Muskoka fall colours + waterfalls = a landscape photographer's dream!

Photo 1. Fall color scene on the Magnetawan River near the town of Magnetawan, ON.
Gear: Canon 5D mk III, 16-35mm lens, Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer.

Nothing beats a drizzly, overcast day to get me motivated to shoot fall colors. Those are perfect conditions to bring out the rich red, orange and yellow foliage... and create beautiful images of satin-blurred creeks and waterfalls. I spent a few days this past week touring around the Muskoka area searching out the best scenes, just as the fall colors peaked. Since I've only recently moved over to the east side of Georgian Bay, I'm still learning new locations. Thankfully, there's a great resource to help! Fellow Ontario photographer Andrew McLachlan's ebook "A Photographer's Guide to the Ontario Landscape" is packed full of great locations. It would have taken me years to find all of these spots without Andrew's book!


In photo 1 (above), I laid down in the creek with my wide angle lens to get an intimate portrait of the bubbles and leaves (yes, I arranged some of them). It was worth getting soaked for this shot! I tried to balance the shutter speed.... slow enough to slightly blur the cascading water, but still keep the bubbles and leaves sharp as they were moving slightly. It was shot at 1/2s, f/11.

Photo 2. Fall foliage along the Magnetawan River near Burk's Falls.
Gear: Canon 5D mk III, 16-35mm lens, Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer.

In photo 2 (above), the red foliage was so amazing I climbed into the centre of the small tree with my wide angle lens to shoot through the leaves and have the river running in the background. It took quite a few images to get a composition that I liked.

Photo 3 (below) is one of the most well known fall river scenes in Ontario - the Oxtongue River Rapids just west of the Algonquin Park west gate. These scenes are very easy to shoot. Here's my recipe: 1) go on a overcast or drizzly day, 2) use a tripod for stability and polarizing filter to cut glare and give you rich saturation, 3) set a low ISO speed and stop down your lens to a smaller aperture (eg. f/11 or 16) which results in a slower exposure that will render the water blurred. My favorite shutter speeds for blurred water are around a 1/4 to 1/2 second.

Photo 3. Fall colours at Oxtongue River Rapids west of Algonquin Provincial Park.
Gear: Canon 5D mk III, Sigma 24-70mm lens, Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer.

 The most dangerous part of shooting these kind of scenes is slipping on the wet rocks. I almost wiped out when I was shooting photo 4 (below) of Rosseau Falls. Good footwear and agility is critical!

Photo 4. Rosseau Falls and fall colors.
Gear: Canon 5D mk III, 16-35mm lens, Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer.

Stubbs Falls in Arrowhead Provincial Park (photo 5 - below) is one of the most picturesque of all the falls I photographed this autumn. As a bonus, the access is very easy... a short hike! I liked it so much, I posed for a self-portrait next to the cascade.  

Photo 5. Self portrait at Stubbs Falls in Arrrowhead Provincial Park.
Gear: Canon 5D mk III, 16-35mm lens, Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer.

Use your Mom as a model

I'm catching up on editing photos from the past year and stumbled across a folder from a photo shoot with my mom last fall. Let me start by saying that my mom is a hell-of-a-good sport. Whenever I visit her, she agrees to go out for jaunts in the woods, where I "happen" to carry a camera with me. Often there are props such as binoculars or bicycles along. And these mother-and-son bonding excursions tend to occur when the light is good. I think she may be catching on that these are photo shoots and she's the model!

What's the point of this? Time is precious, so I try to make the most of every situation... essentially to kill many birds with one stone. Hanging out with my mom or my friends also presents a great photo opportunity. Friends and family are some of your best models!

















Photo 1 (above): Birdwatcher (my mom) at Wheatley Provincial Park, Ontario. Canon EOS 5D mark II, Canon EF 70-200/4 IS lens (handheld), Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer. Exposure: 1/160s @ f/5.6, ISO 400.

















Photo 2 (above): Bicyclist (my mom) at Wheatley Provincial Park, Ontario. Canon EOS 1Ds mark III, Canon EF 24-70/2.8 lens, Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer. Exposure: 1/10s @ f/10, ISO 400.

Algonquin Park fall colors

I'm way behind in editing photos at the moment but couldn't resist processing a few from last week in the Algonquin Provincial Park area. I've been given some Sigma lenses to test out from Gentec International (Canadian distributor for Sigma) and I'm having a blast with them... especially the 300/2.8, which I took the bottom photo with. This is my first 300/2.8 and it is so amazingly sharp... expect to see me shooting a ton more photos with it!


Photo 1 (above): Maple leaves along Oxtongue River Rapids. Canon EOS 5D mark II, 17-40mm lens, Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer. ISO 100, 0.6s at f/22. [By the way, the leaves were placed there by an oreo-eating mammal.]

Photo 2 (above): Autumn colors in mist along Opeongo Lake Road, Algonquin Provincial Park. EOS 1Ds mark III, Canon EF 500mm f/4 lens. ISO 400, 1/50s at f/8.


Photo 3 (above): Autumn colors along Highway 60 in Algonquin Provincial Park. EOS 1Ds mark III, Sigma 300/2.8 lens. ISO 200, 1/160s at f/8.

Algonquin finale

Just finished a great weekend photo workshop with a keen gang of photographers in Algonquin Provincial Park. A huge thanks to all the participants, my co-leader Ian "Mooseman" Brooks (see your call on YouTube soon!), workshop host Outdoor Photography Canada magazine, and Gary & Tina Schultz of the Algonquin Lakeside Inn. We had an incredible sunrise on Saturday morning and vibrant autumn colours to fill our memory cards!



Photo 1: The workshop group at the Algonquin Lakeside Inn.

Photo 2: Autumn river colours, digital "Orton" effect. EOS 5D mark II; 24-70/2.8; Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer; Exposure: ISO 100; 8 seconds at f/16

I knew this scene was perfect to create an "Orton" image, merging an out-of-focus photo with a sharp version of the same scene (once done by combining two exposures, now easily accomplished digitally from a single image). Here's the link to instructions on how to do it: Orton Imagery

Photo 3: Algonquin Park wetland; EOS 5D mark II; 17-40/4 lens; Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer & 2 stop hard edge ND grad (4x6" size, handheld in front of lens). Exposure: ISO 200; 0.8 seconds at F/20. Mirror lock-up & cable release.

I put on hip waders and carefully trudged into this pond to get a low perspective on the lilypads for this wide-angle landscape photo.

Photo 4: Moose; EOS 1Ds mark III; 500/4 IS lens; Exposure: ISO 400; 1/40 second at f/4

During the workshop we showed the group where and how to find moose, but explained that wildlife photography is usually most productive when you're out shooting by yourself. After the workshop ended, co-leader Ian and I were out searching for moose when we found this bull along Opeongo Lake Road. Ready to shoot, we had only a few moments before the moose ran off into the woods. I shot this image from the car window using a Blubb beanbag.