PhotoGeo Trip Down East: Part 4, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia
and Lunenburg, Peggy’s Cove, and Blue Rocks . . .
It feels great to be back in Nova Scotia. The whole of Canada’s East Coast has a similar effect of slowing things down compared to the ‘gotta-be-busy-all-the-time’ frenetic pace of southern Ontario. The authentic, chill vibe found down East is much appreciated. In many ways, the following photo captures that mood—‘tranquila’ as our Latino friends say.
OM-1 w/ M.Zuiko 12-100mm at 31mm (62mm efov); ƒ5.6 @ 1/1600, ISO 800, HHHR; raw file processed in Lightroom.
It’s places like this that make the East Coast so photogenic. Quiet bays and traditional architecture are post-cards for the making. Perhaps it makes photography too easy as there is little to jar the senses. The only challenge is the weather, yet ‘good’ weather for photography can be defined in many different ways, as even fog or a stormy day have great potential.
After a couple of days here in Mahone Bay, Dan has now flown home, back to southern Ontario from Halifax. We had an excellent time devoted to serious photography and discovering parts of Canada neither one of us had visited previously. My wife Laura took the return flight back to Halifax to join me for more adventures here in the Mahone Bay—Lunenburg—Peggy’s Cover region, then we’ll be off to Cape Breton Highlands National Park after we pick up daughter who flies in later this week.
OM-1 w/ 12-100mm at 15mm (30mm efov); ƒ8 @ 1/125, ISO 800, HHHR; raw file processed in Lightroom.
In the very harsh light of a bright sky and deeply shadowed lupins, I specifically used HHHR due to its excellent dynamic range. In post-processing, I could raise the shadows without introducing noise. The original raw file is shown above.
Lupins, rhododendrons, azaleas—they are all at their peak in June, with a few lilacs holding onto their blooms as well.
I’m a sucker for angular design elements, so with the simple lines of East coast architecture, colourful houses and contrasting trim, I see photos everywhere. As with all travel photography, I shoot the obvious while keeping an eye out for the details. With an eye to careful composition—using back and side lighting plus eliminating distractions from the frame, such as power lines and stray grasses and branches—striking pictures abound. Note: To view enlarged versions, be sure to click/tap each photo.
OM-1 | 24mm | ƒ5.6 @ 1/200, ISO 800, HHHR | Lr
OM-1 | 25mm | ƒ 5.6 @ 1/160, ISO 200 | Lr
OM-1 | 28mm | ƒ5.6 @ 1/400, ISO 800, HHHR | Lr
Blue Rocks
South of Lunenburg and Mahone Bay is the small village of Blue Rocks. It’s still a fishing community, to some extent, though many of the houses are now summer homes. The classic views of boathouses and lobster traps are easy enough to photograph, to capture the essence of place . . .
OM-1 | 86mm | ƒ5.6 @ 1/100, ISO 200, TripodHR | Lr
OM-1 | 44mm | ƒ8 @ 1/400, ISO 800 | Lr
OM-1 | 12mm | ƒ8 @ 1/200, ISO 100 | Lr
OM-1 | 92mm | ƒ8 @ 1/20, ISO 100, TripodHR | Lr
OM-1 | 34mm |ƒ4 @ 1/500, ISO 100 | Lr
OM-1 | 12mm | ƒ8 @ 1/250, ISO 800 | Lr
. . . but it took longer and some wandering around, to eventually begin to seeing past the obvious to capture the next level of images. Those who don’t photograph or don’t appreciate more serious photography are often perplexed by how long it can take to go through this process of seeing, especially with ticker tourists who only want a snapshot of the obvious. It’s one of the reasons I appreciated photographing with Dan for those ten days. He ‘gets’ it. My wife Laura also gets it and is very patient, often spending the time capturing her own photographs from her perspective.
OM-1 | 66mm | ƒ8 @ 1/125, ISO 800, TripodHR | Lr
OM-1 328mm | ƒ8 @ 1/400, ISO 800, TripodHR | Lr
OM-1 | 138mm | ƒ8 @ 1/160, ISO 800, TripodHR | Lr
OM-1 | 75mm | ƒ16 @ 5sec., ISO 100, LiveND64 | Lr
OM-1 | 100mm | ƒ16 @ 10sec., ISO 100, LiveND64 | Lr
OM-1 | 86mm | ƒ8 @ 2sec., ISO 100, LiveND64 | Lr
In making these photographs, I got back to my roots and used a tripod while putting the OM-1 through its computational paces. TripodHR was the obvious choice, but having a sturdy platform also opened up more possibilities for using LiveND64 to capture the movement of the bright yellow rockweed. Using ISO 100 slowed the shutter speed down even further, without having to resort to a smaller aperture.
After using LiveND extensively on this trip, I’m thinking I may go back to using glass ND filters when it is bright out. With the brightness comes smaller apertures to get slow enough shutter speeds to show movement, even at ND64. With smaller apertures—ƒf11 and ƒ16–I’ve notice a decline in sharpness. The other advantage to glass ND filters is I can shoot using TripodHR which is not possible when using LiveND.
Lunenburg
There are two ‘cruise line’ destinations in this part of the East Coast: Lunenburg and Peggy’s Cove. Lunenburg is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, having kept its ‘planned British colonial settlement’ look. Dan and I were there on Saturday and it was a bust due to all the tourists. On Monday, with Laura, it was much less busy, but still had a ‘tourist trap’ vibe. Even with the Bluenose II in port, there was only a smattering of people around it. I’m sure I could have made dozens of beautiful photos throughout the town of the gorgeous houses and details, many of which are in tip-top condition, but I was on the look out for something different.
