Bonuel's blog

Photo Monday: Fluid Dynamics

Miguel — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:41:57 +0000

Salut tout le monde!

Here’s the result of my latest photo experiment. I was trying to capture the movement of a liquid in water. The photos aren’t as sharp as I wanted them to be, but it’s all because of my lack of continuous lighting… one of these days, I’ll get some studio lighting.

Voici le résultat de ma récente expérience de photo. J’ai essayé de capturer le mouvement d’un liquide dans l’eau. Les photos ne sont pas aussi sharp que j’aurais voulu, mais c’est surtout à cause de mon manque de lumière continue… un de ces quatres, je vais m’acheter des lumières de studio.

Cheers,

Blue in motion

Red in motion. It seems like it could be a billboard image for Dexter.

Next Tycho Album Cover. I really like the 70s color tone of this one. Just happened.

Tour De Bloc 7: Gravity

Miguel — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 04:16:02 +0000

We had a great time in Hamilton for the 7th leg of the Eastern Tour de Bloc 7. Thanks to Jody Mial who came up with a ton of awesome problems!! The finals were particularly well set, perfectly tweaked to accommodate and separate the field. Here are the results and a couple of shots I took during the comp. Enjoy!

Nous avons eu une super compétition Tour de Bloc à Hamilton en fin de semaine. Les problèmes étaient super bien setter, comme d’habitudes, grâce à Jody Mial. Les finales, en particulier, étaient vraiment bien ajustées pour les compétiteurs. Voici les résultats et quelques photos que j’ai pris pendant la compétition!

Women’s Open Result:

Bonnie de Bruijn
Marine Cusa
Iyma Lamarche

Men’s Open Result:

Ayo Sopeju
Eric Sethna
Dustin Kerr

Bonnie attempting problem #4.

Bonnie, working problem #4, flashing the zone and winning the comp!

Steve almost sticking the crux on problem #4.

Ayo sticking the crux on problem #4 and winning the comp. Way to go!!!!

Photo Monday on Wednesday

Miguel — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 05:46:37 +0000

That’s right. Another late “Photo Monday”… We had a great weekend with family visiting and I didn’t have time to sort through the shots to post them. Here are some shots we took around the Toronto waterfront. I hadn’t been there in the winter yet. Pretty cool place!

Et oui! Encore un “Photo Monday” en retard… On a passé un super beau weekend avec la famille et je n’ai pas eu le temps de mettre mes photos en ligne. Voici quelques photos que nous avons prises au bord de l’eau de Toronto. J’avais jamais été voir ça encore. Super cool comme place!

Freezing Ducks.

Afternoon Stroll.

The Promised Land!

Swan, up close.

Photo Monday: Night time in Saint Thomas

Miguel — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 03:27:08 +0000

I know. Another Saint Thomas related Photo Monday. It’s coming to an end very soon. We’re working hard at culling the (1800) photos, so we’ll be ready to share the rest of them soon. Stay tuned. In the meantime, see what I was up to with Andrew’s tripod in Saint Thomas!

As always, let me know what you think!!

Oui, oui. Je sais. Encore un autre Photo Monday sur Saint Thomas. C’est presque fini. On travaille fort pour chosir les photos (il y en a 1800!) et nous devrions pouvoir les montrer sur flickr bientôt. En attendant, voici quelques photos de nuits que j’ai pris à Saint Thomas.

Comme d’habitudes, laissez-moi un petit message pour me dire celle que vous préférez!

Cheers,

Plane leaving Saint Thomas at night, from the balcony!

Moon in Saint Thomas. As close as my 200mm permits.

The star effect here was created naturally, using a very small aperture (f/22).

Night sky over the sea (looking South). Lots of noise was produce for this long exposure over the ocean (exposed 13 minutes).

Startrails looking North from the house. Because I only had one battery, this shot is only a mix of 8 shots of 30 seconds each. All shots were set at f3.5 with ISO-400.

Steve Bloom: Nature Photographer

Miguel — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 06:50:06 +0000

I’ve decided to try going bilingual (oui! oui! En Français!). Bonne lecture!

Believe it or not, I discovered this photographer at Shopper’s Drug Mart – on a calender. I was really captured by the incredibly original perspective on the cover (you’ll understand what I mean in a minute). So, when I got home, I did a quick google search for “Steve Bloom” and started to browse his online shop. He calls his shots “Fine Art Prints” and after checking a couple pages of his superb photos, you will quickly understand why. My wife almost didn’t believe me that they were photos (and not paintings/drawings)… it’s by far her favourite of the photographers I’ve profiled so far. Below is a shot of Steve Bloom in Botswana, followed by my two favourite shots.

J’ai decouvert ce photographe sur un calendrier à vendre au “Shopper’s Drug Mart” (notre équivalent du Jean-Coutu en Ontario). J’ai tout de suite été captivé par la perspective originale de la photographie sur la couverture (vous comprendrez ce que je veux dire dans une minute!). Quand je suis arrivé à la maison, j’ai tout de suite cherché sur google pour “Steve Bloom” et j’ai parcouru son site web. Il décrit ces photos en tant que “Fine Art” et vous allez comprendre pourquoi assez rapidement. Ma femme me croyait pratiquement pas que c’était des photos (et non pas des peintures)… c’est définitivement son photographe préféré jusqu’à maintenant. Voici une photo de Steve Bloom au Botswana, ainsi que mes deux photos préférées.

Make sure you check out his site, and if you happen to have about 100$ dollars (CAD) to spend on some fine art prints, I strongly recommend you do it on his site. Or you can buy the famous calendar that I saw at Shopper’s Drugmart for about 30$ (CAD), it’s the one calledSTEVE BLOOM Calendar 2010.

