Sea fan sun rays

Cayman Islands, Caribbean I can’t get over how awesome this little underwater world is! The sun rays are beautiful, the colourful fish help anchor the shot, but what speaks to me about this photo is the inclusion of these people here: If you can snorkle, you can get these shots, just like I did. You can invest in an underwater housing from $300 up to some onholy amount, but I want you to know a shot like this is not beyond your reach!

Photographic Details:Ewa Marine housing, Shutter priority mode Canon 20D 1/250s f/5.6 ISO100 12mm (35mm eq:19.2mm)

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School of joy

Cayman Islands, Caribbean Being surrounded by a school of fish feels like nature is personifying your wonder with the colourful shapes and graceful movements of each fish as they move around you in a synchronized spectacle.

Photographic Details: A shot like this could very well be possible with one of those underwater disposable cameras. The major difference here is that I used a graduated yellow filter on the top left of the image to give this photo a more etherial feel. Next time you go on vacation, bring an underwater housing!

Ewa Marine housing, Shutter Priority mode Canon 20D 1/250s f/5.0 ISO100 12mm (35mm eq:19.2mm)

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The touch of a stingray

Cayman Islands, Caribbean Stingray city was such a joy to swim in, after realizing that these animals were safe to be among, pure elation sets in as we come in contact with these creatures.

My brother and I were floating happily here when this lazy stingray comes up from behind him while brushing him with his fin. My brother jumped with surprise and amazingly enough this stingray was not afraid at all after this reaction.

As feared as these creatures are for having killed one of the most famous naturalists in the world, they are extremely docile. You can see the the much talked about poisonous barb used for defence barely sticking out of the base of the tail.

Photographic Details: As outlined in previous posts I used my trusty ewa-marine camera bag for this shot on shutter priority mode for 1/250 of a second. This was still fast enough to capture the gliding stingray as it swam into my face, their bellies are so soft it made me laugh!

1/250s f/6.3 ISO100 22mm (35mm eq:35.2mm)

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Down where it’s wetter

Cayman Islands, Caribbean The pure joy of swimming through the colourful world below the ocean is as palpable as the ocean currents that sway the corals and creatures under the sea. Fancy diving gear and scuba training isn’t necessary for a photo like this. Just a snorkel, mask and fins can get you to beautiful places like this (after the plane ticket that is).

Photographic Details: I would hold my breath and dive down with my camera in my $300  Ewa Marine bag, most other underwater solutions start at around $3000. It’s an underwater housing for the casual underwater photographer who wants to bring their SLR. Because it’s a bag type housing I’ve been able to fit three generations of cameras inside it, not having to buy a new one every time I get a camera with different configurations. The only thing you have to be weary of is that you need to fill it up with the correct amount of air for the depth that you will be diving to, I’ve taken this to 70 feet underwater.

Because the buttons are a bit difficult to get to, I just set the camera to shutter priority mode and a decent speed of 1/250s to ensure any movement from the currents wouldn't cause problems for me, I was wiggling around a lot in that water!

Canon 20D Shutter Priority: 1/250s f/4.5 ISO100 12mm (35mm eq:19.2mm) Canon 10-22mm Lens.

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Sting ray city

Cayman Islands, Caribbean These stingrays have become quite accustomed to people seeking a close encounter with them. Aware that we would not hurt them, their guard is down and I can tell even by their body language that they are very comfortable around us. Diving around stingrays in unpopulated areas I could see a stark contrast in the distance they keep from me with the way they wearily glide in the water. This tells me they don’t know what I am and don’t want to find out.

However upon arrival in sting ray city a floating gelatinous pancake of a stingray gingerly glides towards me, instantly smooshing into my body with it’s soft underbelly in hopes of sucking a squid out of my hand. Their small poisonous barb used for defence is in the lowered position, where I can even run my hand across it without incident. These stingrays would circle around me, brush up against me and even seemed to enjoy its encounter and free meal.

I used the same techniques that are further outlined in this post: http://www.kylefoto.com/2011/07/antarctic-underwater-iceberg/

Life Spark long exposure

Toronto, Ontario Some of the first long exposures I’ve ever taken! I did this while in photography school in 2005.

