A Flash of Hummingbird

Hummer, with flash and cropping

Hummingbirds are turning out to be the bane of my photographic existence. I don't know how many times I've encountered one of these tiny little beauties and completely failed to get even a remotely decent picture.

First off, they're small. Very small. Tiny even.

Second, they're quick. Even though one of their most remarkable characteristics is they're ability to hover in the air, hummingbirds don't hover very often, usually flitting from place to place in rapid movements.

Third, hummingbirds rarely land and rest. At least when I'm around.

And fourth, hummingbirds are skittish little things so that any attempt to get even a little bit closer with your camera makes them fly off into the distance.

So I end up trying to take them from at least twenty feet away so as to avoid scaring them. That forces me to use a long zoom (they're about two inches tall, remember) which makes simply getting them in the view finder difficult.

I try to keep the shutter speed as high as possible, in order to try to freeze their speedy wings, but also need to keep the aperture small so that the depth of focus remains good in case they move.

The hummingbird in context

And then, of course, there's that ruddy autofocus which, at twenty feet, is more likely to find the pole to the left of the bird or the leaves down below than the hummer itself. Ugh.

So last night, we're out in our backyard having dinner with some visiting friends and a little hummingbird shows up at our honey suckle bush. We get our cameras and try, try, try to get some decent shots.

The fact that daylight was fading proved both a curse and a blessing. A curse because it meant there was little light to work with, forcing shutter speeds down and apertures wide. A blessing because, well, it actually convinced me to try shooting on the Olympus' automatic settings, using the built-in flash.


I'd never thought of doing that before but, surprise surprise, it worked pretty well. These are the best hummingbird photos I've ever taken. Not that I'm saying much with that but still...

Make Tracks for Truro... and glorious Victoria Park

Man, I hate those rookie photographer mistakes. I'm no pro but I'm a lot better than forgetting to recharge my camera batteries the night before going to one of the most stunning, and surprising, city parks in Canada.

One of many tiny waterfalls

Patti and I visited friends in Truro this past weekend for a birthday party, our first visit to the city that calls itself the hub of Nova Scotia. Truro's slogan is "Make Tracks for Truro", which is a lot of fun to say, by the way, and recalls the city's railroad past, I guess.

At the party, we had several locals tell us of the glories of Victoria Park, an inner city park that was supposed to blow us away if we got a chance to visit. I'm always skeptical about these kinds of comments, since too many people in the world suffer from too much civic pride, in my opinion.

When I got the chance to visit Victoria Park the following morning, however, I learned very quickly that Trurorians (I just made that up) have every reason to be proud of this magnificent park.

The placid stream

Victoria Park is absolutely beautiful. Centred on a narrow river valley, it features a gorgeous wooded setting, complete with complementary wood bridges and stairs that lead up the sides of the valley. It's quiet and lush; you feel like you've left the world completely behind.

Unfortunately for me, however, I had neglected to recharge the Olympus' batteries before my visit and suffered the ignominy of hearing the "Batteries Dead" chime immediately following my second photograph of the day.

Even worse, the two shots I did manage to take before the batteries gave up the ghost are pretty bad. They capture none of the park's beauty and, in fact, insult my memory of the place. The bottom shot is especially awful, making a beautiful stream look like a sewer. Oh well. We'll go back and I'll get more, better photos. I promise.

Day 365 - The final photograph

The final photograph of my 365-day journey. I wanted it to be a great one. And it is.

It's me. In front of the "Welcome to Fredericton" sign on Lincoln Road out toward the airport. I'm taking one of those ridiculous photos where you hold the camera out as far away from yourself as you can, pointing at you, and press the shutter release, hoping the framing captures what you want in the shot. Everybody does them.

And I think it's the perfect end for this adventure in photography. I think we've had a little of everything, from the stunningly beautiful to the trite and silly, in this year of photos, everything except a photo of me.

So here I am. A little out of focus. My nose strangely crooked (who would have known), my double chins completely hidden. The sign in behind but, importantly, not quite fully shown just as I didn't quite fully show you all of Fredericton over the past year. Still, I think I captured enough of it that you have a good idea what it's like.

I've really enjoyed bringing this blog to you, adding a photograph (and sometimes two or three) each day, with an explanation of where and how the shot was taken. I've pushed myself and also stretched the capabilities of my simple Olympus camera but, looking back on the year, I think we both did pretty well.

I admit, however, that I approach this final post with some small measure of relief as well. It's hard work finding a new and interesting photo every day and even more work to write the text portions of each entry. I have spent most of my lunch hours out and about with the camera and have enjoyed doing it. But I'm also looking forward to waking up tomorrow morning knowing there is no pressure on me to take a photograph.

