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Heath OFee — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 13:10:43 +0000

Sometimes the simple things are what satisfy most.

Linked Up

Heath OFee — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 14:25:40 +0000

So…I bought a new toy. A Fujifilm X100

I placed my preorder with my local camera store a few months ago, and due to the tragic earthquake and tsunami in Japan, my camera didn’t arrive here in Calgary until yesterday afternoon (about a month after it was expected). Thankfully, none of the workers in the Fujifilm factory that was affected by the tsunami were hurt or killed.

I brought up the idea of purchasing this camera with a handful of my twitter pals…and for the most part, they were skeptical of how much use I’d get out of a pricey compact with a fixed 35mm lens. I completely understood their concern, but I really had my heart set on this camera. I’ve always wanted something small that I can carry around with me everywhere without the need to lug around a bag full of gear, and the X100 seemed to fit the bill perfectly (plus, it looks fantastic!). I guess time will tell how much use I end up getting out of it.

I’ve been nursing a serious head cold for the past few days, and yesterday was probably the worst day so far…as a result, I didn’t spend too much time outside testing my new toy. I did get a few shots from the 10 minute walk around my neighbourhood…the first of which is below.

Fujifilm Finepix X100, Fujinon 23mm f/2.0, 23mm, F 2.0, ISO 200, 1/240 sec

As always, I used onOne PhotoTools (part of the onOne Perfect Photo Suite) to process this photo. If you’ve never used this amazing Photoshop plugin, I’d highly recommend it…almost every shot that hits this blog is touched by at least one onOne Software product. If you’re in the market for something like this, make sure you check out the ridiculous sale they’re having right now. The entire Perfect Photo Suite 5.5 is on sale for $349.95 from May 1 through May 15…that’s a savings of $150! You can’t go wrong.

Framed

Heath OFee — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 13:26:15 +0000

Finding a foreground element to use as a frame for the rest of an image is a cool way to add some extra interest to a scene. When I found this lone tree sitting behind a barbed wire fence, I knew immediately that I wanted to compose a shot like this. Finding that exact spot where I was able to get the tree right between the two middle strands of wire and still be able to include two fenceposts took a bit of moving around, but as soon as I had it composed I knew it was a winner. Hopefully you all agree!

Canon EOS 50D, Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5, 10mm, F 16, ISO 100, 5 Exposures

Golden Fields

Heath OFee — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 12:48:56 +0000

Sunset on the prairies can be a pretty magical sight…especially here in Alberta with all the wheat fields. When the sun is low in the sky, the golden light amplifies the natural golden colour of the wheat fields and makes them almost radiate with rich, warm tones. When I was on my way out to capture the harvest moon a couple weeks ago, I saw this fence with the old tire on the end and knew it would make a great foreground element for the brilliant golden fields beyond.

Canon EOS 50D, Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5, 14mm, F 16, ISO 100, 5 Exposures

Oil Derrick

Heath OFee — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 00:53:27 +0000

Being born and raised in Alberta, one quickly becomes accustomed to seeing oil derricks like the one below littered around the prairie landscape. Oil and gas has been the bread and butter of my province for countless years, and has been paying the bills in my family for more than 30 years as both my father and I work in the industry.

This will probably be my last post for a few days as I’m going in for laser eye surgery at noon today! I’m not terribly nervous yet, but I know I will be in a couple hours when I get to the clinic. Wish me luck, and I’ll catch up with all of you next week!

Canon EOS 50D, Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5, 10mm, F 16, ISO 100, 5 Exposures

Solitary

Heath OFee — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 13:33:28 +0000

Hope everyone had a great Labour Day long weekend. I was battling the tail end of a head cold all weekend and wasn’t terribly motivated to do much of anything on Saturday and Sunday. I felt a bit better yesterday and spent a large chunk of the day on a road trip to Brooks, Alberta to take some photos of the aqueduct. It’s a National Historic Site here in Canada and since it’s relatively close to Calgary (~2.5 hour drive) I thought I should probably pay it a visit and document it’s glory in HDR. Hopefully I’ll have some aqueduct photos for you all later this week, but for today I wanted to share one of the shots I took on the side of the highway while driving home from Brooks. I probably made about 5 or 6 stops on the way home to capture some great rural Alberta landscapes and I think this is one of my favourites (for now at least). I’ve always wanted to capture a scene with a lone tree but I had never been able to find one until yesterday. I was VERY excited.

Canon EOS 50D, Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5, 10mm, F 16, ISO 100, 5 Exposures

Aging Barbs

Heath OFee — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 22:16:18 +0000

I was up late last night with the intention of processing a ton of images, but as it turned out I spent most of my time on the one you see below. I knew from the start that I wanted a bit of a rustic look to it, but I had no idea that I would start experimenting with textures for the first time! Since I’d never added texture to a shot before it was a bit of a learning experience for me in Photoshop. After a decent amount of playing around with a bunch of different textures, the opacity slider and a gradient I felt I was happy with how the texture added to the look of the photo. I also threw a yellowish layer on top to give the photo a bit more of an aged look which I felt suited the content.

It’s always nice to try something new when processing an image…gets the old brain working in different ways. As much as I love online tutorials for learning how to do things like this in Photoshop, I’ve always thought the real learning comes from trying a few things, screwing up, and then trying again (which I did plenty of last night). I’m happy with how my first textured shot came out, but I’m open to some constructive criticism as well…please let me know what you think!

Canon EOS 50D, Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5, 10mm, F 11, ISO 100, 5 Exposures