2018 Toronto, Winter

[VidThreeNorth]

My Fall 2017 album project ended up a fiasco thanks largely to uncooperative weather. I had a loose plan to add pictures throughout the months, as opportunities arose. I got a few early Fall images, and and I was looking forward for the colours to change. Instead, storms came and blew down the leaves, and then snow came early turning the Fall into early Winter.

So you might think that I would know better than try something like that again. I am looking at this more cautiously this time, but I have a couple of images, and I have a specific picture planned. If I get this one picture, I will consider the project a success. Actually, if I get some other good images I might still consider it a success. The picture I want is ice covered tree branches. There have been a few days already on which I might have gotten this picture, but I have been too busy to be taking pictures. But there are still a few weeks that might give me the opportunity. I'll just have to wait and see. . . .

Meanwhile, I have my "cover" image:

"P1010051e-rsz1640-C1.jpg"
[The previous cover picture "P1000791 -1d-rsz-1640-C2" has been removed.]

This is the back of "Irving Tissue Factory" [1551 Weston Rd.]. It was originally "Facelle", and the product line is still named "Royale". Any paper product manufacturing uses a lot of water. During most of the year, the water vapour leaves the factory invisibly. For those of you who are concerned, there is no pollution in the water. It is pure water vapour, most likely cleaner than the water in the natural clouds. But in the Winter, the cold air condenses the water vapour into plumes of steam which vary in size and shape according to temperature and winds.

Weather Forecast (Toronto Star): 14:00 -6 deg. C, wind N 12-25, 19:00 -8 deg. C, wind NW 12-25. Verified temperature at end -5 deg. C.

I have recorded video on days with confirmed temperatures of -6 deg. C and -10 deg C. before, so I have some idea what it can look like. Minus 10 deg. C and below can be spectacular. If the wind is right, I have seen the clouds drift around 200 meters, passing over the Jane Street rail overpass bridge and imagined shapes of oriental dragons. But that is not this image.

Maybe next time. . . .

Technical Notes:
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3, Lens H-FS12032
Partial EXIF
Feb 7, 2018, 17:05:58
Exposure Program Normal
Scene type Direct capture
Scene capture type Standard
Exposure mode Auto exposure
Exposure bias 0.00 ev
Exposure time 1/400 sec.
F number f/8.0
Max aperture f/3.9
Focal length 16.0 mm
Focal length in 35mm 32 mm
ISO speed 160
Metering mode Pattern
Gain control Low gain up
Processing: Corel PaintShop Pro X9 on Gateway dx4375, AMD A6-5200, Windows 8.1

What makes this a difficult project is, of course, the weather conditions. The first "cover picture" had a large cloud in the lower sky that detracted from the rest of the image. I was hoping to get a similar picture but with a better sky. I knew that it was not going to happen, but I kept trying, freezing my hands and building up a collection of files. This new file is different, and the story it tells is also a bit different. On the one side of the tracks is the clean, white Irving factory, while in the foreground is the "backyard" or an older looking warehouse. This is the city. . . .

 

[VidThreeNorth]

The original location of Toronto was between two rivers. They were the Don River on the east and the Humber River on the west. The current City of Toronto contains the mouths of these rivers on Lake Ontario and a few miles of each of them. The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) which is the regional urban planning zone, also includes the Rouge River on the east and the Credit river on the west.

A few years ago I realized that most of my life, I have lived within a couple of miles of the Humber, but I had not seen much of it. I think most people in the City are like me. We visit local parks, and perhaps we have site on one of the rivers that we return to time and again, and to us, that is "the river".

A very few people, and I think mostly teenagers, actually try to see more than that. And these days, with Pro sports on TV and video games, that number is probably also dwindling.

But for the last few years, I have tried to see new parts of the Humber in particular, and I hope to see more of the other rivers as well. Part of this is simple enjoyment, and part of this is "scouting locations" for videos.