OM-1 | 100mm | ƒ8 @ 1/160, ISO 200, HHHR | Lr
OM-1 | 34mm | f?8 @ 1/00, ISO 200, HHHR ? Lr
OM-1 | 57mm | ƒ8 @ 1/250, ISO 200 | Lr and Pages
It was a fun challenge that resulted in a grand total of three photographs. Golden Dories is thanks to the Canadian Dory Racing Association and some fun with composite imagery, along with a nod to Stompin’ Tom Connors’ whimsical song, The Man in the Moon is a Newfie, who’s “sailin’ on to glory, away in the golden dory”.
Peggy’s Cove
Like Lunenburg, Peggy’s Cove is a huge tourist draw. After arriving, we turned around and left. There were simply too many people all after the same view. Decades ago, Laura had visited Peggy’s Cove; I’d never been, but I’ll be back, perhaps in the winter or at 6am when the place isn’t crawling with people. By nature, we’re not ‘tickers’, so I don’t at all feel hard done by. I’d rather put my energy into finding landscapes that are more unique.
Instead, we spent some time at the beautiful Swiss Air Flight 111 Memorial nearby. Then, we found a little cove just down the road, deserted of tourists, but with photographic potential and views few others will see.
OM-1 | 23mm | ƒ11 @ 1/40, ISO 200 | Lr
OM-1 | 29mm | ƒ8 @ 1/160, ISO 800, HHHR | Lr
Some of the other views that caught my eye are:
OM-1 | 24mm | ƒ8 @ 1/250, ISO 800, HHHR | Lr
OM-1 | 12mm | ƒ10 @ 1sec., ISO 100, HHHR | Lr
OM-1 | 47mm | ƒ5.6 @ 1/2000, ISO 800. HHHR | Lr
OM-1 | 15mm | ƒ8 @ 1/250, ISO 400 | Lr
OM-1 | 57mm | ƒ5.6 @ 1/25, ISO 200, HHHR | Lr
I hope these photographs adequately portray the atmosphere of the South Shore of Nova Scotia and the peacefulness I felt when making them.
The last photo, Grasses, is from a particularly fascinating place. Near where our BnB was at Indian Point, is a massive 2m by 20m beautifully arced beaver dam. The grasses are from the pond behind the dam. But the interesting thing is that the Fire Department has constructed a gravel drive below the dam and an access ”deck” to the dam as an alternate source of water. Huh? That’s right—they are using the ingenuity and ’free labour’ of the beavers to ensure they have an adequate back-up water supply.
Wonders never cease. Maybe it’s a Down East thing, working with nature, not against it, like we seem to do all too often.
Thanks for reading! I’ll have more photos from Halifax and the Cape Breton Highlands over the next week. Please add to the discussion with your questions, comments and observations in the COMMENT section and be sure to SHARE and SUBSCRIBE!
PhotoGeo Trip Down East: Part 3
In the previous installments, I described our trip through the Eastern Townships and the Charlevoix Region of Québec, followed by Saguenay Fjord, then Forillon National Park out on the Gaspé Peninsula. Now we’re headed into the Maritimes proper: New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
Kouchibouguac National Park
(That’s ‘Koo-shi-boo-zhou-ack’ for the uninitiated.)
If we thought the drive to Forillon was long, from Forillon to Kouchibouguac seemed to take forever, especially through Québec. Every time we would get up to the speed limit of 90km/h, there would be yet another dump truck and another ‘Travaux’ sign (construction) or a small town with stop lights, where the speed limit would drop to 70, then 50 and even 30 if a school was along the route. I could never quite get into a rhythm of driving. Ugh!
That changed when we crossed into New Brunswick as NB has a limited access highway. It’s only one lane in each direction (with passing lanes on hills), but a constant 100km/h made all the difference. Of course, the long day became even longer when we factored in the time change to Atlantic Time, but it was still bright and sunny when we arrived at Kouch.
Where Forillon is dramatic, with its cliffs and ridges, Kouch is sublime. Mostly forested, with no topography, it’s just a gentle slope down towards the salt marshes and barrier islands of the coast. However, it was a great place for birding and bird photography.
OM-1 w/ M.Zuiko 12-100mm/4 PRO at 16mm (32mm efov); ƒ5.6 @ 1/1000, ISO 200; raw file processed in Lightroom.
The rather significant boardwalk out to one of the barrier beaches was a great starting point. Though the herons don’t arrive from their nests (in a heronry far, far away) for another month, Common Terms were feeding. Their acrobatics proved a good challenge for practicing bird-in-flight photography. I have my C3 set with bird tracking, C-AF Silent, spot focus and spot exposure, and ISO 1600. I’ll switch it up to 3200 if needed or down to 800 when possible. Timing the terns’ entry and getting just the right angle to show the subsequent catch took some effort, and a lot of missed frames! There was also a willet out and about, and a double-crested cormorant.
OM-1 w/ 100-400mm at 400mm (800mm efov); ƒ8 @ 1/3200, ISO 3200; raw file processed in Lightroom and Topaz PhotoAI.
OM-1 w/ 100-400mm at 400mm (800mm efov); ƒ8 @ 1/3200, ISO 3200; raw file processed in Lightroom and Topaz PhotoAI.
OM-1 w/ 100-400mm at 400mm (800mm efov); ƒ8 at 1/6400, ISO 3200; raw file processed in Lightroom and Topaz PhotoAI.
Dan kept a running list of bird calls and sightings on his phone using Merlina nd eBird and though the list was long, the photo ops were few and far between. The afternoon was spent out on the Bog Trail under threatening skies and rain, followed by part of the River Trail from La Source..
OM-1 w/ 100-400mm at 400mm; ƒ8 @ 1/2500, ISO 800; raw file processed in Lightroom.
The bog was wonderful, with excellent interpretation. I learned that it is an expanding bog, gradually growing outwards. As the peat piles up forming a dome, the moisture seeping out chokes out the surrounding trees—so different from many bogs in Ontario that are shrinking as the trees grow in from the outside. There were many bog plant species to photograph. We even had a very quick flyover of an immature bald eagle.