In any case, here are the two shots that really captured my attention:

Prenez le temps d’aller voir son site et de parcourir tous ses belles photos. Si vous avez 100$ (CAD) à dépenser sur des photos, je vous suggère fortement de le faire sur son site. Vous pouvez aussi acheter son calendrier (celui que j’ai vu au Shoppers!) pour à peu près 30$ (CAD). C’est celui qui s’apelle STEVE BLOOM Calendar 2010.

Sans plus tarder, voici les photos qui ont tant captivés mon attention:

Now that’s National Geographic material (you can almost see the yellow border of the magazine…)!!!

Here are some links that you might find interesting:

Steve Bloom on vimeo;
Steve Bloom’s main site;

HDR in Saint Thomas

Miguel — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:39:53 +0000

I have another great Photo Monday in store today. While away on vacation, we took a couple of afternoons off from sitting on the beach to walk around and take photos. Most of the HDR we did during this trip were shot at Charlotte Amalie, on a Sunday afternoon when everything was closed. At first, our friend felt really bad that things were closing so early on Sunday (around noon), but we were delighted. It gave us time to walk around and get shots that would normally be full of tourists. Hope you enjoy these HDRs shot around Charlotte Amalie.

Have a great Family Day (for those in Ontario!)!
Cheers,

Shot at Drake’s Seat – View On Black.

Empty alleyway of Charlotte Amalie! View On Black

Old door in Charlotte Amalie – View On Black

Another great shot taken while no tourists were around in Charlotte Amalie. View On Black

This shot was taken at house that was for sale. We sneaked in their courtyard to take this awesome view. I wish the infinity pool was “on” so that you’d get the real illusion. View On Black

Vistas of the Virgin Islands

Miguel — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 05:21:45 +0000

So, as promised, I continue to post some of our favourite shots from the trip. This time around, we are showcasing the many beautiful views and panoramas we had the chance to see while on vacation in the beautiful U.S. Virgin Islands.

I know that the photos come out a little small here on the site, so I added a “View on Black” link that you can click to see each photo in a larger format with a black background (which is really the best way to see these photos!!).

More to come soon. Of course, feel free to browse our flickr photostream as we may post photos there very soon. I have a nice collection of shots for the next Photo Monday. Stay tuned.

Cheers!

The view we woke up to every morning in Saint Thomas. Doesn’t really get better than this! View On Black

The bay and peninsula of Magens Bay! Apparently voted among the top 10 beaches in the world by National Geographic. We didn’t end up going down there because it’s too touristy. You’ll understand when you see where we went. View On Black

Trunk Bay beach in Saint John. Now *that* beach we did go to. A pretty stunning place with amazingly clear water! View On Black

Another amazing morning in Saint Thomas! Check out the cruise ship to the right. We saw those arrive in the morning and leave everyday. Luckily for us, we got to stay in Saint Thomas. Ha ha! View On Black

Beautiful Charlotte Amalie! Superb vista all the way up there. At the bottom left, you can see the port where the cruise ships arrive and everything. View On Black

As always, leave some comments. Let us know which one you prefer. Have a great day all!!

Animals of Saint Thomas

Miguel — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:25:58 +0000

We were lucky enough to enjoy some time off in the beautiful U.S. Virgin Islands for the past week or so. We mostly stayed on Saint Thomas, but also visited Saint John and neighbouring much smaller British island called Virgin Gorda. In order to get all of us through the end of the winter, I thought I would share some of our favourite shots of the trip for my photo Monday. This week’s topic is the fauna of Saint Thomas, the ones we were able to photograph that is! The islands are full of amazing creatures and, as you will see, the most predominant one is the Iguana. Enjoy!

As we sort through more and more of our photos, we will add them here on flickr.

Photo Monday: Tilt-Shift Photography

Miguel — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:00:46 +0000

I came across this post-processing technique while researching topics for Photo Monday a couple of months ago. The idea is to simulate a very shallow depth of field in a large scale scene (typically only present in close-up photos), which gives the impression that the scene is miniature (like a model train instead of a real train). I usually don’t like post-processing techniques that alter the photo too much or that make it seem like something that it’s not, but it caught my attention; I think it gives an interesting effect. Apparently, there is a way to achieve this with a lens, but you’ll need what is called a tilt-shift lens (cha-ching $$). You can read more about Tilt-Shift photography on Wikipedia.

As always, let me know what you think!

Strachan House, a.k.a. Pink Hotel, providing us with a lot of excitement, as depicted here, on a weekly basis.

A miniature video production for a band in Toronto.

Rugby in New-Zealand 2003. Otago won! Yay!

Also, just for fun, I thought I would share a funny video from someone on vimeo (Keith Loutit). It’s also based on the Tilt-Shift technique, but all bundled into a video. Pretty awesome!

Bathtub III from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Photo Monday: The Pepper Tragedy

Miguel — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 12:00:47 +0000

Princeton online lexical database of English, WordNet, defines a tragedy as a “drama in which the protagonist is overcome by some superior force or circumstance”. In my case, the protagonist was the poor little Pepper shaker that we bought on our trip to Thailand (that’s right Jason!) and the superior force was the espresso tamper that went flying out of my hands and chopped off both its arms at once… there goes 30 baht…

I now present you, The Pepper Tragedy in four acts:

The Pepper Tragedy, Act I: View On Black.

The Pepper Tragedy, Act II: View On Black.

The Pepper Tragedy, Act III: View On Black.

The Pepper Tragedy, Act IV: View On Black.