What is this thing called a lens hood?

Tags

Berlin, Canon, Copenhagen, DSLR, Estonia, Europe, filter, flare, Germany, lens cap, lens flare, lens hood, lens hoods, Nikon, Tallinn, Toronto, travel

On a recent trip to Europe I found myself paying attention to photographers and their gear. I discovered a strange phenomenon — the lack of lens hoods on very decent DSLR cameras. I would say that perhaps 50% of the DSLR owners I saw did not have their lens hoods mounted on their camera. Another 25% had the lens hood, but it was mounted backwards — the way we do for storing our lens hoods. And another 25% had them mounted properly.

I’m sure that many people have no idea what these pieces of plastic are intended for and so simply left them in the box that contained their lens. (Click on any photo to see a larger version.)

Lens hoods come in many shapes and sizes and are engineered to fit a specific focal length lens. Petal-shaped lens hoods are generally for zoom lenses, and the standard round-shaped ones are for single focal length lenses, although this is not a set rule.

A lens hood serves two purposes: first, to prevent lens flare, and second, to protect the front element of the lens. Lens flare occurs when light (usually bright sunlight) falls directly onto the front element of the lens. Photographs that exhibit flare have ghosted or washed out images along with various artifacts in the photo such as oddly shaped coloured circles and other strange shapes.

In the crowded streets of Europe it is quite easy for your camera gear to get bumped and jostled and this happened to me in a park in Berlin. If my lens hood had not been in place, the front element of my lens would certainly have taken some abuse and/or been damaged.

I will touch briefly on one controversial lens protection device: a neutral clear filter. I have an NC (Nikon’s term for Neutral Clear) filter mounted on every single lens I own. Purists will say that adding a filter degrades the image quality. I think the average person would be hard-pressed to see any difference in the image quality of a photo taken with a filter versus one without. Obviously you should only purchase good-quality NC multicoated filters. And don’t let a camera store salesman sell you a UV filter as protection for the lens on your digital camera. All digital cameras have a UV filter right on the image sensor so you do not need to add a second UV filter! UV filters were standard in the old days of film but are no longer needed in today’s digital age of photography. A lens hood will take the brunt of any side impact. But if something hits your lens straight on, then there is every chance your NC filter will crack or shatter but not the front element of your lens. I think that it’s good insurance to use both the lens hood and NC filter.

Here are some photos I took in Europe that illustrate the lens hood phenomenon:

A lovely Canon DSLR with a gorgeous 24-105 f/4 L series lens. Yes, there is a lens hood, but it’s backwards.

A Nikon DSLR with the lens hood mounted backwards

Canon DSLR with no lens hood

Canon DSLR without a lens hood, but lens cap in place

Canon DSLR without a lens hood

Canon DSLR with lens hood mounted backwards

Canon DSLR with no lens hood but lens cap in place

Canon DSLR with no lens hood

Canon DSLR with no lens hood

This is my favourite:

Looks like a Canon 70-200 f/2.8. Great lens, no lens hood.

Canon DSLR without a lens hood

Canon DSLR with no lens hood

Nikon DSLR with no lens hood

Canon DSLR with no lens hood

There are two things about the above photos that I find interesting. Canon users far outweighed Nikon users for their misuse of lens hoods. Is that because there are more Canon cameras in use versus Nikon? I can’t say, and believe me when I say I was not searching for Canon users; I was simply looking for lenses without lens hoods.

The second thing is lens cap usage. The lens cap is another piece of plastic that comes with every lens you buy.

I can’t tell you the number of people I saw who went through a religious lens-cap-on, lens-cap-off ritual. For the sake of photographers everywhere, when you get out in the field, take off the damn lens cap and put it in your pocket or camera bag and leave it there. These people were fanatical about covering their precious lens in between shooting, but they didn’t have the sense to have or use their lens hood. For storage back in your camera bag, then yes, please put the lens cap back on.

That’s my rant on two pieces of plastic that have a valuable purpose for your camera lenses. If you haven’t already, please go and dig out your lens hood and remember to mount it properly when you are shooting.

Walkabout—Crothers Woods

Tags

Crothers Woods Trail, Lower Don Recreation Trail, Nikkor 70-200mm, Nikon D7100

For the past couple of months we have undergone two major renovations in our home: kitchen and master bathroom. For most of that time I have been house-bound dealing with our contractor and his sub-trades. We are 99% complete and I am finally getting back to my normal routines which include walking and photography.