The five photos in the gallery above were made NOT with the M.Zuiko 60mm macro lens as you might expect, but with the ever-versatile 100-400mm zoom., mostly at 400mm, with a couple at 200mm. Unless I am specifically working on macro photos, having the ability to focus very closely, down to 1.3m (at 800mm efov!) means one less lens to carry. It also provides excellent working distance, as was the case with the swallowtail shown above, as well as providing a more blurred background.
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The trail along the river didn’t yield much, other than the swallowtail and, finally, the most mystical, magical, melodic of singers in the forest—a Swainson’s Thrush. You can listen to it here (YouTube). The one above us literally posed for us, sitting in a forest opening on a the limb of a dead tree.
OM-1 w/ M.Zuiko 100-400mm/5-6.3 at 400mm; ƒ8 @ 1/640, ISO 800. Being in the forest, I started shooting at ISO 3200, but quickly realized there was light enough for a lower ISO. I’ve never been a big fan of Auto ISO as I like to be in control of shutter speed and ISO. Raw file processed in Lightroom and Topaz PhotoAI.
Sackville Waterfowl Park
After a quiet morning and a later start—not too long a drive today—we were on our way to Mahone Bay, south of Halifax. On the recommendation of a woman we met on the River Trail who was a birder, we stopped at Sackville Waterfowl Park, part of the vast Tantramare Marsh. The Internet tells me that “Tantramar is derived from the Acadian French word “tintamarre,” meaning ‘din’ or ‘racket,’ which refers to the noisy flocks of birds that feed in the Tantramar Marshes”. Part of the vast marshlands are protected as a National Wildlife Area as it is critical for migratory birds.
Birds of the sackville Waterfowl Park. Click on photos to view larger versions.
OM-1 w/ 100-400mm at 400mm (800mm efov). Raw files processed in Lightroom and Topaz PhotoAI. For the Swallow, ProCapture2 was used to capture it’s take-ff from the top of a nesting box.
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The Waterfowl Park is just one small part of it and is a city park with boardwalks all around providing great views of a number of habitats. Across the highway is another part that is next to the regional high school, whose students play a key role in managing that part of the marsh. Needless to say, we were duly impressed—much better than anything we can relate to in southern Ontario, whose ‘nature infrastructure’ for marshes and wetlands seems woefully lacking in comparison, both in terms of natural areas protected and access to them.
Details: Birches All OM-1 w/ 100-400mm at 200mm (400mm efov). Click on photos to view larger versions.
One of the trails at the Waterfowl Park was called ’The Birches’. While only a couple of these photos are from that trail, it’s hard not to pass up close-up studies of the various designs of bark-splits and lichens on the trunks of birch trees—similar to looking at clouds on a summer day.
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While we never expected to find one, the woman who recommended Sackville Waterfowl Park said there were nesting Pied-billed Grebes. Sure enough we found not one but two nests. Grebes are such skittish birds, at least they up on the Rideau where I usually see them. But here they were nesting in plain site of anyone walking along the boardwalk. Very convenient for someone with a telephoto lens!
Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) Both OM-1 w/ 100-400mm at 400mm (800mm efov).
On the left, the grebe is pulling matts of foliage around and over the nest. The decomposing foliage helps keep the eggs warm. The awkward legs and huge webbed feet can be seen in the photo on right. I can’t Imagine this bird ever being able to move on land!
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What a gem of a park! We ended up spending about three hours there, far longer than expected. Two hours later we were on the seacoast, at our BnB in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. What a beautiful spot and very photogenic—Mahone Bay is well-deserving of its own blog post.
Thanks for reading. Be sure to add to the discussion with a question, comment or observation in the COMMENTS section.
PhotoGeo Trip Down East: Part 2
Maybe it’s the Three Day Rule. Or perhaps it’s being in the boreal north, up on the Canadian Shield. Either way, I’ve noticed a marked improvement in the photo ops we been having over the last few days.
The Three Day Rule relates to a person’s need for three days in a new place to establish a new routine and begin feeling comfortable again. It’s a phenomenon that has been noticed in a variety of situations, including NASA space voyages and with regular people like you and me while travelling.
Dan and I are now five days in and, although we’ve moved twice, more of a routine is developing.
Add to that the bliss of being in the boreal north, and all is right with the world.
Parc national du Fjord-du-Saguenay
The honk of the Ravens, the sweetly singing White-throated Sparrow—Oh Sweet Canada, Canada, Canada—the rocky rivers and pristine lakes, the deranged drainage patterns, bunches of bunchberry, and the rugged hills forested with black spruce and balsam fir—to me, these all speak of a peacefulness I can never find in southern Ontario.
Today it was the thrumming of a Ruffed Grouse, echoing through the forest; his attempt to attracting a mate with his rapid wing beats.
OM-1 w/ M.Zuiko 100-400mm ƒ5-6.3 at 400mm; ƒ8 @ 1/160, ISO 200, POL; raw file processed in Lightroom and Topaz PhotoAI for improved sharpening around the head and better definition in the feathers.
A polarizer filter is an essential tool in nature photography for reducing the glare from foliage and water. However, for a shot like this, I would typically remove it, but in the heat of the action I had forgotten it was on from photographing the cliffs of the fjord.
Nineteen—that’s the cost of this Ruffed Grouse photo. Nineteen black fly bites—and that’s just on my arms! Oh, and that’s with Muskol on, too. I’m glad I changed into long pants.
After the first thrum—so close we could feel it. Dan pointed upwards into the bush. The grouse was on a rocky outcrop about 2 metres above us and about 8 metres into the thick of the forest. The next 30 minutes were spent looking for a window through the branches and needles, carefully moving one foot then the other so as not to alarm him.
Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus), Male, Parc national du Fjord-du-Saguenay.
OM-1 w/ 100-400mm at 400mm (800mm efov); ƒ8 @ 1/250, ISO 6400; raw file processed in Lightroom.
Our stealth paid off. Periodically he would drum, starting slowly, thruuuuump, thruuuuump, thruuump—then gradually picking up speed to a a crescendo of wing beats. I could hear David Attenborough in my head describing “the mating ritual of the ruffed grouse”!
