Autumn Day in Canmore

Autumn has definitely arrived. We’re approaching the peak of the colours and yesterday I couldn’t resist the opportunity to capture some of it. I didn’t venture very far, taking some pictures in our yard and across the street in the small adjacent park. My first picture today was taken at the the side of our house, featuring the pathway that leads to the backyard. Lots of colour and still more to come.

I ventured across the street where I took a photograph of the pathway meandering through the small park area we refer to as the “centre lots”. The aspen trees are in full colour right now, the brilliant gold of autumn.

I used a lens that I don’t choose very often for these photos, a Canon 24 mm tilt-shift lens. This lens is well suited for landscape and architectural photography for a couple of reasons. The tilt feature enables the front part of the lens to rotate upward or downward (or sideways, depending on the orientation of the lens). Tilting the lens relies on the Scheimpflug principle to rotate the plane of focus away from parallel to the image plane. This capability can be used for a number of effects. I use it to have all areas of an image sharply rendered. That is to say, sharp focus throughout the depth of the image, front to back. It essentially produces an infinite depth of field.

The shift feature enables the front part of the lens to slide vertically or horizontally, relative to the back part. Shift allows adjusting the position of the subject in the image area without changing the camera angle. It is often used to avoid convergence of parallel lines (distortion), as when photographing a tall building or tall trees.

Both tilt and shift can be used concurrently. The following picture illustrates the lens in a tilted and shifted position.

 

Later this week, I hope to venture further afield to get some pictures of autumn in the Rockies.