landscapes

Milky Way over Lake Chandrataal - Photography Techniques

Scroll to learn how to create images of the night sky like this.

Have you seen our home galaxy, the Milky Way? Here it is rising over Lake Chandrataal. We can see the core of the Milky Way peeking out from behind the mountain on the right. When it is very dark, our eyes can see the galaxy as if someone had smeared faint white paint across a large swath of the night sky. But our cameras can see much much more. This image was taken under Bortle class 1 skies - the darkest skies possible here on Earth, making the details and colours in the night sky pop. Learn more about the Bortle scale, the 500-Rule, stacking and more by swiping the carousel.

The final picture is a two image blend. The foreground with the lake and mountains was taken after sunset before it became too dark. A setting moon at the time cast its silvery light illuminating the scene. Captured on a Canon 6DMark2 at 18mm, f/14, ISO 400, 15 secs. The image of the Milky Way is a stack of 10 images taken later after the moon set. Captured on a Canon 6DMark2 at 14mm, f/3.2, ISO 5000, 30 secs.

Do you like images of the night sky?

Question: What is the maximum shutter duration you would choose  to shoot the night sky with a 24mm full-frame equivalent lens using the 500-Rule? Bonus points if you also provide the answer using the NPF-Rule!

Lake Ontario in Summer - Image Breakdown

Scroll to see how the camera settings were chosen to create this image.

Sail away with me honey

I put my heart in your hands

Sail away with me honey, now, now…

Now

from the song Sail Away by David Gray

Throwback to warmer days, sunshine and sailboats.

Question: What form of colour harmony is present in this image?

Canon 6D Mark 2 using the Canon EF 70-300mm IS II USM lens at 200mm, f/11, 1/200 sec, ISO 400.

Multnomah Falls in Winter - Image Breakdown

Scroll through to see the three hacks used to create this image.

What you see is, not always, what you get. This image is my interpretation of the famous Multnomah waterfall in Oregon. There are, quite literally, hundreds of thousands of images of this very waterfall in various seasons. When I visited it, I did not want to create an image that looked like everyone else’s. So I took some (ok, a lot of) creative liberty to present this scene in what I thought would be a unique light. Art is subjective and open to interpretation. I for one firmly believe that fine-art photographers must use the tools at their disposal (both hardware and software) to produce an end result that is arresting, controversial, beautiful.

But what do you think? Are you someone who prefers that photographs mirror the real world as close as possible or do you like a healthy dose of artistic license?

This is a 3 image vertical panorama captured on the Canon 500D using the Canon EF-S 18-55mm IS lens at 18mm, f/14, ISO 100, 1 sec.

Toronto Skyline Sunset - Image Breakdown

Scroll through for a breakdown of this image.

Photography is the art of chasing light. Usually, the light is dull, flat and boring. Equally often, it is harsh and uninviting. Occasionally though, the skies burst with shades of angry reds, regal purples and deep, deep blues. But sometimes, just sometimes, we get these soft pastel hues that whisper of cool evenings and hot chocolate. And the regret of words left unspoken.


Canon 6D Mark 2 using the Canon EF 70-300mm IS II USM lens at 200mm, f/11, 1/8 secs, ISO 100