Glacier Bay Mountain
Flying low over Glacier Bay National Park, AK
Flying low over Glacier Bay National Park, AK
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Nov, 2014Views
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People's Choice in Mountain Tops Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Mountain Tops Photo Contest
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Behind The Lens
Location
My wife and I took an Alaskan cruise for our honeymoon in 2013. At one of the stops, we took a bush plane aerial tour of Glacier Bay National Park. The beauty of this place cannot be overstated. I wish I could go back and spend time hiking and boating through some of the warmer parts of the park. I'm glad to have gotten a few decent shots of the more inhospitable wilderness as well.Time
Mid-afternoon.Lighting
We were blessed with four days of unusually clear skies in late July, which resulted in several of my better photographs. But it meant I was looking more or less into the sun for half the flight, including for this shot. So I bracketed my photos, and post-processing software--particularly Photomatix--helped reveal the rugged beauty of the mountains. I had a very narrow angle of view from the window of the plane, trying to avoid putting the wing and landing gear in the shot.Equipment
Camera: Pentax K-5 (handheld) lens: Pentax DA* 16-50mm f/2.8 set at 39mm Circular polarizer Exposure: 1/250 second at f/5.6 and ISO 100.Inspiration
I love to travel, especially out west, and when I do I always take my gear with me to capture the beauty of my surroundings. I get enormous pleasure from being able to convey the majesty of what I've seen to anyone willing to view my photos. My wife is patient with me, especially on hikes when I stop for 10 minutes just to set up a shot. We were hesitant to spend so much money on this particular excursion, but it was worth it!Editing
The RAW file is bleached of color because of the angle of the sunlight, but Photomatix did a great job, as did some tweaking in Photoshop. I might have also used Noise Ninja on the sky. I never fake anything in my landscape photography. Nothing was added or removed--just colors revealed.In my camera bag
Pentax K-5, with an equally bad-ass DA* 16-50mm f/2.8 lens. I always have a circular polarizer, and I use it often. I usually bring 2 of my other lenses: Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5; a cheap and old but very effective Sigma 70-300mm f/3.5-6.3; and a Sigma 10mm f/2.8 fisheye. Uses for the latter are limited, but it's a LOT of fun and it produces some great shots! And then of course there's the requisite extra batteries and memory cards, and a remote trigger for tripod-mounted shots.Feedback
Go places! See things! Stop saying "someday" or "I wish I could" and just commit yourself to actually doing it! Yeah, some places and adventures cost money, but there are ways to save. Besides, just the experience is worth it. We will all run out of somedays, and you don't want to be saying "woulda, coulda, shoulda". Specifically for this shot, it would have been better if I could shoot out of an open plane, instead of through glass, but that takes a seasoned pro with some good connections and plenty of knowledge of the area.