This morning I enjoyed a long overdue walk in the Lower Don Valley. I drove over to Beechwood Drive and parked my car near the Toronto Police Dog Services building.

As I was getting my photo gear together a man and woman with two dogs noticed my camera gear and said that they had just seen two deer on the Crothers Woods loop. I thanked them and immediately changed lenses from my 16-85 to the 70-200. I figured if I was lucky enough to see them then I would need the extra focal length to capture them if they were deep in the woods.

I haven’t been to the Lower Don in quite some time and was disappointed to see quite a bit of construction going on. Enbridge is doing some excavation and there was a great deal of sand, dust and gravel on my way to the trail.

I’m not a flower or plant expert so I have no idea what these are, but they were everywhere (as with all of my blogposts, click on any photo to see a larger version):

With every trip to the Lower Don I can’t resist in capturing another photo of my favourite railway trestle:

This sign is new and improved since it now shows all the trails that branch away from the main Crothers Woods loop. A pdf can be found at this link.

If anyone can help identify these plants, feel free to leave a comment below:

There were lots of bees doing their thing and thankfully no mosquitoes. I was prepared for them since I wore a long-sleeve shirt, long pants and socks and shoes. Mosquitoes seem to love me and I even had my Off Clip-On just in case.

I assume this is a butterfly as opposed to a moth. This poor guy has certainly endured some hardship to its wings:

My photography today wasn’t limited to flora and fauna. You sometimes have to look up and I captured this airliner between the overhead hydro lines:

Capturing birds in flight is still something I haven’t perfected. Today I was very lucky to capture this butterfly in flight:

On the paved road back to the car, this little guy was just standing in the middle of the road:

Here is a link to today’s walkabout. I did the Crothers Woods loop twice in the hope of seeing the deer but I had no luck today. Another person I met said the deer are regular visitors to that area so I will be back and try to photograph them another day.

Jane’s Walk in the Lower Don River

Tags

Beechwood, Brickworks, Crothers Woods Trail, Domtar, Don Valley, East York, Garth Armour, Jane's Walk, K-9 unit, Lower Don Recreation Trail, Margaret McRae, Mary Fragedakis, nature, O'Connor, Paula Davies, Pottery Road, Taylor, Todmorden, Toronto Police Services, Walkabout

I attended my first Jane’s Walk on Saturday, May 4. The late Jane Jacobs has been described as a “legendary urban thinker, writer and activist.” Jane’s Walks take place on the first weekend in May and are held in 90 cities in 20 countries.

This link has further information about the history of Jane Jacobs: http://www.janeswalk.net/index.php/about/

The Jane’s Walk that I took part in was the “Lower Don River Ecological Restoration & Heritage Walk.” The event was hosted by Toronto City Councillor Mary Fragedakis and the Urban Forestry Department’s Garth Armour and his co-worker Kim.

Our rendezvous point was at the corner of Beechwood and O’Connor Drives. I know this area quite well since my wife and I lived across the street when we were first married and often walked in the Lower Don.

(Click on any photo to see a larger version)

the corner of Beechwood Drive and O’Connor Drive

our hosts Ward 29 Councillor Mary Fragedakis and Urban Forestry Department’s Garth Armour

We started our walk promptly at 2 p.m. and headed a short distance north on Beechwood Drive, then turned left onto Beechwood Crescent, stopping at number 20.

20 Beechwood Crescent

This is the oldest privately owned house in East York and was built in 1840. The house has remained virtually unchanged, although it once had a porch which spanned the entire front of the house. It was the home of George Taylor whose family by 1855 owned paper mills, sawmills and grist mills in the valley. He started the Don Valley Brickworks in 1889 and supplied most of the brick for East York homes for many, many years.

photograph taken September 2012 at the Evergreen Brickworks

We then traveled down Beechwood Drive, which is very steep. Stopping part-way down the hill, Garth discussed what the valley looked like before the Don Valley Parkway was built and the damage that was caused in this area due to Hurricane Hazel in 1954.

Continuing to the bottom of Beechwood Drive, we stopped at the location of the Toronto Police Services K-9 unit. This was the former location of Domtar Polyresins, which purchased this site in 1961 and remained there until the 1980s.

photograph taken August 2012

We then continued to the crossroads of the Lower Don Trail and the former Beechwood Avenue. There is an active railroad line in use here and this railway bridge is one of my favourite things to photograph.

photographed March 2013

photographed November 2012

photographed August 2012

photographed September 2012

Our next stop was the bridge between Cottonwood Flats and Sun Valley.

