Docked on the Rideau Canal
Recreational boats are docked in the evening light along the edge of the Rideau Canal in Ottawa, Canada.
Recreational boats are docked in the evening light along the edge of the Rideau Canal in Ottawa, Canada.
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Canon EOS REBEL T5i
Aperture f/9 ISO 100 Shutter 1/200 Focal Length 31/1 
Ottawa, Ontario, CA
Sep, 2019Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this from Laurier Avenue Bridge in downtown Ottawa, Canada, which is my home town. The view shows the Rideau Canal, leading up to the Mackenzie King Bridge. Ottawa is a wonderful place for photography because of the diversity of scenery, even in single locations. My gallery also shows some street photography taken from the surface of the canal in roughly the same spot during February, when the canal becomes the world's longest skating rink. The apparent castle in the background is the Château Laurier. Both the street this was taken on, and the hotel, are named for Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Canada's seventh Prime Minister. That hotel here opened in 1912 to very limited fanfare, two months after its commissioner Charles Melville Hays was lost in the sinking of the Titanic, which he boarded to eventually return to Canada for the hotel's opening.Time
I took this in the early evening. The shot faces north, and you can see the reflection of the low sun from the west in the windows of the hotel, of the Shaw Centre by the bridge, and of the yachts docked along the canal.Lighting
The natural lighting at the time of day -- and just that it was a beautiful day -- brought out this hue. Everything lined up nicely to have that lighting touch the buildings and boats, to colour the concrete and to glisten on the water.Equipment
This was taken with a Canon 700D / Rebel T5i DSLR using its kit lens, an 18-55mm EF-S zoom. I've long been interested in photography, but had not been active with it until I bought that camera to take pictures of my young children. It wasn't until later that I started to improve my kit. This was taken with the camera in hand, leaning against the bridge's railing for steadiness.Inspiration
The lighting at this time of day made me want to capture this shot. I was here somewhat by chance; I was on a photo walk around the downtown Ottawa area, and I happened to be crossing the bridge during the golden hour light. I'm glad I was.Editing
This was shot in the camera's raw format, so choosing the colour profile and white balance settings to apply is part of the process. I brought up the saturation a bit to really show off that lighting, using Adobe Lightroom. I got into more artistic editing later, so this was closer to a true-to-life depiction of what I saw that day.In my camera bag
I no longer have the camera that took that picture, as I sold it off when upgrading. These days, I am carrying a Canon EOS 6D with a Canon EF 24-105 mm f/4L attached. That lens was a recent acquisition, and it spans from wide angle into telephoto territory. That amazing versatility is great for my purposes, since I typically take long walks to shoot, and I shoot a variety of subjects and scenes. I always have my "nifty fifty" Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM with me, especially when I plan to be out later and I want the wide aperture. I am also increasingly experimenting with black and white film. Walking around with a limited number of shots to trigger unforgiving chemical reactions is a fully different experience than digital photography, and I find it very relaxing to think about exposure more as I walk around and distract myself from the usual stresses of life. At the moment, that means I'm rocking my Canon T70, usually with some Ilford or Kodak 400 film. When I aim for a nature setting, I will often go hiking with the usual necessities, and in those cases I bring a 300mm telephoto lens along, and a light tripod.Feedback
Get out there and shoot. For this kind of thing, specifically, think about places around you that have many reflective surfaces, and aim to be there in golden hour. But the best shots I have ever taken have been a product of having a general idea of the kind of images I want to make, being ready with the right kind of equipment and settings, and just being with my camera until the right situation comes along. The more you get out there, the more chances you have to see and capture something amazing.
