To the Balkans!

It's been many years since I took a nice vacation somewhere I have never been before, and the best part of it is that I finally get to meet a very special lady :) The flight leaves Calgary on the 4th of September and will arrive in Belgrade on the 6th.. The plan so far is to get a hotel for one or two days, and then just figure out where we want to go from there :) We have a few tentative plans but nothing concrete at this point so I will keep you updated as we go, and throw in a few pictures along the way!!

Scream

Scream
Originally uploaded by Mfitton

I thought I would post a pic again, and write some more about how this was taken...

The camera was set up on a 30 second exposure, and one of the other guys used his flashlight to 'paint' the light on the edges of the building while the shutter was left open... It was a cool trick i hadn't done before, and opens up a few ideas for me :)

Anyways, keep shooting and having fun!!
~mike

Photo Contests.... maybe not so good??

Think VERY carefully about entering magazine contests that offer you the world! It concerns me just a little bit about the many photography magazines that run photo contests with cool prizes just for uploading pictures you have taken, with a great chance of winning really cool stuff.

Professional photographers blogs that I have read recently have talked about magazines doing this and receiving images from photographers (Amateurs and Pro's alike)and then using them in an irrevocable, royalty-free, non-exclusive, worldwide perpetual license without compensation to the Photographer.

I would have given away my soul at one point to get my images in these "premium magazines", but not any longer...

It does appear that some will acknowledge you as the Photographer, but then they have the right to use YOUR images as they see fit...Forever, without any further compensation for all the hard work it may have taken to take the picture in the first place...

I don't want to name names, or mention the blogs I have read, so Google is your friend here. I only want to let people be aware of what "I" consider a real problem with contests. I am NOT a lawyer, so do your own homework first before entering ANY contests... most of them will have a "Legal" section that you must abide by...

This is a snippet of one such contest's rules:
===================================================
USE OF ENTRY: By submitting an entry, entrant grants Sponsor and its designees an irrevocable, royalty-free, non-exclusive, worldwide perpetual license to use the entry and his/her name, city and state of residence for credit purposes in Sponsor’s online galleries, without further compensation, notification or permission, unless prohibited by law. In addition, each winner grants to the Sponsor and its designees an irrevocable, royalty-free, non-exclusive, worldwide perpetual license to use and distribute the entry [(as submitted, or as cropped by Sponsor)], and his/her name, city and state of residence for credit purposes, in any and all media now or hereafter known, including without limitation in ****** magazine, for purposes of promotion of this Contest and other Sponsor contests and/or for purposes of advertising and promoting Sponsor and, except as otherwise stated herein, without further compensation, notification or permission, unless prohibited by law.
==================================================

Hibernating for the winter!

I'm using hibernation as an excuse for failing to update my blog in a timely manner...lol (sure sure)

Over the past few months I have been thinking of different ways to possibly wean myself off 'Normal' work and make a bit of money through photography. There are so many ways to do this, but I also have limited resources to do this myself. There are many people selling their photo's via Stock Agencies and I have been checking out some of them recently. There are VERY different view points to doing this. So I am at a bit of a dilemma at this point!

Some photographers are totally against this because of the fact that they have put a lot of hard work and expense into creating wonderful photographs that they can sell to companies or individuals at a premium price for the high image quality they produce.

The other camp is photographers that sell their images to 'Stock Agencies' and maybe get a few cents to a few dollars per image, but through volume, they stand to make a reasonable living from it.

I am leaning towards having a mixture of both types in my portfolio, since I'm starting to really enjoy taking wildlife photos for which I have already had a few people showing interest in some prints. As far as stock photos, I may just lean towards the simple, unusual type of images, and sell those on the stock agencies sites.

At this point I am not wanting to have a niche or category that I favour since there are so many cool things to photograph. I'll just keep on keeping on and do what I really love, taking pictures of everything I can...!