This set was taken on a section of the Humber Trail south of Eglinton Avenue. I have taken pictures and videos north of this section, and also south-west (leading towards James Gardens) of it, but this section has no parking lots nearby, so I have always by-passed it. I am glad that this first visit came in the Winter because vegetation (trees) would have blocked my view of the river. In fact because it is a "cut bank" the upper trail, about five feet above the river has a view that I think would be heavily blocked by the trees from the Spring to the Fall. The drop to the river level is not particularly dangerous since one could grab onto plants on the way down (assuming one has stumbled), but dropping camera gear in that situation is a possibility.

Technical Notes:
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3,
12-32mm F3.5 - 5.6 "H-FS12032" lens
Processing with Corel Paintshop Pro 2018.

"P1000830 -1e-rsz1640-C3.jpg"
A cluster of trees near the Humber Trail west of the river.

"P1000842 -1b-rsz-1232-C4.jpg"
A silver maple with snow. I can tell it's a silver maple? Well, no, but I have seen this tree, which is a part of a small cluster, before in the Fall.

"P1000858 -1b-rsz1232-C4.jpg"
As mentioned above, with leaves gone, the Winter gives a nice view of the river from the Humber Trail.

 

[BrentC]

I have walked all over the Humber River from where it starts at the Calirville reservoir all the way to the Lakeshore. A lot o beautiful spots along the way. Lots of wildlife to capture.

 

[VidThreeNorth]

If you post anything I'll look forward to it!

 

[VidThreeNorth]

I have been thinking about this topic and I have never really explained its goal. I see it as a place to accumulate a number of pictures that I intend to take over a given period of time.

In fact, I do not even see it as limited to my own pictures. If anyone has a picture that would fit, then feel free to post it in this topic.

I can say right now that my own pictures will be limited to the West end of Toronto, so it would be particularly good if someone else posted pictures from the East end.

My "lose plan" for the coming month is to cover the following, mainly with video:

1. Video of King St. West, probably around Spadina Rd., regarding a current traffic controversy.

2. Video of the Mimico Go Station.

3. Video of the area around Park Lawn, which is being proposed as a new Go Station, but conflicts with the Mimico Go Station.

4. Revisit Irving Tissue plant. Hopefully I can redo the "cover picture" on a day with a better cloud structure. I'm not really expecting it to go well because sundown is around "rush hour" in the Winter. Done

NOTE: For the video projects, it is not likely I will take the time for still pictures. I will be "blitzing" them with a goal of recording about 10 - 15 min. worth of clips and then packing up so I can put my hands in my pockets to warm them up. I cannot use my video cameras while wearing gloves. I know this because I have tried. My hands will be bare for about a half hour for each project. I had minor frost-bite from a video project in the Fall already!

 

[VidThreeNorth]

I returned to the Irving Tissue Factory a few times since I took my first "cover picture", hoping to get a picture to replace it. I have a number of pictures and videos taken on the various days. Some of them are of course similar to others, but there are a few that are somewhat unique. One frustrating thing about this project is that I drive past this site very often, but I cannot always stop and take pictures. I occasionally saw a unique view, only to have to continue on my way and hope that it might happen again. And of course, those conditions have not repeated yet. Here are a couple of the other pictures that I took on the same day that I took the cover picture.

Technical Info:
Camera: Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3, Lens H-FS12032
Processing: PaintShop Pro 19.00, Gateway dx4375, AMD A6-5200, Windows 8.1

"P1010010 -1f-rsz1640-C1.jpg"
Partial EXIF
Feb 6, 2018, 17:09:47
Exposure Program Normal
Scene type Direct capture
Scene capture type Standard
Exposure mode Auto exposure
Exposure bias +2.00 ev
Exposure time 1/250 sec.
F number f/6.3
Max aperture f/3.9
Focal length 16.0 mm
Focal length in 35mm 32 mm
ISO speed 160
Metering mode Pattern
Gain control Low gain up

The cotton-candy steam is just one effect of the winds.

"P1010075 -1b-rsz1230-C2.jpg"
Partial EXIF
Feb 7, 2018, 17:11:25
Exposure Landscape Mode
Scene type Direct capture
Scene capture type Standard
Exposure mode Auto exposure
Exposure bias 0.00 ev
Exposure time 1/200 sec.
F number f/7.1
Max aperture f/5.6
Focal length 32.0 mm
Focal length in 35mm 64 mm
ISO speed 160
Metering mode Pattern
Gain control Low gain up

The UP Express is one of two services that run along this section of track. The other train is the GO. Between them, there is frequent service all day. I think the UP Express was moving about 50-60 kph in this picture. The speed of the service comes from the direct line to downtown Toronto, non-stop.

