Sigma – heath ofee dot com

Clouds and Bales

Heath OFee — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 22:14:32 +0000

Living on the prairies lends itself to some pretty good photography opportunities, and sometimes I think I take my proximity to wide open farmland for granted. If I hit the road and drive for 30 minutes south, east, or west of where I live I quickly find myself surrounded by soft rolling hills and patchwork farmland as far as the eye can see. I decided I’d try to capture some of this iconic Alberta landscape yesterday afternoon.

Hay bales are such a common sight along these country roads and I’ve always felt they make for great photographic subjects. I took a number of shots at the same location you’ll see below, but it wasn’t until I trespassed a bit more than I would have liked and got nice and close to this bale that I was really happy with the composition. Having one bale as a prominent foreground element was key.

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

Conference Lounge – MGM Grand

Heath OFee — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 21:48:38 +0000

I was in Las Vegas for the very first time in May and we stayed at the MGM Grand. Not only was this my first time in Vegas, but it was also my first trip anywhere since I started shooting HDR in January of this year. Needless to say I was extremely excited about all the amazing photo opportunities I knew I would have, but I was also a bit nervous (and self-conscious) about carrying my camera/tripod setup with me everywhere since I’d never done that in such a public place before. I hope I’m not the only one who felt this way the first time they walked through a busy hotel or down a busy street with camera on tripod, legs extended just looking for a cool shot! After the first day of exploring and shooting I was feeling much better about things and was almost feeling confident…until the first time I got kicked out by security. Well maybe not kicked out altogether, but I was definitely told my tripod was not welcome…so I asked if I could shoot handheld…of course that was forbidden as well. Crap. Back to feeling like I’m some weirdo with a tripod.

To be fair, this was only one of two times I was told I couldn’t use my tripod in any of the hotels in Vegas, and the vast majority were more than welcome to accommodate me. But it’s those few bad experiences that stick with you. So…if any of you have some good tricks for getting in under the radar or how to approach security about permission to shoot I’m all ears!

One very early morning (4 AM) while staying at the MGM Grand, I went downstairs and explored as much of the hotel as I could before it got too busy. Eventually I made my way down a long corridor past the pool and ended up in the conference center which is absolutely enormous! We definitely don’t have hotels with conference centers like that here in Calgary. After snapping a few brackets in the main lobby area I made my way upstairs to where they have some of the smaller conference rooms…and stumbled into this really cool lounge type area. Anyway, enough rambling. Here’s the shot:

Canon EOS 50D, Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5, 10mm, F 8.0, ISO 100, 3 Exposures

Storm Over New Brighton

Heath OFee — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:39:30 +0000

Recently we’ve been getting some pretty dramatic looking clouds and storms over Calgary, but because I have to get up ridiculously early for work I haven’t been staying up late enough to catch these storms during sunset. Inspired by Mike Olbinski, who has some amazing storm photos, I decided it was worth the loss of sleep and ventured out last Thursday night to get me some brackets!

I live in a relatively new suburb so there is still plenty of open space and construction going on and I knew just where I could find a good vantage point to see this storm…it was just luck that there was some tall wavy grass growing on the hill that happened to make for a perfect foreground. I thought about masking in one of the originals to keep the grass looking a bit more stationary, but I kinda like the flowing feel that the windswept grass gives. Hope you enjoy!

Canon EOS 50D, Sigman 10-20mm f/3.5, 10mm, F 16, ISO 100, 3 Exposures

The details: 3 exposure HDR tonemapped in Photomatix, Lightroom for catalogue, color, contrast, Noiseware for noise control.

Moyie Lake

Heath OFee — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:09:23 +0000

A few weeks ago some buddies of mine and I went on our 2nd annual boys golf trip. The first year we took advantage of Brei’s family cabin in Invermere and this year we switched it up and went to Jeff’s place right on Moyie Lake. His cabin is absolutely fantastic and he’s right on the water which made nights by the campfire just that much more picturesque. Between rounds of golf and playing poker I managed to find a few extra minutes to set down my beer and rattle off a few brackets of the lake right around sunset one night. This set of brackets was handheld at f/3.5 and ISO 250 using my Sigma 10-20mm, and I’m actually pretty surprised at how well it turned out!

Canon EOS 50D, Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5, 10mm, F 3.5, ISO 250, 3 Exposures

The details: 3 handheld exposure HDR tonemapped in Photomatix, Lightroom for color, contrast, Noiseware for noise control.

The Ranche

Heath OFee — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 21:30:49 +0000

Well, Stampede week is coming to a close here in Calgary and it was a pretty slack one at work. The office was virtually empty by noon each day which meant I was able to get out early almost all week. I managed to use some of that time to head out and take some much needed photos! Growing up in the southwest of Calgary, I frequented Fish Creek Park quite a bit and became quite familiar with a lot of it. One area I never made it to was the Bow Valley Ranch, so I decided to make a trip there after work this past Thursday. It turned out to be a great spot to snap some brackets for HDR…especially the ranch itself which has been turned into a very nice restaurant simple called ‘The Ranche’. I won’t give you the whole history here but if you’re interested you can read all about by following this link.