I think I will simply leave this blog up as is. I don't think "Blogger" will remove it any time soon. And I may just create a new blog upon which to post photos in the future. But, if I do so, it will simply be a once-in-a-while proposition.

So thanks to everyone who has visited this blog over the past 365 days, for taking the time to click one of the reaction buttons at the bottom of each entry or even to post a comment. I've enjoyed all of the responses and interest. Take good care and, if you get the chance, come to Fredericton one day to see all this in person.

Day 364 - Lying in wait

One last image of Marlee Marie, this one taken Christmas Eve as she surveyed the presents under the tree.

The Olympus sat on its tripod, with the aperture at f8 and the shutter at about 1 second, thanks to the light coming from the tree's lights and other lamps in the living room.

That's how still Marlee will lie when she smells food, such as the (human) treats hidden in the stocking with the reindeer on it that is just inches from her nose. It's like she's not even breathing. Don't worry: the stocking found a new home on a bookshelf moments later.

Day 362 - Another happy photographic accident

Add this one to the list of photographs that, at first glance, seem not to have turned out but then, when you look at them more closely, you find that they are better than you could ever have imagined (or planned).

This is Emily. She's skating at the Lady Beaverbrook Rink during one of its daily free skates. There's not much light. Emily is moving pretty quick. And the Olympus is having a mess of trouble adjusting for it all. I set it at the slowest shutter speed that wouldn't show the shake in my hand (1/60th of a second) and opened the aperture up as far as it would go.

It's a recipe for disaster and that's what, at first glance, I thought I had gotten, even after I worked on the picture in iPhoto. Emily is not in focus (the guy in the coat behind her is, however), the contrast is terrible, and there still isn't enough light. I was ready to discard it.

Then I looked at her face. The concentration on it. The peaceful concentration on the act of skating. And I realised that the fuzziness of the image, the low contrast and the darkness all add rather than detract from the effect of the shot. So I kept it. I showed it to Emily and asked her permission to post it here.

"As long as you don't mind me copying it onto my Facebook page," she said. No problem, Emily. Enjoy. And thanks for being a part of another happy photographic accident.

Day 358 - The dancing tree

Christmas is overwhelming us this year, with friends coming from east and west to join us for the special season. We got our tree this morning at the Fredericton Farmers' Market, decorated it this afternoon and, by this evening, it was dancing above a flood of beautifully wrapped parcels.

This is another tripod shot, with the Olympus set at f8 at 6 seconds. The lights on the tree provide helpful and dramatic lighting and the ornaments add subtle but neat reflections. It's hard to take a bad Christmas tree shot, if you ask me, so I'm glad I took the easy route here.

Day 355 - A bowling blast of colour

Get out your sunglasses, folks. After several days of easy-on-the-eyes low-light photos, I bring you this neon monstrosity courtesy of a visit to Kingswood Bowling.

I believe they call it "Cosmic Bowling". They turn out the lights but illuminate various parts of facility with bright colours and strobing lights. It doesn't help your bowling score but it looks pretty cool.

Unfortunately, there was not enough available light to allow a shutter speed of 1/60th or faster (not even close, to be honest) so I had to place the Olympus on one of the tables and use a much slower shutter to get my photographs. That led to a problem I hadn't expected but probably should have: there is so much vibration running through the building from the rolling balls, their crashes with the pins and the violence of the pins being splattered all over the place that the table upon which the camera sat was shaking.

As a result, there is a slight blur to the picture. Oh well. The colours are bright and the patterns interesting. And we all needed a shot of something after the calm of the last couple of days' photos.

Day 349 - Morning glorious

This photograph has NOT been tampered with. It came directly from the Olympus, with no enhancements, cropping or touch-ups of any kind. This is what the eastern sky looked like at 7:45 this morning.

Absolutely stunning. I can't think of any other words to describe it. What an amazing sky. Right outside our door. I stepped out on my way to work, looked up and saw this.

The challenge, as always, was to find the right camera settings. More light or less light? I placed the camera on the post of our porch railing, and then started fiddling with the aperture and shutter speed settings. I think this one is mid-range for both: probably an f5.6 with a shutter speed at 1/8th of a second or so. I didn't want to slow the shutter too far down for fear that the branches in the foreground would blur out, causing a distraction.

I took about 10 shots at different settings (and almost missed my bus). I have a couple that are lighter but that tends to bleed some of the drama from the colours. So I chose this one. And it's glorious.

Day 347 - The Cathedral at night

Christ Church Cathedral stands at the eastern entrance to Fredericton's downtown core. With a view of the St. John River, this Anglican Church is the architectural show piece of the city and it is especially beautiful when seen at night.

