night

Behind the Shot: New Year’s Eve in Whistler

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Happy New Year folks! In this BTS post I’m going to be talking about a nightscape photo of the Whistler, BC, that was taken right as the clocks ticked over into 2018. Equipment Used for this Shot Canon 5D Mark IV Canon 24-70 f/2.8 L II Really Right Stuff TVC-24L with BH-55 ballhead Lexar Professional 128GB CF Cards Adobe Lightroom CC Having just returned from a two-week vacation over the holiday period the day before, I decided to get right back to work on December 31st. Mountains of fresh snow had just fallen in the valleys around my home town …

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Behind the Shot: Milky Way Surprise

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This photo of the Milky Way rising over Wedge Mountain in Whistler had a little surprise in it when I looked closely through my shots on a computer. What at first might appear to be a shooting star in the centre of the frame, is in fact called an Iridium Flare, and it’s caused by sunlight bouncing off the solar arrays of a passing satellite! It’s the first time I’ve ever captured a photo of this phenomenon, so I thought it would be a fun one to share. Equipment Used for This Shot Canon 5D Mark IV Canon 24-70 f/2.8 …

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Behind the Shot: Space Canvas Star Trail

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This week we’re taking a closer look at this start trail image that I took in the Callaghan Valley near my home of Whistler in British Columbia. Find out how you can make this kind of photo, too!

Behind the Shot: Blood Moon Rising

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Canon 5D Mark III with Canon 200-400 f/4 A Blood Moon is the name given to a specific type of lunar eclipse where The Moon turns a dramatic orange colour at the point of total eclipse.  A so-called Super Moon is a full moon that occurs at the point in The Moon’s orbit where it is closest to The Earth. In 2015, these two events coincided with each other to produce a “Blood Super Moon”, something which won’t happen again until 2033! I’ve previously shared a tutorial I created on how to shoot a lunar eclipse, and I set out again this

Getting Out Of The Dreaded Creative Rut

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It happens to all of us, sometimes you’re just not feeling it.  You look at the growing pile of photography gear in your cupboard and for all the lenses, toys and gadgets you just can’t think what to create next.  A change of routine is a good way to jolt your inner muse but a sudden change of scenery can also do wondrous things.  A few weeks ago I had a 5 day gap before Christmas and I had no particular photographic plans.  On a whim I thought about leaving the country and before I knew it (the next day)

Behind the Shot: Lions Gate Bridge, Vancouver

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There’s an interesting compositional trick used in this shot, and it’s NOT the “rule of thirds”. Can you tell what it is? Read on to find out why my angle to the bridge really mattered.

Behind the Shot: Night Racing at Le Mans

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The Le Mans 24 Hours is without a doubt, one of the most incredible sporting events in the world. Every summer over a quarter of a million people descend on Circuit De La Sarthe in Le Mans, France, for the greatest motor race on the planet. National Geographic even called it the #1 event on the planet! The cars and drivers battle for a continuous 24 hour period around a race track that is partly made up of local roads, and partly a modernized F1-style facility. From a photographic standpoint the race delivers many challenges because of its length, and

Behind the Shot: Milky Way and Meteors

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Some of you might know that every August the earth passes through the trail of a comet and we experience a meteor shower know as Perseids. This image of a meteor streaking through the sky was shot during an August Perseid storm and with the help of a little luck, I really like how it turned out. Whenever you’re shooting the night sky, you need to find something else to include in the shot to help ground the whole scene and give things some scale. This can be something in the near foreground like the trees in this shot, or