Fireflys

We had just settled down to enjoy our campfire when I noticed the amazing pattern made by the sparks drifting up from the fire. To get the wet wood burning I had used more kindling than usual. The kindling was softwood, and it must have been rich in resin, because it made a lot of sparks. I set my camera on manual and experimented with shutter speeds until I got a satisfactory image. I like this one because it looks like an abstract painting.

On the Beaver Pond Trail

This is one of my favourite photo spots in Algonquin Park, and that is saying a lot when you considerate that Algonquin is one of the most photogenic places on the face of the  planet. This is on the Beaver Pond Trail at about the half way point, after the wooden stairs. A short creek connects the two lakes visited by the trail. The upper lake is probably only there because industrious beavers maintain the dam in the foreground of the photo. The sky was brilliant blue on this day. I love the way the trees form a frame and divide the image in a natural "rule of thirds" vertically.

I used Photoshop Elements to adjust the perspective of the image a bit because I had to shoot from such a low angle, and I lightened the shadows a touch to bring out some detail. Those were my only adjustments. I know that it looks like I increased the colour saturation, but that is not the case. It was just a perfect day with perfect light.

Unexpected

I love to take a photo walk to look for the unexpected. Strolling down Spadina Avenue, I came on this barbershop. The photo was meant to be. The whole street was filled with parked cars on both sides, but there was an empty spot in front of this shop, so I was able to step back enough to get the whole building in the shot.

I can't help but speculate about the conversations taking place in this shop.

"How would you like it?"
"Just a trim."
"And would you like a tattoo with that?"

Perspective Correction

We were in Ottawa on a perfect summer day, with a great blue sky. The ideal conditions for a shot of the parliament buildings. But here was the problem. The centre block is quite large, and the only way to get the whole structure in a single shot is to shoot fairly wide. This shot was made with my zoom set at 20 mm. You can see the problem. The wide angle makes the building look as though it is falling over.

The solution? A trip to Photoshop Elements. First, I used the Image>Transform>Perspective function to adjust the building so that the vertical lines were all parallel. This helped, but the building still looked like is was leaning to the left. Image>Transform>Skew fixed that problem, but the first two adjustments made the whole image look squashed in the vertical. Image>Transform>Free Form let me restore the proportions to the correct ratio. A final crop, and you have this finished image.

Before Photoshop, this prices would have required a multi-thousand-dollar tilt-shift camera. Thanks, Photoshop