One Click » Dan Carr Photography - Photography Product Reviews and Tutorials

One Click: Macro Snow

Feb 222013

This image was shot using the very special Canon MP-E 65mm Macro lens which can magnify objects up to 5X size relative to the cameras sensor. It was mounted to a Canon 5D MKIII which in turn was mounted onto a Really Right Stuff B150-B Macro rail , the whole setup was atop a Really Right Stuff BH-40 on my trusty carbon fiber Really Right Stuff TVC-24L tripod legs.

Now I also own the Canon 100mm IS macro but that only goes to 1X magnification which would have shown the whole crystal. I wanted to get in even closer and there really is no other lens like this one in that regard. Even stacking extension tubes on the 100mm macro will only get you to about 3X magnification so 5X is unpresedented and to my knowledge nobody but Canon makes a lens like this. It is a lot of fun when you get it right! But fair warning….. it’s also one of the hardest lenses to use. A macro rail such as the B-150 is an absolute must because it has no focus ring on the lens, you can only focus by moving the lens which in this case is done by rotating the dial on the macro rail

One Click – Hurricane Sandy Hits New York

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Oct 302012

I was in New York this week for some meetings at PhotoPlus Expo. I found myself stranded in Manhattan after all the transportation shut down so I sat tight at my hotel for a while and watched things unfold on the TV and from my window. It became evident pretty quickly that Manhattan was going to be hit a lot harder then anyone had expected due to incredible tide surges. The previous all time record from the 1800s was 11ft and Hurricane Sandy brought 14ft heights in no time at all. Coastal cities in New Jersey were expected to suffer but nobody though that huge sections of the FDR in Manhattan would go under water and some parts of the subway system filled right to the to top with water. It was a sobering sight to see on TV and watch the number of emergency vehicles rushing around otherwise deserted streets from the window. After some time I got photographers itch….. with rain falling hard and no proper wet weather gear with me (hey I hadn’t planned on this!) I knew if I was to make some photos it would have to be close to my hotel, especially since the roads had been cleared of all transport so it was foot traffic only. Walking the streets was eerie, there were people but not many. Far more cops than anyone else. I set off for Time Square and decided that a photo of such an iconic place, so famous for being bustling with people and life, would make an interesting image on a night like tonight where there was sure to be very few people.

I used the new Canon 24-70 f2.8 MkII on my Canon 5D MK3and put the whole thing onto a Really Right Stuff TVC-24l tripod which I kept low, only 12 inches off the ground to accentuate the reflections on the pavement. I used HDR, which I hardly ever do, but this sort of scene just screams for it. It was processed in HDR-Effex 2.0 from Nik Software. The only cars you see in the background are police cars and there isn’t another sole on the street here. It’s a very strange site to see and it might be unique, a once in a lifetime shot. I took off my jacket and wrapped it around my camera to protect it from the torrential rain which meant I was soaked to the skin in just a few minutes and back in my hotel not long after that to dry out and warm up.

Equipment Used

One Click – Aurora

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Oct 152012

Last week a G2 geomagnetic storm caused extreme auroral activity in the Northern Hemisphere. The aurora borealis or ‘Northern Lights’ was visible to many people at far lower latitudes than normal and that included my hometown of Whistler, BC. Here in Whistler we get to see the lights a few times a year but this particular storm coincided with perfect conditions for photographing them. A small and late rising moon meant the sky was dark and calm weather meant almost no breeze and a clear sky. I spent almost 5 hours out watching this incredible spectacle and it really was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. I’ve posted my favorite image below which is a 2-shot panorama shot with a Canon 5D MKIII and a 17-40 f4 L lens on a 30 second exposure. I’ve also posted a slideshow of some other images which you can find in this gallery here as well.