Last night, as part of our usual walk with our dog, Marlee Marie, Patti agreed to my slowing our wanderings down a bit by bringing along the Olympus and the tripod. I hoped to get some nice evening shots not just of Christ Church but also of the many beautiful displays of Christmas lights in this, the oldest part of Fredericton.

I'm glad to report that I am absolutely delighted with the results; Marlee, of course, was delighted with the extended walk, which ended up lasting more than two hours.

Patti, meanwhile, was not only an excellent companion for this photo safari but also a creative partner: this second shot, of an interestingly shaped bare tree against the other side of the cathedral, was entirely her idea, as were many other shots that you are likely to see over the course of the coming week. Patti sees things in ways that I don't and her ideas are usually great (no matter how hard I at first resist them).

As I have said so often before, the challenge with photos of this kind is deciding what the appropriate amount of light is to let into the camera. For the darkest of night shots, you end up setting the shutter speed at its slowest setting (15 seconds) and then open the aperture up as far as it will go (f3.4). When there's a little more light, you can close the aperture down to improve the depth of focus but you have to make sure you don't allow the in-frame light sources to create white bombs in your picture.

In the top photo, that light top left is actually the moon. If I had stopped the aperture down even further, I could have gotten rid of that starring effect but that would have meant that the building was too dark. So, not having any lens filters to help me, I have to accept the distortion of the moon (which actually looks kind of cool) in order to make the Cathedral visible. It's a worthwhile tradeoff, I think.

Day 345 - Bookshelves and morning sun

A beautiful morning, with the sun streaming into our dining room. I originally starting taking pictures to try to capture the way the bright sun was illuminating the glass beads and green sheer curtains on the window itself. It was this photo of the bookshelves, however, that caught my eye when I transferred the shots onto the computer.

Strong light like this always creates drama. I like the strong contrast it makes these shelves and their contents, with strong lines between shadow and light. I had to play with the exposure a bit to get this right: the light meter kept getting fooled by the differences across the composition of the frame.

Day 344 - Golden doodle or baby seal?

I warned you early on that there might be a few photographs of our beloved dog Marlee, didn't I? Well, here's another one. Those of us who know her recognise this as the classic "I'm ready to play" pose, right down to splayed legs ready to jump, the eyes intent on her dad, and the orange rubber ball hiding beneath her ear to the left of her head. Those of you who don't know Marlee and don't have a dog of your own probably thought this was a photo of a large baby seal, caught on the ice floe.

Taken early in the morning, just after Marlee's first walk, this photo posed a real lighting challenge. In fact, it was only the technical wizardry of iPhoto's Edit functions that really saved it. I took the shot in very low light at f3.4 at 1/60th. Even then, the Olympus' light meter was blinking away at me. But the camera doesn't offer any larger aperture settings and I couldn't move the shutter speed any lower without having the natural shake in my hand affect the shot. So I just clicked anyway and left it to iPhoto to save the day.

What impresses me about the shot now is that iPhoto's exposure control allowed me to recapture Marlee's original colours and detail but, in doing so, it seems to have converted the snow and grass into a black-and-white background. Happily, I quite like the overall effect.

Day 340 - Christmas and everyday life

Christmas appears to be approaching. All of Fredericton seems to be wanting to get into the spirit, from the guy dressed as Santa emerging from a downtown store as I walked past, to the many (many many many) homeowners who have decided to spend their life-savings on electricity and cover their houses with lights to the Palette, with its tastefully decorated Christmas tree.

This is another photograph where I place the Olympus on the table in a restaurant, adjust the manual settings to account for the low light, then touch the shutter release. This one was especially challenging because the tree is set up in front of the restaurant's windows, meaning there was a great deal of light coming from behind the subject. I'm actually pleased with this shot, as much for the coat rack on the right as anything else. It's Christmas as part of everyday life.

Day 335 - Sunlight on satellite dish

So there I am, standing on King Street in downtown Fredericton, fumbling to get the Olympus out of my knapsack, then out of its case, before the last vestige of sunlight leaves the buildings and darkness falls.

It's amazing how quickly the lovely early evening light disappeared. When I began the 10-second process of extricating the camera from its packaging, the warm orangey-pink light was still caressing the spire on the Wilmot United Church. When I finally had the Olympus out and on, ready to take the picture, only that satellite dish on the bank building beyond was still in the light.

I'm amazed at how different the light from the sun is at different times of the day. My favourite is this light: the warm, reddish light from the setting sun. But it's also amazing how quickly that wonderful light comes and goes. I guess, if I want to be a real photographer, I'm going to have to go to the location and actually wait for the light to show itself, rather than leaving it to luck.