Photographic Details: Sneaking into a courtyard with these interesting sculptures I tried out the light drawing aspect of light painting. Here I would use an LED light to physically trace the outline of these objects, manually painting every stroke of light that you see on the tree trunk and sparkling structure in the background. I wanted to make it look surreal, as if the structure in the background was overflowing with energy. This is actually multiple 30 second exposures mashed together to combine into one ultra long exposure, with a minimum of image noise. Because I was wearing dark clothes and moving a lot, my body becomes invisible in the long exposure and only the light from the flashlight shows up! Other things like the colour and bubbles were added in photoshop.

Canon 20D 30s f/14.0 ISO100 17mm (35mm eq:27.2mm)

Payne lake, Outside Waterton Lakes National Park

Daily Inspiration: Shot while sitting on a kayak on some of the coolest wetland areas around Waterton lakes. Getting out and into nature with my camera in hand is one of my most favourite past times. And that’s what I’m going to go do now, bye!

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Mto Wa Mbu, Tanzania, Africa

The thing about photos is that they are an edited point of view. The photographer edits the real world by providing a very specific glimpse of one moment in time. In this photo you are seeing a person exploring a jungle. But in reality they are merely walking inside the villiage of Mto Wa Mbu, it’s name meaning “River of Mosquitoes” with a population of over 16,000 people.The only reason we were allowed here as tourists, is that our admission fee goes towards programs that promote energy saving stoves, building water pipelines and schools for these communities. Photographic Details: Walking with a wide angle lens on my 5D and a telephoto lens on my 7D I was prepared for scenes both close and far away. Being swallowed by this lush forest with the sun shining in my eyes was really cool as our group followed our local guides. Snapping this shot was one of those surprise moments when I was going through my photos later in the evening, I was very grateful for my wide angle lens. Canon EOS 5D Mark II 1/125s f/5.6 ISO100 17mm 16-35mm f2.8L lens

Serengeti by balloon

Tanzania, Africa On our last morning in Africa we had the privilege of taking a hot air balloon ride above the Serengeti. We head out before the sun rises because the earlier in the morning we go the less turbulent and unpredictable the winds are. Climbing high above the Serengeti we bobbed up and down, while the wildlife below stirred during it’s most active time. The sun began to rise as a gradient of light washed over the land from the east stretching to the west. Seeing the wildlife from this new angle was so different and intriguing. Game paths stretching out like spiderwebs of dirt amidst the parched grasses of the Serengeti. Zebra and wildebeest look like ants as they gallop across the land, their movement reminiscent of a flock of birds: never straying too far and only coming so close if needed.

Photographic Details: With the low morning light I needed a high Iso of 800 to get a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the motion. Not only was the balloon moving, it was wiggling with the movements of the passengers and gusts of the wind. Despite the directionless floating on the balloon we seemed to be moving at a pretty fast clip, making it difficult to decide what to shoot with the rapidly changing scenery. I would look for a point of interest, then zoom in with my telephoto, in hopes of capturing some interesting shapes.

Canon EOS 7D 1/250s f/4.5 ISO800 100mm

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Zebra migration

Tanzania, Africa Being on safari is always full of surprises. While the keen photographers and enthusiasts expect I always know what’s going to happen, it all comes down to being as prepared as possible for when the action happens. While being surrounded by a herd of zebra and wildebeest, we were stationed where there was as much action as possible: by the river. These animals would stop to get some much needed water, but they are always nervous as there is an ancient threat that lurks in these waters, the crocodile.

A crocodile was lurking in the water, we wanted to see some action, but at the same time, we didn’t. We were wondering why the crocodile wasn’t paying any attention to the pedantic animals looking for refreshment at the shore, when the crocodile went to a log pulled out a long dead zebra under it and began to snack. Oooh, well he was full because he already had food in his pantry! It’s likely this croc won’t have to eat for months, given that they are cold blooded and thus don’t use food energy to maintain their body temperature, a very efficient way of living.

Nevertheless the zebra would get their fill of water until paranoia set in and one would bolt away from the shore in fear, setting off a chain reaction. The once crowded shore would be instantly vacated as all the zebra and wildebeest fled for their lives. After a few seconds or so one thirsty animal would slowly make it’s way to the shore and drink as more animals came in, and the cycle of spazzing at the shore would begin again. This gave us many opportunities to get these running action shots.