I would love to say that catching the movement of the wings was planned, but in reality, it was the limitations of light that gave me what turned out to be the ideal shutter speed to catch the wing movement.
OM-1 w/ 100-400mm at 400mm (800mm efov); ƒ8 @ 1/4000, ISO 800; raw file processed in Lightroom
What was supposed to be a 10-minute trail to three viewpoints over the cliffs of the fjord turned into an hour and a half of birding and photography. The magnolia warbler was incessant in its singing, moving from branch to branch, then to the massive hydro-electric pylon which, in itself is impressive, carrying cables across the 1500m width of the fjord.
OM-1 w/ 100-400mm at 400mm (800mm efov); ƒ8 @ 1/800, ISO 800; raw file processed in Lightroom and Topaz PhotoAI.
Earlier in the morning we walked up and down the gravel road outside our accommodations at L’Anse-Saint-Jean, birding and photographing. The bird song was constant.
Given the shutter speed used to capture this, I am ever thankful for the excellent IBIS in the OM-1. Just a light sharpening in Topaz brought this image back to usefulness.
OM-1 w/100-400mm at 400mm (800mm efov); ƒ8 @ 1/50, ISO 800; raw file processed in Lightroom and Topaz Photo AI.
One of my favourite photos of the trip is this simple one of a fern in the forest, backlit by the morning sun. I used Focus Stacking to achieve full depth of field.
OM-1 w/ 100-400 at 400mm (800mm efov); ƒ8 @ 1/500, ISO 3200; Focus Stack of 8 images; raw file processed in Lightroom.
The only editing done on this was to increase the ‘Whites’ by 50 to better accentuate the rim lighting on each leaflet.
At 105km, the Saguenay Fjord is the 5th longest in the world and one of very few that empties into an estuary and not directly into the ocean—and it is staggeringly beautiful. While not as narrow and picturesque as many Norwegian and Greenlandic fjords, its cliffs plunge some 200 to 300m in sheer drops to the water. Given clear weather and not the milky skies we had, I would be publishing more than just these two.
OM-1 w/12-100mm at 17mm (34mm efov); ƒ14 @ 2sec., ISO 200; LiveND64; raw file processed in Lightroom.
OM-1 w/ 12-100mm at 12mm (24mm efov); ƒ8 @ 1/100, ISO 200, POL; raw file processed in Lightroom. Foreground is always important in landscapes. Having survived millennia of erosiona nd repeated glaciation, this ancient, tortured, fractured rock was ideal.
However, there are some stunningly beautiful, rocky rivers running through the park and on the way to and from the Saguenay that are definitely worth a stop.
This first one, came out of nowhere. As Dan and I zipped along the highway, we caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a dilapidated bridge—stopped and went back. In fact, it’s a ski-doo trail bridge, where we spent 30 to 45 minutes, pondering and photographing, crossing the bridge and back again, looking for just the right perspective. At first, I was baffled about how to capture this unique statement of the winter culture, but gradually I began to see this image.
OM-1 w/ 12-100mm at 28mm (56mm efov); ƒ8 @ 1/320, ISO 800, POL, HHHR; raw file processed in Lightroom.
I photographed this scene in two ways: (1) using HHHR to slightly blur the river; and (2) using the normal 20MP setting which froze the river. I prefer the softer blurring of the river, which is the photograph presented here.
I’ll often do that—shoot both normal and HHHR. I’m finding the HHHR advantages of blurring moving water and added dynamic range to be very helpful. The blurring of the water has to be checked carefully: if the shutter speed is too high relative to the flow of water, then the flow can appear staggered or cut up, rather than smooth.
This second river photo was done along the highway between Saint-Simeon and the Saguenay. There were a number of stops we could have made, but, as was often the case, time was getting on.
OM-1 w/ 12-100mm at 12mm (24mm efov); ƒ9 @ 1/2sec, ISO 800, LiveND 64; raw file processed in Lightroom.
Just a note on place names: in Québec, provincial parks such as Saguenay Fjord are called ‘national parks’; not to be confused with National Parks of Canada, such as . . .
Forillon National Park
It’s 5:30am, the beginning of day 8. Sunrise was at 4:14am, with the dawn chorus beginning sometime before that. Being in a tent, the soundscape was pleasurably overwhelming. I’d love to say I’ve been out shooting, but with an overcast sky, I decided to stay at our campsite, make coffee, and do some writing.
OM-1 w/ 12-100mm at 54mm (108mm efov); ƒ8 @ 1/1000, ISO 100, HHHR; raw file processed in Lightroom.
I’m finding the HHHR files to be wonderful for raising shadow areas without introducing noise—far better than shooting the same image as an HDR, which also seems to mute the colours somewhat.
Forillon is a long drive from Saguenay—8 hours including the ferry. We crossed the St. Lawrence by ferry from Saint-Simeon to Rivière-du-Loup and continued on down the St. Lawrence to Gaspé. What a beautiful drive. We would have liked to stop for some of the unique architecture and colourful homes, but time was against us. We did stop for a couple of lighthouses, though.
OM-1 w/ 12-100 at 75mm (150mm efov); ƒ5.6 @ 1/640, ISO 200, HHHR; raw file processed in Lightroom.
OM-1 w/ 12-100mm at 18mm (36mm efov); ƒ5.6 @ 1/3200, ISO 200, HHHR; raw file processed in Lightroom.
The cliffs along the St. Lawrence are dramatic. But then, scattered along the coast are small villages with some agriculture, where ever a river had made its way down to the what is now, essentially, open ocean. Photographically, nothing seemed to work out well, so you’ll have to take my word for it.
Forillon itself is just as stunning. It’s the northern end of the Appalachian Highlands on mainland North America. The rock captures two significant mountain-building events—the Taconic orogeny, 450mya and the Acadian orogeny, 380mya—showing clearly with great arcs and diagonals of rock strata. Once as high as the Rockies, perhaps even higher, we now see the eroded remains of those mountains as the Appalachians.