DPP_0092

DPP_0092
Originally uploaded by Mfitton

This shot of Cameron falls in Waterton National Park, Ab. was taken on a fairly cloudy day in amongst the trees, so the light wasn't too harsh from the sun. It allowed me to slow down the shutter speed to a couple of seconds to allow the water to flow smoothly without blowing out the light parts of the image.

The lens used was a Canon 50mm F1.8 prime, which I hadn't used a lot up until this point. I'm glad I did try it, as the effect was exactly what I was looking for. I wished now that I had composed it slightly to the left to include more of the water in the lower pool, but it gives me a chance to go back again..LOL



Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS
Exposure: 2 seconds
Aperture: f/22.0
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Flash: Off, Did not fire

DPP_0008

DPP_0008
Originally uploaded by Mfitton

This shot was taken using a Canon Rebel XS (1000d) , tripod and a Canon 75-300mm zoom to keep back from the splashing water. I had used a one second bulb exposure at:

Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 255 mm
ISO Speed: 100
White Balance: Tungsten

I then froze the image with a handheld Canon Speedlite 430EX11 on full power on camera right up close using the pilot button. All the lights were out in the room and the background was actually a "black" drop-cloth.

The setup was a blue bowl of water with a water fountain pump and the pipe leading from the pump was about 4 inches or so above the bowl. If you look closely at the bottom center of the picture, you can make out the tube. I had it burbling on a medium setting so it didn't splash too much, and each shot came out completely different!

~mike

Photography Tips coming soon!

Ssince I have started taking photographs, I have been asked how I set up the shot, and techniques used, so to give back to the photo community that has taught me all I know, I would like to explain how I did it.. stay tuned!

~mike

Inukshuks

Inukshuks
Originally uploaded by Mfitton

I love Inukshuks!!! Thanks to whoever built these at the top of Bears Hump in Waterton Park..!

Way Down

Way Down
Originally uploaded by Mfitton

On the way to the Waterton town site, you can turn right at the golf course and go about 16km to Red Rock Canyon. There is a nice walk around the main canyon section that offers some great views!

Writing on Stone Provincial Park

Writing on Stone Provincial Park
Originally uploaded by Mfitton

We were able to take a tour of a protected area of Writing on Stone Provincial Park, where they have a LOT of Petroglyph's from the past.

The earlier ones were done by the local Natives many years ago, and were partially defaced in the 60's by people who didnt have a clue to the heritage they were ruining for the future visitors.

Hence it is now a protected area. The local guide Sheldon was VERY informative and was able to show us the different glyphs in detail and what they meant :) All in all it was an awesome day out!!

Shianne

Shianne
Originally uploaded by Mfitton

Thank you Shianne for posing for the picture!! She is the youngest of the clan of my friend Sandra. Also a wonderful girl who's Mom can surely be proud of :)

Nataja

Nataja
Originally uploaded by Mfitton

Thank you Nataja for posing in this picture!! She is the wonderful daughter of my friend Sandra!! A girl any Mom can be proud of :)

Mother and Daughters

Mother and Daughters
Originally uploaded by Mfitton

The trip to the Crowsness Pass was a lot of fun :) My wonderful friend and her two awesome girls let me take some pictures of them along the way, and it turned out to be such a nice afternoon after a hard day at work :)

Birds of Prey Center

Birds of Prey Center
Originally uploaded by Mfitton

This beautiful Owl was part of the Birds of Prey Center in Coaldale, Ab. This Owl was like many there that were either injured or hurt, and are part of a rehabilitation program put on by many good volunteers!! Some will be allowed to go back into the wild, and some will remain permanent residents due to the injuries incurred..

I have 10 other pictures that are on my Flickr account from the same location and you can access them when you click on the image of the Owl..!

Enjoy :)

Goslings

Goslings
Originally uploaded by Mfitton

There was a proliferation of geese and the young gosling's this spring near the wetlands. This was part of the Lethbridge Photography Club field trip in Coaldale, Ab. Located right next to the Birds of Prey Center was this amazing wetlands area full of local birds!