creativescans

Long Exposure Photography

Here are a few quick tips when trying long exposure photography at night or during the day.

Use a solid tripod. A shaky tripod leads to blurry photos.

Set up the tripod on a solid surface. Solid ground or concrete or similar are best. Beware of setting up in sand or loose soil because the tripod legs can slip and move. Also be careful on bridges…they can shake when cars or trucks drive by or when people walk by.

If you have a UV filter on the lens you will be using take it off. You can sometimes get unwanted light reflections bouncing around between the filter and the front glass of the lens that can show up in your photos.

Turn off noise reduction. This is optional but I do this when photographing fireworks. If left on it slows down the in camera processing of photos which means waiting to take your next image.

Shoot in RAW. This gives you the best image possible and gives you the most control when editing your photos. Then save your image as a jpg when you want to share or upload your final image.

Use a remote cable to reduce camera shake. If you don’t have a cable release use the self timer available on most cameras. Using the self timer gives the camera time to settle before the shutter action.

Below are are a few examples of long exposure photography. All of these long exposure photos were done without the use of ND (neutral density) filter. I will write about them and that technique of long exposure photography another time.

YVR 2037 Master Plan Open House

YVR held an open house Wednesday October 12, 2016 to give the public another chance to provide feedback on the airport’s Master Plan and the airport’s future. As an avid plane spotter at YVR with an interest in all things aviation, I want to be involved with the ongoing conversations about plane spotting at YVR. So I made an effort to attend the event. For those of you who are interested you can find the complete master plan at http://www.yvr2037.ca

I was able to spend some time with a few of the YVR 2037 Master Plan project team members who were on hand to answer questions from the public; YVR CEO, Craig Richmond; Don Ehrenholz, Vice President, Engineering and Environment at YVR; Marion Town, Director of Environment at YVR; Christoph Rufenacht, Senior Engineer at YVR and Christopher Richards, Communications Specialist at YVR.

Some of the highlights of my time spent at the open house:

Speaking with CEO of YVR Craig Richmond and Marion Town, Director of Environment about the future of air travel and aircraft technology. Will there be private supersonic air travel in the future? Will there be a viable return of airships (or dirigibles) for cargo or passengers transport? Might there be a market for dirigibles that travel between North American and Europe to serve a market between fast airplane travel and slower cruise ships? We also reminisced about the fastest aircraft ever made, the SR-71 Blackbird. The SR-71 is a personal favorite of mine that I was lucky enough to see years ago at the Abbotsford Airshow. I also found out that Mr. Richmond has actually flown at or above Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound) back in his Air Force days. Pretty cool.

Speaking with Senior Engineer Christoph Rufenacht about the ongoing RESA (Runway End Safety Area) project was interesting. I learned that most RES areas at YVR will be load bearing and not the non-load bearing type. So these load bearing RESA areas can be used for taxiing aircraft but are not considered runways that aircraft plan to normally use during landing. In the future there will be a need for an additional runway at YVR so we touched on some of the things you need to consider when thinking about adding a new runway at YVR such as busiest times of day, air traffic patterns, demands on air traffic control, environmental issues along with cost and other factors. We also chatted about projects the airport may undertake in the more distant future such as an elevated taxi way on the east side of the airport. It was a really interesting discussion.

I spoke with Don Ehrenholz, Vice President, Engineering and Environment about a variety of topics including some interesting things that could be happening with luggage handling in the airport. How cool would it be to be able to track your bag in real time from the time you drop it off to the time you pick it up at your destination. This is something that the airport is looking at for the not too distant future. We also chatted about the possibility of robotic luggage handlers at airports in the distant future. Some pretty cool stuff.

I also spoke with Chris Richards in some detail about possible future plane spotting locations in and around the airport. There seems to be 3 locations being considered for an additional dedicated plane spotting platform/area. All of them look pretty good to me and provide a nice selection of places to spot (and photograph) aircraft coming and going at the airport. The airport is looking at making the “dirt pile” on the north side of the airport a proper spotting location as well as 2 possible sites on the east end of the airport between the north and south runways. No firm decisions have been made as of yet but it is exciting to think about what the future holds in terms of plane spotting at YVR.

It was a very informative open house and I look forward to seeing how YVR evolves in the future.