These are the spectacular cliffs on the north side of Forillon.
OM-1 w/ 12-100mm at 100mm (200mm efov); ƒ5.6 @ 1/250, ISO 200, HHHR; raw file processed in Lightroom.
The same cliffs as shown above also provide nesting sites for thousands of sea birds: herring gulls, razorbills, guillemots, etc.
OM-1 w/100-400mm at 400mm (800mm efov); ƒ8 @ 1/1600, ISO 1600; raw file processed in Lightroom.
While photographing the death defying heights and flights, we were witness to a dramatic nest-robbing event by crows. After a few minutes of tormenting a razorbill pair at their nest, a crow picked up one of the eggs and tried to make off with it. Sadly, it ended up broken, spilling the contents and the developing embryo down the cliff face. You can see the egg breaking open in the lower left of the photo.
OM-1 w/ 100-400mm at 400mm (800mm efov); ƒ8 @ 1/1600, ISO 800; raw file processed in Lightroom.
In the afternoon, we took a wander down the ‘La Chute’ trail to see the waterfalls. Nice, but not overwhelming. Finally, I had an opportunity to use my tripod and TripodHR mode, providing an 80MP file. Often, tripods are not conducive to travel photography, as you are always on the go. I could have—and should have!—used it with the Riviére Noire photo above, but was being lazy. Those set-ups really deserved to be captured as 80MP files!
The rock strata in the area is diagonal, resulting from the uplift of the Appalachians, so my goal in photographing the falls was to preserve those diagonals in the flow of water.
OM-1 w/ 12-100mm at 38mm (76mm efov); ƒ8 @ 1/10, ISO 100; TripodHR; raw file processed in Lightroom.
I promised myself earlier this year to make better use of a tripod, so I really must live up to that promise. I’m not sure Kouchibouguac National Park will offer the same opportunities, but I know for sure Mahone Bay, and after that Cape Breton Highlands National Park should offer some good coastal opportunities.
With a grey overcast and flat light, I must admit to not feeling creatively inspired for much of the rest of the day. I’m one who is drawn to the light, often looking for a subject to best take advantage of the light. So, when it turns dreary, I just don’t ’see’ much worth photographing.
OM-1 w/ 12-100mm at 50mm 9100mm efov); ƒ8 @ 1/50, ISO 100, HHHR; raw file processed in Lightroom.
As we drove back to Forillon from having a fish ‘n’ chips and poutine dinner, we became inundated by a low-hanging fog. I specifically used HHHR at a slow shutter speed to blur the waves while capturing a larger file size. Setting the ISO to 100 allowed for 1/50th rather than 1/100th providing a more even blur.
For now, it’s getting late and here in the far east of the Eastern Time Zone, the sun is rising awfully early, so I’ll turn in. Tomorrow is another long day of driving to Kouchibouguac National Park.
Thanks for reading! Be sure to leave a COMMENT, whether it’s a question about equipment, techniques or locations or just an observation to add to the discussion.
PhotoGeo Trip Down East – Part 1
My friend Dan and I are half way through our photo trip down East. We are taking 10 days to cover what could be done in about 18 hours. When my wife and I were considerably younger we drove straight through, but what’s the fun in that?
Our goal is Mahone Bay just southeast of Halifax. On the way, we will stop near Granby, Baie-Saint-Paul, the Saguenay, Gaspé, in Québec and Kouchibouguac National Park in New Brunswick before arriving in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. For each, a shorter day of driving is followed by a full day at each location to explore. Each of the places were carefully chosen, ‘curated’ really, to satisfy our interests as retired geographers, and to suit our needs as outdoor landscape and nature photographers.
Day One: to Granby, Québec
We left southern Ontario on Tuesday and made good time to the Monteregian Hills east of Montreal. The Monteregian Hills are a series of volcanic plugs that begin near the Vermont border and run westwards across the Eastern Townships to just past Montreal. Mont Royal in Montréal is one of them. They were formed about 125 million years ago as the North America plate moved over a hotspot, much like the Galápagos Islands and the Hawaiian Islands, except these were, rather unusually, formed under much thicker continental crust.
My goal was to capture the orchards and or vineyards of the area, with one or more of the hills as a backdrop. I also wanted to get a sense of the ‘Cantons de L’Est’, as they are known in French, with their mix of very English placenames and Québecois culture. As a fan of Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series of novels, I also wanted to see some of the places she has used in her novels.
As is typical of so many small communities in Québec, the magnificently tall, gleaming bright steeple of the Catholic church dominates the skyline. In behind is Mount Yamasaka, one of the Monteregian hills. Behind us, kids and parents were assembling for evening soccer at an astonishingly well equipped sports park.
OM-1 w/ M. Zuiko 12-100mm/4 PRO at 66mm (132mm efov); ƒ5.6 @ 1/400, ISO 200, POL, HHHR; raw file processed in Lightroom.
Of course, the best made plans . . . It is wildfire season in Canada and while the fires, some 2000km to the northwest, have not been a problem for us in the east, the smoke has. Many evenings have had an eerie, warm glow caused by smoke high in the atmosphere. We haven’t smelled it, nor has it caused breathing issues, but the slight yellowish tinge to otherwise sunny, blue-sky days has marred our hopes of grand vistas and views. Even Lightroom’s ‘Dehaze’ slider can only do so much.
So we’ve had to adapt. For example, early morning and late evening landscapes have been a bust due to the haze, so we’ve taken to spending more time photographing some of the cultural sites in the region and visiting some natural areas to photograph birds and wildflowers.
In keeping with the French-English duality of the region, many communities have Anglican churches as well. While this was shot in the evening, the warm sky is compliments of the smokey haze.
OM-1 w/ 12-100/4 at 28mm (56mm efov); ƒ5.6 @ 1/350, ISO 200, POL; raw file processed in Lightroom.
