a couple of days ago I was down at The Butchart Gardens with a client and this
is the shot that I got
and I was really happy with the shot but I wasn't too happy with the video
footage that I shot because it was so busy it was very difficult to shoot
video in there. People were walking past and I was getting riled up and I was
aware of the fact that I was a complete nuisance. So I'm going back again today
in the hopes that I can reshoot some of that video and do a better job for you
guys so that you can see how I captured this shot. And also after I got that
picture I sent it to my friend Warren here and he said....
Bullsh*t, I can do better.
So off we go
we're gonna go back there right now and try and get some
more killer shots because that was like four or five days ago and the colors may
have changed even more since then when I was there some of the trees are turned
red not quite all of them and there's one in particular that I really love
OMG this is fantastic! Turn the camera around
this was turning out to be a spectacular misty morning and I had a good feeling that we'd capture some great shots.
Now Warren picked me up this morning in pretty rough accommodations
What's this car? A Jag XKR. A Jaguar you know I'll
put up with it for today but you know I do prefer slightly more salubrious
accommodations if you don't mind
at this point in the video, I'd very much
appreciate it if you could pretend not to notice the now-famous stain on the
windscreen partly because I'm somewhat embarrassed that it hasn't been cleaned
off yet but mostly because we're actually supposed to be riding in
Warren's Jag. But you already knew that right?
OK, so we're going to Butchart. How many times you've been?
There this will be my eighth. Eight! You know the place
back to front! Well I whenever I go there I always just
go straight to the Japanese gardens the rest of it is brilliant but for me it's
all about the Japanese section. So I've been there once in my life when I was
probably 12 years old. I didn't know it was like a big tourist trap
Well it wouldn't have been when you were 12, that's like 70 years ago!
This is one of the most gorgeous foggy mornings I have ever seen!
just low-lying mist the Sun is up so it's blasting in through trees and it's
creating light rays oh it's just fantastic
with the Jag parked we hoofed it straight to the Japanese section and
even skipped coffee
so back home on Vancouver Island and today I'm at The Butchart Gardens which is a fantastic tropical garden and the
place to come when you come here for me as a photographer is straight to the
Japanese section because look at these colors and these shapes, it's absolutely
magnificent! Now, shooting here especially in the morning
in autumn is a bit of a nightmare because technically it's very difficult
you've got to get down low you've gotta bracket your shots you've
got a focus perfectly because you're really close to the foreground but
logistically it's also a bit of a nightmare because, well I've got to be
aware of the fact that I'm a bit of a pest right, these are narrow
passageways and I'm in the way with my two tripods, so logistically it's a
challenge too so you've got to balance all of those things you've got the
technical aspect and you've got the fact that you're a bit of a pain to other
people so it's quite difficult to shoot here but if you've got the patience and
the the will to keep going, you will get fantastic shots. I can't recommend this
place enough, for the photographer.
so with this shot that's a little bit technical I'm having to shoot at f/22
because the depth of field is crazy and I'm so close to this foreground that
need that front to back focus. But it's not a problem because it's so bright
there's so much sunlight that everything is gonna be sharp. I'm not too worried
about diffraction. What I'm loving though with this shot is this reflected light
here and that's what I love about these types of gardens is you get what I call
bounce light so the light is coming in and it's hitting something on the ground
which then illuminates an object higher up so you get this this light
coming from underneath which is absolutely magical to me. And then you've
got these beautiful ships that all pull the eye into the foreground got this
little bamboo fence here that's kind of pulling your eye into the center of the
shot. So all in all, this is like a super easy composition it's a super easy shot
to get this dead obvious as soon as I walk past I saw the shot and I loved the
way that the light is reflecting off of these pools here. All in all, it's
absolutely gorgeous scene had to take this shot
now this is one of those compositions is not quite as easy to get.
Everything is gorgeous, I'm seeing gorgeous reflections. I'm seeing gorgeous colors but, to find a
simple composition is very very difficult. Everything's kind of a mess
and a jumble so with the super wide it may be just a little bit too wide.
I might have to strap on a different lengths of lens and get in a little bit
tighter and isolate a detail that's easier for the eye to to take on.
Instead of this massive scene but I just love the way that that red color is reflected
in this pond here it's so rich and vibrant. So I'm going to try and
capture it super wide first and then I'll switch to the 24-105mm, zoom in to
maybe 50 mm and maybe then the shot I'll be a bit cleaner and a bit
more obvious
so this is the 18 mm very, very wide scene on a full frame and I want to
know what you prefer do you prefer this wider bigger scene or do you prefer this
shot which is at 32 mm on a full frame. It's a much tighter more
intimate scene so please leave a comment let me know what you prefer and that
gives me an indication as to the types of shots that people like to see and
that's really helpful for a photographer
One of the things that I like to do with my photography is to kind of set myself a
bit of a challenge. I look at my weaknesses as a photographer as an
artist. And when I go to beautiful places I have a habit and you might identify
with this. I have a habit of just looking for that grand epic scene that's super
impressive. And I often forget to look for those fine details. The details that
you cannot walk past the things that you have missed if you didn't go looking for
them so today I'm gonna try and really consciously make an effort to use a
longer focal length, maybe I'll put on the 55mm and get some shallow depth of
field detail shots. And really spend a bit of time looking for those gorgeous fine
detail scenes, those almost like, miniature scenes that I usually miss because I'm
looking for that grand shot. See if I can get something different from my
portfolio. Because that's the hole in my portfolio, gonna work really hard to
try and get those today
what a difference 4 days makes. So I was here the other day and the light was
completely different. Fair enough it was about half an hour later but
right now I'm loving this patchy bit of light and that tree there the other day
was almost yellow, so it's really changed its color in just a few days. With this
composition I've kind of gone a bit simple. like I was talking earlier
instead of the big wide scene, I'm using it much longer focal length and I'm just
taking out this this section here where all that it's featuring in the shot is
this gorgeous little path this lovely s-shaped path the tree and the
reflection. Dead simple dead pure very easy to compose and when we've got
full-frame cameras with super wide lenses that the tendency is to shoot
these big grand scenes where anything of any interest in the middle it's very
small. Often I see people that use crop sensors or micro four-thirds and they
have a much tighter focal length and it may not look super impressive on the
back of the camera but when you get it on screen or in a print often those
tighter longer focal lengths a far more impressive than the big super wide scene
and it's a lot more challenging to compose so that's something I would
always recommend is set yourself a little bit of a challenge and try and
use longer focal lengths than you're used to and it's really gonna help you
to refine your composition process
now looking at this image you'd be forgiven for thinking that I'd cranked
the saturation slider all the way up to 11 but no I never touch the saturation slider.