Photographic details: I intentionally used settings that get a lot of motion blur, normally something that people find undesirable. But it’s this sense of motion that makes the viewer feel what it’s like to be there. 1/100th of a second was guaranteed to get a blurry photo, as I followed the motion of these beasts as smoothly as I could. The incredible amount of dust in the air provided or a fantastic backdrop and a beautiful red cast on the image. CANON 7D 1/100s f/16.0 ISO100 330mm

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More on my photo safaris: http://www.kylefoto.com/photographic-african-safaris/

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Digital fisheye Antarctic Vista

Antarctica The views that welcome you when you first arrive along the Antarctic continent is quite the sight to behold. Being surrounded by these tall icy figures rising out of the ocean feels like the mountains are hugging you, and despite the cool the antarctic air I always feel warm and fuzzy. This is one of the images I used to promote my Polar Worlds show.

Click Image for larger version

Photographic Details: Fisheye photos are cool but to use one regularly would be somewhat disorientating. The original shot had a flat horizon but I wanted something a little more dynamic. So instead of going out to get a fisheye I thought I would make the effect myself, turns out it’s possible in photoshop in about 7 clicks of the mouse!

Photoshop:

Open the image and double click your layer to rename it, you need to rename it to anything but “background” to unlock it for editing.

[image size="medium" autoHeight="true"]http://www.kylefoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/layers.jpg[/image]

Then go to Edit>Transform>Warp

[image lightbox="true" size="medium" autoHeight="true"]http://www.kylefoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/edittransform.jpg[/image]

Click on the middle of the image and drag your mouse down to begin warping, try it in other ways to get different results.

[image lightbox="true" size="large" autoHeight="true"]http://www.kylefoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/warp1.jpg[/image]

[image lightbox="true" size="large" autoHeight="true"]http://www.kylefoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/warp2.jpg[/image]

When you are finished, press enter, and you are done!

Canon EOS 5D, 1/100s f/5.0 ISO50 35mm 16-35mm f2.8 L lens.

If you like this, please share. And if you try this technique, post it in the comments and share, let’s see what you can do!

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Sneaky elephants

Serengeti, Tanzania

On our short drive to the airport from our camp in the Serengeti we had to drive through a patch of jungle. Not really thinking about being on safari being our last hours in this wonderful place we were delighted by the sight of a hornbill bird bouncing around on a bunch of fallen trees scattered around the forest floor. That’s where we heard a loud crash behind us. This elephant was meters away this whole time, silently browsing. It looks like he decided he was too lazy to reach for the leaves atop a tree, therefore it was much less exhausting to topple it. This elephant just glanced at us while he gingerly picked a few leaves off his fallen prize then moved on to find something fresher.

It’s destructive habits like these that cause tension between the increasing human populations in Africa; people and elephants are more in need of land than ever, and the amount of it is shrinking.

Photographic Details: In my haste to photograph this I swung my lens around from the bird to the elephant. With no time to waste I pressed the shutter only to get some underexposed images from the previous settings I had. Thank goodness for RAW and lightroom, I was able to recover the details without any image degradation! Canon 7D 1/250s f/6.3 ISO800 400mm

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They called him Macaroni... Penguin

South Georgia, Antarctica Macaroni: A term used in the mid 18th century to describe an unusually fashionable man who cared very much about his appearance with a flamboyant flair. Previous terms such as fashion-monger, ninny and fop were also used for someone overly concerned about their clothing. The Macaroni fashion was a precursor to the “dandies” which were the early 19th century metrosexuals.

Hence once the unusually vibrant crest of the Macaroni penguin was first observed they were given this name. These penguins were sitting on their nest, carefully keeping an eye on us while they tucked their necks in to conserve warmth and rest. Macaroni penguins lay two eggs during the mating season but often toss the first one out to make way for the second. The mother and father will share their responsibility over the egg as it incubates for a month, and raises the chick over another month. In this time the parents may fast for up to 42 days losing 40% of their body weight. Talk about dedicated parents.

