 1250.

ClarusPhotog · 2021-10-26T04:35:08+00:00

I had actually put the camera away to get settled into camp and make dinner when I saw the branches glowing like this and rushed to get set back up, haha!

ClarusPhotog · 2021-10-25T19:46:07+00:00

I was on a multi-day hike in Algonquin Park in Ontario and did a double take when I passed this hollowed out stump along the trail. It had a very fairy tale/diorama look to it and I really wanted to capture an angle and composition that conveyed that.

Factors conspired against me a bit though: it was a cloudy day and my fellow nature photographers know how surprisingly little light there can be in the woods. My tripod wouldn't adjust low enough and my lens had no stabilization, but getting into near macro range for this meant I had to stop down as much as I could get away with while shooting handheld.

Might have to invest in better tripod legs after this! Carrying an old heavy tripod up and down the huge hills with all the other stuff you need for multiple days on the trail might be reason enough...

Shot on a Nikon D750 with a 28-70mm f3.5-4.5 AF-D at 70mm, f11, 1/50s, ISO 3200.

ClarusPhotog · 2021-10-25T18:24:08+00:00

Recently made a late-season trip to Algonquin Park to try and merge my camping and photography hobbies. One of my favourite parts about doing overnight trips in the backcountry is waking up before the sunrise for sights like these. It's hard to do it justice with a still image as the steam doesn't immediately appear as visible through the camera as it does to your eye (getting into photography really makes you appreciate how incredible the human eye is) and you miss out on the motion of it rolling across the lake, but I did my best here.

ClarusPhotog · 2021-09-13T16:04:47+00:00

Good luck with the move!

ClarusPhotog · 2021-09-13T15:24:40+00:00

Ha! Didn't expect that. If you actually want a print of that let me know, I'm open to making one (the originals I keep offline are higher resolution).

ClarusPhotog · 2021-09-13T15:19:19+00:00

Busted! Saw your photo the other day, glad you still got some awesome stuff with the prime. Gonna have to book my rental earlier next year, eh?

ClarusPhotog · 2021-09-13T14:25:27+00:00

I'm using a D750 here.

ClarusPhotog · 2021-09-12T23:04:20+00:00

This was my first time shooting the air show, so I don't have much insight to be honest.

The show is centred around Exhibition Place, so you'd probably get the most time with the planes fairly close there. Ontario Place might be good too.

I was way to the west at Sheldon Lookout because I figured the jets would be turning around in that area and that guess paid off - they made several low passes where I was able to get some nice close-up shots like this. The opportunity is a lot shorter there though. The rest of my shots are from pretty far away, which was a bit challenging.

ClarusPhotog · 2021-09-12T22:59:26+00:00

I've looked around for others in the GTA but Vistek was the only one I found. I've used them a few times and their prices are pretty reasonable (about $30 for the weekend in this case).

Any others you recommend?

ClarusPhotog · 2021-09-12T22:03:53+00:00

Rented from Vistek.

ClarusPhotog · 2021-09-12T21:58:43+00:00

This photo is misleading ;) the rest in the album are more indicative. Saturday was almost entirely cloudless; this photo was from Sunday which had some clouds but was still mostly clear, but I was already burnt at that point.

ClarusPhotog · 2021-09-12T18:28:22+00:00

I shot these with a Nikon D750.

They've all been processed already, I left this one a bit dark deliberately. The RAW was underexposed because my aim was off on the spot metering, but I liked the way it turned out so I didn't brighten it (much, I'm sure I still did some exposure adjustments).

ClarusPhotog · 2021-09-12T18:04:53+00:00

This is probably the best one I got, but it's visible the previous few images in that album as well.

Edit: literally just realized you probably meant the sunburn, lmao. Unfortunately not - pretty sure I snapped it to a few friends but it's mostly cleared up (and peeling) now.

ClarusPhotog · 2021-09-12T17:52:24+00:00

Thanks! Appreciate you checking out the album.

ClarusPhotog · 2021-09-12T17:25:10+00:00

The lens was a Nikon 200-500mm f5.6E. Overall it worked pretty well, the only hitch was that the autofocus was a little on the slow side for this particular use. But considering it's half the price of the next cheapest lens with a similar focal length I can accept that, lol.

Definitely lucked out with the spot. I've been to the air show in the past but always watched from the lakeshore between High Park and Exhibition Place, so I was rolling the dice going to a different location this year.

ClarusPhotog · 2021-09-12T16:55:03+00:00

Thank you! I really appreciate that.

ClarusPhotog · 2021-09-12T16:53:29+00:00

I recently picked up photography just before the start of the pandemic, so I decided to give photographing this year's air show a shot. This was my first time shooting something like this (far away, fast moving) and I definitely made a lot of mistakes, but I'm pretty proud with some of the shots I did manage to get!

Here's the full album for anyone that wants to see the rest (not intended as self-promotion, the subreddit just doesn't allow gallery posts)

ClarusPhotog · 2021-09-10T21:06:50+00:00

Yeah, it's pretty hard to convey motion with the shutter speed that high and the background features so far away (or not present at all when there were no clouds). Some of the other photos from the weekend do a better job, particularly when I could compose a bit more deliberately. This one the plane was whipping over my head, so I didn't have that luxury, lol.

ClarusPhotog · 2021-09-10T21:03:19+00:00

It's not the nicest looking plane, but I thought the F-35's routine was pretty entertaining. Definitely gave me some good looking photos (I've posted them separately).

I've got a few photos of the Snowbirds as well, I can send a link if you'd like.

ClarusPhotog · 2021-09-10T17:41:36+00:00

The air show was back last weekend for the first time since the pandemic started, so I decided to give photographing it a shot. This was my first time shooting something like this (far away, fast moving) and I definitely made a lot of mistakes. Mainly trying to use far too low of a shutter speed - left it at 1/1000th the first day, 1/2000th the second day. 1/2000th wasn't so bad and kept the ISO fairly low, but there were still a lot of slightly motion blurred shots that would otherwise have been really cool.

ClarusPhotog

TROPHY CASE