After crossing the bridge we walked up the recently completed Crother’s Woods Trail, which has a gravel main path along with many other trails branching away from the main trail.

The top of the Crother’s Woods Trail provides a great outlook of the entire valley.

There are so many great opportunities for photographs.

At numerous locations Garth continued to tell our group about the history of the valley, the issues of multi-use trails, the massive tree planting efforts and the new hydro trail.

Garth Armour

The Beechwood Wetland is being restored and expanded and Garth told us about the crucial role of the Task Force to Bring Back the Don and the importance of advocacy work.

In years gone by, the Don River meandered as any river would, but the river was straightened out in several sections and river weirs were needed to accommodate fish migration.

Our walk continued parallel to the Don Valley Parkway where numerous embankment improvements have been made. We arrived at Pottery Road, where a massive reconstruction project was completed last year. This includes a crossing that was the best compromise for pedestrians and cyclists. The crossing has been criticized by many people and it was suggested that the crossing should have tunneled under Pottery Road. Garth pointed out that this would have cost millions of dollars. Personally, I have no problem with this solution.

photograph taken August 2012

photograph taken August 2012

Our final destination was Todmorden Mills,which was the site of the first mills on the Don. A sawmill opened in 1795, grist mill in 1796, paper mill in 1826 and a brewery in 1821. Owners and workers lived onsite and two houses remain intact. This property was purchased by the Taylors in 1855 and became their lower mill. The homes on this site were lived in until 1965.

I suggest that if you haven’t visited Todmorden Mills, you should—it is one of East York’s true gems.

After a great two-hour Jane’s Walk, our journey had come to an end. The beginning of our walk saw just over 30 people and by its end I counted 50 since additional folks joined along the way. My thanks go out to Mary Fragedakis, Garth Armour and his co-worker Kim. They were so informative and helped make for a fantastic day.

It is also worth mentioning that we had two other very special people attend our walk. Margaret McRae is the past-president of the East York Historical Society and is currently president of the Toronto Field Naturalists. Also in attendance was Paula Davies of the Todmorden Mills Wildflower Preserve. Paula is also actively involved on the Task Force to Bring Back the Don. Paula graciously invited anyone who was interested for a tour of the wildflower preserve immediately following our walk.

Our two-hour adventure was amazing and I met lots of new people and new fellow East York friends. My thanks again to Mary, Garth, Kim, Margaret and Paula for a spectacular Jane’s Walk on a picture-perfect day.

Fantasy Farm’s willow trees, 55 Pottery Road

The Holly Golightly Evening

Tags

Alexa Clark, Ann Gagno, Carmen Correia, Cary Silber, catering, Christine Pantazis, Deborah Peniuk, Encore, Golightly, Holly, Jenelle Antolin, Maria Aguilar, Mark Rodas, Mark Santos, Myra Sable, Nicholas Wong, Roshan Wanasingha, Ryan Silber, Sable & Rosenfeld, Shilpa Raikar, Stacey Fowler, Tanya Hsu

When I retired in June of 2012, I wanted to broaden my circle of friends and become more active with other food and photography enthusiasts. Via Twitter and Facebook, I became friends with Joanna Sable from Bumpercrop and Lisa Kates known as A Food Gypsy. Their circle of food enthusiasts included Nicholas Wong. Nicholas and I became friends on Twitter and Facebook last July and found that we shared many interests including photography, food and motor racing. And up until yesterday, I had never had the chance to meet Nicholas IRL (in real life).

A few weeks ago Nicholas asked me to be his guest at a one-night-only special event titled “The Holly Golightly Evening.” I was flattered to be amongst 15 “fellow influencers” as we enjoyed dishes prepared by Chef Roshan Wanasingha from Encore Food with Elegance and featuring gourmet products from Sable & Rosenfeld.

Our evening began with us meeting for a limousine pickup at the Summerhill LCBO.

(Click on any photo to see a larger version)

During the limousine ride we were treated to some delicious hors d’oeuvres made by Encore, and Nicholas cracked open some sparkling wine. The limousine whisked us to the head office of Encore at 5000 Dufferin Street. Here are a few of the attendees about to enter Encore. Nicholas is second from the right:

Ryan Silber

We were welcomed to Encore by its president, Cary Silber, his son Ryan, and Myra Sable, president of Sable & Rosenfeld. Keeping with the Holly Golightly theme, we were offered beverages including martinis featuring Sable & Rosenfeld’s Tipsy Cocktail Condiments.

