Category Archives: By Lens

Brenizer Panorama, Pentax K200D, Tair-11a, Urban

Newspaper?

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Newspaper?, originally uploaded by jezza323.

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I managed to beat the rain out and about in Toronto this morning. Its been a while since I been out just to take photos. Its good to be back on the horse!

This is a Brenizer panorama I took of some newspaper and magazine stands near St Patrick Subway Station in downtown Toronto. This one was 93 separate shots, all taken with my Pentax K200D and Tair-11a 135mm f2.8 lens. I set the camera to Manual, dialed in the correct exposure and then started shooting.

I imported the RAW files into Lightroom from the SD card. Next I exported the images as TIFF files to a separate folder (to make the stitching process quicker, I exported the TIFFs to only 1280×1280 max size), which I then ran Autopano over to generate the final panorama. Finally I imported the panorama back into Lightroom, made a final crop, distortion and level adjustment. The image is still slightly distorted, but this comes from the projection of the panorama, and I wasnt quite able to get it spot on.

If you like this shot, check out my Tair-11a lens review and my post about the Brenizer Method / Bokeh Panorama technique.

Landscapes, Pentax K200D, Tamron 17-50mm f2.8

Time for a Merlot

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Time for a Merlot, originally uploaded by jezza323.

I took this one in the rain, on a nice Sunday spent on a Niagara Wine Tour. The tour was great, it was a small group. We visited 4 wineries, and got an accidental (free) 3 wine tasting at lunch as well!

This shot was taken at the 2nd winery we visited, Reif Estate Winery in Niagara. They had there rows neatly labelled, which compelled me to take a photo. This is a single shot, taken with my Pentax K200D and Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 lens at 50mm and f3.5

As you can see it was early spring and the vines were just starting to shoot for the new season. I am looking forward to going back to the Niagara On The Lake area, maybe on a bicycle and having more of a look around.

HDR, Landscapes, Pentax K200D, Tamron 17-50mm f2.8

And The Sun Also Rises

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And The Sun Also Rises, originally uploaded by jezza323.

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This is a shot back from my Fog chasing morning in Brisbane. I only just realised I hadn’t posted it up here!

This was my favourite photo of the day, I hope you enjoy it too.

This was taken with my Pentax K200D body, Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 lens. I took the shot with the exposure bias set to +2.0 EV, then took 3 exposures at +/- 2.0 EV, which meant I ended up with 0, +2 and +4 EV shots based on the camera’s inbuilt metering.

The reason for increasing the bias for this shot was because the shot was taken towards the sun, meaning the camera’s metering system would severely underexpose the foreground of the image, in an attempt to prevent the sun from blowing out too much. By altering the bias, I was able to get the detail in the foreground that I required.

I then used the LR/Enfuse plugin to Lightroom to blend the 3 exposures into the image you see here, along with a few final tweaks to the levels and cropping.

Landscapes, Pentax K200D, Sigma 10-20mm f4.0-5.6

Horseshoe falls, Niagara

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Horseshoe falls, Niagara, originally uploaded by jezza323.

I was lucky enough to be able to spend the Victoria Day long weekend down at Niagara. The weather for the weekend was great! And the falls and the parkland around them was beautiful. On Sunday I did a wine tour, and had my first ever taste of Ice Wine, followed by quite a few more tastes of Ice Wine soon after.

This shot is the Canadian Falls (Horseshoe Falls) taken from the Canadian side of the river. I took this one early on Monday morning (Victoria Day) before there were too many people around.

The amount of spray coming off the falls makes it very hard to get a good photo of it, but I think the spray in itself is a good subject, as seen here.

This is a single shot, taken with a Pentax K200D and a Sigma 10-20mm f4.0-5.6 with a Kenko 77mm CPL filter fitted. I cropped and adjusted the levels of the image in Lightroom.

Architecture, HDR, Pentax K200D, Sigma 10-20mm f4.0-5.6

Great Library Memorial

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Great Library Memorial, originally uploaded by jezza323.

