Archive for the 'photography' Category
Posted under alteration & photography
A month ago Jiahui and I did a photographic experiment involving double exposure. Since we quite enjoyed it on our first try, we decided to give it a second go. Last time we used our two different climates as our theme, but this time we chose to experiment with food. I recently went to the sugar shack and captured many succulent dishes. I used those pics and Jiahui shared some meals with a more Asian flair. Like last time, I will post my five experiments here and you can go see Jiahui’s results on her site.
Posted under photography & reviews
In Quebec, we have a sort of springtime tradition involving eating too much food covered in maple syrup. We are in the ideal region for the syrup goodness, so it is something many of us try to do at least once every season. There are many traditional sugar shacks across Quebec, but this weekend I tried out the most extravagant shack I have ever seen. It is called La Cabane a Sucre au Pied de Cochon (Pig’s Feet Sugar Shack) and it is a spin off of a very fancy restaurant in Montreal. The price of one ticket is just shy of 50$, and you have to reserve several months in advance, but it is totally worth it. We ate so much that we had to be rolled out at the end. I doubt any of us will forget the experience.
I took pictures of the whole thing, but I must warn you, your arteries may clog just by viewing them. View at your risk.
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Posted under alteration & photography
Oh boy! One month without posts! I have failed the blogospheres. As usual, I was busy, yadda yadda, but I should have some more time soon to work on my site. I restarted my redesign, but I also promised somebody I would make them a website as well. So, the gist of it is that I may or may not be on as often for the next little while. Hopefully, everything will stabilize soon and I will be able to keep up with a more regular schedule.
In other news, last week, Jiahui and I decided to try out a little project. She told me about using camera film twice to produce a double exposure. The goal would have been for us to take pictures, then send the roll of film to each other to use once more. The idea is that you have no idea what the other person took, so you might get some surprises with the output. Since she lives in Singapore, and I live in Montreal, we decided to try this experiment using our digital cameras and swap pictures over the Internet. We each took 10 pictures and marked 2 sets from 1-5. We sent the first set to each other, and then merged them with our other 5 pictures. We couldn’t change the order of the pictures and we used Photoshop to blend them together. We both produced at least a couple of good pictures. I will share my 5 pictures below, and you can see Jiahui’s pictures on her site here. Overall, it was a fun experiment and I hope to do it again in the near future.
If you don’t understand the title of this post, it was -30 degrees (celsius) here and +30 in Singapore, creating 60 degrees of difference. 
Posted under photography & travel
I was browsing my pictures from my Las Vegas trip, and I found a couple of pictures I had taken of the Grand Canyon with the purpose of stitching them together. I played around with them and the result ended up quite nice! The original picture’s dimensions are around 5000 x 1600 pixels, so I scaled it down to about 30%. Note that the picture is still rather large, so it may take some time to download.
Click on the picture below to see the larger version.
Posted under alteration & awesome & photography
Ever stand in between two mirrors and felt like you could see yourself repeated to infinity? As a programmer, I would call that recursion, but to the rest of the world, it could be considered as the Droste effect. This is when one image gets repeated inside another over and over again. You’ll see this in photographs/paintings in which the person is holding a picture of themselves holding the same picture. M.C. Escher was really good at doing this kind of stuff.
With today’s technology (I’m looking at you Photoshop), these kind of effects can be easily reproduced without too much work. Of course, it is nothing compared to what real artists can produce, but it is still pretty impressive. Using an old picture of myself, I managed to make a repeating image and it definitely gave me the itch to create more. I know that next time I will be out shooting pictures, I will try to think outside the box so that I can post manipulate it to infinity.
Posted under photography & rant
I have recently decided to buy a slackline. I do not have a very good sense of balance, so I figured practicing on the line would help. I don’t have many suitable trees near my place, so I have headed out to Dave’s place since he has a nice park right beside his house. The first time you step on the cord, you are not sure what to expect, and your foot shakes like crazy. After a few tries, you gain confidence and can stand on the line without looking like your foot is having a seizure. After some practice, you can stand on one foot for a few seconds, and eventually, you can walk the line. Currently, I can balance myself on my right foot for close to 30 seconds, and a measly 1-2 seconds n my left foot. I figure a few hours of practice on the left foot and I should be equal with both. Once I get that perfected, I will try to start walking the line. Dave has been practicing with me and he can walk the line from one end to another. I am looking forward to when I can do the same.
I still have to find some suitable trees in my area so that I can practice on my own. Summer is nearing it’s end, and I want to take advantage of it. If you are interested in slacklining, check out Slackline Montreal. The can often be found at Parc Lafontaine, and I bought my gear through them. Support your local slacklining community so that it can grow!
This is me focusing on a point on the tree…
.. and here I am goofing off and falling!
Posted under photography
Yesterday, I headed off to the Montreal Botanical Gardens to take some infrared photography. I recently purchased a 77mm Hoya R72 Infrared filter, and I was itching to try it out. It was a cloudy day, with a little bit of rain, so while I found the results pretty nice, I was less impressed than some shots I had taken in the past. Usually, my pictures come out with pinkish trees and an amber sky, which looks beautiful in its own, but I always strive to get a blue sky through Photoshop. This is not my best work, but I want to share the output with you anyways.
For those who don’t know what infrared is, check out the article on Wikipedia. In short, before taking my picture, I add an infrared filter on the lens of my camera which blocks out all visible light, and only lets through infrared rays above 720nm. This delivers a picture that is mostly red, which I then process on my computer. The end result can give multiple interesting results, such as white vegetation and murky dark water. Some people physically modify the internals of their camera to only take infrared pictures. This has many benefits, such as no post processing, but it prevents you from taking any normal pictures. Regardless of your method, the pictures usually look incredible and seem to pop out from a dream sequence.
Take for example this bonsai tree. On the left is the original picture, and on the right is the infrared version. The infrared picture looks as if it is a fake tree and the colour of the leaves have all disappeared.
Here is another example of before and after. This was taken at the Japanese Gardens, and you can clearly see that the vegetation lost their colour and the water has a darker appearance.
Since I can’t see through the viewfinder with the filter on, I am forced to set up my picture beforehand and then take a second picture with the filter on. Sometimes, I will merge elements of both pictures together to create a different visual experience. In the next picture, I incorporated the Chinese lanterns from the original picture into the infrared landscape. In reality, these lanterns had also lost all their colour to the infrared filter.
Keep reading for the rest of the pictures.
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Posted under photography
This past Saturday, we headed off to watch the fireworks on the rooftop of a friend’s apartment. He lives right beside the old port, so we had a great view of the colourful explosions. I had brought along my tripod and camera to try my hand at capturing some of the fireworks. While my shots do not even compare to the pros, I did manage to get a couple nice shots. In the one image I am sharing below, the explosion looks small, but since I was at a distance, it was actually quite large.
While I was there, I also took a panoramic shot (about 200 degrees of rotation) of the view which you will find below. You can click on the image to see a larger shot, but be warned that it weighs at a hefty 500kb.
Posted under photography & rant & travel
Finally, here is my last batch of pictures from Vegas. Just like downtown vegas, the Strip offers so many beautiful night shot possibilities. I only wish I had a tripod with me to properly stabalize my pictures. Nonetheless, I did manage to capture some pretty nice shots. The three of the Paris hotel are probably my favourite. I am a bit saddened that I did not get any good shots of the Luxor, as it is very interesting to see at night; especially from the plane!
The Mirage Volcano
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