Myra Sable and Tanya Hsu

Christine Pantazis, Nicholas Wong, Ann Gagno

Our menu for the evening was to include a trio of appetizers, a main dish, plus three desserts.

Cocktails in hand, we had a chance to meet each other and our gracious hosts plus enjoy a few more treats:

We were then invited into the kitchen to put on gloves and hats and prepare appetizers with the assistance of Chef Roshan’s excellent staff:

Stacey Fowler, Mark Rodas, Chef, Nicholas Wong

Chef Peter, Alexa Clark, Deborah Peniuk, Carmen Correia, Shilpa Raikar

Then it was time to be seated and enjoy the appetizers we had just made and, of course, continue to enjoy our beverages:

Shirley Lum, Deborah Peniuk, Alexa Clark, Mark Santos

It was now time to start the official menu. For our appetizer course we were presented with “Poultry Three Ways.”

Sable & Rosenfeld jerk chicken on homemade corn bread muffin with mango salsa

Sable & Rosenfeld teriyaki chicken taco placed on a zucchini ring with red daikon and cilantro sprout

Open faced turkey burger on brioche bun with Sable & Rosenfeld cranberry sauce

The presentation of our appetizers was amazing. My favourite was the jerk chicken, which had just the right amount of heat.

While waiting for our main dish, the president of Encore, Cary Silber, told us the history of Encore and some of his stories from having been in this business for over 30 years. His company has provided many different types of catering services including catering the recent event celebrating the arrival of the panda bears in Toronto, attended by our Prime Minister.

Cary Silber

Our main dish consisted of two different kinds of fish:

— Sable & Rosenfeld lemon olive tapenade crusted halibut

— shrimp-crusted salmon on a jasmine rice pilaf with baby yellow zucchini, sautéed snow pea leaves and three-pepper coulis

This was outstanding! Both fish were excellent, but I leaned a little more towards the halibut:

While we waited for our dessert, Chef Roshan Wanasingha spoke to us about his career. He has been the executive chef at Encore for the past 12 years. While the catering business does present its challenges, he enjoys working at Encore because he and his staff do manage to have a great deal of fun while working hard at the same time:

Executive Chef Roshan Wanasingha

For our final course, the dessert, we were presented with a trio consisting of chai-spiced honey cake with poached pear and raspberry sorbet; layers of oatmeal dacquoise blackberry ice cooler; and bittersweet marjolaine with hazelnut parfait. My favourite was the honey cake with poached pear—it was exquisite!

By the end of our meal we were all very, very satisfied, not only with the quantity and variety of the dishes we had eaten but also the quality and the presentation. Kudos to Chef Roshan and his staff.

My personal thanks go out to Nicholas for allowing me to have been a part of this very special evening. And thank you to our hosts, Cary and Ryan, for an unforgettable event—and to the lovely Myra Sable for providing her products, stories, charisma and the Sable & Rosenfeld goodie bags we were all given to take home. A memorable evening.

Photography and 2013

Tags

career, compensation, courses, photography, school

As we are now well into 2013, I have to reflect on a photographic event that I covered in 2012 and what I am going to do differently in 2013.

First of all, this will probably be my only blogpost of 2013 that does not contain a single photograph. Instead, I want to express my feelings about photography both as a hobby and as a source of income.

I love photography. It is one of the best life-long hobbies that anyone could aspire to embrace. Having said that, it is not a great way to make a living unless you are really, really, really good!

I worked for a major Canadian camera retail company for ten years. Many of our commercial customers were community colleges all over the country that taught photography. On one hand it was great doing business with these colleges for the benefit of my company, but on the other hand it was sad to see what was going to happen to all those young shiny faces that were aspiring to be photographers. The reality is that despite the thousands of people coming out of the community colleges every year, very few of them would ever have a successful career in that field.

I still cannot come to grips with some people who wake up at the end of high school and then tell their parents that “I want to become a photographer.” And to the unfortunate parents who are going to fork over two years of tuition plus lab fees and equipment, it seems to be an outrageous situation. You have to know that your child has a slim margin of making it as a photographer. The world needs more bricklayers, plumbers, electricians, car mechanics, policemen, firemen—but not so many photographers.