Photographic details: I had to be very careful approaching these penguins. Believe it or not there is tall tussok grass growing here, it’s easy to accidentally step on a macaroni nest in a place like this. As we crouched down to their level this guy would keep an eye on me but that was the greatest reaction this bird would give me, and I respected their space as I waited for them to take a brief glance at me. After spending time with these fastidious penguins, I realize they only live up to their namesake in appearance. Canon 5DMarkII ISO400, 400mm, f7,1 1/320sec

Ghosts of South Georgia

Gold Harbour, South Georgia, Antarctica The edge of the harbour that is home to 25,000 breeding pairs of king penguins. The sea is the key to life here, where penguins can bring krill and fish back to the mouths of their hungry chicks. This place was called “Gold Harbour” by whalers given it is full of large elephant seals and numerous king penguins. They were easy to capture and kill to be boiled for their blubber and oil, which was worth a lot of money in this last haven for whalers. In addition a lot of pyrite or “fools gold” had been found by Filchner’s German Antarctic Expedition in 1911.

Photographic details: I wanted to create a ghostly image with a lot of mood and drama, the long exposure technique works very well for this. With the extreme brightness of the mid day sun filtering through the overcast sun the longest exposure I could get was four seconds. In order to get the long exposure I wanted I had to mash 20 four second exposure images together to create a total of 80 seconds.

ISO50, f18, with a 5 stop ND filter, 20 4 second exposures combined into 80 seconds If you like this, do me a favour and please share!

Penguin sledding

Wilhelmina Bay, Antarctica, Christmas Day Imagine yourself laying on your belly in the snow with your arms and feet splayed outwards. Using your belly as a sled you paddle your arms and legs to propel yourself forwards, if you do this, you are now a penguin.

Penguins will lay down on their belly and extend their front flippers while gently kicking with their toes, almost like paddling. Their smooth bellies mostly free of friction allow them to slide with relative ease. I have seen them slide down hills with glee, sometimes taking small tumbles but for the most part executing this move with grace. Should the hill be really steep they err on the side of caution and waddle down on their feet.

The tracks left by Adélie penguins made a rather long S shape in the snow, I find it hilarious as they depict exactly how this penguin gingerly sled across the frozen sea ice of Wilhelmina bay.

Moving in this fashion can be very efficient, important for both conserving energy and preventing themselves from overheating as penguins are very well insulated and overheating is a real problem on warm summer days.

Canon EOS 5D, 16-35mm f 2.8L lens, 1/125s f/8.0 ISO50 35mm

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Fata Morgana by moonlight

Outside Iqaluit, Canadian Arctic

If you look at the horizon you will see what looks like a band of cliffs or land, made of the same texture the sea ice is made of. This is actually the flat ocean but something is distorting it. This is a photograph of the most mysterious optical illusions most commonly observed in the Arctic. Named after the sorceress Morgan Le Fay of merlin lore this phenomenon has been attributed to the flying Dutchman, UFOs, faeries and other unusual things. It’s no surprised, land seems to rise out of the ocean from nothing only to start jiggling and dancing to and fro like a mushroom made of jelly, it’s very entertaining to watch newcomers to the arctic try and process what they are seeing.

This is simply an optical effect created by an inverse mirage. With a layer of cool air by the sea surrounded by a warmer atmosphere, this threshold between cool and warm air bends the light in such a way that even things beyond the curvature of the earth can be seen, causing the seascape to bend into the sky

Photographic Details: This was taken on a ship with a telephoto lens, therefore a tripod was out of the question given that we were moving. I shot this hand held holding my breath at at 1/80 sec, f5.6 ISO 1600 Canon EOS 5D at 400mm, a feat not easily done but slowly mastered with practice. I always surprise myself when I manage “illegally” shooting such slow shutter speeds with long lenses, practice makes perfect! If at first you get a few blurry photos, keep trying, all it takes is one good one and your work will be worth it!

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Kylefoto featured on Baldhiker.com!

Today I guest posted for a super cool guy I met on chime.in  who is constantly travelling, check it out here!  

Polar Bear Tracks

Svalbard, Norwegian Arctic Left on the sea ice from a polar bear that we could just see on the horizon in Svalbard. This is going to be a much rarer sight as the extent of sea ice is diminished every year, which is the important platform polar bears need to hunt for seals.

