Tag Archives: Toronto International Dragon Boat Festival

In The Round, photography, Portfolio

Fall Colours In The Round: A Gallery

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Trees have always been an important subject in art. For me they bring to mind the power of an Emily Carr or the drama of Ansel Adams. They are grounded. They reach for the sky.  A natural subject for impressionist photography.

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This photograph of a tree in fall colours is from a series shot right in front of the Legislative Building Queen’s Park, Toronto. It is composed of about 50 images merged together using an opacity blend. This photograph appeared on Flickr’s Explore page on October 23, 2014.  https://flic.kr/p/oQiuYg © Stephen D’Agostino

When I started experimenting with in the round photography I first turned to trees. Visually trees are roughly symmetrical which lends themselves to the technique because fundamentally in the round photography relies on pixel averaging.  When similarly placed  pixels are roughly the same it is more likely that a strong image will emerge after the opacity blend.  As a result the  trunk is a natural anchor for the image. The leaves feather towards the sky. The background details wash away leaving the subject alone in the frame.

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A flaming red maple tree in front of  Ontario Veteran’s War Memorial on the grounds of the Legislative Building Queen’s Park, Toronto.  This photograph is composed of 40 images taken around the tree then brought together using an opacity blend. © Stephen D’Agostino

The genesis of this series was an unexpected opportunity. Early on a gloomy Saturday I set up  on the South apex of Queen’s Park Cres to photograph the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon.  As the light improved I noticed the trees behind me, along the street edge, had started to turn colour  and with the road closed for the marathon it was possible to photograph around the trees.

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A Maple tree just starting to turn photographed in the round. This photograph is composed of about 50 images brought together with an opacity blend. It appeared on Flickr’s Explore page on October 27, 2014. © Stephen D’Agostino

What I love about these photographs is the way the technique captures the form and colour of the trees while just hinting at the detail.  Trees have always been an important subject in art. For me they bring to mind the power of an Emily Carr or the drama of Ansel Adams. They are grounded. They reach for the sky.  A natural subject for impressionist photography and one I keep coming back to.

The other thing I love about this technique is the way the foregrounds seem to twist, circle or band. The result is always unexpected. I can pre-visualize the tree itself but the foreground is always a surprise.

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A maple tree in front of Queens Park, Toronto photographed in the round. This image is composed of about 40 images photographed around the tree then brought together using an opacity blend. It appeared on Flickr’s Explore page on October 25, 2014 and generated 22,000 views that day. © Stephen D’Agostino

These in the round impressionistic photographs have been well received on Flickr.  Four of them appeared on Flickr’s Explore page. One generated 22,000 views in a single day.  That is a stark contrast to the way my photo impressionism was received a couple of years ago when I often receive comments asking if I had a neurodegenerative disease or hadn’t learned to use auto focus.

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This image is my favourite in this series. A maple tree photographed in the round, Queen’s Park, Toronto. This photograph is composed of about 40 images brought together using an opacity blend. © Stephen D’Agostino

 

For more information on the technique see my post What I Have Learned: In The Round Images.

To view the gallery just click on one of the images.

A tree in fall colours, Lakeshore Blvd.,Toronto, photographed using the in the round . © Stephen D’Agostino.
My favourite photograph from this series. The maple tree at the east driveway to the Legislative Building at Queen’s Park photographed in the round to create a photo impressionistic effect. © Stephen D’Agostino
One of my most popular example of photo impressionism on Flickr. A maple tree in front of Queens Park, Toronto photographed in the round. This image is composed of about 40 images photographed around the tree then brought together using an opacity blend. © Stephen D’Agostino
A maple tree photographed in the round, Queen’s Park, Toronto. This impressionistic photograph is composed of about 40 images brought together using an opacity blend. © Stephen D’Agostino
The maple tree in front of the Veterans’ Memorial, Queens Park, Toronto, photographed using the photo impressionism technique “in the round”. This photograph is composed of 40 images taken around the tree then brought together using an opacity blend. © Stephen D’Agostino
A tree in Fall colour in front of the University of Toronto’s Engineering Building photographed in the round. This photograph is composed of about 50 images brought together using an opacity blend. © Stephen D’Agostino
A Maple tree just starting to turn photographed in the round. This photograph is composed of about 50 images brought together with an opacity blend. © Stephen D’Agostino
Apple trees on University Avenue’s boulevard photographed in the round
A tree turning colour on the front yard of Queen’s Park photographed in the round. This photograph is composed of about 50 images taken all around the tree then brought together using an opacity blend to create the photo impressionistic effect. © Stephen D’Agostino