OM-1 w/ 12-100/4 at 21mm (42mm efov); ƒ11 @ 1/100, ISO 3200, POL, HHHR; raw file processed in Lightroom.
I don’t usually shoot at ƒ11 due to slight deterioration of image quality from diffraction, however, on checking the LCD there was some ghosting, so I decided to go with ƒ11.
OM-1 w/ 12-100/4 at 54mm (108mm efov); ƒ8 @ 1/100, ISO 800, POL, HHHR; raw file processed in Lightroom.
Looking for designs in landscapes—diagonals, tree lines— helps create movement through the photograph.
Day 2: Around les Cantons de L’Est
Our day around Granby began at Le Marais de la Rivière aux Cerises at Magog, an extensive alder wetland area with a number of trails and well-developed boardwalks. Frogs, turtles, waterfowl, a variety of passerines, plus wetland plants were our focus here.
OM-1 w/ M.Zuiko 100-400mm/5-6.3 at 285mm (570mm efov); ƒ8 @ 1/320, ISO 3200
Elusive and distant, it took some patience waiting, and waiting, but finally, it came near enough for a clear photo.
OM-1 w/ 100-400mm at 400mm (800mm efov); ƒ8 @ 1/4000, ISO 800; raw file processed in Lightroom.
OM-1 w/ 12-100/4 at 100mm (200mm efov); ƒ5.6 @ 1/3200, ISO 3200; in-camera 10-frame Focus Stack; JPEG processed in Lightroom.
OM-1 w/ 12-100/4 at 100mm (200mm efov); ƒ6.3 @ 1/4000, ISO 3200; in-camera 10-frame Focus Stack; JPEG processed in Lightroom.
I am taking full advantage of in-camera Focus Stacking mode (8 shots with a differential of 5)—so easy to do, even when handholding the camera. The resulting JPEGs, a necessary evil of in-camera Focus Stacking, are surprisingly good and editable, provided there is no ghosting. For the photos I wish to pursue further, I still have the raw frames to create a higher-quality stack using Affinity Photo.
It was a hot day, so by 11:30am, we were ready to move on. During lunch at North Hatley, Dan mentioned a monastery nearby that was inspiration in a couple of Louis Penny novels, so off we went. On the way, though—how could we not stop for a bright yellow house! The smoke had temporarily cleared, giving us a clear blue sky to work with.
Sometimes we make photographs simply for the colours. No shame in that!
OM-1 w/ 12-100/4 at 25mm (50mm efov); ƒ4 @ 1/2000, ISO 200, POL, HHHR; raw file processed in Lightroom.
Now, for the Abbey. Wow! A beautiful building in a stunning setting, though the interior of the church itself is very austere. The gleaming copper was compelling as were the repeating patterns of windows and stone.
OM-1 w/ 12-100/4 at 13mm (26mm efov); ƒ5.6 @ 1/400, ISO 200, POL, HHHR; raw file processed in Lightroom.
OM-1 w/ 12-100/4 at 100mm (200mm evof); ƒ5.6 @ 1/500, ISO 200, POL, HHHR; raw file processed in Lightroom.
Finally, we were off to Knowlton, of Louise Penny fame. I have to admit to being a bit underwhelmed. Knowlton is a nice enough village, but neither Lac Brome Books nor La Relais Bistro were anything like the bookstore and bistro in her novels. Furthermore, when the bistro is charging $14 for a can of local beer—a can!—, you know it has become a bona fide tourist trap. How unfortunate. Call it the Louise Penny premium, or the price of fame.
Day Three: To the Charlevoix Region
On the way to the beautiful Charlevoix Region, I just couldn’t pass up taking a slight detour to see one of the many covered bridges in the Eastern Townships. And it turned out to be a winner. After many backroads, we were finally within spitting distance when our way was blocked by a downed tree. A few minutes of careful limb-breaking, ensuring the tree didn’t come down on us, and we managed to clear away enough of a hole to drive through, Whew! You just never know what you’ll encounter!
Note only is the covered bridge red, it has only one wire marring the scene and, even better, it is set atop a wonderful little waterfall. To top it off, there is a somewhat bouncy bridge that offered the perfect photo spot, provided neither one us moved (we were the only ones there—talk about a good day!)
OM-1 w/ 12-100mm/4 at 12mm (24mm efov); ƒ5.6 @ 1/80, ISO 200, POL, HHHR; raw file processed in Lightroom.
OM-1 w/ M.Zuiko 8-25mm/4 PRO at 13mm (26mm efov); ƒ8 @ 1sec, ISO 200, POL, LiveND 32; raw file processed in Lightroom.
After zipping around Québec City and all the construction going on, we were off towards Baie-Saint-Paul and the The Charlevoix Region. The north shore of the St. Lawrence River is a spectacular coastline of cliffs as the ancient and eroded Laurentian mountains were split by a 1000km-long rift during the formation of the Iapetus Sea some 500 million to 1 billion years ago. It’s one of the reasons why the St. Lawrence, at this point, is a true, brackish to salt water estuary, and one of the world’s longest (655km) and deepest. At Baie-Saint-Paul it’s 25km across!
Even more impressive is the origin of Les Éboulements, where we had booked a room: it is the central uplift of the Charlevoix Astrobleme, a massive impact structure or crater, 50km across, formed by a 4.5km wide meteor that slammed into Earth 450 million years ago. Once you know what you’re looking at, it’s even visible on Google Maps, even though it wasn’t ‘discovered’ until 1965.
Now, how to photograph it, with milky skies from wildfires. Right. Almost impossible.
OM-1 w/12-100mm at 24mm (48mm efov); ƒ5.6 @ 1/500, ISO 200, POL, HHHR; raw file processing in Lightroom.
View of the surrounding hills, the eroded walls of the crater, from a cemetery dominated by Tremblays.
