Victoria at Night - Victoria, BC (Part 7)

From 7/17/2013 to 8/2/2013, I took a road trip from the SF Bay Area to Vancouver, BC, Canada. Half of the trip was spent driving up the west coast. On my trip, I visited many famous places such as Seattle, Butchart Gardens, Mount Rainier, and much more. Obviously I got many coastal shots and many places that isn't as famous. The reason I am posting it now is because the high amount of photos I took equaled a high amount of processing time. I took a bit over 2000 photos on the trip. After stitching the panoramas, compositing the HDRs, and picking out photos from the repeats, I have a bit over 1000 photos to show you guys. The photos will be split into parts. I will link you to the previous and next parts on each post just like I did with my Death Valley National Park photos and my Yellowstone/Grand Teton National Park photos. Hope you enjoy viewing  this chain of posts!

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To view my best sunset and night time Victoria photos from this trip, use this link. To view all of my day 6 photos, use this link.

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Here is part 6 of Victoria, BC. All the photos for today are night time long exposures in downtown.

Long exposure of Victoria, BC. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 48 25 21 N 123 22 10 W   

Long exposure facing the tourism center. Photo shot at the same location as above. 

Long exposure facing the Fairmont Empress Hotel. Shot from the same location as above. 

 Another photo facing the Fairmont Empress Hotel. I shot it as the moon rose above the building. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 48 25 22 N 123 22 11 W

 Long exposure of Victoria. I'm surprised the sunset was still a bit visible. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 48 25 21 N 123 22 08 W  

A long exposure of the British Columbia Legislature Building. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 48 25 13 N 123 22 10 W  

A straight on long exposure of the British Columbia Legislature Building. I mixed in some flash to light up the walk way in the front as it was dark. I shot around 5 exposures trying to find a good mix. This one turned out the best. The security guards were staring at me wondering what I was doing. LOL

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 48 25 13 N 123 22 12 W  

 Long exposure of the Undersea Gardens in Victoria, BC. I hear the business has closed down. Should have visited them when I had the chance. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 48 25 15 N 123 22 12 W

Now facing the Fairmont Empress Hotel which is on the right. Shot from same location as above. 

Long exposure of downtown. Shot from same location as above.  

 One of the best photos from this trip in my opinion. Photo is of the Fairmont Empress hotel and its reflection. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 48 25 16 N 123 22 14 W  

Photo of the Undersea Garden in Victoria, BC. Shot from the same location as above. 

These are all the photos for today. I hope you have enjoyed viewing them. Next time I will continue with photos from Chemainus, BC. Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

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Copyright Warning: These photos are some of my best and most popular works of art. Unauthorized usage and reproductions are strictly prohibited. Please contact me here to purchase prints and negotiate photo licenses.

Chinatown/Downtown Sunset/Night - Victoria, BC (Part 6)

From 7/17/2013 to 8/2/2013, I took a road trip from the SF Bay Area to Vancouver, BC, Canada. Half of the trip was spent driving up the west coast. On my trip, I visited many famous places such as Seattle, Butchart Gardens, Mount Rainier, and much more. Obviously I got many coastal shots and many places that isn't as famous. The reason I am posting it now is because the high amount of photos I took equaled a high amount of processing time. I took a bit over 2000 photos on the trip. After stitching the panoramas, compositing the HDRs, and picking out photos from the repeats, I have a bit over 1000 photos to show you guys. The photos will be split into parts. I will link you to the previous and next parts on each post just like I did with my Death Valley National Park photos and my Yellowstone/Grand Teton National Park photos. Hope you enjoy viewing this chain of posts!

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To view my best sunset and night time Victoria photos from this trip, use this link. To view all of my day 6 photos, use this link.

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Today I return to Victoria, BC. Here is part 5 of Victoria, BC, Canada. The photos will include sunset photos and night photography from Chinatown and Downtown Victoria.

I first start off with a few shots from Chinatown in Victoria, BC. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 48 25 41 N 123 21 52 W  

Chinese Public School

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 48 25 46 N 123 21 56 W  

Big Pearl

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 48 25 45 N 123 22 00 W  

 Giant gate in Chinatown.

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 48 25 45 N 123 22 01 W

After eating dinner in Chinatown, I headed back to Downtown Victoria for some sunset and night photos. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 48 25 33 N 123 22 12 W  

Long exposures at dusk.

