It was a brisk 30 degrees Fahrenheit in the Canadian city of Toronto, but I knew I wanted to create an image of the skyline that I could call me own. I had a vision and I knew where I needed to be to realize that vision. My girlfriend Emalee and I hailed a cab from downtown and set out for the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal where we could catch a ferry right to Wards Island.

When we got to the terminal, we saw closed signs on all of the booths and my heart sunk a little, but as I investigated further, I found another ticket window behind the main ones with a sign that said “Next ferry leaves at 9pm, Tickets go on sale at 8:30.” So we waited. 8:30 came, we bought our tickets and waited some more. Once the ferry came, the subtle heat inside was a welcome change from the outside temps.

As soon as the ferry landed, we got off the boat and I went right to work. I found a spot on the dock that offered a nice view for me to capture some frames, but the angle wasn’t quite what I had in mind so we packed up and ventured off into the wintery darkness of the Island.

A ten minute walk or so from the dock, we came across a foot bridge that appeared to access another little island that faced the skyline. The bridge plunged into darkness, but we followed it anyway. It took us down a lane of brickwork and cottages to a shoreline. Sure enough the angle I had envisioned presented itself.

Toronto Lights-4Click on the photo to order a print.

Behind The Scenes

Camera: Canon EOS 6D
Lens: 24-105L
Focal Length: 97mm
ISO: 1000
Aperture: f/10
Shutter Speed: Varied (5 shot HDR)
The Tools: 15 Inch Macbook Pro
Location: Algonquin Island – Toronto, Canada
Other Good Stuff: Lightroom 5, Photoshop CC,  Nik Color Efex Pro 4, Nik HDR Efex Pro 2, Nik Dfine2

Workflow: When I shot this I knew I wanted a lot of flexibility with light, so I bracketed this shot to achieve 5 separate exposures ranging from EV -3 to EV +1. When I edited this I merged the photos together using Nik HDR Efex Pro. I worked off the default preset, adjusting values until I achieved the moody, somewhat dark and futuristic look I was going for. After that, I moved the photo into Color Efex Pro to apply some filters to bring out some subtle warmth where needed, and to neutralize white. After that, I brought the photo into Photoshop CC to work with the spotlights that I saw while shooting, but did not capture while shooting. Last but not least, I brought the photo into Nik Dfine2 to remove unwanted noise.