more Great Smoky Mountains National Park landscapes....

Here are a few images from yesterday and today in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I've processed these on my new laptop and am just getting used to the monitor nuances, let me know if they look OK!

Blogger is giving me trouble with captions, so here are the location and tech details in order the photos appear.

Photo 1: Clingman's Dome, Canon EOS 1D mk IV, Sigma 70-200/2.8 lens, Singh-Ray LB ColorCombo polarizer & 2 stop hard edge ND grad

Photo 2:  Clingman's Dome, Canon EOS 5D mk II, Sigma 70-200/2.8 lens, Singh-Ray LB ColorCombo polarizer & 2 stop hard edge ND grad

Photo 3: Roaring Fork, Canon EOS 5D mk II, Sigma 24-70/2.8 lens, Singh-Ray LB Warming Polarizer

Photo 4: Roaring Fork, Canon EOS 5D mk II, Sigma 24-70/2.8 lens, Singh-Ray LB Warming Polarizer

Great Smoky Mountains National Park



Photo: Middle Prong Little River, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee
Canon EOS 5D mark II, Sigma 24-70/2.8 lens, Singh-Ray LB ColorCombo polarizer

I'm down in the Smoky Mountains for a few days of shooting... this is one of my favorite locations during spring! It was a long drive down so I'm quite tired, but here's a quick shot I just processed from today. Lots more to come! This is the first photo I've processed on my new laptop, so hopefully I've got all the settings ok and it looks decent. Let me know!

I'm shooting almost exclusively with Sigma lenses this trip, with images in mind for my presentation this week in London, Ontario (thanks to Sigma Canada for their sponsorship!).
cheers,
Ethan

Great sunset over Lake Huron tonight!

The skies were shaping up nicely so I raced down to the beach for an hour of magical light. The location is Dorcas Bay in Bruce Peninsula National Park on the Lake Huron shoreline. Both photos were taken with an EOS 1Ds mark III, 24-70mm f/2,8 lens, Singh-Ray LB ColorCombo polarizer and 3 stop hard edge ND grad. ISO 200, f/22, 0.8 and 1.3 seconds respectively.

My face on a Singh-Ray filter (with Canon G11)

I carry a point & shoot camera with me pretty much everywhere I go and find it especially useful for capturing behind-the-scenes shots when I'm out photographing. My latest p&s is a Canon G11, which has surprisingly good file quality for a compact camera. I've only had it for a few weeks and already love it.

The other morning I was out photographing the shoreline in Bruce Peninsula National Park to test out a new Singh-Ray Z-pro sized sprocket LB polarizer (it's fantastic!). While getting a few images of the filter setup,  I noticed the reflection of my face on the ND grad. I quickly passed the camera to my friend who caught this creative portrait of me!

Local landscapes and playing with the Canon 800mm f/5.6

I've been shooting a grab bag of images over the last week. First, I received a new Singh-Ray filter... an LB warming polarizer sprocket type to fit a Z-pro holder. This filter is very welcome in my camera bag. It allows me to shoot wide angle photos using a Z-pro filter holder which is large enough to avoid vignetting, yet still fits my Singh-Ray 4x6" ND grads (rather than hand-holding them). The first photo below is a teaser with this combo; expect to see a full report soon.

Photo 1 (below): Sunrise at Halfway Log Dump in Bruce Peninsula National Park
Canon EOS 5D mark II; 24mm TSE II lens; Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer & 2-stop "Daryl Benson" Reverse ND grad; I love how sharp the new 24 tilt-shift is.... razor sharp, corner to corner.

My friends have just opened a lens rental business called Lens Rentals Canada. They have an incredible selection of pro lenses (mostly Canon, but a few Nikon too) ranging from super-telephotos and medium-telephotos, to tilt-shifts and wide-angle. They ship them all across the country. I'm lucky to close by (the business is based out of FotoArt camera store in Owen Sound, Ontario - the place I buy most of my camera gear). I couldn't resist picking up the new Canon 800mm f/5.6 supertelephoto for a few days. Holy cow, it is the mother of all lenses... a dreamy piece of glass!!!

Photo 2 (below): That's me shooting with the Canon 800mm f/5.6 lens. I set up the photo, sucked in my gut and my friend Craig Blair (of http://www.canonrumors.com/ notoriety) clicked the shutter.

Canon EOS 5D mark II; EF 70-200mm f/4 lens

Photo 3 (below): Sandhill Crane, Dyers Bay, Bruce Peninsula

Canon EOS 1Ds mark III; EF 800mm f/5.6 lens & 1.4x teleconverter

I shot this from my car window with the lens supported on a "Blubb" beanbag.

Photo 4 (below): Lesser Scaup at sewage pond, Bruce Peninsula.

Canon EOS 1Ds mark III; EF 500mm f/4 lens & 1.4x teleconverter

I was hanging at the local sewage pond (no kidding, isn't nature photography glamorous?) and was frustrated that these scaup were on the opposite side of the pond. Just for fun I decided to try calling them in with my iPod (playing their call) and they instantly flew over to me. I photographed them full frame out of my car window, with my lens resting on the Blubb beanbag. 

Darwin Wiggett article on filters for landscape photography

Top landscape photographer, and fellow Canadian Darwin Wiggett, has just contributed a great article about filters for landscape/outdoor photography to the Singh-Ray blog.  Darwin's use of polarizers and ND grads is the same technique I use for virtually every landscape photo I shoot. This article is a must-read if you're an outdoor photographer...  check it out here: 
http://singhray.blogspot.com/2010/03/essential-filters-for-controlling.html

Trip retrospective on the Singh-Ray filters blog

Check out the latest post on the Singh-Ray Blog - a retrospective look back at my travels over the past year. Their blog is well-worth following.... the photos are inspirational and it's an excellent resource for learning how to use filters in outdoor photography!