C B Images

Photography by Chris Bates

Leaves

Orchard Lane Nov 2 2021
Ontario Fall Colours: ISO200, 61mm, f/2.8, 1/2500

It has been a long while since I posted last. This is one of the last photos I have taken and have not shared.

This was taken one bright, cool fall morning down the street from where we live. Maple Leaves were displaying there colours they are famous for.

Poplar Stand Mt Lorette Pond
Poplar Stand at Mt. Lorette Pond: ISO 800, 15mm, f/4.5, 1/1000

This is a stand of Trembling Aspens in Kananaskis Country, Alberta, Canada. The backdrop is a pond.

Keeping with the black and white from my previous post, thought I would add this to my collection. The aspen bark takes on a silvery tone.

Poplar Stand Mt Lorette Pond
Poplar Stand at Mt. Lorette Pond: ISO 800, 15mm, f/4.5, 1/1000

This is a stand of Trembling Aspens in Kananaskis Country, Alberta, Canada. The backdrop is a pond.

Keeping with the black and white from my previous post, thought I would add this to my collection. The aspen bark takes on a silvery tone.

Seeking Shade
Seeking Shade: ISO 250, 102mm, f/4.5, 1/200

A photo of a frog seeking shade and waiting for food in my father's backyard pond.

I did not wait to see if that little bug on the stalk of the lily pad was frog food. It was hard to see with the naked eye.




Fading Summer Aspens
Fading Summer Aspens, Heart Mountain Trail, Alberta, Canada

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Confederation Park Path Fall 2013
Confederation Park Path: ISO 200,15mm, f/6.3, 1/400

Confederation Park Fall 2013
Confederation Park Fall 2013: ISO 200, 19mm, f/7.1, 1/160


It has been a long while since I posted to my photo blog. This past October we put our Red Deer home up for sale and made a move south to Airdrie.

My photo journal will undergo some changes as my main theme was images from the backyard. Our new backyard is pretty tiny and undeveloped compared to our past home in Red Deer. I will have to venture away from the yard and explore new things in our new home. Perhaps pushing me out of my comfort zone and getting out into the “wild”.

The above images are from one of my last photo walks in Red Deer before our big move. As you can see it was a pretty spectacular one as the way the fall sun was hitting the leaves on my walk home. It is the end of another season but like always I am sure what is coming next will inspire me.

Ant Peony Macro Ladybug nature
Ladybug and Ant: ISO 800, 35mm, f/7.1, 1/100

As promised another ladybug image to share.

This ladybug is sharing a peony bud with an ant. The ladybug was sitting perfectly still while the ant was probing this large creature with her antenna.

Ladybug Lupin Time Warp illusion backyard nature
Ladybug on Lupin (Bottoms Up): ISO 800, 35mm, f/5.0, 1/30

Angela pointed this opportunity out to me on on of her afternoon backyard garden walks.

Just like the previous image, I have used my Tokina 35mm 2.8 Macro lens to capture this close up of a Ladybug head first in a branch of Lupin leaves.

This year we seem to have an over abundance of ladybugs in our backyard. I will have more images to share.

Ladybug on Leaf macro ladybug Alberta Canada
Ladybug on Leaf: ISO 800, 35mm, f/2.8, 1/4000

I was enjoying the spring sunshine one afternoon last week and noticed this lone ladybug checking out the leafy foliage of some of our perennials.

I used my Tokina 35mm f/2.8 macro lens to capture this image.

Leaf, color, colour, red, orange, rose, decay
Fall 2011: ISO 200, 90mm, f/8, 1/125

Fall is here. Time to put the outdoor gear away for winter hibernation.

This is a picture of rose leaves from our backyard garden. These add the traditional fall colours to our garden. Red, orange and yellow.

Winter winds blowing snow Red Deer Alberta Canada
Prevailing Winds: ISO 400, 70mm, f/6.7, 1/500

High winds this past weekend packed the new fallen snow down to make it pretty hard. This is the roof of our garage and it looks like the virginia creeper is holding the snow from sliding off the roof.

Click on the image to see a larger one and you can actually see the wind moving the snow on the roof and under the eaves.

PS: I finally got listed at coolphotoblogs.com. Please vote for my photo blog if you like what you see at the links below.

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Rose Leaves, Nature, Concrete, Chris Bates Photography
Rose Leaves on Concrete: ISO 100, 10mm, f/5.6, 1/80

I was walking to the garage this afternoon to dig out our outdoor Christmas decorations today and noticed that a few rose branches had fallen to the ground. They were showing off very autumn like colours (Red, Yellow, Gold).

I grabbed my camera and picked up some of these leaves and placed them in the sun. Since it is close to winter here our sun now tracks in the southern sky and does not cross directly above us. Because of this we get very long shadows this time of year. I wanted to show these shadows so I placed the leaves on a somewhat plain background.

The top picture is after some post processing work done with an Apple Aperture Plug-in that I have talked about before. The image directly below is the original image.

Rose Leaves, Concrete, sidewalk.
Rose Leaves on Concrete Original Image: Same setting as above

Rose Leaves Alberta Canada Autumn Fall Colours Nature Photography
Fall Rose Leaves: ISO 400, 35mm, f/5, 1/100

My last post showed some bright colours of summer. This image is of some rose leaves changing to their fall colours.

For some reason when I transfer the image to my website it does not look as sharp as it does on my computer. Click on the image or HERE to see a sharper image.

I took this shot today on a very overcast sky without the use of flash.

