Canadian Landscapes

One of the best places to visit in Canada is definitely the Canadian Rockies in Alberta and British Columbia.  With just a couple of days, I was able to visit a number of popular tourist sites within Banff National Park and Yoho National Park.  Even if it is summer, temperatures drop to about 7 degrees Celsius!  Brrr!  Too cold for this tropical dude!  Definitely under prepared but I was determined to take a few landscapes photos and here are my favorites.

Emerald Lake

The one shown above is Emerald Lake, located in Yoho National Park.  The shot was taken in one single frame and I was lucky to get this.  After surveying the area, I saw a few boats just beside the jetty platform.  I thought to myself, “it would make a nice foreground for the scene.”  The mountain is the highlight so I positioned it right about the center of the frame, while keeping the boats in the foreground. The challenge is to get everything in the frame.  So I had to position myself right at the edge of the platform and made sure I didn’t fall into the lake.

Lake Louise

Perhaps the most famous is Lake Louise in Banff National Park, and what a magnificent sight indeed!

I reached the lake at sunset and quickly set up my gear, shoot about 3-4 sets of panos in a span of 10-15 minutes to make sure I get the shots while there is enough light.  Right after, I realized that light is fading relatively slow.  Then it hit me…  I’m in Canada!  I was so used shooting sunset scenes in Asia where light disappears in 15 mins.  Here, it took a long time before light fades into darkness.  So I relaxed and settled myself, took a bit more time to recompose and shoot a proper pano.  I had to shoot this quite low to the ground, setting my tripod as low as i can.  Shoot about 5 frames, did photo stitching and post processing to get the final image.

Moraine Lake

Another impressive sight is Moraine Lake.  Located just outside the village of Lake Louise, it is situated in the Valley of the Ten Peaks that you can see at the background.

I didn’t manage to get all of the ten peaks though.  Because the first thing I noticed is the river streaming towards me.  And one of the things in my “to-shoot” list is to shoot a scene like this.  Mountains in the background, dramatic clouds, rocks in the foreground, and with smooth, silky water flowing.  It’s like what I have pictured in my mind!  And not to mention, the most challenging picture for me to take out of the three.

It was very cold and windy.  I went as near to the river bank as I can, walking through rocks of different sizes while lugging my gear.  I was being very careful not to slip or fall down as it would have been a disaster.  I eventually managed to get to where I wanted to be.  I set up my tripod on uneven rocks, snapped on my camera and composed the scene.  After a few frames of experimenting, I decided to set my white balance to fluorescent to create a cool, blueish, purple-ish image.  I also had to shoot this with an ND filter at 8 stops and open up the shutter for about 15 secs to get the water flow smooth and silky.  It was very challenging because besides my fingers getting stiff from the cold, there were droplets of water from the streaming river hitting my lens.  Its hard to wipe the droplets away since you cannot touch the camera while the shutter is open.  So I decided to leave it be and just clean it up in post processing.  It took just about 15-20 mins to shoot.  But its about an hour from start to finish and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it!

So, here you go.  My top three Canadian landscapes.  I would certainly go back to anytime to capture its majestic views… and its famous Alberta beef steak!

~ Brix

P.S.  A special thanks to family and friends who accommodated us on our Canadian trip.  It was a stress-free, wonderful experience that made it one of the most unforgettable trips we’ve ever had.  Cheers!