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 48 25 33 N 123 22 12 W  

 Another sunset photo. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 48 25 32 N 123 22 12 W 

 Long exposure at dusk near a Microsoft store. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 48 25 30 N 123 22 11 W

Long exposure facing the British Columbia Legislature Building which is off in the distance. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 48 25 27 N 123 22 11 W 

Another sunset shot. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 48 25 24 N 123 22 10 W  

Deeper into downtown, a photo of the Fairmont Empress Hotel. 

Approximate GPS location (type into Google) according to the Canon GP-E2 GPS Receiver: 48 25 22 N 123 22 09 W  

Long exposure facing the British Columbia Legislature Building. Photo shot from same position as above. 

These are all the photos for today. I hope you have enjoyed viewing them. Next time I will have more night photography from Victoria, BC, Canada. Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

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Foster City Independence Day 2013 (Fireworks)

Independence Day, or Fourth of July, is a federal holiday where Americans celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence in July 4th, 1776 which declared the US independence from Great Britain. Many Americans (and non-Americans) celebrate by shooting off and watching fireworks, having barbecues, carnivals, fairs, picnics, political speeches, and many other activities. I spent the 2013 4th of July in Leo J. Ryan Park at Foster City, CA. I took photos of the fireworks, the event, and some scenery. I will be splitting the photos of this event into several blog posts. If you would like to see 2012 (last year) fireworks show in Foster City, you can check it out here.

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. If you are interested, please select one of the links below.

• Sunset and Night Photography (Best Photos)
• Foster City 4th of July 2013 (Best Photos)
• Foster City 4th of July 2013 (All Photos)

Parts: Fireworks | Seagulls | Event Photos Part 1 | Event Photos Part 2 | Long Exposures and Sunset Part 1 | Long Exposures and Sunset Part 2 | 

Today I have photos of the fireworks show. The rest of the photos I took at the event will come up later in this chain of posts. All photos today was shot at ISO 100 at 16mm with my Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM II Lens. In order to take these photos, I set the camera on Bulb mode, and used a 3rd party intervalometer.

Message from the Photographer: Because a lot of people would want to see the fireworks photos, I will be taking a break from my San Francisco Pier 39 photos. I will continue those after I exhaust my photos from the Foster City Independence Day celebration.

f/16, 135 seconds 

f/13, 107 seconds 

 f/10, 37 seconds 

I accidentally cut this one short, I thought 1.5 minutes passed. Slight math mistake on my end.

f/16, 121 seconds 

f/16, 150 seconds 

 f/16, 129 seconds

 f/ 16, 121 seconds

f/10, 75 seconds 

f/10, 60 seconds 

 f/13, 86 seconds

 f/10, 79 seconds

 f/13, 102 seconds

f/13, 120 seconds 

f/13, 120 seconds

These are all the photos for today. I hope you have enjoyed viewing them. Next time I will post up the other photos I took at the event. Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Parts: Fireworks | Seagulls | Event Photos Part 1 | Event Photos Part 2 | Long Exposures and Sunset Part 1 | Long Exposures and Sunset Part 2 | 

The Moon

Hey guys, I am so sorry about not posting recently. College classes has started for me and I have been very busy with school work and didn't have much free time left for photography and blogging. I happened to have found some time today, so let's get started with the intro to today's photos. For this post, I have some moon photos that I took over a period of one week (I think). I hope you enjoy it. The photos were all taken with my Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens. These photos have been cropped. Also, some of  the pictures don't seem to be viewing right on my computer via Safari. If this happens with you, just switch browsers and it should show up a lot better. There are some tips on moon photography in today's post, so make sure scroll down for it!

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing here.

For this photo, I exposed for the dark part of the moon that was not lit by the sun, so the part that was lit by the sun is washed out. As you can see there are some motion blur on the photo. This is not my camera moving, but the actual moon moving. You can also tell there was a star moving too. 

Same night as the first photo, but at a different exposure time. As you can see the dark area no longer shows up as the exposure was not long enough. After shortening the exposure, the lit side of the moon's detail is clearly visible.  

This is a different day from the above photos. As you can see, more of the moon is visible. 

More of the moon is showing.

