photography – Page 2

Aug 06 2013

How to take Aurora Photographs with only a Flashlight

Sometimes you go out to photograph the Aurora Borealis in Yellowknife and they just don’t show up. So you make your own aurora.

1. Practise circles. Start small.

2. Go bigger. Make bigger circles.

3. Focus really hard on the light.

4. Turn yourself into light. Be one with the light.

5. Think of winter. Maybe a snowman will help.

6. Get Marcus to make a horse.

7. Envision the great outdoors, and maybe a wolf.

8. Pretend you are driving to the ultimate Aurora spot, in Yellowknife of course.

9. Have Marcus set more of a scene with animals.

10. Maybe a bigger animal.

11. Okay we got it. Here it is THE AURORA!

12. To be clear for people, spell it out. Make sure to spell it correctly.

Done you have just created your very own aurora and photographed it at the same time.

Aug 30 2012

My new Nikon 24-70mm Lens doesn’t make me a better Photographer

I have been wanting this Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 Lens for a long time. It is supposed to be one of the best for portrait and event photography. Well, I finally got it today after ordering it through my local camera shop.

DSC 0262

Earlier in the day though I was looking through photographers in the NWT for Tourism purposes and I came across Benjamin Lamarche’s Flickr Stream. I met this guy at a photography workshop back in March. While looking through his photos I can just tell this kid has talent. You see he is still in high school and probably can’t afford the nicer lenses but his photos are still coming out 10x better than mine.

It proves the point that the gear doesn’t make the photographer, being creative ultimately does. Sure you can learn a lot of stuff from books and courses but I firmly believe it is the natural talent within someone that makes them a great photographer. I am not one of those people.

But I like to pretend.

Apr 03 2012

James the Photographer

James MacKenzie is another long time Yellowknifer I have come to know over the years. He is still early in his photography carear but if you look at any of his photos you know he will do great things.

One weekend in February 2012 we both ended up at a mutual friends cabin out on Hidden Lake. The skies were clear and the aurora were promising to be good, so naturally I brought along my camera. Of course James did as well. I don’t think he strays more than 5 feet without his.

It was the first time I had gone out and shot the aurora with another photographer and I was thrilled. It is one thing I read up information on the Internet, it is another to be able to bounce ideas and information off another phtotog who is right beside you.

We have many conversations that weekend about photography, which is what was happening when I took the below portrait. My settings for this shot were: 1/200sec, f/1.8, ISO 200, 50mm and -2/3EV.

I used the natural light coming in the window to the right of me to brighten up James’ face but also had to compensate for it as I wanted to show what was around James as well. That is why I have the Exposure Compensation at -2/3 and even still it didn’t seem like enough.

In addition to the settings of the above shot I think it displays who James is. Smiling while reviewing his photos from earlier that day.

Here is another shot of James in action at the Long John Jamboree:

Mar 09 2012

Maik’s Aurora

Well lets hope the site issues I have been having have been fazed out. Here is to hoping.

Last night I ended up on Kam Lake trying to shoot this ever illusive Aurora and so was local Facebook friend Maik and his wife. Got this shot of them taking photos of the aurora and the aurora itself.

Jan 28 2012

I done better at Aurora

But I still ain’t that good.

This was my second attempt here in Yellowknife, third attempt over all at photographing the Aurora. Ironically, I still this my first attempt was the best. Nonetheless I keep trying.

The lights were not very bright while I was out this evening (about 11:30pm). I’ve been told there normally at their best from 1am – 3am, but I just don’t have the dedication yet to stay awake or get up again to go out and shoot.

This is however one of the “better:” ones I got this evening:

I like the element of the houseboat in the photo, but I must admit to some Photoshop trickery.

There is no way I could have lit up the foreground while keeping the Northern Lights so bright, so what I did, is brighten the foreground myself. I used the quick-select tool, got all the foreground and then upped the exposure. Seemed to work, although you can tell it was processed by the amount of noise you can see.

Next time I go Aurora hunt I should try two things:

Wait until there are real good lights. Be patient. Go far out-of-town, away from light pollution.
Be a man. Do the right fing. Err, I forgot what the second thing was.

Well until next time, send me all your tips. I need all the help I can get.

Just another one to look at.