Toronto Fall, 2017

[VidThreeNorth]

Location: Cruickshank Park, Toronto
For some time now, I have wanted to bring a camera to this park in the morning since it is the only time the sun is usable. This file is about mid-morning, around 10:00 EST. In part I am posting this to celebrate the fact that I woke up in time to get this done. . . .

This file was part of my lens test series (all with fully open aperture) using my Magnicon 28-135mm 3.9-5.6 zoom (adapted K-mount) on my Sony a5000. Exposure is -0.7. Unfortunately, I did not record the used focal lengths.

Since the camera is APS-C, if I took this at 100mm, then the field of view would be equivalent to 150mm. I think this looks sort of about 100mm (real). I'll guess that this is about F5.0 aperture.

The depth of field let me down. The ISO is 200 and exposure time 1/1250 sec. I focussed on the far bank on the left of the picture hoping that the depth of field would carry upstream enough to cover the picture. The near branches on the left were deliberately included and intended to be out of focus. I think that on the one hand, I could have focussed a bit further away, but really, a better picture would probably be around F11. Exposure would have been about 1/300th sec which would have been plenty for stopping the river. I used "focus peaking" to assist, but I think at some point I might just stick with the magnification with no "focus peaking". It seems to get in my way instead of helping.

This image is from the ARAW and a bit re-tooled using Corel Paintshop Pro X9 "Smartfix", which has done a good job preserving the clouds and the moon, but brightening it overall.
[DSC00241 -1d-RS-1640C3.jpg]

 

[VidThreeNorth]

Sony a5000, Magnicon 28-135mm, 3.9-5.6 zoom lens
Fotodiox Pro dlx Stretch" lens adapter (K-Mount Lens, E-Mount body)

It does not look like I will have much to upload for the this Fall. The weather turned cold about a week ago now and leaves have mainly gone brown and dropped. Most of the smaller plants have died now, and the weather always looks like rain. That does not mean it cannot produce good pictures, but I do not have much weather-proof equipment, so I avoid rain.

This set is, again, the Magnicon 28-135mm Zoom lens on the Sony a5000 body, but this time, all the pictures were taken at F8. I used a "Fotodiox Pro dlx Stretch" lens adapter which gives me closer focussing by adding a 2nd helicoid. I used the closer focussing capability for some pictures in the overall group, but I have to guess which pictures. I think "DSC00267 -1a-Crop01a-rs1536-C4" used the extra close focussing.

This lens and body is the only combination which I actually "hand hold". I feel that the lens is heavy enough to cause stress problems, so I do not use tripods or monopods with it.

In this small set, I found a nice variety of textures.


"DSC00266.ARW"

Partial EXIF
F8
Exposure time 1/160
ISO-100
Brightness 2.3296875
Meter Mode "Pattern"

There are actually quite a few birds along this river all winter long. This is due to public feeding. I see old men in particular bringing big sacks of bread and seeds and throwing them around. I guess for some of them it is the only real excitement in their lives.


"DSC00267.ARW"

Partial EXIF
F-stop F8
Exposure time 1/160 sec
ISO-640
Meter mode "Pattern"
Brightness -0.271875

Another "I - don't - know - what - it - is" plant. Yes, I know, I should look them up. . . .


"DSC00273.ARW"

Partial EXIF
Exposure Time 1/160 sec.
ISO-500
[F8]
Meter Mode "Pattern"
Brightness -0.1859375

A small stream feeding the Humber River.


"DSC00278.ARW"

Partial EXIF
F-stop F8
Exposure 1/60 sec
ISO-200
Exposure Bias -1.3 step
Metering mode Center Weighted Average
Brightness -0.05703125

Toronto does not have many "very old" trees. The city has been civilized for too long. Most trees that predated the city have been cut down, and what we see today is re-growth, often deliberated planted. This looks like it might be one of the exceptions.

 

[VidThreeNorth]

Hand of Man
Location: Humber River Trail near James Gardens.

According to climatologists, it is not yet Winter. It is mid-December and Toronto has had a week of cold weather. It was cold enough for cold weather alerts, which mean that special precautions are advised. I think the limits were -15 degrees C or -20 degrees C including wind chill factor. The weather alerts came on at least two days. When the weather gets down this far, one can usually count on the sky being fairly clear and no precipitation. These can be nice "sunny day" pictures with snow on the ground. This was not true of this stretch. Every day was at least partially cloudy and one of the coldest days had full 100% cover and was quite dark all day with brief snow flurries.