The fact that the bear has left his prints on the very surface that it depends on creates a very powerful narrative about the problem these animals face today.

Looking for a unique approach to polar bear photography I saw these tracks I knew this would help complete my polar bear portfolio as nobody really shares photos like these. So much about these animals is written in the snow: The long hair around the paws of the bear have brushed the surface of the snow and left streaks in exquisite detail, illustrating how the bear seems to shuffle across the ice. They can walk at great speeds on the ice but have to be careful not to overheat given the relative warmth of the Arctic summer and their great adaptations in conserving heat. The wide spread of the 12 inch paws act like natural snowshoes keeping the bear above the surface for optimal arctic travelling.

Photographic details: Taken with a 400mm lens shooting downwards from the bow of the ship as we parked ourselves in this ice flow. The tracks were actually barely visible with the naked eye given the flat light. I had to open the raw file and darken down the image considerably to get more detail out of the image. The results were far more detailed than I could have ever seen in real life, making for an image that actually captures the drama behind these animals.

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Learning to read icebergs

Antarctic Peninsula Look at this iceberg now, then look at it after reading this and you will actually be able to read this iceberg.

There are so many stories in this photo alone I don’t know where to begin. I should start with the fact that a quick glance at an iceberg can tell us a lot about it’s history; mother nature etches a story in every crack, layer, texture and curve.

First of all this iceberg is in mostly in the same orientation it was when it first broke off the glacier it came from. The horizontal lines are the layers of snow that have been compressed into ice while the glacier was flowing down the mountain, as well the surface had an edge of snow, still built up from high precipitation, this tells us the ice is still mostly upright.

Once this huge chunk of ice was set free into the ocean, it began to melt faster than it would as a glacier. The currents and movement of the salty sea water begin eroding the bottom of the iceberg but in a smooth pattern, turning hard edges into soft curves. The “shoreline” on the iceberg is where the lapping of the waves on the surface erode the iceberg the most, creating the indentation in the middle where the smooth ice ends and the rough untouched ice begins.

As the iceberg melts and chunks fall off, the balance changes. As you can see the lower right portion of the iceberg used to be underwater because it’s smooth, it’s now above water with the new weight distribution.

This iceberg is now peppered with Adele penguins. It may be a lot of penguins who are two years old and younger; essentially spinster penguins not yet mature enough to breed. They have no obligation to be in a colony and get to spend the first two years of their life feeding and enjoying themselves. The cape petrel flying on the top right creates a point of interest in the most perfect spot, further illustrating how icebergs can be mother natures “rest stops”.

But there is more! Ice creates a mini ecosystem that krill and small copepods and crustaceans tend to cling to. Small slivers of grey dot the lower left of the iceberg betraying the presence of Antarctic Terns fishing for these small creatures. These waters are rich with life, and as desolate as an image can seem, a trained eye can see an abundance of wonderful creatures.

Take a look at the ice again, do you see what I see?

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Rainbow whale surprise

Antarctic Ocean Can you guess which species this is? I want to know how many whale watchers there are here, post your answers in the comments! I'll post in the comments later. Hint, it's a species seen often in the Antarctic, and if you've watched whale wars you definitely would have seen them before!

After an uneventful sunset mother nature decided to prove to us she’s always got something hidden up her sleeves. This is where travelling workshops is such an exciting thing. We are winding down for the night, some people have gone to bed, nobody is really expecting anything to happen on a calm evening. But we always have people posted on the bridge, and when something breaks through the waters surface it’s such a thrill to get on the ships loudspeaker and exclaim “There are whales off the starboard bow!”. The calm lull around the ship turns into a feverish buzz as people scramble for their cameras and hurry for the nearest exit to the outer decks.

As the cool evening air washed over me I had never seen such a stimulating canvas of colours painted onto the reflections of the sea. This whale was gingerly swimming around the ship, somewhat curious of what we could be. Talk about a perfect end to an evening.

Photographic Details: It was extremely dim outside given that the sun had already set, so I had to let in as much light as possible with ISO 1600 with a relatively slow shutter speed of 1/400th of a second at f5. This was the best I could do on a moving ship hand held with a telephoto lens. I just kept shooting away while this whale was bobbing in and out of the water.