I have this jaded opinion because my father was a professional photographer, and when I was eight years old, he bought me my first camera, a Kodak Brownie 127 which I still have. And I’m proud to say that the photography skills that I learned from my father have rubbed off on my son who, despite the odds, is making a fantastic career with his skills. And on the other side of the camera, my daughter has become a phenomenal model for the camera.

Last November I attended a very pleasant charity event for the Movember moustache for prostate cancer awareness. I brought my camera and created this blogpost:

https://petervisima.wordpress.com/2012/11/30/amsterdam-brewery-brewstache/

At that event I met a gentleman who had a genuine fondness for and dedication to fine beer. We got to chatting and he said that he may be interested in my photographic skills for a shoot in the not-too-distant future. I gave him my business card and he contacted me about a month after the beer event.

He wanted me to do some environmental portraits of him and his team having a business meeting at his downtown Toronto office. My compensation was to be some unusual and exotic beers that I had never seen before.

I met the gentleman at his office in downtown Toronto. He gave me free reign of his office, letting me photograph anything that I wanted. After the one-hour session of photography, my client and I sat in his boardroom where we shared ONE BOTTLE OF DANISH BEER. Yes, it was good beer, but after a thank you and goodbye, we were done. Somehow I felt so violated. It was totally my fault for not having pre-negotiated exactly what my services would cost.

Let’s just say that this gentleman was worth a great deal of money. For the services I provided him with, he should have easily paid $450 for my on-site photographic session.

I emailed him my thoughts about the situation and to date, I have heard nothing from him. So I have learned a valuable lesson: don’t ever sell yourself short. He has received none of my photographs from that session, and until we decide on an appropriate agreement of compensation, he never will see those photos.

And so here we come full circle about the subject of photography. Just because everyone on the planet now has a camera on their phone does not make them a photographer. The food bloggers out there who continue to take out-of-focus, terribly exposed and overall horrible photos need to stop. Just as anything in life, do it right or don’t do it at all, or please, please do everyone a favour and don’t post it. Or at very least, please fix the exposure and if it’s not too much trouble, straighten the damn horizon!

I cannot understand where everything has suddenly gone wrong and the entire world seems to think that every photograph taken on your phone is worthy of posting.

My photographer friends and family will totally understand where I am coming from. The others will not.

End of rant, and I promise that fabulous photos from 2013 will follow.

Peter no longer works for free, nor should you.

Drink And Click™—Toronto

Tags

Bill Zinck, Drink And Click, Firkin on Yonge, Gary Drouin, Jason Cook, Jeremy Bernatchez, Nikon D90, pan, panning, Philip Edmonson, photography, Sara Collaton, Tokina 11-16, Vincent McMillen, Yonge Dundas Square

Google+ has attracted a large community of photographers. I have participated in many Google+ “hangouts” which allow you to chat with people in real time with audio and video.  Hangouts typically have a theme and photographers are welcome to join into the discussions and post links to samples of their work regarding the topic at hand.

I haven’t been terribly active on Google+ of late, but a new group has formed on Google+ called “Drink And Click™.” The concept is that a group of photographers get together at a bar and discuss photography and social media. There is usually a theme for the get-together so techniques are discussed before we hit the street and begin our photography. After a period of time the group gathers at another bar to discuss and show each other what we have photographed and enjoy a beverage.

Chapters of Drink And Click have formed in the following cities: Austin, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Columbus, New York and many other American cities. In Canada we have chapters in Vancouver, Edmonton and Toronto. There are also international chapters in Australia, Japan, UK and Germany:

http://drinkandclick.com/blog/

The Toronto chapter is led by photographers Sara Collaton and Vincent McMillen. Sara is a successful Toronto photographer and she and I worked together at Henry’s. Sara is extremely well connected on all of the social media channels and is looking after the social media channels for 500px.com. In case you haven’t heard about 500px.com, it is a photo-sharing site for photographers to showcase their absolute best work. You won’t find photographs of cats with hats and sunglasses here (Flickr), but instead, some incredible photography. If you ever seek photographic inspiration, visit 500px.com and be prepared to be humbled by the incredible amount of phenomenal photography.

