Alaska Vacation Photos: Landscapes
I recently visited Alaska for one week. Flew into Anchorage, drove to Homer and spent most of my time there except for two days I spent in Seldovia.
Alaska can at times be a very rainy and foggy place. This made a lot of the days difficult to catch clear photos of the incredible mountains without a lot of noise. But I did my best.
I took a lot of the photos in both .jpg and raw format because I didn’t bring my computer and my dad’s laptop can’t open or preview raw photos, so I took the .jpgs just because I didn’t want to wait until I got home to see everything. I was reading the book: Digital Photography Masterclass on the plane over. It talked about how the camera is programmed to automatically sharpen all the images in order to please the most consumers. The evidence of that was strong in these pictures in comparing the raw and .jpgs side by side.
The two lenses I used while I was there were my new Tamron 70-300mm and my kit lens which is a Nikon 18-55mm. I am glad I got the Tamron before I went, the 100mm did make a difference in catching the animals at all…but more on that in a later post.
On to the photos…
Homer, Alaska
view from the lands end resort, homer ak
wide angle shot of the view from my balcony
the weather and colors can change fast in homer, ak
harbor on the homer spit
mini created-scape: dead crab, sea plant and tiny pine cone
mini created-scape, beach stones
drift wood that looks like a whale
Okay, so some of the homer pics aren’t strict landscapes. They are just neat and I feel like including them in this post because they probably won’t fall into the other Alaska photo posts I’m planning of: plants, animals and vacationy stuff (i.e. pics of me, food, etc).
Kachemak State Park
I didn’t get any worthy landscape photos on my kayak trip on the second day. But on the third day we did a hiking trip to Kachemak State Part. We hiked the Glacier Lake Trail. You will see shortly, Glacier Lake might be one of the most magical places on the planet. It is also the largest lake at the bottom of a glacier in the world. The trail was around 5 miles from what I heard. It was a great trip, the weather was perfect.
the drop off point to the glacier lake trail
terrain at the beginning of the trail
terrain getting closer to glacier lake
getting closer to glacier lake
glacier lake, one of the most serene places I've been
the only flower by glacier lake
wide angle of glacier lake
left glacier lake, on the way to the other side
going up the mountain, or giant hill, not sure which
coming down the other side, it's pretty steep
the view is great up here
the end of the trail
getting picked up by the water taxi
On the way to Seldovia
I tried to get bird photos in this weather on the way to Seldovia. They will be in a different post. They are not amazing. But still glad I have them.
boat ride on the way to Seldovia
neat rock formations
seldovia harbor, no car access to get here
In Seldovia
I didn’t get a ton of landscapes in Seldovia. A lot of them were on a wavy boat and the horizon lines were tough throughout the trip because of it. Here are some of them. I am actually saving my best landscape of the trip for another post because I learned something taking it.
These three photos were taking on a skiff ride…which from what I can observe is a really old falling apart boat. Our guide was named Kirby, and he brought his dog Murphy who got in the way a lot. : )
ravens who joined us for lunch
There were quite a few Ravens and Magpies in Seldovia. My dad and I had an ongoing argument because he thinks they’re crows…but they aren’t, they are Ravens.
Wildlife Center
On our last day we went for a hike at the wildlife center. Yes, pretty tame, I know. Most of the photos are of plants the guide was telling us about, and I got a few neat landscapes but they are very similar, so I am just going to post one.
I can’t remember the name of this one. But it is in Homer and overlooks the mountains from a distance.
beautiful views at the wildlife center
Coming Up
As I said in the beginning, I am planning three more posts, plus one post on my favorite landscape shot. So stay tuned.
And if you are thinking about visiting Alaska, I highly recommend it. It’s worth the zillion hours of travel to get there.
6 comments
If you don’t have a larger commitment, I highly recommend Picasa for photo editing and management. It’ll handle the raw files for you, does non-destructive edits, and helps a lot with sorting, organization, and uploading as well as basic editing. I often say the #1 thing for being a better photographer is to throw away most of your photos, keeping only the ones you utterly love. And you already have the graphic design background, so you can tell a good photo from a mediocre one and why.
If you want more editing/management power than Picasa, the next step up is Adobe Lightroom. It’s $300 and a significantly steeper learning curve, and Picasa does 90% of Lightroom’s functionality 90% as well. But if you need that last 10%, it’s well worth it.
And finally, a good investment for a low-end Nikon DSLR is the 35mm/f1.8 AFS lens, which is just now becoming widely available. It’s only $200, autofocuses on any Nikon body, and opens up the world of indoor/low-light no flash photography that can’t be reached with the kit lens and other slow lenses. Same perspective as the 50mm lens on a film camera, which is very useful.