YVR 2037 Master Plan Open House

YVR CEO Craig Richmond at YVR 2037 Master Plan Open House

YVR 2037 Master Plan Open House

Do not harass the wildlife…

Quick story: I was out at Stanley Park photographing some fall colors and happened across a pair of raccoons checking out a trash bin looking for food. A young lady about 25-30 years old and her cycling partner stopped at this scene just after me. When the first raccoon went into the trash bin and disappeared I heard her say to her cycling partner; “I will get a stick and poke him out of there”. I said to both of them why would you do that? She said so that I can get a better look. I said no you will not do that. She said why not?! I said for one thing it is dangerous, they can and do bite, he will be out again in less than a minute and for another its just a stupid idea. They both cycled away without another word. Without poking any animals with a stick.

If you want to photograph wildlife do it from a respectful distance where you do not interfere with the animals. That is what zoom lenses are for.

As you can see by the photos the pair of raccoons did find something they found of interest.

Horse racing season almost finished..

My two thoroughbred race horses, Shooting Jacket and Merlot, are finished racing at Hastings Racecourse for this season. They are wintering in Aldergrove, BC. Merlot will be back in 2017 but not sure about Shooting Jacket.

Shooting Jacket had 9 starts. Finished first twice, second three times and third twice. Finishing top 3 in 7 of 9 starts. Pretty good if you ask me.

Merlot had 9 starts. Finished first once, second three times and third four times. Finished top 3 in 8 of 9 starts. Again, pretty good if you ask me.

It was a lot of fun being a race horse owner. Seeing a bit of what happens behind the scenes, talking with jockeys and trainers, visiting the paddock area and getting into the winners circle a few times was a lot of fun. I am not sure if I will sign up as an owner again next season but I have a few weeks to make that decision and will let you know what I decide to do going forward.

Merlot finishing 2nd at Hastings Racecourse, 2016.

Shooting Jacket winning a race at Hastings Racecourse. 2016

Happy World Tourism Day!

Happy World Tourism Day! Where will you visit next? For me I hope to visit Asia next.

Burnaby RCMP Open House

I went to the Burnaby RCMP and City of Burnaby public safety Open House this past weekend. My focus was mainly on the different departments of the RCMP that were at the event including:

The Bomb Squad, with one of the bomb squad robots and other equipment on display (see photo) The robot has at least 4 cameras, microphones and is able to grasp things with an extendable gripper.

The Forensic Identification Unit. They provided really interesting information on finger print analysis and other techniques they use to solve crimes.

Mobile Command Center (see photo): Allows the RCMP to be on scene for extended periods of time. The unit has every imaginable radio communication device you can think of (see photo) along with other supplies needed to be on site for multiple days.

Sheriff Prisoner Transportation (see photo): The vehicles have compartments for groups of people and a single occupancy cpmpartment in the vehicle. Males and females are kept apart during transport. The single occupancy section can be used for people who might be particularly aggressive or if they are drunk and feeling ill.

Burnaby RCMP Police Dog Services Demo: In chatting with the officers involved with the PDS, I found out that the dogs are trained for only one job in addition to suspect apprehension. A dog can be trained to detect bombs or drugs but not both. You don’t want a dog to give a false positive or mix up or miss a detection.

Also at the event was the Traffic Enforcement section and the BC Ambulance Service and some of the ERT team. It really was an interesting event. I just wish it was not pouring rain that day!

RCMP prisoner transport

RCMP ERT equipment

Community resource

Bomb squad robot

RCMP ERT vehicle

RCMP Emergency Command Unit

CN Police

RCMP Emergency Command Unit

Burnaby RCMP Police Dog Services Demo

YVR 2037 Master Plan Workshop

I recently attended the first of three YVR 2037 Master Plan Workshops at YVR. I view the 2037 Master Plan mainly from a plane spotter/aviation enthusiast point of view with an interest in the airport providing more plane spotting amenities. Here are a few thoughts:

The YVR Master Plan and workshops cover more than just plane spotting. They cover 6 key components; terminals, airside and airspace, ground access, environmental, amenities and land use. Creating new plane spotting areas touches on several of these areas. The airport had many top level people at the session actively involved in the discussions including Craig Richmond CEO of the airport, as well as people in charge of or with solid knowledge in the above 6 key areas. There were about 6 groups of a half dozen or so people in each group participating in the workshop. If we had questions, most if not all, got answered. If questions couldn’t be answered on the spot they would follow up at a later time. No concrete time lines are in place for any of the topics covered. These are sessions to discuss ideas for the near and medium future and give feedback about current and future aspects of the airport. The discussion guide is an interesting document to read. It can be found here:

http://www.yvr2037.ca/our-futurist/documents/3856/download

Plane spotting is specifically mentioned on page 27:

“Plane Spotting Platform: Design and construct a viewing area, just west of the Canada Post building, including parking, path and a covered plane spotting deck.”