I went out on Dec. 14, a bright afternoon of -7 deg. C, with my Panasonic Lumix GF3 and my Olympus 15mm F8 body cap lens. This lens is particularly safe for cold weather since it does not have parts that the camera has to operate at high speeds. The only adjustment is the manual focus. I specifically bought this lens for use when the temperatures fall to -10 deg. C and below. I also keep the camera in my parka until I find something that looks good.

On this day, I took P1000686.JPG which had bright green back-lighted tree leaves and some interesting grasses that created a vertical pattern from the ground. When I saw the picture on my computer, I was disappointed. Right in the middle of the frame was something dark hanging from a branch. It was hard to tell what it was. I have seen sneakers thrown on hydro wires by pranksters and assumed something similar. Perhaps it was a piece of cloth that some kids had thrown onto the tree.

On December 16, the temperature having risen to a more comfortable -5 deg C, I made a point of returning to the area and removing the piece of "vandalism". When I got there and finally saw it, it turned out to be a surprisingly large piece of bark. Maybe it had fallen from a larger nearby tree and by chance had drooped over the branch and dried there. It was brittle and as I removed it, it broke into pieces.

Having walked on the snow in a way which would have shown if I tried to duplicate the original picture I decided to look around for something similar. I ended up with a picture of a different tree, using my GF3, using my Panasonic 12-32mm pancake zoom.

For me, the backlighted trees speak of the struggle of life against the cold of the winter. But looking at the pair of pictures, I also see that nature can be messy, leaving tree bark where it falls, sometimes in odd places, and the "hand of man" is not always obvious. There were no "vandals" throwing stuff onto the tree. The "hand of man" turned out to be me, removing the tree bark from where it had fallen "naturally".

Both the posted pictures are re-sized, but otherwise unaltered versions of camera made JPEGs.

"P1000686a-Rsz1640-C3.JPG"
Panasonic DMC-GF3
Version 1.2
Olympus 15mm F8 body cap lens
F-stop F8
Exposure time 1/125 sec.
ISO speed ISO-200
Exposure bias +1 step
Meter mode "Pattern"
35mm focal length 30mm


"P1000690a-Rsz1640-C4.JPG"
Panasonic DMC-GF3
Version 1.2
Panasonic 12-32mm F3.5-5.6
F-stop f/5.6
Exposure time 1/200 sec.
ISO speed ISO-160
Exposure bias +1 step
Focal length 14mm
Max aperture 3.75
Metering mode "Pattern"
35mm focal length 28mm

 

[VidThreeNorth]

Life against the Cold
Panasonic Lumix GF3, Panasonic 12-32 zoom

This should be the last of my Fall pictures. These are more pictures from my walk on Dec. 16. Processing is fairly minimal in order to convey what I saw. If I had taken a video camera, this might have been a short documentary.

The theme for this set of pictures, as I mentioned before, is surviving despite the cold. The location is the Humber River Trail near James Gardens. Most of what is portrayed typically survive the winter. No guarantees about a specific plant or animal, but most of what you see will still be alive come Spring.

"Cvr-P1000717RW2 -1b-rsz1640-C4.jpg"
This is the Humber River winding its way to James Gardens.

"P1000700RW2 -3b-rsz1640-C1.jpg"
I have mentioned and photographed the ducks many times. As I have written before, I am ambivalent about the feeding of these birds. The intervention of man is why so many stick around all winter. Is that good? I am undecided. These ducks were all grouped together where the farther birds are in this picture. As I came down to the riverbank to take this picture, the nearer ducks came to me, obviously for food, which I did not have. If some die from a particularly cold day, have we done them a favor with all that feeding?

"P1000705RW2 -1d-rsz1640-C4.jpg"
There is nothing special about this particular evergreen. It is probably a Scotch Pine. What struck me was the sparseness of the branches which reminded me of the Christmas tree in "A Charlie Brown Christmas".

"P1000727RW2 -1b-rsz1640-C4.jpg"
As far as I know, the red and green motif associated with Christmas comes from boughs of holly. Poinsettias continue the tradition. I found these clusters of bushes naturally together.