OM-1 w/ 12-100mm at 25mm (50mm); ƒ5.6 at 1/320, ISO 200, POL, HHHR
OM-1 w/ 12-100mm at 28mm (56mm efov); ƒ5.6 @ 1/2000, ISO 200, POL, HHHR; raw file processed in Lightroom.
OM-1 w/ 12-100mm at 100mm; ƒ4 @ 1/500, ISO 200, 10-frame Focus Stack; JPEG processed in Lightroom.
Nothing startling, just a ‘nice’ pastoral scene using layers of vegetation and a gravel road to take us through, with just a hint of hills at either side.
OM-1 w/12-100mm at 41mm (82mm efov); ƒ5.6 @ 1/640, ISO 800, POL, HHHR; raw file processed in Lightroom.
So now, we are off to the Saguenay region and one of the world’s longest fjord. Part 2 is now live!
Thanks for reading. If you have any questions about where we are travelling and the techniques used in the photos, be sure to add a COMMENT.
Astrophotography—my first serious attempt with the OM-1
As I write this, it’s a bleary-eyed Monday morning after what I will cautiously say was a successful attempt at Astrophotography.
Earlier in the year, you may remember my post about purchasing a Panasonic-Leica 9mm ƒ1.7 lens, expressly for Astrophotography, followed by my Lunar Eclipse sequence of the Blood Red Moon. So things are progressing. Now, in preparation for a month-long trip ‘down East’ to Québec and our Maritime provinces, I wanted to have at least some practice shooting the stars.
Previous attempts have been half-hearted. My ƒ4 zooms are superb for 95% of my work, but for the stars, ƒ2 would be ideal.
Prep
It just so happened that while researching the weather for this weekend (it has been cold, wet and dreary for much of May, even April), I learned about an upcoming Aurora ‘burst’. Well, that didn’t transpire, at least not down here in southern Ontario, but I still needed to get in some practice for the stars.
To help prepare, I read over and made notes from a few articles and videos, in particular, these:
- Astrophotography 101, by Peter Baumgarten
- OM System Tutorial w/Matt Seuss (YouTube)
- A Complete Guide to Capturing Gorgeous Photos of the Night Sky – PetaPixel article featuring Peter Baumgarten
- More OM System tutorials can be found here.
I also checked various websites for sky conditions, specifically:
- Clear Dark Sky conditions (Link)
- Clear Outside (Link)
- Smoke Forecast Canada & USA (Link): With the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires, smoke now travels thousands of kilometres which can add an unwanted haze to the an otherwise clear sky.
I also checked the Sky Guide app (iOS / Android), which is not only helpful for naming the stars, but also for listing upcoming events, and noting weather for the night ahead.
So, knowing what to do, at least theoretically, I waited for the dark to set in, grabbed my headlamp and gear, dressed warmly, for June 1st anyway, and headed 25 minutes north to an area I’m familiar with along the Grand River.
Arriving, I was surprised to find half a dozen cars there. Who else would be up at 11pm in this somewhat out-of-the-way place? Of course, other people who were hoping for the Aurora, the one that never materialized.
What to shoot
My goals were stars and star trails around Polaris, the North Star, and, if the sky was dark enough, the Milky Way. I wasn’t too hopeful for the Milky Way as the city I live in is to the south of where I was, and would be giving off tonnes of light—which it was. So no Milky Way. Not tonight. Hopefully down East, along the upper St. Lawrence, the Gaspé, or off the Atlantic shores, will have better dark sky conditions. I’m envious of OM Ambassador Peter Baumgarten who lives on Manitoulin Island and has only the huge stretch of Lake Huron to the south of him and endless tracts of the Canadian Shield to the north.
I knew the area I was photographing in well enough, as I had been there a number of times, most recently for some winter shots featured in my article about HHHR and TripodHR vs Up-scaling.
In fact, as my eyes grew accustomed to the dark, I found I didn’t use my headlamp too often (set to RED to maintain my dark vision). The Moon was still up, a Waxing Gibbous, which ended up giving off far too much light for my liking. However, it is what it is, and I’m here to practice, not to create trophy images.
Settings
After a brief walk around to kill time until it was darker and to get a better lay of the land, I spent a few minutes in the car, setting up my OM-1. The more I could do now, the less I’ll need to do in the dark or with the headlamp (set to RED).
- Vertical Handgrip: ON (this moves the working battery away from the core of the camera keeping it cooler during long exposures = less sensor noise);
- Image Quality: Raw; my OM-1 is permanently set to raw, but if you need to make this change you’ll find it under; MENU → Camera1 → 1. Basic Settings/Image Quality → below Custom Mode;
- White Balance: 3800°K; MENU → Camera1 → 2. Picture Mode/WB → WB → CWB (Custom); Peter Baumgarten recommends 3800°K; Matt Seuss, 4200°K. As I am shooting in raw, this can be changed in post-processing, but 3800°K seems more realistic. I needed to increase the Magenta in processing by 12 to 15.
- Noise Reduction: ON (this is a ‘dark frame subtractions, so it takes longer, as an additional dark frame is made after exposure); MENU → Camera1 → 3. ISO/Noise Reduction → Noise Reduction
- Drive Mode: 2s delay as I am not using a remote; MENU → Camera1 → 7. Drive Mode → Drive
- S-IS: OFF as the camera will be on a tripod; MENU → Camera1 → 8. Image Stabilizer →
- Focus Mode: set to StarrySkyAF; in the Menu, it is set to Accuracy and is invoked using AEL/AFL button; (MENU → AF → 1. AF → AF Mode
- Viewfinder: set to Night Vision ON; MENU → Gear → 3. Live View
- Level Gauge: ON, essential for straight horizons when the grid lines are black on black. This is set up in MENU → Gear → 4. Information: check LCD Info Settings, EVF Info Settings and Level Gauge;
- Monitor Brightness to -7; MENU → Wrench → 3. Monitor/Sound/Connection → Monitor Adjust
- Shooting Mode: Manual;
- Aperture: ƒ2, which is slightly closed down from the maximum of ƒ1.7, for better corner sharpness;
- Shutter Speed: will vary from 5 to 15 seconds; using the ‘400 Rule’(400 ÷ 35mm focal length), I can go up to 22 seconds (400÷18, which is the 35mm efov of lens I’m using);
- ISO: will vary, but I’ll start at 1600 and go from there, either to 800 or, if needed, 3200.
