Moon over Lights

Reflected Lights

Two sources of reflected light in this photograph. The sunlight reflecting off of the light pole, and the sunlight reflecting off of the Moon. Even from so far away, we can see the Moon's reflected light during the daytime. I guess the blue sky might count as one too. The blue color comes from sunlight bouncing around the atmosphere and being filtered to the blue end of the spectrum ... sort of anyway. It's more complex than I believe. This photograph was taken out at Wofford College when we went to watch the Carolina Panthers' training camp.

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Fans

Fans

There hasn't been a lot happening around here. My son has started fourth grade now. Other than that, it has been rather quite. We did go out to Wofford College one morning a couple of weeks ago to watch the Carolina Panthers' training camp. We didn't stay very long though, and I didn't really think I got any good shots. The one above is from that day. It is showing some of the fans lining the fence watching the team and hoping to get some autographs.

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Niagara Falls at Night

Niagara Lights

At night, Niagara Falls are lit up by a set of powerful spotlights. These lights are located on the Canadian side of the river and illuminate both the Canadian Horseshoe Falls and the American Falls. The lights cycle through various colors throughout the evening.

To capture the colors, you need to use a long shutter speed which will also blur the water into the soft, cotton candy that you see in the photograph. A tripod is essential and a cable release very useful as any camera vibration could impact the final image. Post processing involved slight boosts to contrast via Lightroom's Tone Curve (levels and curves in Photoshop) plus increases in Clarity and Vibrancy.

The evening at the falls was a nice end to the vacation.

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Fireworks

Niagara Fireworks

Our last evening at Niagara Falls, we went back to the falls to watch the light show and the fireworks. The fireworks are launched from an old electrical power facility on the Canadian side that is built into the gorge. So, they are launched from below the area the spectators are gathered. The fireworks show wasn't very long, and there was no music piped in to accompany them, but they were still quite beautiful and fun to watch.

This was the first time that I had gotten the change to photograph fireworks. I had been setting up the camera to photograph the waterfalls when the fireworks started. So, I had to rush to turn the camera toward them, get them framed up and start capturing images. I set the camera into Bulb exposure mode and used my wired cable release to trigger the shutter. I would open the shutter with the cable release, count to about 10, and then close the shutter to end the exposure. I would then glance at the image on the LCD to see if I got the amount of light trails that I wanted and reduce or extended the shutter open time to compensate. Over all I'm quite happy with them for a first attempt. I just wish that the spotlight wasn't flaring around the left half of the frame. That just means I need to go back and try again ... right? ;-)

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Marineland Canada

Beluga Whale

Our last day in Niagara Falls we spent the afternoon at Marineland Canada. Our son really wanted to go after passing by it and seeing the amusement rides. We thought that he had been subjected to a lot of walking around just to look at stuff, so one day of a touristy amusement park would be fun for him.

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At Marineland we watched the Dolphin & Sea Lion show and the walrus feeding. We admired the beluga whales and avoided getting splashed by the orcas. We also rode a couple of the rides. Connor rode a "big" ride by himself for the first time. It was a good afternoon and he had fun and was excited by his first big ride. He is getting old enough to start doing some things like that on his own ... they grow up too fast don't they?

The photograph today was taken in one of the beluga whale viewing areas. This particular beluga swam past us and smiled. They seem like such happy animals. They really appear to enjoy getting their foreheads rubbed by their trainers too.

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Port Dalhousie

Port Dalhousie Lights

One day the friend we were visiting drove us around the area. She took us to the town of Port Dalhousie. The entrance to the town's marinas is marked by a small lighthouse and a beacon. You can see both of the lights in the photograph above.

The weather was threatening rain when we got started. You can see how cloudy it was from the sky in the photograph. It did clear out a little later on in the day though. The lighthouse had a great, "weathered" look to it with some of it's paint pealing off. All told, I counted seven lighthouses/beacons that we saw during the trip.

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Butterfly

Butterfly

This is the sort of photograph that I had envisioned getting at the Niagara Butterfly Conservatory. They can be hard to nail down though as they are quite fast. Even the really large butterflies flitted around faster than you can track them with a camera. Still it is fun to try.

This photograph was taken with my 70-300mm VR lens and a 20mm Kenko macro extension tube. The combination gave me a comfortable stand-off focus range so that I wouldn't scare the butterflies away while still getting good magnification on them. Focus was attained by using manual focus and leaning back & forth until the subject was sharp. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.