This is another shot of Osgoode Hall. This one is a Memorial in the Great Library of the building.

This is a bit of an unusual shot for me, because it is a black and white HDR. Not something I usually would do, but I have been craving some black and white, so here some is!

Again this is 3 shots taken at +/- 2.0 EV, with the Pentax K200D and Sigma 10-20mm f4.0-5.6. I blended the exposures using Photomatix (in colour) then made the final edits and black & white conversion in Lightroom.

Architecture, HDR, Pentax K200D, Tamron 17-50mm f2.8

South African War Memorial, Toronto

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University Avenue Memorial, originally uploaded by jezza323.

This war memorial can be found at University Avenue and Queen Street West in Toronto. It is a memorial to all those who fought for Canada in the Boer War. The memorial was commissioned in 1910 and was designed by Walter Seymour Allward.

This is a HDR composed of 3 exposures, taken at +/- 2.0 EV using my Pentax K200D and Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 lens. I blended them using Photomatix, then made some adjustments to the final image in Lightroom.

Architecture, HDR, Pentax K200D, Tamron 17-50mm f2.8

Absent Photographer

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Absent Photographer, originally uploaded by jezza323.

Here is another quick capture from Saturday evening down at Niagara Falls. There are some really beautiful gardens in the parks by the Falls. This building with its garden and the tripod setup caught my attention for a nice image.

This is another HDR combined from 3 exposures taken at +/- 2.0 EV using Photomatix, and some minor tweaks in Lightroom. I took this using my Pentax K200D and Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 lens.

I am having some trouble with this lens at the moment, it is back focusing quite a lot, you can only notice it when using wider apertures and longer focal lengths, but I will need to do a bit of testing to see if it is just this lens, or my body. One or both may need some repair.

HDR, Landscapes, Pentax K200D, Tamron 17-50mm f2.8

Sir Isaac Brock Memorial

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Sir Isaac Brock Memorial 

Sir Isaac Brock Memorial, originally uploaded by jezza323.

This is a memorial at Niagara for Sir Isaac Brock, killed fighting in the war of 1812 between the British (Canada) and America.

We visited here over the Victoria Day long weekend for lunch at the adjacent restaurant whilst on a Niagara region wine tour. The wines were great! Definitely try some icewine if you haven’t already.

The scenery and buildings in the area were also amazing to see. We will definitely be returning to the area soon to visit all those areas we missed this time around.

This shot is a HDR composed of 3 exposures taken at +/- 2.0 EV with the Pentax K200D and Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 lens. The HDR was composed using Photomatix and minor adjustments made using Lightroom 3. I took this just after finishing lunch, after a small rainstorm passed through, leaving lovely wet paths which add to the effect.

Architecture, Pentax K200D, Sigma 10-20mm f4.0-5.6

Royal Ontario Museum

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Royal Ontario Museum 

Royal Ontario Museum, originally uploaded by jezza323.

This is another of the main tourist attractions in Toronto. The ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) is quite large! We were expected a 2hr or so tour of the museum, however it turned into an all day trek through the place, we walked through for over 6 hours!

The museum is huge, and has a great collection of pieces and displays. I highly recommend a visit to anyone in the area.

This is a single exposure, with quite a bit of Lightroom tweaking to bring out the detail.

Architecture, HDR, Pentax K200D, Sigma 10-20mm f4.0-5.6

Casa Loma

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Casa Loma

Casa Loma, originally uploaded by jezza323.

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I am now an official Toronto resident, have moade the move here with my wife. We are settling in, and have found the time to visit a number of the tourist attractions. This is the first I will post.

Casa Loma is a gothic style home, build in the early 1900′s by a wealthy Toronto businessman. It is now a tourist attraction and museum.

I grabbed this shot as we were leaving. It is quite hard to get a good angle on the building due to the trees everywhere, but I managed to find this spot at the edge of the carpark.

This image is 3 shots, taken at +/- 2.0 EV and blended using Lightroom and the LREnfuse plugin.