 

Dragon Boats

My Dragon Boats Featured on Eugephemisms

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Eugephemisms is a blog about fitness,  life and less visited places. It has a special focus on dragon boat racing,  A recent post featured 10 of my photo impressionistic dragon boat images and I think it is worth a look.

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Here is an extract:

Why do you shoot impressionistic images of dragon boats?
Stephen: Because photographs just capture a split second they often miss the moment we experienced. I think that is particularly true with dragon boat racing. Dragon boat racers exude grace/power/energy and I think I capture that better using photo impressionistic techniques.

How do you create your images?
Stephen: I use 3 techniques which effectively compress a moment in time into a single image. I started using in camera multiple exposures which is an old school technique. Recently I have been merging high speed bursts of 20 or more images. These techniques really emphasize movement and power. As well I love the graceful results you see in long exposures; often in the range of 0.6 to 1.5 seconds.

You can find the full post  at http://wp.me/p3HpUb-y8

I have a gallery of impressionistic dragon boat images at https://www.dagostino.ca/galleries/dragon-boat-gallery/

Dragon Boats, Milestones

Featured on Flickr Explore – Photo Impressionistic Dragon Boat Racers

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My exploration of photo impressionism started with dragon boats and I keep coming back. Is it the power, the visual rhythms, habit?  I just don’t know. But the resulting images never fail to please.

The photograph below is composed of about 30 images brought together using an opacity blend and  recently appeared on Flickr’s Explore page. It was taken at Toronto’s International Dragon Boat Festival on Toronto Island.

For more of my dragon boat images on Flickr see https://www.flickr.com/photos/photo-impressionism/sets/72157622514064785/

photo impressionistic image of dragon boat racers
Dragon Boat Racers
Dragon Boats, Photo Impressionism, Technique

Photo Impressionism at the Toronto International Dragon Boat Festival

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The 24th Tim Hortons® Toronto International Dragon Boat Race Festival is on this weekend at Centre Island. A great venue for photography with lots of colour, and the ability to be proximate to the action.

The event is a real exercise in hurry up and wait. Races last just over 2 minutes but in reality you only have about 30 seconds of good shooting depending on your location. Then there is a pause while the next race sets up. Personally I couldn’t do it without my iPod and a selection of good pod casts.

I attended yesterday with the intention of working on my impressionist photography portfolio including dragged shutter and multiple exposure technique. I also thought I would try a little infra red black and white. All in all I was happy with my images. Here’s what I learned.

Shooting Location

The action takes place on the Long Pond at Centre Island. Races run from west to east.

You are much closer to the action if you perch on the south shore but be aware that at that location you are shooting into the sun.

Lenses

I brought a 70-200 and a 500 mm lens and a FX camera. My infrared camera is a DX. The 500 was marginally okay for shots looking directly down the course. The 70-200 was great for passing shots. If I had a 300 mm I would likely have used it.

Other Equipment

Wheels! It’s a long walk from the ferry so a wheeled camera bag is a great idea.

Tripod vs mono pod. I would bring both. The boats move quite quickly and there is a lot of action to choose from so I regretted not bringing a mono pod. The tripod of course is must at 500 mm as is a remote trigger.

Neutral density filters. You can’t slow down your shutter without them. I have been using a variable ND filter which I really like. The draw back being you can’t use a lens hood.

Food and water. There are lots of concession stands but the races run every 7 minutes on average so buying food will cost you 2-3 photo opportunities. I used a cooler bag and half frozen water bottles to keep it cold at a minimum weight.

Technique

To further my impressionist photography project I tried various shutter speeds and shutter intervals. It’s hard to tell at this point what worked and what didn’t but I will post my results as I see them. But on a preliminary basis it seemed to me that multiple exposures worked best at slower speeds eg 60th and dragged shuttled seemed best at about 1/2 a second.