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Niagara Botantical Gardens

Perched on Light

After the Niagara White Water Walk, we spent an hour or two at the Niagara Butterfly Conservatory which is located at the Niagara Botanical Gardens. The conservatory is North America's largest indoor butterfly garden. Basically, it is tropical arboretum with a netting to keep the butterflies safe and inside.

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This is the reason why I was practicing with my macro extension tubes a few weeks ago. I wanted to have some idea of which one to use and how it would affect my camera/lens before I got there. I mounted the middle sized tube with my 70-300mm lens which allowed me to stand a fairly safe distance away from the butterflies. I think that I got a few nice shots but none that I had really hoped to capture.

The shot above is a butterfly perched on the netter that surrounds the conservatory. I overexposed it so that the netting would be hidden by the hightlights, thus making it look like the butterfly was standing on just the sunlight itself. Generally it worked, but the picture isn't as sharp as I would have hoped it would be. The butterfly's eyes are crisp really. Still, it was a beautiful place to visit and different from the roiling waters of the falls and the gorge.

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Girl and Niagara Rapids

Overlooking the Rapids

I am not much of a people photographer. Taking a stranger's photograph still feels to be a bit invasive to me. However, when I saw this little girl clinging to the fence looking out in to the churning Niagara River's Class 6 rapids, I knew it was a photograph I had to take. The contrast of her small size against the roiling waters was very compelling to me. It was taken at the last observation platform on the Niagara White Water Walk while we were sitting down for a brief rest.

Sometimes a photograph smacks you in the head until you realize that it is there.

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Niagara White Water Walk

Class 6 Rapids

After we had finished the Maid of the Mist ride and eaten lunch, we took the People Mover bus to the Niagara White Water Walk. The White Water Walk is a set of boardwalks and observation decks that allow you to view and get close to the Class 6 Rapids that are downstream from the Maid of the Mist pool and the Falls proper. Class 6 Rapids are the the highest classification of rapids and is generally considered unnavigable. Below these rapids you would encounter the Niagara Whirlpool which makes any attempt to travel down this portion of the river even more dangerous.

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To get down to the boardwalk, you will ride in a small elevator that was built into the cliff in the 1930s. Then you walk through a small tunnel through the cliff and exit onto an observation deck. A boardwalk from this deck follows the river for a comfortable walking distance. There are a couple more observation decks along the boardwalk that get you very close to the river itself.

The power of the rapids is quite evident as you watch it rush past you. The constantly undulating surface seems vicious if one was to fall in to it. Rocks and boulders can be seen fighting for their position against the relentless surge of water. The faces of the gorge that that tower over you serve as stark reminders that even the very stone can not resist the water's constant scouring. However, along the shorelines are small flowers and a lush forest that proclaim that live goes on even in the face of such violent turbulence.

It is a place of beautiful extremes. Nature's fury and it's nurturing in such close proximity. We enjoyed our time here. Plus, the light was nice for once as well.

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The Maid of the Mist

Approaching the Falls

We rode the Maid of the Mist while in Niagara Falls. There are several boats that leave on a staggered schedule. They pass by the American and Bridal Veil Falls. The highlight of the ride is a close approach to the the Canadian Horseshoe Falls. This is why you are supplied with a raincoat. Once you are at the base of the falls you will get soaked. Not wet, but soaked from head to toe. The roar of the water crashing into the pool is quite loud as well. The force of the air being displaced by the water is strong enough to push you around if you aren't steadied. While you can "experience" Niagara's fury this way, you can't really see much of the falls themselves. They are hidden by the mist into an almost whiteout condition. Still you do feel the falls all around you.

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After reading that, you might be wondering how I kept my camera dry. I used an Optech Rainsleeve to protect my camera while on the Maid of the Mists boat. Actually, I used it whenever I was near the falls or was concerned about rain. The Rainsleeves are not very expensive and you get two in a pack. They are not intended for long-term, heavy duty use. However, they are very portable and easy to use. Perfect for stuffing into a corner of a camera bag for those times where you find yourself in a wet environment. While they are meant to be used on a tripod, I did not have any trouble adjusting them to hand held use. They definitely protected my camera from the worse that Niagara could throw at my camera save an actual trip over the falls. Even in that extreme case, I would be more worried about the fall than getting wet.

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Canadian Horseshoe Falls

The Horseshoe Falls

Here is a view of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls. The photograph was taken from the top of the observation deck at the Maid of the Mist pavilion. You can see a couple of the Maid of the Mist boats below. From this observation deck you get a great view of both sets of falls.

Stay tuned for another photograph tomorrow.

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