Sunrise – heath ofee dot com

the tree

Heath OFee — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:18:14 +0000

Last Friday I embarked on a 4 day trip to Arizona where I met up with 4 great friends from around the US. We drove countless miles and saw some pretty amazing stuff – but I think the highlight of the trip was goofing around and shooting portraits in Sedona at sunrise. This is a frame of Jesse Pafundi from that morning.

Wicked good light.

Joshua Sunrise

Heath OFee — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:10:14 +0000

The best part of the one night I spent camping in Joshua Tree was when the sun started to come up and I was forced to get out my freezing cold sleeping bag and go take photos. Sub-freezing overnight temperatures ensured that I didn’t get any sleep, so the rush of finding some good sunrise compositions was a welcome bit of activity.

I’m sure that all six of us who were camping got a silhouette shot similar to this one at sunrise. There were just enough clouds on the horizon to create some interesting colour, and those Joshua Trees are just too cool to pass up as a foreground element.

Equipment:
– Canon EOS 5D Mark II
– Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L

It’s Glow Time

Heath OFee — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:10:19 +0000

Forgive the pun in the post title – I couldn’t help it

This is Quarry Lake in Canmore, AB at sunrise. Whenever I shoot mountains at sunrise or sunset, it’s always a bit of a surprise when sun gets to just the right angle to light up the mountain peaks. And then, of course, it’s a scramble to find all the compositions you want before that perfect light disappears.

Equipment:
– Canon EOS 5D Mark II
– Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L

Mountain on Fire

Heath OFee — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:10:50 +0000

Back to Quarry Lake in Canmore for my post today. While not a shot of the actual lake, this was the view off in the distance that I was treated with as the sun started to peek over the horizon. The glow on those mountains was out of this world – seeing colour like that makes getting up early for sunrise seem worth it every time.

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

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

Lake Cameron

Heath OFee — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 13:10:11 +0000

Last night I did my first bit of experimentation with luminosity masks which I’d heard of before but really had no idea what they were. Turns out, they’re a fantastic tool to help manually blend together multiple exposures for landscape photography. I didn’t do too much experimentation – just made a basic mask and applied it to two exposures to yield the result you see below…pretty sweet. If you’re looking to give it a try, this is the tutorial I used: Luminosity Masks. It was very easy to follow.

This shot is from Cameron Lake in Waterton Lakes National Park. Watching the sun rise over the mountains behind and left of the frame to illuminate the slopes on the far side of the lake was amazing. Nothing beats that golden light

Equipment:
– Canon EOS 5D Mark II
– Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L
– B+W 77mm 10-stop ND Filter

DUMBO Sunrise

Heath OFee — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:10:38 +0000

I must seem a little schizophrenic these days…photos from New York – Hawaii – New York – Hawaii. I just had such a great time in both places, and I love sharing how I saw both locations. Soooo…back to NYC today!

The one sunrise I caught while in New York was on the morning of the epic 18 hour photowalk with the now infamous photog crew that gathered there. We began the day in an area of Brooklyn called DUMBO which offers great views of the lower Manhattan skyline along with the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. While it would have been nice to have a few clouds in the sky, we were blessed with some wonderfully warm light as the sun started to come over the horizon. I think we call came away with some sort of composition with the light spilling onto this boardwalk with the Manhattan bridge in the background – but we all saw it slightly differently. This is my take.

Equipment:
– Canon EOS 5D Mark II
– Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L
– B+W 77mm 10-stop ND Filter

Lake Cameron Sunrise

Heath OFee — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 13:10:22 +0000

On my second day in Waterton Lakes National Park, I woke up early and drove to Cameron Lake (~16 km from the town of Waterton) to catch the sunrise. I got there just as light was starting to break, but the real show didn’t start until a hour after I arrived. Due to the fact that the mountains are so close to the lake, the sun didn’t light up the far slopes until well after it had started to rise. I’m glad I waited around for the light because watching that warmth hit the mountains you see in this image was well worth it.

Equipment:
– Canon EOS 5D Mark II
– Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L
– B+W 77mm 10-stop ND

Vermilion Sunrise

Heath OFee — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 13:10:01 +0000

It had been a long time since I last shot a sunrise, so when Rick and his gang suggested we hit the Vermilion Lakes just outside the Banff townsite, I was pretty excited. We awoke about an hour before the sun was to rise and made the longer-than-expected drive from Lake Louise back to the Vermilion Lakes. Unfortunately, the lack of clouds in the sky made the pre-dawn light a bit less than ideal, but as soon as the sun rose above the mountains the lakes were bathed in delicious golden light.

There were probably 8 or 10 photographers in this area when the sun came up all jostling for a few great compositions that were to be had with some rocks and tree stumps in the water. In an effort to avoid the crowd and find something unique, I ventured just a little ways away and found this little dock which I instantly loved. I spent a good amount of time framing a bunch of shots in this location and couldn’t be happier with what I came home with.

Equipment:
– Canon EOS 5D Mark II
– Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L
– LEE Filters Foundation Kit
– Lee 4×4 3-stop ND Filter

Off Duty

Heath OFee — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 14:25:13 +0000

Well, as I write this blog post the temperature is dropping here in Calgary, and we’re waiting for yet another dump of snow in what has felt like a never-ending winter. As terrible as the winter has been here, I know that a whole bunch of you have had a trying season as well, so I figured I’d post a nice sunrise shot from Mexico to warm us all up!

Canon EOS 50D, Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5, 10mm, F 7.1, ISO 100, 5 sec