Flathead770's Photography

Flathead770 · **on:** February 29, 2020, 07:56:21 PM

Hey everyone! I haven't seen very many topics like this on the GoF so I figured I'd give it a shot for those who might be interested. I generally prefer to shoot landscape and wildlife shots, with the occasional astrophotography when given the opportunity (for those who don't know about the pictures I've shared from my trip last year, you can find them here) Let me know if this is something that you guys would want to see more of!

I'm gonna start off with posting some pictures of my visit to the Ice Castle setup in a park in my city.
Funny enough, the exit was much nicer looking then the entrance, so I'll just use that one to start with.

Once inside the main entrance it opened up with a few branching paths to explore. This path had a small water fountain that led around to an ice slide (surprisingly enough I picked up quite a bit of speed on it)

I next went into some ice caves that had a really cool look with the light peeking through all the icicles.

The other standout part for me was some of the ice sculptures that were set up.

Sneak · **Reply #1 on:** March 01, 2020, 11:45:29 AM

wooooow :O
How they made spomething like this in city? :O Look shuge and impressive!

(I think it would be better if you resize pictures with special tags)

Flathead770 · **Reply #2 on:** March 02, 2020, 12:32:50 PM

Yeah it was set up in a park. Can't remember exactly but someone said it took around 8 weeks and 40 people to make. It's certainly a neat concept and was fun to walk around in!

I take it the portrait photos are the ones that are the offenders here right? I guess they show up much bigger since there's no auto formatting in the vertical direction? Once I figure out how to resize them I'll make sure to do that.

Sneak · **Reply #3 on:** March 02, 2020, 02:16:05 PM

@Flathead770
[img height=100] or [img width=100] would be enough for resizing.

Just type fitting number for width/height

Flathead770 · **Reply #4 on:** March 02, 2020, 03:58:22 PM

Thanks! I knew there was some sort of command to resize but couldn't remember. Does this look better now?

Sneak · **Reply #5 on:** March 02, 2020, 04:37:42 PM

Yes, that couple pictures you used parameters to are perfect now.

The rest are the same, because you didn't put parameters to them

Flathead770 · **Reply #6 on:** March 02, 2020, 06:22:16 PM

Ok I see the issue. I was using the sunrise theme for the GoF, which automatically formats the images width wise so I never bothered modifying it. Now that I switched back to the default theme I can see how massive they are

. Should be better now!

Gentle Sharptooth · **Reply #7 on:** March 02, 2020, 08:19:22 PM

@Flathead770 your photos are breathtaking! You have a real gift and eye for unique shots.

ImpracticalDino · **Reply #8 on:** March 02, 2020, 09:25:53 PM

Beautiful ice sculptures and glaciers Flathead770. I think I want to visit Alberta in the future tbh.

Thanks for sharing with us!

Flathead770 · **Reply #9 on:** March 04, 2020, 10:43:20 PM

@Gentle Sharptooth
Thanks! I certainly try my best!

@ImpracticalDino
Funny enough, this is the only Ice Castle event in Canada (at least from this company), with 5 others in the US. (https://icecastles.com/). That being said, Alberta still does have some really great landscapes to check out including forests, mountains, lakes. It's also got it's own little badlands valley where a lot of Dinosaurs have been found. I got some pictures kicking around of them that I can get around to uploading

But for now I'm gonna post a few pictures of the same park, but this time around summer time. For this I brought my super telephoto lens (150-500mm. For comparison my phone is about the equivalent of ~15mm) to get some close up of the Canadian Geese that flock around the lake.

And some non-geese, because why not?

Looks like it's true, Ducky does have a longneck

Flathead770 · **Reply #10 on:** April 17, 2020, 11:41:09 PM

So I suppose now's a good time to update this thread with some more pictures. This time it will be mostly landscape shots from a camping trip last year with some friends.

Of course I always end up being the slowest when I'm hiking with my friends because I want to take pictures of everything

Though this can be fun as it allows some of my shots to be populated. I like how the trail extends on one side of the shot with the scenery opening up on the right side.

The main event of the camping trip was hiking around Upper Kananaskis Lake

This shot required me to lay down on the ground to keep the mountains in the background with some nice flowers in front. Unfortunately the flowers didn't end up being in focus, but I like the shot regardless.

This one is kinda neat because I have the trees on each side acting as a natural frame for the mountain.

The last image was taken during one of the nights camping out. This was my first use of my new wide angle lens for astrophotography. The camera shutter was set to 30s and in that time I swept a flashlight across the foreground to light it up (a term called Light Painting).

Anagnos · **Reply #11 on:** April 18, 2020, 04:46:37 AM

Wow... all my life I've been dreaming of visiting places like this. They look simply gorgeous and full of wonder, not to mention a lot to explore. You would really have to visit a place like this yourself to get the full picture just how amazing the sights must be, and your photos sure made me anxious to pack up and leave right now. Only if the situation was more accommodating...

Great pictures, Flathead. Canada sure is a beauty, and I have a feeling I don't know the half of it!

Sneak · **Reply #12 on:** April 18, 2020, 05:03:42 AM

Beautiful nature...
These forests slowly turning into snowy mountains are gorgeous!

Hope I will manage to go outside at the end of this summer.

OwlsCantRead · **Reply #13 on:** April 18, 2020, 06:37:12 AM

The mountainous and river valley scenery really is a sight to behold. I can't put the soothing joy I get from gazing at the vibrant colors of the landscape into words. And judging by the quality of the last picture (love night shots), I would say that the wide angle lens was rather worth it.

Flathead770 · **Reply #14 on:** April 18, 2020, 10:29:38 AM

Thanks guys, glad you like them! I feel you guys as well with wanting to go outside this summer.

Yeah Owls the wide angle lens certainly has been worth it (it is actually more expensive then the camera body itself haha). In fact, every picture except for the first one in this last post was taken using that lens as well as every shot in my first post. It also is considered a "fast" lens due to it's large aperture of f/2.8. Basically means that the lens can open up wider to allow more light in (or the same amount in a shorter amount of time). f/2.8 or better is generally a good number to aim for for astrophotography.

Goldenwind · **Reply #15 on:** April 18, 2020, 04:12:56 PM

All of these are so beautiful!

You really know how to take such fantastic photos!

ImpracticalDino · **Reply #16 on:** April 18, 2020, 06:05:01 PM

I could literally use these as Desktop Wallpapers Flathead, they're just that beautiful! Awesome photography.

Flathead770 · **Reply #17 on:** April 18, 2020, 07:56:30 PM

Funny enough, I'm actually using the one of the Goose that's standing in front of the lake (if you notice it's a 16:9 format) I have a few others that I've used as wallpapers in the past as well that I'll get around to uploading at some point. Thanks guys!

RainbowFaceProtege · **Reply #18 on:** April 18, 2020, 08:27:20 PM

WOW...all of these are seriously amazing!! They look good enough to be in a magazine!

Is this something you do for a living?

Flathead770 · **Reply #19 on:** April 18, 2020, 09:45:04 PM

It's a side hobby. I've always been the "camera guy" with my group of friends, mostly just capturing our stupidity on a little digital camera in either picture or movie format

When I went on a trip to the US to see the solar eclipse in 2017 that is when I seriously started thinking about getting a proper DSLR. Took me one extra hike in the mountains with my friends to push me over the edge to buy one. It's been something I've done every now and then since summer of 2018. It also helped that by this time I was finished University and I could finally start doing things again

And thanks!