March 28, 2010
This image was taken 20 minutes after sunset, on an unusually calm evening, on the shores of Lake of Two Mountains in L’Ile Bizard, Quebec – just a few kilometers from where I live.
When shooting sunsets, it’s worthwhile to wait a 15-30 minutes after the sun has dipped below the horizon to see what happens. The wind usually dies down, the sky can take on some beautiful & rich colors, and the lower contrast between land and sky is easier to control.
I really love this type of image - the simplified composition, calm water and pastel colors convey a sense of tranquility and calm. I hope you like it too.
The colors are “real”, and obtained by stacking three separate filters: a Singh-Ray 4-stop Neutral Density filter to slow the exposure to 20 seconds, a 3-stop Graduated Neutral Density filter to darken the bright sky, and a polarizer to eliminate the shine off the wet rocks and to help see through the water’s surface.
Image specs:
- Canon EOS 5D Mark II
- Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM at 21mm
- f/13, 20 seconds, ISO 200
- Singh-Ray 3-stop hard GND, Singh-Ray 4-stop ND and B+W polarizer mounted on a Lee Filter System
- Gitzo GT3541LS tripod with RRS BH-55 ballhead, mirror lockup, cable release
- Processed with Adobe Camera Raw 5.x
Please leave a comment, either positive or negative – it’s always appreciated. If you’re interested in purchasing a print of this image, please let me know.
See you in the field,
Rob
Posted by Rob under Filters,Hot Shots,L'Ile Bizard (Quebec),Quebec | Comments (5)
January 31, 2010
In the colder North American climate, such as found in southern Quebec and Vermont, Mother Nature puts up an incredible display of colors in September and October. For many us landscape photographers, this 2-3 week period of fiery fall colors is the most productive, exciting and stimulating time of the year. This makes the arrival of November all the more difficult to accept: cold weather, gray skies, rain, snow, drab colors – probably the worst month for nature photography around here… In December, the cold weather arrives, and winter slowly settles, putting an icy grip over the regions.
At this time of year, many people imitate bears and head indoors to “hibernate” until the arrival of warmer spring weather. Nature photographers tend to spend more time in front of their computers, working on articles, preparing image submissions to Editors, while slowly packing on the pounds…
Ice Floe Sunset Over Lake of Two Mountains
Canon EOS 20D
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM lens at 17mm
1/13s (middle exposure), f/16, ISO 100
Hoya Moose Polarizer, Hitech 3-stop GND
3 exposure HDR image processed in Photomatix Read more…
Posted by Rob under L'Ile Bizard (Quebec),Landscapes,Musings,Quebec,Wildlife,Winter | Comments (13)
January 4, 2010
Hey all,
Rob here, again. 
NatureScapes.net, the best nature photography resource web site and forum on the internet, has published an updated version of my Hand-Held Flash Macro Photography article, which was originally published on the Sojourns In Nature blog. This is quite an honor, and I wanted to share the good news with you.
See http://www.naturescapes.net/docs/index.php/category-photographic-technique/41-photographic-technique/381-rob-servranckx.
All the best,
Rob
Posted by Rob under News | Comments (2)
January 3, 2010
Hey all – Rob here… Happy New Year!
I just wanted to let you know about my new web site, Visions In Nature. No need to worry, I’m still partnering with Gustav on Sojourns In Nature. Visions In Nature is just the place for me to share my own images and style.
I’d love to hear your feedback on the site. Here’s a screen shot of the home page:
Look for an overhaul of the Sojourns in Nature site in the coming weeks… I’ve spent most of my holiday break working on it. 
All the best for 2010,
Rob
Posted by Rob under News | Comments (1)
November 27, 2009
The grey, drizzly November weather we’re having is making think back and look at images taken in different seasons. I fell upon this one taken in May 2009, following record-high spring water levels. After many weeks of frustration caused by extremely high water, which robbed me of my usual shoreline compositions, the water finally receded dropping by about 6 feet in 1 month.
Still, the water line was still many feet above normal levels – the “seaweed” see in the foreground is actually grass, and the “aquatic plant” in the middle of the image is a dry-land bush…
In order to tame the very bright sky and properly expose the dark foreground, I used two GND filters, a 2-stop one just below the bush, and a 3-stop one at the horizon line.
Image specs:
- Canon EOS 5D Mark II
- Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM at 31mm
- f/22, 4 seconds, ISO 50
- Singh-Ray 3-stop hard GND, Lee 2-stop hard GND, B+W polarizer
- Gitzo GT3541LS tripod with RRS BH-55 ballhead, cable release
Please leave a comment, either positive or negative – it’s always appreciated. If you’re interested in purchasing a print of this image, please let me know.
See you in the field,
Rob
Posted by Rob under Filters,Hot Shots,L'Ile Bizard (Quebec),Landscapes,Quebec,Spring | Comments (1)
November 8, 2009
“The Basin” area of Fraconia Notch State Park in New Hampshire is truly a beautiful place. The Pemigewasset River snakes through the park, creating many small waterfalls, rushing water… and endless compositions. This image was not particularly difficult to capture, the only tricky part was to get the full image (near to far) in good focus at 80mm. Oh, that and also having to wait a while until there was nobody on the bridge…
For me, there something peaceful, quiet and comforting about this image – the vibrant fall colors, the cold water, the little bridge that just invites people to cross it… I can still imagine the smell of pine trees in the air. I’ll need to go back there sometime soon, and this time, I want to spend a full day there, not just a few hours.