Leaf, Fall, Nature, Apple Tree, Chris Bates, Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, Photography
Last Leaf: ISO 200, 50mm, f/5, 1/320

Our colourful apple tree has lost all of it's leaves. I am sharing with you a photo taken last week of a leaf that is not willing to let go.

What is really weird is that the neighbour's Mountain Ash and our crabapple tree that is below it still have many green leaves. The background of this photo is the Mountain Ash's green leaves and orange/red berries. The majority of the other trees on our block are barren. It's quite odd.

American Robin, Chris Bates Photography, Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, nature, fall, spring
American Robin with Autumn Leaves: ISO 400, 270mm, f/6.7, 1/180


American Robin, Chris Bates Photography, Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, nature, fall, spring
American Robin: ISO 400, 270mm, f/6.7, 1/180

A sure sign of spring is when the Robins return to our yard.

Wait a minute, it's autumn!

We are still experiencing warm weather and it must be fooling the robins playing in our yard.

The parents may have returned with their spring babies to show them where they were born so that they will all return to us next spring.

Chris Bates Photography, Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, Nature, Apple Tree, Leaves, Fall, Colour
Up in Flames at Night: ISO 200, 24mm, f/5.6, 8.0s

I have read about painting your subjects with LED lights and wondered how hard is it to do. Well, I tried it the other night on our apple tree with all the different coloured leaves.

I set the camera on a tripod since I was playing with long exposures. The shutter stayed open for 8 seconds on this shot. In order for the camera to focus I had to shine my flashlight on a spot on the tree for the autofocus to find its mark. I also set the camera to take the shot 10 seconds after I pressed the shutter release. You can also use a remote or a cable shutter release (I don't have either for my Canon 40D) .

I set up my flash/strobe on a second tripod away from the camera and pointed it at the inside of a white umbrella. I thought that bouncing the light of the flash/strobe would illuminate the tree more effectively than directly pointing the flash/strobe at the tree.

I also warned my wife that if any neighbours come knocking on our door asking about crazy lights going off in the backyard it was me playing with the flashlight and camera.

Once I heard the shutter open (After the 10 Second delay) I then "painted" the tree with my LED Flashlight. After experimenting with a few different motions (Up/down, Side to Side) and different speeds I got a few shots I thought would work. It was hard to tell in the dark looking at the little screen on the back of the camera especially when my eyes were adjusting to brightness then darkness.

Before I started I had envisioned that it would isolate the apple tree from the distractions behind it (neighbour's motorhome, our white fence etc.) The finished project came pretty close to what I envisioned. I chose this one to show you.


Chris Bates Photography, Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, nature, leaves, fall, colour, apple tree
Up in Flames: ISO 100, 18mm, f/6.3, 1/50

Our apple tree surprised us this fall. We have never seen it have this much colour at the end of a season. It usually turns yellow and a little orange. This year most of the leaves have turned red. As you can see they are also hanging on to the branches a little longer so that we can admire her beauty.

I have my circular polarizer on to help saturate the colours in the leaves and sky.

Chris Bates Photography Skateboard Park Sunset Fall
The Chase: ISO 400, 44mm, f/6.7, 1/125

Another "Indian Summer" image from Michener Hill in Red Deer. Two kids playing on their longboards on the steep trails of Michener Hill.

I was aware of the lens flare when I was composing this shot. I was using a lens hood but wanted to portray the warmth of the setting sun on this beautiful fall evening. Just the week before people in Red Deer had broke out their winter jackets to beat the cold weather we were experiencing. This week people are back in shorts and t-shirts.



Chris Bates Photography Red Deer Alberta Canada nature fall
Falling Leaf: ISO 200, 90mm, f/5.6, 1/90

The leaves are changing colour and falling off the trees. We are experiencing an "Indian Summer" right now. Warm summer like temperatures and sunny skies.

This image was taken just before sunset at Michener Hill which is about 5 blocks from the house. This hill overlooks downtown and the river valley.

Chris Bates Photography nature leaves fall ninebark Red Deer Alberta Canada
Ying and Yang: ISO 100, 30.5mm, f/4.5, 1/320

We got our first real heavy frost of the fall on Friday morning. The garden took a beating. Only the strong survived.

I was surveying the damage and came across this Purple Ninebark leaf. These are purple during the summer but half of this leaf is green. No Photoshopping was done in the making of this image.

Nature is cruel but she also creates marvels.

Chris Bates Photographer Red Deer Alberta Canada Tree Fall Leaves color colour bark
Fall: ISO 100, 8.1mm. f/4.5, 1/500

I'm guilty. I have not used my camera in a week. I pulled this image from a photo walk I did last fall in the town in which I work. I used my point and shoot as I left my heavy gear at home. I just wanted to enjoy the sights and sounds of fall and not worry about what lens I was going to use.

Currently, the weather has been full of rain and clouds. Luckily, the clouds are keeping in what little heat we have left from summer.

Chris Bates Photography Nature Mosquito Leaf
Mosquito on Ninebark Leaf: ISO 400, 90mm, f/8. 1/250

These little guys are in huge numbers this year. The amount of rain we got this summer is above average which provides the mosquito plenty of breeding grounds.

Centre of the Universe


Sun Shines Brightly: ISO 200, 90mm, f/6.3, 1/80

This is a macro shot of our crabapple tree blossoms.

The image reminds me of our brightly shinning sun with planets orbiting around it.

Frosty


Minus 30 Celsius today! Leaves are trying to keep warm by covering themselves with a frosty blanket.

Fall Leaves


Took this picture yesterday before the strong winds started to swirl the leaves around.

Photo was converted to black and white using Nik’s Aperture plugin Silver Efex Pro.