Thankfully the rain stopped late afternoon and I ventured up to the Kondiaronk Belvédère on Mount Royal around dusk.

The paths leading up to the lookout were pretty icy and they even put up some barriers above the large staircase to help people make it to the top a little easier.  I was grateful they had when I came back down in the dark, hold on the barriers certainly saved me from landing on my ass a few times.

For today’s post, I’ve ‘focussed’ (sorry couldn’t resist the pun) on sharing some bokeh effect shots. For those not familiar with the term, it refers to the area of an image that is out of focus, often (but not limited to) out-of-focus points of light.

I turned to my 85mm prime lens which (to my eyes anyway) produces the most pleasing bokeh out of all my lenses.

Bokeh on Mount Royal
ISO 200 – 85mm – f4 – 1 sec

Bokeh on Mount Royal
ISO 200 – 85mm – f4 – 1 sec

Bokeh on Mount Royal
ISO 200 – 85mm – f5 – 1.3 sec

Bokeh on Mount Royal
ISO 100 – 85mm – f4.5 – 2.5 sec

There is a huge tree decked out with lights just below the lookout. I wouldn’t want to be the one having to untangle the lights each year and try to find the broken bulb that seems to always happen, causing the whole lot not to work – or is that just me and my 20 year old set of lights?

I didn’t actually shoot it with bokeh in mind, and even at f4.5 my 70-300mm zoom lens does a lousy job. Instead, during processing I added some blur in the background using Topaz Lens Effects. The bokeh is not as effective as doing in lens, but I quite liked the result which helped draw attention to the tree.

Christmas tree lights from above
ISO 200 – 70mm – f4.5 – 2.5 sec

Here is the original shot without the blur effect.

Christmas tree lights from above
ISO 200 – 70mm – f4.5 – 2.5 sec

I have a few more shots taken tonight of the Montreal skyline, but will save those for tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by. Until next time.

– Martin

Montréal in Pictures

Your virtual guide in and around Montréal

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