Canon 5D MKIII , Canon 17-40 f4 L , 2-Shot pano

Equipment Used

One Click – Fire Sky

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Oct 052012

Sunsets can make great subjects but they can also be a bit cliche as well. It’s nice when you get one that is a bit more unique like this one which has so many different colors in it. More often than not sunsets will be predominantly orange or red or purple but this one featured all of the above when I shot it right from my deck in Whistler last night. I didn’t even have time to grab a tripod as it was such a spontaneous thing to stop eating my dinner and just grab the Canon 5D MK3 and 24-70 f2.8 L II that were sitting next to me. In Lightroom I bumped up the various color channels a touch and brought back the shadows a tiny bit to create that tonal gradient between the far mountains and the closer foothills in the foreground.

1/120 , iso600 , f6.3

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One Click – Lions Gate

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Sep 212012

Canon 24-70 f2.8 L II , Canon 5d Mark 3 70 seconds, iso 100 , f11

I shot this on a whim last night. I was down in Vancouver meeting up with some people from Blurb Books who were doing a seminar that afternoon. On the way back up to my home in Whistler I ducked into Stanley Park and looked for some opportunities to test my new Canon 24-70 f2.8 L II. Love the colors and love the shimmering feel of choppy water on a long exposure.

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One Click – Night Curve

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Sep 062012

1/1000 , f4.5 , iso3200 Canon 5d MarkIII , Canon 300mm f2.8 L IS

Shot at Le Mans this year, about an hour before sunrise at the bottom of the Dunlop Curves. The thing to note about this image is that it was shot at iso 3200 which is pretty high. But even in this small size I’m sure you can see that this is a very clean image from the 5D MarkIII. This was shot in AI Servo focus mode, though with Canon’s latest cameras that is only half the story given the infinitely customizable options of the new AF system!

In terms of creating the shot I wanted to maintain the sweep of the inside of the corner right into the corner of the image. I think it helps to imagine the cars zooming out of the picture and on down the track. Given the human propensity to read images left to right it also gives a pleasant starting point and leads the eye right to the car. I also wanted another car in the background, this is a race after all, and other cars show that. I shot at this spot for a while trying to get this shout though as the car at the back needed to be in just the right spot, not partially covered by the car in the foreground.

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One Click – Backcountry Big Air

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Aug 312012

1/2000, f8, iso 320 with a Canon 300mm f2.8 L IS on a Canon 1D MK4

This image was taken on the Pemberton Ice Cap. We accessed the location by snowmobiling out there and it took about an hour to get up here from the car park on the side of the highway. Every year the snowpack forms a slightly different shape and this was the first time it had been right to build a jump in this spot. Dane Tudor is the skier and we were filming for a skiing movie produced by Poorboyz productions. Dane’t trajectory will actually take him to landing down beneath the snow overhang in the left side of the image so he has a long way to go yet in this picture.

I shot in manual exposure, carefully watching the histogram and walking a tight line between loosing detail in the backlit snow surface. It’s always a tricky exposure when things are this bright but I was able to preserve most of the important details in the undulations of the snow.

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One Click – Nine Queens , Winning Image From Austria

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Aug 222012

Back in March of this year I was invited to a photo contest in Austria alongside a freeskiing competition. Four photographers were chosen to attend and we spent the week shooting the skiing action as sunrise, sunset and night time. At the end we submitted our photos and various prizes were handed out. This image here won the main award for Best Action Image. The skier in the shot is American, Keri Herman. It was shot about an hour after the sun had gone down behind the mountains but dragging the shutter still revealed some glow to highlight the mountain peaks in the background. I lined up the purple lights as best I could to mirror the peaks of the mountains in the back. Several colored hot lights are positioned at the obstacle and then I have an Elinchrom Ranger RX in the background fired with a Pocketwizard on a Impact Lightstand and also a Paul C Buff Einstein strobe on the jump aiming at the skier. The image was shot with my trusty Canon 17-40 and Canon 1D Mark IV. It’s a pretty complex setup and I’m glad it turned out just right and was so happy to win Best Action.

f8 , ISO500 , 1/50 second with a Canon 17-40 @40mm and Canon 1dMKIV

I also won the prize for Best Creative Angle……. but I’ll save that shot for another day.

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