Day 334 - A jumpy collection of lights

No photo blog is complete without the classic "driving down dark streets with the shutter open" shot. Here's mine. With the Olympus on the dashboard, set at f3.4 at 15 seconds, we drove along Brunswick Street in downtown Fredericton at 8:30 at night. The result is this jumpy collection of lights, captured as the car moves past them: greens and reds from the stoplights, yellows from street lights and whites from headlights. Neat.

Day 328 - Deep evening colours

The days are short in Fredericton and the night comes early. This is what it's like now as I wait for my bus home from work outside King's Place downtown. By taking advantage of a post box that is under the cover of the mall's overhang, I am able to place the Olympus on a stable surface and slow the shutter right down, in this case to four full seconds. This allows me to keep the depth of focus strong with an aperture setting of f8, while still getting enough light to make a clear photo.

I really like this photo, especially the composition of the structures at the top and bottom of the frame, as well as the full, deep colour the long exposure gives me. The picture shows up, however, the limitations of my camera: I'd have preferred to shut the aperture even further, to f16 or smaller, which would allowed an even longer shutter and made the lights of passing cars interesting streaks across the frame. I like those types of photos but my little Olympus isn't really capable of them, at least not under normal evening conditions.

323 - That little leaf...

I love the little leaf that sits on the glove. I didn't put it there, honest. I just think it's a perfect adornment for this very bright red garment.

I also think the white tags issuing from the mouth of the glove are funny: they're almost as big as the glove itself. And they add an interesting swath of white to the shot.

The other thing that I notice about this photograph is the depth of focus. The fingertips of the glove are not quite crisp while the leaves in the background are quite fuzzy. I think the effect is nice but now I wish I had flipped the Olympus to manual and opened the aperture up even further. That would have shortened the focus more, making the leaves just a blur in the background. But, still, I'm happy with the colours, the composition and that little leaf.

Day 319 - On the limitations of flashes

An interior shot, not because it's a great example of photography but to show the limitations of the Olympus camera I'm using. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great camera for the price and for the fact that it is a glorified point-and-shoot.

One limitation is the built-in flash. It is small and fairly powerful but it lacks a diffusing filter that softens the light. This means that it tends to overpower subjects that are close to the camera, creating areas that are washed out with too much light and areas that are blanketed in very sharp shadows. As for more distant subjects, the flash is not quite "big" enough to make for a useful photo.

In this case, the atrium of the Legislative Building in Fredericton shows up as grainy and flat due to the lack of light. You get a taste for the beauty of its staircase and the bronze statue-lamp in the centre but the photograph is not quite crisp enough to do the place justice.

Day 316 - The mistake that pays off

An exercise in lighting. This photograph of my sister and brother-in-law opening their wedding gift is special to me not just for the occasion but also for the ridiculously stark contrast between light and dark. To be honest, this shot was a mistake. The flash on the Olympus failed to go off. I have other pictures that are just like this where the flash did, in fact, flash but they are just bland compared to this one. This photograph emphasizes the shapes in the image, the body positioning, the way the people's postures speak to us about how they are feeling.

In this case, my brother-in-law is relaxed and happy, the shrug of his shoulders and the jaunty bend to his knee showing his comfort. My sister, meanwhile, appears just as relaxed but the bend of her head suggests concentration, focus on the card she is reading. If the flash had gone off, your attention would be drawn perhaps to the clothes they are wearing, the details of their faces, over even the business of the background, instead of the mood and emotion of the moment. In this case, a mistake turned out to be the best shot of the event.

Day 312 - Afraid to ruin the magic

I have no idea what this pod is. It's beautiful, though, with its finely intricate tufts and it's perfect whiteness. My sister and I went for a walk yesterday at Hamilton's Princess Point park and found these pods near the place where we said our last goodbye to our mother more than two years ago.

I'm impressed with the performance of the Olympus in this case. Although several of the photographs I took of these pods turned out blurry, several others did not. I'm happy because I didn't use the macro setting on the camera to take the shots so I was really trusting my luck with them. And the Olympus came through, finding some way to focus from in close using its normal settings.

I really should look into finding out what kind of plant this is but... that might ruin the magic.

Day 309 - A misleading date and a coat of arms

Today we go with a detail from the Legislative Assembly building. This photograph shows misleading "1880" sign above the front door, along with windows and the coat of arms. Don't ask me which coat of arms it is because I'm not sure. Probably New Brunswick's or Canada's or even the British royal family's or something like that.

There's something that I like very much about this photograph and I'm not sure what it is. Maybe its the gentle colour scheme. Or the balance of the image, with the two windows, the sign and the coat of arms. Or maybe it's just the fact that I'm trying to take more photos of smaller details of buildings and I'm realising I'm not very good at it, so when one turns out pretty well I feel inappropriately delighted.

I don't know what it is that gives one person an "artistic eye" but I know I don't have it. But I do my best and I think this shot is one of the best I've done.