And here:

“Plane Spotting Platform: Design and construct a plane spotting platform in the grassy area just north of the jetSet parking lot and west of the future North-South Taxiway.”

When plane spotting was brought up in our group here is some of what was brought up:

Provide a shuttle or some other means of transport to get to and from the spotting locations. Dedicated shuttle similar to the south terminal shuttle, or transit or maybe partner with the Canada Post Shuttle (that runs almost empty most parts of the day).

Connect spotting locations with bicycle paths and other Sea Island amenities.

Make the spotting locations camera friendly (no chain link fencing or glass to shoot through)

Have a covered area included in the spotting location.

Include toilet facilities at the spotting locations.

Put in a sidewalk to Larry Berg Flight Path Park from BCIT.

There is another opportunity to get involved and learn more about the future at the airport at the upcoming open house on Wednesday October 12, from 4pm to 8pm. It is being held at the Observation Area in the Domestic Terminal at YVR.

It was an interesting event to attend. Below are a few photos taken at the event. And here is a link so some of my aviation related images: https://www.flickr.com/photos/zorro1968/albums/72157646707011000

YVR 2037 Master Plan Workshop

Mobi Bike Share Vancouver

Mobi Bike Share started up in Vancouver recently. Think car share but with bikes. Full details on how to sign up, access and return the bikes are available on their website but basically you sign up, fill in some information to create an account, pick your plan, receive your user code and you are good to go. The service is geared for trips lasting less than an hour. If you plan on riding for longer than an hour or in a group like with family it is recommended you go to a traditional bike rental business (they have a list of places to rent biked for longer periods of time on their website).

I was walking by Canada Place recently and passed one of the Mobi Bike Share dock stations. (Eventually there will be 150 dock stations and 1500 bikes in the sytem.) When I passed by the station at around 3:30 pm it was pretty much full with bikes available to rent. On my way home around 6:30pm I passed the same dock station and most of the bikes available for rent were gone. (See photos.) The fact that most of the bikes were not at the station seems like a good sign that the idea and business are off to a good start.

So if you are in the downtown core and need a bike for short trips check them out.

Mobi Bike Share Vancouver

Another Race Day

One of my two horses Merlot, number 3 in the photos, ran this past holiday Monday. It didn’t start as a close race with the field strung out in a line, but the end of the race added some excitement in seeing who would come in 3rd and 4th. A win would elude us this day and we would finish a very close 4th. That’s racing.

Merlot (3) finished a close 4th

Merlot in the paddock before the race.

Sport event photography

I like photographing all types of events but I really enjoy sports photography. Partly because I am a sports fan and partly because sports photography is challenging in its own way.

I wanted to photograph the Gastown Grand Prix bicycle races earlier in July but missed them. I didn’t see any commercials or interviews on TV about the event or see anything about the races on the social media channels I follow…Twitter or Facebook. Lesson learned. Luckily for me there was another set of cycling races 2 days later on Friday in Poco (Port Coquitlam) as part of BC Super Week.

On Thursday evening I went through my usual routine of making sure my gear is ready for a full day of shooting. I clean all my lenses (both ends) and make sure the camera sensor is clean. I also make sure all my batteries (4 of them) have a full charge. And I decide which lenses and other accessories to bring with me to an event.

The night before (or earlier) I also check information about the event. Where is it exactly, when does it start and when does it end.

I try to get to the event early so I can see the layout and figure out where I want to shoot the event. For a cycling event I try and get images from multiple locations around the track. Corners can be a great spot to get images of the cyclists leaning into the corner. Accidents are more common at the corners of bicycle races so there is a chance you may get images of a racing mishap as well.

As far as camera settings go, I used a variety of settings depending on a lot of factors. For the shots of cyclists at the start line (not moving much, if at all) I used full manual settings. For shots of the cyclists during a race I used full manual trying to get the fastest shutter speed I could. This meant higher ISO as the day went on and the light started to fade, larger aperture (smaller f number) to get a faster shutter speed (bigger number). For some shots I also tried to drag the shutter slowing it down to a longer exposure to blur the image to try and convey a sense of speed.

I also set the camera to “shutter priority” during some parts of the races. Set your focus priority (continuous) and ISO and the shutter speed you want and the camera takes care of the aperture for you. This comes in handy when you don’t have time to change settings when conditions or what you are shooting is constantly changing.

So there you have a few tips on photographing a sports event. Enjoy!

Faat action

At the start line

Corner action

Long shutter speed to blur the image and convey speed