My humble portfolio can be seen at this link:

http://500px.com/PeterVisima

There are many world-famous photographers who have shared their work on 500px.com. Some of my favourites are Thomas Leuthard, a street photographer who lives in Switzerland: http://500px.com/85mm, Mikhail Malyugin: http://500px.com/Malyugin, Giuseppe Peppoloni: http://500px.com/giuseppepeppoloni, and local Toronto photographer Tom Ryaboi, a.k.a. The Roof Topper: http://500px.com/tom.

The tie-in of Google+, 500px.com and Drink And Click provides for a great community of photographers interacting with each other. Yesterday a group of 10 of us met at the Firkin on Yonge just south of the Yonge and Dundas Square. Our table was covered in photographic gear including some adult beverages. Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji and even a film-based Minolta were the brands on hand.

Our photographic theme for the evening was “panning.” This is a technique whereby you track an object and while you release the shutter, you pan along with your subject. For the best effect a slow shutter speed is recommended, somewhere around 1/20 or 1/15 of a second. Your aperture would depend on the ambient light plus your selected ISO.

Shooting at a low shutter speed of 1/20 or 1/15 of a second is not without its challenges. You can expect to have many failed attempts due to camera movement, lack of focus, and a failure to achieve the proper “smear” of the pan effect.

I was using my long-in-the-tooth but trustworthy Nikon D90. While not particularly great in low-light situations (noise at higher ISO’s), I had no fear in cranking up my ISO to 1250 because any noise would not be terribly evident in my night-time panned images. My lens of choice was the Tokina 11-16mm f2.8. Very wide, very sharp and very fast—perfect for capturing wide areas of traffic, people and streetcars.

Before we hit the street, Sara and 500px.com had a draw for a LowePro camera bag. We tossed our I.D.s into a hat and asked “Santa” to make the draw. Yesterday was the eve of the Grey Cup in Toronto and there were numerous football fans in town. “Santa” had his name on his football jersey and was wearing an antique leather football helmet from 1948. Here he is along with a rather blurry Vincent McMillen making the draw:

We then bundled up and hit Yonge Street. As I mentioned, the failure rate for this type of shooting is quite high. I took 257 images and have 13 that I feel are worthwhile. Here is an image of a car travelling south on Yonge Street. If you are lucky, you should have some area of your subject in focus while everything else is blurred. Click on any image to see a larger version.

ISO 1250, f4, 1/20, 16mm focal length

The corner of Yonge and Dundas including Dundas Square, provided for some great photo opportunities with lots of traffic, tour buses, streetcars and people in the “scramble” intersection.

ISO 1250, f5.6, 1/15, 11mm focal length

I love this photo since everything except for the man’s face is blurred:

ISO 1250, f5, 1/15, 13mm focal length

ISO 1250, f4.5, 1/15, 16mm focal length

I love the texture and lines from this woman’s fur coat:

ISO 1250, f5.6, 1/15, 16mm focal length

Here is a gentleman who was in a hurry to deliver coffee to somewhere:

ISO 1250, f5.6, 1/15, 11mm focal length

Here is one of our Drink And Click members grabbing a photo. I panned this photo from right to left which kept the streetcar sharp while everything else was blurred:

ISO 1250, f5.6, 1/15, 16mm focal length

ISO 1250, f6.3, 1/15, 16mm focal length

Vincent McMillen and Jason Cook in the middle of Yonge and Dundas! Note that the traffic lights are red in all directions. This gives pedestrians a chance to cross this intersection in “scramble” style meaning you can cross in any direction including diagonally:

ISO 1250, f5.6, 1/15, 16mm focal length

One of my favourite images from yesterday is this woman on a bicycle. She is in the process of putting her foot to the ground since she stopped rather abruptly a millisecond after I captured this image:

ISO 1250, f5.6, 1/15, 16mm focal length

Another cyclist:

ISO 1250, f4.5, 1/15, 16mm focal length

ISO 1250, f5.6, 1/15, 13mm focal length

After shooting for half an hour in the howling wind and near zero degree Celsius temperature, my hands were frozen. I had another engagement that I had to get to so I said my goodbyes to the gang and hit the subway to warm up. Here’s my last image of the day. For this photo I held the camera steady and the pan effect was caused by the movement of the subway train and my slow shutter speed:

ISO 1250, f8, 1/15, 11mm focal length

I always photograph in the RAW file format and then process my images using Apple Aperture. I do very little to my images other than a colour balance and exposure tweak. No special filters or effects are used.

I loved attending my first Drink And Click and can’t wait for the next one. Many thanks to Sara Collaton and Vincent McMillen for leading this event.