Dave,
So far I have been using iPhoto to organize and Photoshop to edit. I did look at Picasa after you mentioned it on facebook a while ago. It looks neat, but sometimes it’s hard to invest the time to find out of something else is more desirable than what you’ve been using!
I have been going back and forth about what photos to keep. I only love 10% or less, but sometimes I keep most just because I don’t know what I will want later. Of course that is an easy way to become overwhelmed by files.
Are you familiar with Photoshop? If so, what is the difference with what Lightroom can do? I’ve never even seen the interface but have been considering downloading the trial to find out.
Actually, that lens or the 50mm/f1.8 is on my xmas wish list for this year. Do you advise the 35mm over the 50mm? And if so, why?
Thanks for the advice. : )
35 or 50mm? It depends on which Nikon you have, and possibly how comfortable you are with manual focus. The modern lower-end bodies don’t have internal focusing motors, so they can only focus AF-S lenses. That rules out the 50/1.8, unless you’re okay with manual focus. The new 50/1.4 AFS works, but it’s like $400, a fairly big investment. Personally, I prefer manual focus (and manual operation), so I use all sorts of funky manual-only lenses with the D40. I’ve also replaced the stock clear-glass viewscreen with an aftermarket one that has a ground glass surface and a split prism focusing aid, like an old 35mm film camera.
Beyond the focus issue, it’s a matter of perspective. The 35/1.8 (on a DX sensor body) is “normal” perspective, roughly the field of vision we see out of our eyes naturally. It’s great for many things, but not so great for coming in tight on people’s faces or specific points of interest. 50mm is a short telephoto, and about my favorite perspective for people, but it can be a little too tight for groups indoors or a lot of landscape work.
I’m assuming you have a body that can only autofocus AFS lenses, so unless you’re willing to manual focus full time, I’d say either 35/1.8 at $200, or 50/1.4 at $400. If you can manual focus or have a body that can autofocus a regular AF lens, the 50/1.8 is a no-brainer at $125. Everyone should have one. I have both 35 and 50 and use them both a lot.
As for Lightroom vs Photoshop… I’m not a very experienced Photoshop user, but here’s my observation. There’s very little overlap between them. Lightroom is all about workflow and management, and making exposure adjustments and corrections. It’s great for quickly sorting the good from the bad from the mediocre, deleting the bad shots, filing the mediocre, working on the good. Very fast. I’ve shot over 7000 photos this summer and it’s been a lifesaver. Picasa is okay, but at my volume, Lightroom is noticably better. The other big thing Lightroom (and Picasa) does is non-destructive edits. The changes you make to a photo aren’t saved as modifications to the original file, but rather as a script of instructions. JPGs, print jobs, uploading, and other export duties are handled by export modules. This is a huge difference from Photoshop and greatly simplifies management.
OTOH, there are a lot of things Photoshop can do that Lightroom can’t. Depends on how important they are to you. I don’t do much editing or weird stuff, so Lightroom does everything I want 99% of the time. Other people could never live with the restrictions and want the full power of Photoshop. Use whatever makes your life work.
Oh, I should also add that THE reason to use fast primes like the 35/1.8 and 50/1.x is portraits (or still lifes, I suppose), and shooting indoors in poor light (where the subject is usually people anyway). The large aperture creates a shallow depth of field and throws the background out of focus, creating that “portrait” look and reducing clutter. For outdoor shooting in good light, when you want depth of field, the kit 18-55 is every bit as good – that’s a great lens, in fact.
Dave,
Based on that I think I would probably start with the 35mm. I do have to manual focus now and then, but I like the option to auto focus too. I don’t do a ton of portraits or indoor, but I think one prime lens is good to have around. I could probably work with 35 or 50, but the lower price is enticing.
It’s funny, I read all kinds of info before I bought my d60 from both nikon and cannon about how sophisticated their autofocus systems are. Now I will grant that it is a true and impressive feat…but I swear they make it sound like the camera can read your mind. Definitely not the case. At times it’s slower and more error prone than manual.
I might give Picasa a test to start out and see how it goes. Sounds like it could be useful to have Photoshop and Lightroom. For now, the price on Picasa is right. : )
Thanks again.
I think volume matters a lot with Lightroom. If you shoot a hundred photos (or less) a month, Photoshop can do all the processing and your management isn’t so difficult. But when it’s a thousand a month, management becomes a much bigger issue. And like I said, Picasa is in many ways Lightroom Lite. It’ll give you much the same feel, without some of the power but also with a simpler learning curve.
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