Canon EOS 50D, Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5, 13mm, F 9.0, ISO 100, 4 Exposures

The details: 4 exposure HDR tonemapped in Photomatix 3, Lightroom for color, contrast, clarity, sharpening, Photoshop for layer masking, Noiseware for noise control.

Columns and Couches

Heath OFee — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 16:37:45 +0000

On my trip to the mountains a while back, I probably spent a good couple of hours walking around the Chateau Lake Louise looking for interesting spots to shoot. The architecture and vibrant colors in the hotel make it an absolute joy to capture, and I’m sure most of you have seen the previous photos I’ve published from my time at the Chateau. This shot was taken upstairs almost directly above the main lobby. The columns, fireplace and corner bench couches made this huge sitting room a must to photograph. I can just picture skiers who have come back to the Chateau sitting here in front of the fireplace chatting about the day with a nice warm cup of hot chocolate or coffee…hmmm…maybe I’ll have to do that next winter! Hope you enjoy it:

Canon EOS 50D, Sigman 10-20mm f/3.5, 10mm, F 8.0, ISO 100, 3 Exposures

The details: 3 exposure HDR tonemapped in Photomatix, Lightroom for color, contrast, clarity, Noiseware for noise control.

Iconic Reflection in Palliser South

Heath OFee — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 00:45:49 +0000

Anyone who has been to Calgary knows that the most iconic building (to date) is, of course, the Calgary Tower. Although not the tallest tower in the city, its distinctive shape and red cap make it instantly recognizable. While walking back to my car from work a few weeks ago I noticed that on a clear day the Calgary Tower produces an almost full reflection of itself in the new Palliser South building…I instantly knew that I had to come back with my camera to capture the scene. Conveniently, the deadline for the 2010 Buildex Calgary Photo Competition was swiftly approaching and I wanted a couple extra photos to enter. So on my downtown photowalk a couple weeks ago I made sure to capture this really cool scene…hope you like it!

Canon EOS 50D, Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5, 13mm, F 9.0, ISO 100, 3 Exposures

The details: 3 exposure HDR tonemapped in Photomatix, Lightroom for catalogue, color, contrast, clarity, Noiseware for noise control.

Device to Root Out Evil – Dennis Oppenheim

Heath OFee — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 17:18:30 +0000

I took the day off work yesterday and went for a decent photowalk downtown early in the morning. I got a few really cool shots of the new Palliser South building which I’ll share next week, but today I want to show you all an awesome outdoor art installation in Ramsey. This piece is called “Device to Root Out Evil” by Dennis Oppenheim. Until a couple of years ago the piece was in Vancouver, but it was brought out to Calgary by the Glenbow Museum and placed in a small grassy area in Ramsey (just off Spiller Road on 24th Ave). The clouds were just awesome when I showed up there yesterday morning so I had a ton of fun shooting this amazing piece of art. I hope you like the finished product below…I’ll probably share a couple more shots in the future.

Canon EOS 50D, Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5, 10mm, F 11, ISO 100, 3 Exposures

The details: 3 exposure HDR tonemapped in Photomatix, Lightroom for contrast and clarity, Noiseware for noise reduction.

Oh, I have to throw out a hat tip to Chelsey over at Wishing Star Photography who brought this cool piece of art to my attention. Thanks Chelsey!

Vegas City Centre

Heath OFee — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 13:55:59 +0000

This is another one of my favorites from our trip to Las Vegas last month. The new Vegas City Centre complex is very cool and I didn’t spend nearly as much time there as I would have liked to (although I have a feeling I would have been given a hard time trying to take photos there with my tripod without permission). This shot was taken from across the street on the busy corner just outside Planet Hollywood. As usual, it was a pretty busy night on the streets of Vegas and there were dozens of people on the corner waiting to cross the street while I was patiently setting up and taking this shot. Before I got there with my tripod nobody was taking the time to snap any photos of this scene…but after I got my gear all set up there were at least 3 or 4 others taking photos with their point-and-shoots of the same scene! Funny how people assume that if some random guy is taking a photo of something with a big tripod setup it must be a good photo opportunity…for all they know I could be the worst photographer in the world! Anyway…let me know what you think of this one:

Canon EOS 50D, Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5, 15mm, F 7.1, ISO 100, 3 Exposures

The details: 3 exposure HDR tonemapped in Photomatix, Lightroom for color, contrast, clarity, spot removal, Photoshop for layer masking and a bit of smudging, Noiseware for noise control.

Chateau Lake Louise Sitting Room with a View

Heath OFee — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 12:54:07 +0000

This was one of the last places I visited during my last trip to the Chateau Lake Louise and I’m very happy that I did. I was pretty sure this would make a decent HDR photo because of the very dramatic difference in light levels between the view through the window and the ambient light in the hotel. I just processed this one last night and I’m quite happy with the results…when I look at this photo I feel like I’m back at the Chateau looking at that beautiful view! Let me know what you think:

Canon EOS 50D, Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5, 10mm, F 8.0, ISO 100, 5 Exposures

The details: 5 exposure HDR tonemapped in Photomatix, layer masking in Photoshop, contrast, clarity, sharpening in Lightroom, noise reduction in Noiseware.