Photography Tip: For photographing the moon, it is recommended you have a good telephoto lens or a telescope. Depending on your zoom, you want to keep your exposure as short as possible and try not to pass 1/100 of a second exposure as the moon would have already moved a great distance during that time and you will get motion blur. If you turn on live view, you can actually see the moon moving! You should also keep your aperture wide as the moon is very far away so you are getting quite a lot of depth of field at a wide aperture. Generally the camera will have a hard time getting the right white balance for these kind of photos, so take your photo in RAW. In Photoshop, I'd usually tweak the white balance a little bit, turn up the contrast, and then crop out the large black area around the moon. Photos right out of your camera of the moon will usually not have enough contrast. 

Shortly after I took the above photos, some clouds came in and blocked out the view of the moon. I thought it would be nice to see what it would look like if I did a long exposure of the clouds moving between the path of my camera and the moon. This is the result.

A even longer exposure than the one before.  

 A even longer exposure than the one before. I can tell both by my meta data in the image and how far the star streaked in the photo. 

Looks like an airplane or a satellite flew through as I was taking the photo.

 Full moon photo.

Another photo of the full moon.

I hope you have enjoyed these moon photos. I would appreciate it if you leave me some positive comments below! Please don't forget to share my blog posts with your friends! If you would like to get notifications next time I post, you can "Like" me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Google+. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Canon's New EOS M Series Cameras

Photo Credit: Amazon.com

Disclaimer: The author is not responsible for any incorrect or unclear information provided in this post. You read this article and follow the information at your own risk. Prices are subject to change over time. 

As you know camera companies, like Nikon, Sony, and Olympus, has started pushing out the new compact DSLR cameras. It has been promised these new compact cameras give near real DSLR quality photos, and is extremely compact and light weight due to the lack of mirror and viewfinder. The rest of the camera is pretty much the same as a big bulky DSLR as it has interchangeable lenses too with different mode switches and flash hot-shoes. Canon has now released their own compact DSLR line beginning the EOS M series cameras which is also compatible with both EF-S and EF mount lenses as long as an adapter is used. The camera is compatible with the new EF-M mount lenses with no adapter. This new camera is an 18 megapixel camera and has most of the functions a real Canon EOS DSLR would have. The new camera features a CMOS (APS-C) sensor, DIGIC 5 Image Processor, and an ISO range of 100 to 25600. Compared to a 35mm full frame sensor camera, this camera has a crop ratio of 1.6x. The new EOS M camera has all the modes a regular DSLR has (Auto, Creative Auto, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, Manual, and Bulb) plus lot's of creative "scene modes" including Portrait, Landscape, Close Up, Sports, Night Portrait, Hand-held Night Scene Mode, and HDR Backlight Control Mode. The camera also captures crystal clear 1080p video and offers full time auto focus during the take (use STM lens for quieter/smoother focusing during video). Videos and photos can be viewed on a TV via mini-HDMI. These are just some of the features of the new EOS M series cameras. If you have $800 to spare and hate carrying your big bulky DSLR everywhere you go, or you just want to do some amateur photography work, I would recommend you to buy and try one of these cameras! If you do, please use my link! Thank you for reading!

Accessories for the new camera.

Specifications:

• Dimensions: Approx. 4.28 x 2.62 x 1.27 in./ 108.6 x 66.5 x 32.3mm
• Weight: Approx. 9.2 oz. / 262g (body only)
• Storage: SD, SDHC, SDXC cards
• LCD: Touchscreen, fingerprint resistant, 3 inch screen
• No viewfinder, LCD is used
• No built in flash. Needs Speedlite 90EX or other flash. (Standard Hotshoe)
• 18 MP CMOS Sensor (3:2 ratio photos)(1.6x crop ratio compared to 35mm full frame)
• Photo Modes: JPEG, RAW, RAW+JPEG
• Ultrasonic Sensor Cleaning and Dust Delete like the real DSLRs
• Full 1080p video (stereo audio and auto focus during take), can be played back on TV via mini-HDMI
• Features all DSLR Modes (Auto, Creative Auto, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, Manual, and Bulb)
• Features scene modes like Portrait, Landscape, Close Up, Sports, Night Portrait, Hand-held Night Scene Mode, and HDR Backlight Control Mode