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Glacier Sunset
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Glacier Sunset



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Sunset view from Mendenhall glacier in Juneau, AK.

Sunset view from Mendenhall glacier in Juneau, AK.
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cameraCanon EOS 7D

settings Aperture f/11 ISO 100 Focal Length 16/1 

upload_dateJan, 2016

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6 Comments |
Byronfairphotography PRO+
 
Byronfairphotography January 28, 2016
Very cool.
kymrohrer
 
kymrohrer January 31, 2016
I recently moved from there! :D
peternestler
 
peternestler January 31, 2016
I grew up in Juneau and take every opportunity I can to get up there and visit. This trip had so many perfect days to photograph and it was so sad to have to leave.
anthonymannion PRO+
 
anthonymannion February 23, 2017
love it
aboodabussaud
 
aboodabussaud October 04, 2017
I love the framing!
sherifrashad PRO
 
sherifrashad January 11, 2018
Beautiful

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Tags

#glacier #frozen #ice #sunset #hike #hiking #arch #rock #mountains
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Behind The Lens

Location

I shot this picture in Juneau, Alaska. The main glacier in town is the Mendenhall and if you're willing to do some hiking you can get up onto the glacier for some spectacularly unique views. In case you're wondering, it's about a 3 mile hike up the West Glacier Trail...or if it's winter and the lake is solid enough you can go straight across the ice and it's about a mile.

Time

The great thing about shooting in Alaska during the winter is you can easily get a sunrise and sunset photo without having to get up early or go to bed late. I shot this around 3 PM which is the sunset time in late December.

Lighting

I spent the day shooting inside the ice cave and when I came out I saw this sunset starting to take shape. I hustled to the front of the glacier and found this beautiful arch to frame the clouds with. I debated on using a flash for the arch, but didn't have time to get everything out. I shot multiple exposures from -6 to +6 so I would make sure to have the entire dynamic range needed when I went to processing. I've found that glacier ice gives a much more satisfying blue when you overexpose it a bit. If I can get away with using only natural light for landscape images that is always my preference. When you're dealing with a massive dynamic range and you only have a couple moments where the lighting is right, go ahead and bracket the shot with some extreme values, you can always delete the unnecessary images later.

Equipment

This was shot with a Canon 7d and a 16-35 f4/L lens. I hardly ever shoot at less than f6 so I opted for the much lighter f4 version. I am the most pathetic person in the world at hand holding shots. I can look through my catalog and point out every shot that was not on a tripod so I made the decision last year to buy a carbon fiber one that would fold up small and I would actually carry with me at all times. I opted for a Gitzo GT1555T since it folds up smaller than any other high quality tripod I could find at the time. I use a markins head on it. I also prefer to use a shutter release so I don't bump my camera when shooting.

Inspiration

I've been all over the world and Alaska is still my favorite place to photograph. The glaciers are receding at a really quick pace and I never miss an opportunity to capture a moment in time that will never be replicated. That's one of the most exciting parts about visiting the glaciers, every time you get up close, it will look different. You will have new arches, caves, holes, etc. that can create some once in a lifetime comps. Juneau is known as one of the rainiest cities in the world so any day that is sunny is worth trying to capture. When you combine the unique views on the glacier with a sunrise or sunset, you are in for some fantastic images.

Editing

The sooc version of this picture was definitely not as stunning. I shot multiple exposures from -6 to +6 since it was such a high dynamic range scene. Most of the time I like to manually deal with luminosity masking and other such approaches to craft the highlights and shadows. I'm almost embarrassed to say that I opened the bracket in Nik HDR effects pro just to see how it would turn out and that is the base image I ended up working from. There was something about the way it pulled the hues together in the glacier ice that I wasn't getting from a manual approach. I then went through removing all the people who were walking across the lake and I also removed some dirt spots from the glacier ice that was distracting from the image. After I was satisfied with the look of the overall image, I pulled it into color effects pro and did some tweaking to the contrast before finishing off with a couple adjustment layers to fine tune the contrast and overall look.

In my camera bag

It depends on where I'm going. If I have the opportunity, I will carry everything with me. Unfortunately my back has started complaining so I can't take that approach anymore. I always travel with my 16-35 since I love wide angle views of landscapes. I also try to carry my sigma 50/1.4 since it is the sharpest lens I own. I have taken a shot with my wide angle many times and then shoot a panorama vertically with my 50 to see if I can pull off the same thing. It's a lot more work in post, but I get a much crisper image. I never travel without a tripod. I don't care if my shutter is at 1/8000 I still put it on a tripod to shoot. It makes things a little slower, but the results are always better. I also like to carry a nodal slide for panoramas. Other odds and ends that have been lifesavers: extra batteries, memory cards, cleaning cloth (very important), extra cleaning cloth and a headlamp for hiking in the dark. Recently I purchased some ND and graduated ND filters that never leave my bag.

Feedback

I drive my wife nuts with this, but when I'm finished taking all my pictures, I always take a final "throw away picture". I try a weird composition, jump into a hole and see if there's an alternative view, turn around and take a different shot, etc. This image was a throw away comp that I tried after I was done with my shooting for the day. I had a couple different shots with the arch where I was more focused on the sky, they looked great at the time, but when I got back, they just didn't have the look I wanted. I happened to jump down a bit further under the arch and used it as a frame just to see what would happen. When I got back to edit it turned out to be my favorite shot of the trip. I don't know when I started doing it, but often times my throw away shot turns out to be my favorite. We're often so focused on the perfect comp that we miss unique angles and views that really aren't that hard to take. You still want to use good technique in case they work out, but really be willing to experiment you never know what you might end up with.

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