 

[VidThreeNorth]

Through Screens

This is an idea I have been experimenting with for the past few months. It is new for me. Until lately, I have always avoided getting things in front of my main subject matter. Now, sometimes, I try to compose the layers and take some pictures this way. Usually, I try to get a similar picture without the "obstruction" to cover, but this time, I did not bother. I was having some difficulty with the composition and ended up moving the camera slightly but without lifting my monopod off the ground and that resulted in a tilt. Fixing the tilt results in some noise reduction, which softens the image, and so I sharpened it and made a few other corrections.

"DSC00551"

Sony a5000
LA-EA3 Adapter
Lens: SAL1855

Partial EXIF
Date and time: February 26, 2018 17:43:29
Image width 5504
Image height 3656
Planar configuration Chunky
Pixel height 3632
Pixel width 5456
Component config YCbCr
Color space sRGB
Exposure mode Normal program
Scene type direct capture
Scene capture type Standard
Exposure mode Auto bracket
Exposure bias -0.70 ev
Brightness 6.25
Exposure time 1/80 sec.
F number f/5.6
Max aperture f/5.6
Focal length 40.0 mm
Focal length in 35mm 60 mm
ISO speed 100
Metering mode Center weighted average

Processing: ASUS M32BF w/AMD A8-6500,
Windows 8.1, Corel PaintShop Pro 2018

See also "P1000858 -1b-rsz1232-C4.jpg" in item #2 above in this topic.

 

[VidThreeNorth]

It is near the end of winter and I have a few pictures I have not posted, which I might add to this topic later. But I think that this will probably the last set of pictures I will actually take before the end of the season.

These pictures came out of a scouting trip to the Dundas St. West and Burnamthorpe Road area. There are a number of murals painted on building exteriors in the area of which I intend to take still pictures and record videos in the next few months. As a scouting trip, I was not concerned about getting any particular coverage, but jsut to find out what was there.

In this first pair of images there is a small story:

"P3160009-2h-rsz1230-C2.jpg"
["P3160009 -1g-rsz-1230-C2.jpg" removed 2018-03-23]

This mural depicts part of the history of what is now the Islington United Church, including the construction of the first building.

"P3160002-3a-rsz1640-C2.jpg"
["P3160002 -2g-rsz1640-C2.jpg" removed 2018-03-23]

This is the current building of the Islington United Church. It is not a far walk from the building with the mural.

[2018-03-23]
More of the Murals:
One issue that I am face with is whether I am more interested in accurately recording the actual murals, or whether I want to show the murals in context. In the first mural, I thought I had a good balance of both, but the lighting proved a challenge. The top of the mural is brighter lighted than the bottom, probably due to the sun angle. In my earlier version I left the PaintShop Pro color choices, which being brighter, lost the colour depth of the top of the mural. For this version I decided to darken the image to preserve the colours of the upper part of the mural, but sacrificing the "street scene". In pictures "12" and "21, I am preserving the context more. "12" is left looking almost abstract with its strong angular shadow, and "21" is subject to sun flare of the late afternoon.

"P3160012 -1c-rsz1640-C3"

"P3160021 -1h-rsz1640-C3"

"P3160081-2c-rsz1640-C3.jpg"
[added 2018-03-26]
Working from the DNG raw file, the colour palette was selected by Corel PaintShop Pro X9. I actually felt that the out of camera version for this picture was acceptable, but license plates had to be obscured so I decided to work from the DNG to maximize the detail before the "paint" work. I am not good at obscuring license plates. "Microsoft Paint" is not my favorite paint program, but
then again, right now it is the only one I have installed.


Yi Technology Yi-M1
Yi 12-40 mm 3.5 - 5.6 lens
Monopod
Processing: Corel Paintshop Pro X9, Gateway dx4375, AMD A6-5600,
Windows 8.1