Note: Many of these settings can also be changed using the Super Panel. With the LCD showing, just select OK, then navigate around the super panel to make the changes.
First set-up
My greatest fear, standing there at the edge of the Grand River in the almost pitch dark was coming across not a raccoon or even a coyote, but a skunk. Luckily there were none around, at least that I saw or smelled.
I did two set-ups. The first overlooked a secondary branch of the Grand that has a nice meander to it. It is a view to the northeast and the image below is the best of the lot. You’ll notice the spill of light coming from Guelph, which is to the south (right). While not objectionable to me, as I’m familiar with the area, I understand that it is not ideal in the eyes of Astrophotography aficionados.
In retrospect, I could have used ISO 800 and 4 seconds or ISO 400 and 8 seconds and achieved the same result.
Second Set-up
By this point, it had become sufficiently dark to move to my preferred location, along the main branch of the Grand River, looking directly north. I kept hoping the Aurora would put in an appearance, but sadly, not tonight.
However, what I hadn’t planned on was fog. As the temperature dropped, the broad valley began filling with a light fog, centred on, of course, the river. The water had warmed sufficiently during the past couple of warm days which allows this cold air, blown in from the north, to create what every photographer loves—a mysterious-looking misty fog. Unless you are trying to do Astrophotography!!
I had to remind myself that I am practicing tonight. It is what it is. I’ll carry on. Perhaps the fog will add another dimension to the foreground shapes of trees and the river itself.
My first set of shots were straightforward, as I did for my first set-up:
HHHR; Huh?
Now it was time to try something different. Both Peter Baumgarten and Matt Seuss recommended trying Handheld High Res (HHHR), but not TripodHR, even though I was using a tripod. Apparently, it has something to do with the way the set of frames are composited in-camera, that HHHR mode on tripod is an ideal way to reduce noise. You need to make an extra exposure for the foreground and swap it into the 50MP composite. No problem.
So, I tried it and this was the result:
The noise is gone—without additional NR in Lightroom. But, it appears I will need to sort out the composition as the composite definitely shows start movement, telling me the camera did not align the points of light. Perhaps I had too much foreground, as it is perfectly aligned. The instructions from Peter and Matt did say that foreground should be kept to a minimum, so I guessing that was my error. Live and learn, right? That’s why we practice!
Next up: LiveComp mode
I have been so looking forward to trying this. Back in the film days, when camping at Bruce Peninsula National Park (this was decades ago, long before it was ‘discovered’ and now lever-run!) I made a one- or two-exposure using either Kodachrome 25 or 64 and I got these beautiful star trails.
You can’t do star trails easily with digital as the sensor heats up when used for that length of time. However, Olympus (now OM Systems) has made it possible—with Live Comp.
Set the Shooting Mode to B (Bulb), then use the thumb wheel to select LiveComp. It takes one more step, which flummoxed for a few minutes. You need to select the Menu button (not Info or OK, as I learned) then select the exposure time for each image. Peter Baumgarten recommends 60sec, which is what what I chose. A couple of trial for a few minutes set me up to try it for longer.A
t first, I thought I’d give it 20 minutes. I had my folding chair with me. It was cold, but I could tough it out. For the first few minutes I watched the star trails on the LCD, growing in length. Cool!
So I set a timer and pulled out my iPad to read the novel I had on the go. There is something very peaceful about sitting out past midnight in nature, reading a book, with no distractions.
At 20 minutes, I took a look and—whoa! It was beautiful. I couldn’t stop it. So waited another 10 minutes. By now the cold was beginning to creep in. Although it was 20° during the day, it had dropped to now 3°. Basically, I had on what I often wear in winter: flannel shirt, fleece top, GoreTex anorak, head band to cover my ears, gloves and my hood up. And I was still cold!
But at 30 minutes, I still couldn’t bring myself to stop it. At about 35 minutes into the LiveComp, the coyotes began howling and my hair literally stood on end. they must have been directly across the river from me. This went on for a few glorious minutes—it really is a haunting, but totally amazing sound to hear first hand.
At 40 minutes, I decided to end the exposure. Here is the final product.
Needless to say, I’m hooked. Next time I’ll have my merino wool long undies on because I want to see the results after an hour or two.
By the way, you might be wondering what my battery level is at, considering the LCD has been on for the past 2 ½ hours and I made numerous energy intensive exposures. The battery, the one in the vertical grip, was in the 60s out of 100% and the camera battery was still at 100%. Amazing!!
Conclusion
I can’t wait to get out again shooting at night. It is compelling. It’s engaging. And the results are, well, you decide. Are the images worth it?
However, it’s always helpful, after trying a new technique, to debrief—to critically review not just the photos, but also the techniques used. For example, I should have made the same shots as above, but in vertical orientation as well. That’s a missed opportunity. After all, I had my L-bracket on, so it was simply a matter of flipping the camera with very little, if any, re-composition.
I still need to sort out the HHHR system. And, I never did try taking a rapid set of frames, 10 or 12, to used as a composite with Affinity Photo. I’m not sure why I didn’t, but I will definitely be trying that in future. Apparently it is another method to reduce noise, though it also involves swapping out a now mis-aligned foreground for an aligned foreground exposed for the foreground and not the sky.
Another technique that would have been helpful for is light painting. Using my head lamp or phone to add a stop of light would help open up the deep shadow areas of the foreground, giving it a more three-dimensional feel.
More to learn. More to test. And, I still did not get a Milky Way shot. Stay tuned! I’ll try to post something from ‘down East’.
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