My Day In Toronto - 56k Users Beware!

[GoM]

Went downtown this afternoon, as well as a local waterworks in the evening for some shots...these are the best (in my mind) of the 90~ that made the cut, hope you like . Also, *any* critiques or criticisms *at all* are welcome...I'm still at the beginning of the learning stage, so any help is welcome

Note : All were shot on an automatic anti-blur settings, adjusting only for focus and zoom...as I get more comfortable with my camera and what it can and can't do, I'll start messing with aperture, shutter speed, ISO settings and whatnot

Note #2 : I've put down the general locations for fun...if anyone's in TO, they'll know approx. the area the shot's from

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#1 - A shot of the CN Tower and TD Building from a chainlink fence at Sackville & Queen

#2 - Top bit of our own rendition of a Flatiron building at Front street and Wellington. Built in 1892. I did have a shot of the whole building, but it didn't turn out nearly as well.

#3 - A 'no parking' sign in perhaps Swedish? Perhaps German? With a Union Jack on top...and a pylon for good measure. Adelaide and Berkeley

#4 - Simple pedestrian sign and a lightpost on Front Street

#5 - The next three shots are from the Harris Filtration Plant at Queen and Victoria Park...bit of a notorious place, as last summer there was a possible sniper here...he was about to set up shop when a dog came up to him and was really affectionate, so he had a change of heart and turned himself in to the cops..good times

#6 - Fabulous old bit of machinery inside the Plant...shame the auto-exposure adjusted for the window moreso than the machinery, but I made it stand out somewhat in Photoshop (levels)

#7 - Building, Construction and a little bit of Sun

# 8 - My personal favourite of the day...a church one block west of Sumach on Queen. The monument was to one of the church's original pastor's, who helped out with a sickness outbreak in 1847...couldn't tell you the sickness or the guy's name (wish I took a shot of the plaque, so I could tell you), but still...shot looks alright enough.

Edit: Note - I also have a b&w 'artistic' version of this, but for this thread, colour works better...though I think the b&w looks better

 

[castrol]

Nice. I get to go to Toronto next year for a yearly convention. I am looking
forward to it. Thanks for posting the pictures.

That being said... number 8 is my fave, fo shizzle.

 

[GoM]

Cheers

It's a nice city (granted, I'm biased ), and if you manage to get away from the main streets of downtown, even just side streets off of them are some very rewarding photo opportunities, or so I've noticed (and yet to take advantage of most of em)

 

[LaFoto]

I quite like all of these, they show a good eye and a feel for composition.
When I saw Photo 1, I immediately recognised how well aligned that fence is, which I think is paramount in photos such as that one with the focus clearly shifted away from the background (still to be recognised some, good!) and onto the foreground. Well done!

Then I saw the second photo and thought "Wow, I really like this one!" If you want to put yourself a real challenge, you might want to clone out that disturbing street sign, other than that the difference between the playful lines and curves of the old building against all the straight ones of the modern buildings in the background is quite fascinating. But that street sign... sigh! You might want to put this one into the Photoshop Challenges (sub-section of the Photo Themes), so someone else with a lot of time and good PS skills can test their cloning abilities on that one?

The word Nienkämper does not mean anything. It sounds like a name. Sounds German enough to possibly be a German name. In that pic I so wish the foot of the pylon would still be within the frame!

That Pedestrian Stop sign an the flower basket on the street light are nice, too, because of the DOF and nice bokeh with the modern buildings forming a nice backdrop ... I like that one.

And I clearly like your zoom into the window of that filtration plant ... good PS job to bring out the instruments!

 

[GoM]

Well, thanks for your in-depth thoughts

I agree with you about the street sign in pic #2, but in order to get a full on shot of it with as little clutter as possible would have resulted in me standing in the middle of a very busy intersection at 2:30 on a tuesday afternoon...tried it, but nearly got hit by a couple different cars who were turning, speeding, etc, so I decided against it

Going from my very-limited knowledge of German (basically restricted to "hi" and "I am your god"), Neinkamper seemed like a word that could translate to 'no parking' (no camping), and since it was in a parking lot, it made sense to me to assume that...though I guess not

But yeah, yesterday was a good day out

 

[Chiller]

Nicely done. I know all these places well, and the dude with the dog story. The Gooderham building is always a toughy to shoot, with all the wires and signs. I took one from the center of the road on Front street, and almost lost a body part.
funny....I took a few shots of that church on Saturday. You got some really cool lighting on the face.
If ya want a really cool shot of the city, head over to The Docks,and go to the west side of the parking lot.

 

[GoM]

Hah no kidding with the Gooderham building, same thing nearly happened to me. Even for that shot, I was standing in the middle of the road further back, but I would've been killed if I stood at the actual intersection...maybe a nighttime shot would be less busy (and look spectacular)...hmm...

Nice pick of churches ...churches and cathedrals always appeal to me, so I tend to take pictures of them further away from my part of town, even though we have a couple...I dunno, since they're always there, I never really thing about them, but maybe they're just sitting there beggin for a picture

Haven't though about the Docks..haven't actually been to the Docks either since it's been all transformed into an entertainment complex (though I did use to jam at the music rehearsal space down on Commissioners Street, just off Cherry....before a bus ran into it), but it looks pretty promising and it's pretty close to me.

While we're at it, down in the Beaches is the whole waterfront and boardwalk area...don't know if you've been in the area or not, but there is an opportunity for some fantastic sunset skyline shots...took a bunch last night, but unfortunately the auto-exposure, again, messed with it, and we missed the perfect time so didn't even bother to adjust manually to see what we could get..oh well.

Yeah, thanks again