Nature – heath ofee dot com

Nature….and Rory

Heath OFee — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 14:00:30 +0000

Brei and I decided to take Rory on her first little hike up to Elbow Falls last week – and I took a few pictures.

Be There

Heath OFee — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:17:59 +0000

Yesterday I treated myself to an all day, sunrise to sunset shoot in the Rocky Mountains. I feel like I neglected the amazing scenery I live so close to again this summer, so I thought one last day in the mountains before it starts getting really cold was necessary.

I didn’t really have any set plans as to where I was going except for sunrise. I picked Quarry Lake in Canmore as my first location because it wouldn’t take me too long to get there and I’d never shot there before. I arrived well before sunrise and did a bit of scouting for locations. Once I found my spot it felt like ages until that amazing glow started to appear on the mountains – but it was worth it. I know I got some great stuff of the frozen lake and mountains – but one of the coolest shots I think I got was the one you see below. It was 100% a case of ‘F8 and Be There’. While my other body was capturing some long exposures, I had my second body in hand rattling off some single frames of the amazing colours. At one point I saw a bird out of the corner of my eye, so I wheeled, framed, and fired and managed to capture it’s silhouette against the fiery clouds. Not an epic landscape, but a frame I’m very pleased with nonetheless.

I’ll likely start showing some of the lake photos from the day I’m calling ’12 hours, 6 lakes, 3 cameras, 1 man’ (cheesy, I know ;)) next week. Stay tuned!

Equipment:
– Canon EOS 50D
– Canon 24-105mm f/4L

Orange

Heath OFee — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 13:10:05 +0000

I passed this creek on the side of the TransCanada Highway at least twice on my trip to BC a couple weekends ago. I made a mental note to make sure I stopped to shoot it on my way home, and I’m very glad I did. I only fired off a few shots as the composition options were limited due to the fact that the creek was right on the side of the highway, but I’m very pleased with what I got.

Including an interesting element into the foreground of a photograph can add a great bit of punch to a shot, and is sometimes overlooked. I was lucky to spot this huge orange rock and be able to incorporate it into my frame. Next time you’re out shooting, look for something interesting to place in the foreground of your frame to add some extra interest.

Lead the Way

Heath OFee — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 13:10:01 +0000

One of the stops I made on the way home from Golden, BC this past weekend was at Wapta Falls. From the parking area, it’s about a 3km hike to get to the very impressive falls, and on the way back to my car I decided to slap on the 50mm, set it to f/1.4 and see what I could come up with. I had a great time experimenting with how to make the shallow depth of field work in that environment, and I came away with a few shots that I’m happy with. It can be very rewarding to limit yourself to a single lens or focal length while on a shoot. It forces you to think a bit differently and get out of your comfort zone.

Alien Abstract

Heath OFee — Mon, 30 May 2011 13:55:38 +0000

While driving to Invermere a couple weekends ago, I noticed a large pool of standing water in the ditch on the side of the highway. The pool was directly underneath an interesting rock formation, so I made a note to myself (and my wife) that I needed to head back to that location with my gear the next day. What you see below is the result. The pool provided a perfect reflection of the rock above, and I felt that an abstract crop worked well with the subject.

I hope all my American friends remember and enjoy the Memorial Day holiday.

That’s Some Pine Bokeh!

Heath OFee — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 22:31:01 +0000

I know…the title is brutal, and I’m not even sure if this is a pine or spruce tree. Oh well, a bad pun never hurt anybody This shot is a bit of a departure from the norm for me…it’s not HDR and it was not shot with my super wide angle lens. For a portion of my walk around the McLean Creek Pond last weekend I slapped my 50mm f/1.4 on my camera to change my perspective a bit. The 50mm is a great lens and I love playing around with the super shallow depth of field it affords. I’m going to have to make a point to use this lens more often because every time I come home after shooting with it, I’m amazed with the results.

Canon EOS 50D, Canon EF 50mm f/1.4, 50mm, F 1.4, ISO 100, 1/400 sec

Pathway to the Falls

Heath OFee — Thu, 27 May 2010 02:57:05 +0000

Wow, is spring/summer ever busy! I don’t think we have a free weekend from now until the end of June…crazy. Needless to say, I haven’t been out shooting too much in the last week because things have been so busy. While I try to find some more inspiration, here’s a photo from my trip up to Johnston Canyon a few weeks ago. This was probably half-way up the trail to the falls and I thought the curving pathway and trees made for a pretty cool scene. Let me know what you think:

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

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