A day in Algonquin Park

The phone rang around 7am Saturday morning. I was up, just barely. I was where you go when you get out of bed in the morning — more detail would be TMI... "Hi, it's Ron. I'm in Algonquin Park. What time can you meet me here?" I needed a little time to get going, so it ended up a little before 10am at Smoke Lake. It was a bit of a blustery, damp, overcast day: perfect lighting for daytime shooting.

An HDR, converted using Photomatix, one of the black-and-white presets. Then I used Nik Color Efex Pro to tone it and the "Polaroid" preset to frame it.

We drove up Arowhon Road where we came to a camp at the end of the road with a bunch of rotted, peeling canoes and a fellow (Joe?) who was refurbishing them. Neat shop: I'd like to go back and photograph inside. We had been there for some time and didn't want to wear out our welcome. I got this 'arty' shot outside.

These are canvas-coated cedar strip canoes.

On the way back, we stopped a couple of times, not staying very long in one place because of the voracious mosquitoes!

Here's Ron shooting this landscape at a beaver-dam-created slough. This is an HDR and I blended in a Topaz-toned "Ron", using just a single image for that part for the detail and sharpness. Notice how he's all covered up against those pesky bugs.

There was a forest scene we had passed on the way up. Should have stopped: the lighting was outstanding. We stopped on the way back and it was pretty good but not as nice as when we first saw it.

It's an HDR, of course. Then I used the new "Oil Painting" filter in Photoshop CS6. Wow. This image is a keeper! It's going to make a dandy large format canvas-wrapped print.

Next stop was Rock Lake. Nothing much to see there, except this family of Canadian Geese. Ron and I kept driving them back and forth to get good views.

Family Portrait.

Another family shot, soft toned with Nik Color Efex Pro

Back lit by light reflecting off the lake. Blended layers to enhance the three goslings in the foreground and blur the background. All of these shots were done with the 400mm lens.

That was it for the day. We headed home, anticipating our next visit in 2 weeks with Mike Bertelsen. Ron's already got his moose shots, I'm looking forward to mine!

The following day, I saw the following image at my house. Technically it's not a "black background" shot but close enough!

After the Rain. Almost as shot, just a little toning to increase contrast and detail.

I used the new tripod this weekend. It does everything my heavy Gitzo does but it's a lot easier to lug around. I have some new equipment coming soon which I'll hold off telling you about until after it arrives. That doesn't include the Nikon D800e that I ordered today, which I might see by my birthday in September. It's going to take me that long to build up the money to pay for it!

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