Morton Arboretum Illumination Experience

One of the light shows in the garden.

Morton Arboretum in Lisle Illinois has the Illumination event during the holidays. They feature holiday lights on the entire path walk of the garden. It is a delight to see the lights from start to finish.

The trees along the pathway are decorated with different types of lights in awesome colors. Some of the lights do interact with people walking along the pathway. There's an area where the lights change when you hug the tree, some lights change when you speak in a microphone along the pathway. Some do have rotary switches that you turn and they change colors.

The lights change colors when you hug the tree.

There's an area where lights are projected into the trees and tells a story of the four seasons. It's really mesmerizing. There's an area where the lights interact with the classical music that is playing in the background.

Same thing with this. It changes color.

For this trip I brought along my 6D equipped with my Canon 17-40mm f/4L. The 6D as I have reviewed on this site is EXCELLENT in low light. I suppose that the 5D MKIII is better but the 6D is so far my go to camera for low light, I don't have a 5D MKIII, but I know it has the same capabilities as the 6D in lowlight...probably better.

The lights change into the four seasons.

The chandelier display in the middle of the forest is great.

The lights change with the music.

These things aim light from the trees into the sky.

I highly recommend going to this event before it's over. It's only a once a year light experience and it's an awesome exhibit. Go check it out.

Near the entrance. Great light display.

Baby's first studio photo

I love taking baby pictures. When my sister in law had her baby I cannot wait to take the first official studio photos for her baby. It was a good thing the baby was well behaved during the session.

For this session, I decided to use my Canon 6D, and my favorite portrait studio lens my Canon 50mm f/1.4 USM lens. I know a lot of photographers prefer an 85mm for studio portraits but the lack of space makes me use the 50mm more than the 85. If it was outdoors it would've been a different story. The 50mm feels more comfortable indoors and you can frame your shots better than using something longer than that...but then again it's all personal preference.

Since I was using studio strobes, I set my shooting mode to manual so I can dial in whatever aperture and shutter I want. Studio strobes give out plenty of light so I have more wiggle room for my settings than if I was shooting without them. I set my aperture to f/3.5 and my shutter speed to 100/sec. Then adjusted the strobes for the best lighting. I used 2 strobes, one for the main light in the left side and one fill light on the right. Shot in raw and adjusted in Lightroom and Photoshop:

The shot that I loved best from the session.

A lazy day at the horse race track

So people from work had decided to go to the horse race track to spend some time just to watch race horses go at it. I have honestly never been to one and I was pretty excited as race horses has always been a very good subject for photography.

I packed my stuff early that day for the event. I packed my Canon 6D along with my favorite go to lenses, my Canon 70-200 IS USM f/2.8. My Canon 70-200 IS USM lens has been my lens of choice for events like this. As a lot of photographers have said before...it is probably the best lens ever in the Canon lineup. I agree, I have brought this beast to almost every event I've ever been and it has not let me down. 

So we were at the second level of the race track and my maximum 200mm focal length wasn't enough. I was wondering if I should've brought in my 400mm instead. A friend advised me to go down one level and shoot by the railings, which was the perfect idea.

So I stood and waited for the horses to go around the track and I waited near the finish line. I set my camera to aperture priority to isolate my subject from the background, I knew that in this scenario shutter priority would've been the best setting so I can set a fast speed for my shutter to capture the running horses, but it was really bright out and I had enough light to set my aperture open and still maintain a perfect shutter speed, so I set it up that way. With burst mode on I kept my finger on the shutter when the horses were a couple of feet away from me.

The 70-200's excellent focusing speed captured the frames perfectly. And this was my best shot of the day: 

Not too shabby for a lazy day at the race track.

Wonderland express 2013

As soon as you enter the exhibit, you'll be mesmerized by the ginger house table.

Trains, trains, trains. It's that time once again for the Chicago Botanic Gardens wonderland express. Featuring model trains built around famous landmarks in Chicago, the exhibit is one of the events to go to during winter time in Chi town.

I really do advise people to bring a telephoto lens when bringing in a dslr inside. The dioramas are sometimes too big and some details are only visible from afar. I brought in my Canon 70-200 IS USM f/2.8 lens with me when we went...and yes, you are gonna need that fast, wide open aperture as there is limited lighting inside.