Image specs:
- Canon EOS 5D Mark II
- Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L USM lens at 80mm
- f/16, 3.2 seconds, ISO 100
- Hoya Moose Polarizer filter
- Gitzo GT3541LS tripod with RRS BH-55 ballhead, cable release
Please leave a comment, either positive or negative – it’s always a good thing to get feedback on my work and my blog posts. If you’re interested in purchasing a print of this image, please let me know.
See you in the field,
Rob
Posted by Rob under Fall,Fall Foliage,Hot Shots,Landscapes,New Hampshire | Comments (6)
November 1, 2009
The Basin at Franconia Notch State Park in New Hampshire is a beautiful place. So many subjects to shoot, so many different compositions for each subject. I could spend days and days in this one small area.
It was drizzly, cloudy and cold when I took this shot. It was worth the effort, but I certainly appreciated wearing my light gloves and hat…
A strong S-curve. An anchor at the top and another at the bottom. A few strong colors. A simple but elegant composition. Motion and stillness.
For those of you who are artists or have studied the art of compostion, you understand why the above image works. For those of you who like the image, but you don’t quite understand why, you’re on your way to understanding. For those of you who don’t get it… well, I can only hope you will understand one day.
There is beauty in simplicity. There is beauty in elegance. There is beauty in nature. I hope you see the beauty in this image.
Image specs:
- Canon EOS 5D Mark II
- Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L USM lens at 35mm
- f/16, 0.6 seconds, ISO 100
- Hoya Moose Polarizer filter
- Gitzo GT3541LS tripod with RRS BH-55 ballhead, cable release
Rob
Posted by Rob under Fall,Hot Shots,Landscapes,New Hampshire | Comments (4)
October 22, 2009
There are times when I go out for a shoot with specific expectations, and don’t get the shot I wanted because there’s bad light, wrong weather conditions or something messing up the composition. There are times when I pre-visualize a shot, things line up perfectly and I get exactly the shot I wanted. And then, there are times when I go out, not expecting to get a single good shot, and end up getting a killer image.
This was such a time. And these images are the most surprising and satisfying.
Read more…
Posted by Rob under Filters,Fine Art Prints,Hot Shots,Landscapes,Quebec | Comments (8)
October 18, 2009
Liquid Gold Sunset Over Lake of Two Mountains
Canon EOS 5D MkII
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM lens at 20mm
f/22, 2s, ISO 100
Filters: Singh-Ray 3-stop hard GND, Lee 2-Stop hard GND, B+W 105mm polarizer
Gitzo GT3541LS tripod with RRS BH-55 ballhead, cable release
Hey all,
Rob here. I kind of missed the spontaneity of writing small, quick blog posts… You know, something that highlights a mood, a thought, an event, or a specific image. Gustav and I will keep on writing the longer monthly blog posts, but I also want to write more often to stay in touch. So this is the first post of a new series of “My Hot Shot”. There may a few per week, or only one per month – it’ll depend on my work schedule.
This shot was taken on Labour Day 2009. The beautiful clouds that were hanging around at 17:00 sadly disappeared by 18:15 as I was preparing to head out for this shot.
The bright, cloudless sky made the exposure rather difficult. I ended up using two graduate neutal density filters to hold back the very bright sky. I placed a 2-stop GND just above the rocks (about 2/3rds of the way up), along with a 3-stop GND at the horizon. I also used a polarizer to remove the harsh reflections from the wet rocks in the foreground.
I absolutely love the golded layer of water – this is really what makes this image special. The composotion also works well because of the placement of the horizon, the sun, the tuft of grass in the foreground, and the way the rocks leads your eyes into the sun.
Hope you enjoy it! All the best,
Rob
Posted by Rob under Filters,Hot Shots,L'Ile Bizard (Quebec),Landscapes | Comments (0)
September 15, 2009
Hey all – Rob here…
Since starting photography in 2004, May to August have always been my most productive months. There are plenty of subjects to choose from: birds, amphibians, flowers, insects, landscapes… On weekends, I’d often head out before dawn to the Ile Bizard marsh to photograph birds, frogs, turtles, otters or other marsh residents. When I don’t feel like getting up before dawn, I’d set up for macro photography a little later in the morning.
This year? Man, oh man… May, June and July were cool, very wet and windy. Montreal had record amounts of rain in July (4.6 inches), with some rainfall on 26 days out of 31 days. You can forget about going to the Ile Bizard marsh for bird photography in these conditions, as it will be very quiet. And windy or very sunny conditions make traditional macro photography extremely difficult.
With changing weather patterns, bird photography has been getting inconsistent at the marsh. I cannot control this. But there are always insects to photograph, and these critters are what I turn to in order satisfy my need for photography. This summer, with either too much wind, rain, too much cloud, or (ironically) too much sun, even insects were hard to photograph.
How bad has it been? Well, excluding the images taken at the Green Mountain Workshop in June, my number of “keeper shots” from start of May to end of July was 19… Only 19!
Mating Japanese Beetles
Canon EOS 5D MkII
Sigma 150mm f/2.8 macro lens with Canon 500D diopter
Canon 550EX flash with Micro-Apollo diffuser
f/16, 1/100s, ISO 400
Hand-held
Read more…
Posted by Rob under Equipment,Flash,Lenses,Macro,Summer,Technique | Comments (10)
