Through the bog
Boardwalk around Mer Bleue boreal bog.
Boardwalk around Mer Bleue boreal bog.
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Jun, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
The photo was taken in the Mer Bleue bog in Ottawa. It is interesting as it is a boreal bog (usually found past the deciduous tree line up north, but it is in Southern Canada. It is an inspiring place with lots of wildlife and a changing scenery throughout the year.Time
This was taken at dusk in the early spring. It was warm enough that the snow and ice had gone, but too early for the trees to have leaves yet. Last year's dead vegetation is readily apparent and gave an eerie late fall feel to the entire scene.Lighting
I took many shots but preferred this one where the light of the setting sun is suggested instead of included in the photo. Like many other photographers, I prefer to shoot at dawn and dusk. In this case, because of the trees, the entire scene was already in the shade but the sky was still lit. As you can see, it was an overcast day, but the setting sun had peeked below the clouds.Equipment
This shot was taken using a Pentax K5-ii and my "walking-around lens": a Sigma 17-70mm zoom. It has an awesome range and the clarity and sharpness are very good. Because it was getting darker, I set my ISO to 800 in order to be able to go to a higher f-stop (f/9 in this case) to get the depth of field I wanted. I had set the camera to aperture priority so the speed of 1/200 was set by the camera.Inspiration
The Mer Bleue bog is usually a busy place but ut was a cold day and I was almost the last person on the boardwalk.I was trying to catch up with my wife ahead of me and had already passed the spot where this photo was taken. When I got to the slight bend in the photo, there was a nice perspective shot of the boardwalk going to a point ahead. I took that photo but then thought "Wpuldn;t it be nice if I could catch a "boardwalk to nowhere" pic..." I walked backwards until I got to this point and the shot kind of composed itself. Everything was at the thirds, there was a nice perspective and fading point, etc. I quickly grabbed three frames.Editing
The picture looked nice by itself with my regular workflow in Lightroom, but didn't show the stark contrast I;d seen between the monochrome trees, cloud and faded boardwalk, and the golden yellow of the plants and patch of sun. I used the Saturation controls in Lightroom to bring out the yellows and oranges and kill all other colours. It wouldn't have worked so well if there hadn't been just a touch of yellow in the boardwalk, which helped to maintain just a touch of colour there, while the trees went fully black, lending a stark background. I don;t usually manipulate colours in this way, but this photo seemed to demand it.In my camera bag
I rarely plan my shoots and usually go where I can get a variety of photos: nature, architecture, street photography, etc. So I carry only one body and up to four lenses. All my lenses are very good quality zooms. I carry a wide agle 10-17,, zoom, my walking-around lens (17-70mm), an excellent Pentax 60-250mm, and a Sigma 50-500mm (the Bigma) for long work. I only bring the latter if I expect to be shooting wildlife. Otherwise it stays home as it is very heavy. I rarely carry a tripod; usually only for night photography and fireworks.Feedback
No specific advice but to shoot often. You develop an eye by taking many shots. At first, you will shoot a ton of frames that look almost all the same in the hope of catching that one "glorious" shot. But that's not the point I think. Train yourself to take fewer frames, but make them good ones. Plan your shot in your head and with your hands ahead of time, and grab a few quick frames. I like deserted landscapes that seemed abandoned by civilization. In this case, a patently human build boardwalk going to nowhere. A look at some of my other photos will show that I like to capture deserted scenes devoid of humans or of any movement. I try to create the movement by guiding the eye along the photo.