The exhibit is kinda similar to what they had last year. With the addition of some new buildings, it really didn't matter...I still loved looking at every detail I can find in the entire exhibit.

Some trains come by really fast and some of them actually takes a long time to loop around. There were different kinds of trains...from the classic ones to the modern and the odd ones, like a ladybug trolley that went back and forth from one tunnel to another.

The Ladybug trolley that went back and forth.

The houses were actually modeled after actual houses in Chicago. 

The landmarks are very distinguishable if you are from the Chicagoland area. There's Soldier field, Navy Pier, Evanston National Hospital, The Art Institute and a lot more.

The red cargo train.

Another shot of the ladybug trolley.

The trains can actually be controlled by people dressed up as engineers walking around. You can sometimes walk up to them and request a particular train to stop in front of you.

Soldier field!

One of my favorite trains is a train that goes around this one big oval that is modeled after the Chicago Botanic Garden/Ravinia area. It has the famous bell tower inside the garden, the Japanese garden, the train stop at Ravina and more.

That's the old Evanston Hospital on the left.

The train nearing the Ravinia train station.

The famous bridge near the Japanese garden.

The Chicago Botanic Garden sign.

I am kinda sad that the event is now over. Although this year when it comes back in winter, we will probably be the first one to visit the exhibit. This event is excellent for kids and model train aficionados. Heck, it's actually really entertaining for everybody!

2013 Blueberry Festival Plymouth Indiana Parade

The parade was started off with a 5k/10k run.

Labor day weekend is great when going to the Marshall county annual Blueberry festival. The 2013 Blueberry festival was capped off with the annual Labor day parade on the morning of Labor day September 2 2013.

The official Blueberry festival mascot.

The parade was started off with a 5k/10k run with different runners from kids to adults. The most amazing runners were the firemen with full gear going through it all the way. After the runners trickled down a bit the parade started.

One of the motorcycle guys in the parade.

The parade was started with police cars and cruisers with all their lights and sirens on. Followed by marching bands all over Indiana. A lot of good stuff marching by one after the other.

One of the few bands that played.

On parades like these, I like to use my trusty Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS USM. Paired with the awesome Canon 6D, this setup is more than what I need. I never did intend to bring out a secondary body with a shorter lens in it.

A kid and his Mustang.

The 70-200's f/2.8 maximum aperture allows me to focus on a single subject in my viewfinder and isolate it from the background. This time I shot between f/2.8 and f/3.2...very wide apertures but the best for blurring out the background for isolation. I then set my shooting mode to aperture priority so I can shoot according to the aperture that I want. It was pretty sunny and my ISO was set at ISO 100.

One of the weird cars in the parade.

Shooting in very wide apertures such as f/2.8, it requires speed as the most subtle movement from your subject will throw your focus away. The technique is to shoot right away as soon as your focus locks. Wait for half a second or more and your focus is off...you have to be fast.

Triton High School band.

There were a lot of high school bands that were in the parade. All of them were pretty good. Playing covers of classic marching band tunes as well as more modern pop songs.

John Glenn High School.

The parade wouldn't be complete without cars. There were a lot of them. From the classic Model T up to the most modern Ford Mustang. It's like having a parade and a motor show at once.

Cars, cars, and more cars.

There were also a lot of animals. People in horses, and people with dogs from a dog obedience school were among the people in the parade. The people with dogs representing an obedience school even demonstrated the tricks that their dogs learned from the school. Pretty neat stuff.

Another classic car.

Another fun car in the parade.

Argos Maching Dragons.

Comedians in a classic car.

A girl and her horse.

Yogi bear in a float.

Hot rod in the parade.

Great Balancing act.

Another classic car.

Darth Vader walking around.

The bounty hunter.

More troopers.

And then there was the costume guys which in my opinion were the coolest in the parade. Leading them was Darth Vader walking with storm troopers and his other minions. It was a pretty cool moment!

Female version of Kerokerokeroppi?

That dog is well trained.

More costumes.

Beauty queens all in one float.

Labor day is great watching a parade like this. For some interesting people and animals to photograph I would recommend going to the next Marshall County Blueberry festival parade next year!