And this is just one of the wonders of the Butchart Gardens on a
bright sunny day. The colors can be eye melting.
so as you can see it's a lovely, tranquil serene almost silent, zen-like scene here at Butchart Gardens.
just kill me
kill me now
All right, before you get your under crackers in a twist. I do realize that I've got no more right to be there than anybody else.
One of the things I love about living in BC is how when the Sun hits a wet surface you get
what appears to be smoke which is just steam, rising out of Timbers whether it's
a fence whether it's a tree or a gorgeous bridge like that I just love
that about BC
as predicted this was turning out to be a really productive morning but we were
both getting a little bit Hank Marvin so it was time to go and find some scoff
So I just bought this...... it's called a 'Chilli-hotdog'
It seems ill advised. Is this like a Canadian thing?
It's structural integrity..... it's falling apart as I'm eating it. A Chilli hotdog? I think it's a mistake.
Let's see you try and eat it.
Look at that, it's just falling apart. It's disintegrating.
This is like food p0rn.
What's next? Pizza with gravy and noodles???
So what did you get?
Chicken Pot Pie.
Well that's waaay more sensible. I wish I'd got that!
I seriously regret my food choices. I'm eating a hotdog with a knife and fork.
It dun't make sense. Crazy.
typical bloody Yorkshireman. Unable to comprehend North American food but I
tell you what. I'd kill for a donar kebab right about now whoa
with our distended Shatner's bursting at the seams it was time to get back to work.
So with this shot I'm really testing the limits of my patience because I'm waiting for people to come in and go out
so they can get a perfect shot of this this tunnel of color so I'm just
constantly shooting over and over and over again and then I can blend
exposures to get exactly what I want. And I love this shot because I'm going for a
much longer focal length than what I'm used to. I'm used to shoot in sort of wide
to sort of mid-range focal length this is a much like I'm at about 70mm
with this shot and I'm trying to frame the shot so that there's as
much color framing it in the top and at the sides as possible and I love the
way that the Sun is coming in is lighting everything it's lighting the
trees the canopy even the fence that you see down the sides of the path
the problem with Butchart Gardens is it's so gorgeous
that it's kind of become a victim of its own success. I reckon in the last three
hours there's probably between six and seven
hundred people gone through these doors and they keep kind of coming through in
waves so you've really got to time your shot so they don't have a bunch of
people walking into it so I think it's time to find Warren find my ride home, and get out of here
I swear to you that was not staged!
well after searching high and low I finally found Warren. He's got this
gorgeous shot of this beautiful maple reflected in this little waterfall here
so, I'm pretty tired mate, how about you? I'm feeling like we should get going
Oh I'm here for the night! Okay
now I don't want you thinking that I'd forgotten all about that little assignment that I set for myself
I was just waiting for the right subject to reveal itself and here she was this
little lady was working super hard at creating this web or maybe she was just
trying to get somewhere. Either way, I couldn't resist this shot
by the way if you fancy coming out and shooting on location with me I'm leading
a workshop in the Faroe Islands. We'll be shooting spectacular waterfalls that pour
off of dramatic cliffs into the ocean. Coastal seascapes they're just gonna
blow your mind
Cultural, historic landmarks. Endless mountain vistas. Surreal island
landscapes with lots and lots of green hope to see you there okay back to the
video oh and like and subscribe if you would.
I think I'm done. I don't know if I can handle these crowds anymore. I was gonna stay here actually, get pictures of the people, hopefully I get a waterfall in the background.
I'm feeling pretty done, you reckon we can leave? yeah okay. Thank God for that!
well we gave it our best shot we got loads of good pictures. Did you get some good pictures?
Yeah I got some better ones than you did. It usually is the case
yeah we got loads of good shots managed to actually this time shoot some
tutorial videos so I think it's time to get the hell out of here. The crowds are thronging.
So Warren what was your first vlogging experience like with Fototripper?
aaah, I'm worried I come off like a prick!
Well you can't be any worse than me.....
That's true. You're a lot worse prick than I am
So with our memory cards brimming with digital nuggets of gold, we headed back to Warren's pimped out Golf Club chariot.
it's time to rough it in Warren's wagon I mean it's a bit
rough but I'll put up with this Jag for now just for the way on home.
Autumn is always a special time at the Butchart Gardens and I'm so glad you came along for the ride.
I'll leave you with another look at the shot that inspired this journey.
I'm Gavin Hardcastle. Thanks for watching. Bye, bye :)