Snow covered peaks. Beautiful contrasting trees in the foreground. Somewhere in Banff National Park, Alberta.
Tag Archives: Evergreen
Bow Lake, Banff National Park
Bow Lake, Banff National Park, Alberta. Bow Lake is approximately 30 minutes north of Lake Louise, off the Icefields Parkway (Hwy 93) in the Canadian Rockies and a half mile north of the Crowfoot Glacier. Sitting at an elevation of 1,920 m (6,300 ft), it is one of the largest lakes in Banff National Park. Fed by meltwater from the Bow Glacier in the Wapta Icefield, the lake lies at the base of Bow Summit, which is perfectly reflected in its aquamarine waters on a calm day. hashtaglake hashtagphotography hashtaglake hashtagcomposition hashtagmountain hashtagAlberta hashtagbanffnationalpark hashtagkenbennison hashtagBowLake hashtagscenery hashtagBow Glacier
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The Magic of Rocks
The above photo was captured on my first trip to Killbear Provincial Park. It was now getting late in the evening. The rock color and texture here are truly beautiful. There is something to be said about rocks that have the texture and detail.With the right lighting they become a work of art. I used the rock in the foreground for added depth. I included part of a Pine tree and ground vegetation in the upper right corner to break the color. You can just see the far horizon with an island. When your eyes go there you may want to know what lies beyond. As it was getting late my shutter speed was at 6 sec and f22. With that said, the water will appear smoother and the clouds have a nice affect. Using Photoshop I added a touch of color in the sky to break up the blue and also to complement the coloring of the rock.
Thank you all for stopping by. Also thank you for subscribing to my blog. I am fast approaching the 500 mark. Again thank you. Until next time happy trails
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Little Tree, Little Island
4:30 a.m. comes early. Hauled my self out of bed. Loaded the gear into my Ford Escape. Stopped in Lively to pick up a Tim Horton’s coffee and some breakfast. Next stop was for gas. Then it was off for my morning shot. I arrived on location at 6:00 am with an hour to spare. Sunrise about 7:10 a.m. The temperature was hovering around 0 C. There was mist on the lake but it was still too dark. Lesson learned. Stay in bed an extra hour.
But the end result was the above photo about an hour and a half later. A little tree on a little island. Beautiful golden morning light saturating the mist. I kept this photo tight so as not to distract from the subject. By shooting vertical I was able to do that.
Well that is it for now. Thank you for stopping by. Until next time happy trails.
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The Reflective Side of Nature
In this photo a unique lighting has been created. You have the lighting from the late evening sun drenching the rocks in the background. Thus creating an orange like hue on the rocks. The rocks in the foreground are now darker for the sun no longer affects them. But there is still a touch of lighting on the rocks to the left. This is what helps to add character to a composition. It is the little detail. There is a nice green tinge to the water in the foreground. This is due to the sun striking the evergreens on the far bank and reflecting on the water. If it had been a little earlier the water would be a golden color due to the stronger strength of the sunlight.
This week I received an Award of excellence for one of my compositions.
You can see the selected works here.
http://www.exhibitionswithoutwalls.com/?page_id=5221
Well that is it for this week. For everyone in this part of the world have a safe Victoria weekend. Until next time happy trails
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In Search of Black and White
On my last trip into O S A Lake in Killarney Provincial Park, I was constantly on the look out for subjects that would make a Black and white composition. Waking up one morning the La Cloche Mountains were covered in mist. There was one ridge of white quartz rock that I had an eye on. There were stark black evergreens growing on this ridge. The season was Fall. The trees in the foreground were in their full Fall color. The mist was constantly moving. It was a matter of waiting for the ridge to open in the mist before shooting a composition. I wanted to have the mist behind the ridge for better effect. Thus the stark evergreens appeared as ghostly images in the background.
I am a big fan of Ansel Adams work. Thus when the opportunity to capture a good black and white image comes along I start photographing. I have uploaded both the black and white photo and the original color photo so that you can compare. That is it for now. Thank you for stopping by. Until next time happy trails.
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Golden Light
Happy New Year everyone. The above photo is a story of light. Take away that light and you just have an ordinary photo. The first thing that the lighting does is make the little pine tree stand out from the background. I purposely kept this shot tight so as not to have the lighting become too overpowering. There is just a touch of mist. The small piece of rock helps to add depth along with some darker evergreens. The background is as if a painter took a brush and painted the evergreens a golden yellow. All of this is reflected in the water in the foreground.
How does this happen? Mid November, the sun is low on the horizon. This means that it is late in the day before this side of the lake sees any sunlight. On the left side of the photo is a fairly steep hill covered in Pine trees. right down to the waters edge. The morning sunlight filters through the trees to highlight the little pine tree and create the above composition.
Well that is it for this week. So until next week happy trails.
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Mystical
I first noticed this composition on our last trip last Fall into O S A Lake, Killarney Provincial Park. It was located behind our campsite on a trail that led into the interior of the island. You had to duck under the evergreen branches to get through. So with that in mind I kept a close watch on the scene. One morning there was some beautiful backlighting on the scene. Between the foreground and background is open water. There is some mist over the water.
My goal here was too create a mystical affect. Like if you step through a door into another world which is the far shoreline in the background. The foreground is the entrance and ducking your head under the sunlit evergreen branches takes you into a magical land. The reddish pine needles add a lot of color and contrast. There was a small green fern tipped with yellow on the right that I included to offset the red in the foreground. I framed the photo with highlighted evergreen branches. I kept the far shoreline slightly darker to add to the effect. The background has enough misty effect just so that you can see the colors on the trees.
I have been having technical difficulties with the size of my photos in my blogs lately. They will not appear as large as they normally do. I have been in contact with the wordpress folks and the issue is still not resolved. Oh well there is always something new to learn.
I have redone my Fine Art Prints page. There is more info there and I have added a Paypal button. Unfortunately it says donate. Due to some weird ideas at wordpress I can not use a normal Paypal button. Please hang in there until the issues are resolved. Well that is it for this week.Until next time happy trails.
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Sunlit Grass
Jan Winther and I were walking the shoreline of a small lake up the Westbranch.It was mid-morning.The wind was calm with mist rolling off the shores of this lake.Now this is a lake that is pretty much down in a hollow.The Tamarack trees are now bare.The lakes this far North are surrounded mostly by evergreens.
We are now into November,the days are shorter and cooler.The sun travels at a lower elevation now.This means the sunlight takes longer to penetrate through the trees on the hillsides during early morning.With that in mind,just close your eyes and envision a scene of a small lake in the Boreal Forest.The evergreens hug the shoreline.The sunlight is penetrating through the trees on the East side were the trees cascade down the hillside to the lake.There is mist covering the lake’s surface.There is no wind.The surrounding landscape is reflecting on the surface.This is a scene that I come across many times in my travels.To be there is a joy and to be able to photograph these scenes is a blessing.
With all that said Jan and I both turned and saw the sunlight highlighting the clump of grass protruding from the lake edge.There was mist moving slowly from the shore.The background was in shadow as the sun has not penetrated that area yet.I waded slowly out into the water.I wanted to make as little disturbance as possible for the scene was only ten feet from me.The tripod and Canon 7d was set up.I composed my shot,then waited for the water to calm down again and took my shot. I intentionally kept the background dark to keep the focus on the sunlit grass and mist.
Ken Bennison's Photography 