I made a trip to Alaska in 2014, and posted some of my images on this website later in that year. Due to extended inclement weather this month, I went back to my Lightroom catalog to see if I had missed any decent images. Here are some of these new images. The image of Ruth Gorge and Denali below is similar to an image that I presented in 2014, but this one is slightly better in my opinion. The first four images were taken on a flight over Denali National Park, and the last image was taken on a flight out of Petersburg. All images were taken with the Nikon D4S camera and the Nikkor 28-300mm lens. Comments and feed-back are most certainly welcome!
Keith W.
junglialoh wrote:
Spectacular landscape at grand scale at large.
wonderful color and nice composition!
Jung, thank you very much!
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EGrav wrote:
Earl, thanks!
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Jim McCann wrote:
Wonderful images of some of my favorite places. I watch the sun come up and go down on these peaks every day and never grow tired of them. Well done.
Jim, thanks! It must be nice to see these peaks so often.
I am wowed. Spectacular mountains, beautifully photographed. This is the first time I've seen a set of aerial photos of Alaska mountains. The Summit image dwarfs anything at Yosemite. There have been many useful discussions of aerial photography on FM. What are the details here? Aircraft? From the time of year and altitude, I'm guessing these were all taken through closed windows, but there's no sign of interference from the window material. Thanks very much for sharing.
jdc562 wrote:
I am wowed. Spectacular mountains, beautifully photographed. This is the first time I've seen a set of aerial photos of Alaska mountains. The Summit image dwarfs anything at Yosemite. There have been many useful discussions of aerial photography on FM. What are the details here? Aircraft? From the time of year and altitude, I'm guessing these were all taken through closed windows, but there's no sign of interference from the window material. Thanks very much for sharing.
Thanks! The scale of Alaska is hard to comprehend. As an example, some of the cliff faces in Ruth Gorge are over a mile high. It does dwarf Yosemite, in some ways (not to take anything away from Yosemite). Denali National Park is a spectacular area, as are many locations in Alaska. Regarding aerial photography, this was my third time flying around Denali. I am not sure of the aircraft model, but I had to shoot through aircraft windows (which were in good shape). For these Denali flight images, I used a circular polarizer to control window reflections. Still, there were some reflections in the clouds in images one and three above (which were handled in Photoshop by careful use of content aware fill). Due to the darker atmospheric conditions on the flight out of Petersburg (last image), I did not use a polarizer (I didn’t want to lose a stop or two of light). The window reflections were not as bad there, however, due to the diffused nature of the lighting through the many clouds. Aerial photography takes some getting used to. A fast shutter speed, careful focusing, and occasional use of a circular polarizer, all help.
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keepclicking wrote:
Keith, this is a very nice set! Loved them all.
kwilliam8 wrote:
Thanks! The scale of Alaska is hard to comprehend. As an example, some of the cliff faces in Ruth Gorge are over a mile high. It does dwarf Yosemite, in some ways (not to take anything away from Yosemite). Denali National Park is a spectacular area, as are many locations in Alaska. Regarding aerial photography, this was my third time flying around Denali. I am not sure of the aircraft model, but I had to shoot through aircraft windows (which were in good shape). For these Denali flight images, I used a circular polarizer to control window reflections. Still, there were some reflections in the clouds in images one and three above (which were handled in Photoshop by careful use of content aware fill). Due to the darker atmospheric conditions on the flight out of Petersburg (last image), I did not use a polarizer (I didn’t want to lose a stop or two of light). The window reflections were not as bad there, however, due to the diffused nature of the lighting through the many clouds. Aerial photography takes some getting used to. A fast shutter speed, careful focusing, and occasional use of a circular polarizer, all help.
Thanks very much for the details. One thing you did goes against often-repeated advice: the old dogma is not to use a polarizer to shoot through the airplane windows because it will produce colored patterns. I wonder if the window material in your plane is different than the older plexiglas-type material. I'm not doubting you because what you did worked very well and proves old dogmas can fail--a good lesson here.
jdc562 wrote:
Thanks very much for the details. One thing you did goes against often-repeated advice: the old dogma is not to use a polarizer to shoot through the airplane windows because it will produce colored patterns. I wonder if the window material in your plane is different than the older plexiglas-type material. I'm not doubting you because what you did worked very well and proves old dogmas can fail--a good lesson here.
You are welcome! You can always try a polarizer early in the flight to see if there are any odd artifacts showing up. If that is happening, then simply take the polarizer off for the remainder of the flight. One other suggestion to reduce window reflections is to wear muted colored clothing. Even so, there are other things inside the airplane cabin that can cause reflections. I was sitting up next to the pilot, and the front dash area was causing bad reflections at times.
Keith W.
Dear Lord Keith!
I love those pictures, and sure love the place captured on those shots.
Someone stops me from going there now
I've been wanting to go to Alaska, Denali NP for a while now. I missed the time frame (to travel there) last year and before I woke up, all hotels were closed for the Winter. I wanted to go in May, which I believe is beginning of season, but someone stopped me. Apparently there might be too many mosquitoes, and mountains completely covered. October I'm hearing is good time to go.
If you have any advice, please shout it out! Thanks!
Oh By the way, the snow looks so pristine.... Why did you shot them midday exclusively? There was no chance for sunset/sunrise and therefore some colors in the sky and snow? A small amount of alpenglow would make these even nicer.....
These are stunning! Looking at number 2 (my fav) and the colors of the ice in the snow makes this the reason, I've seen photo's of Glaciers with the blue ice but did not know you could in these mountains.
Guess I've never looked at too many photo's of these mountains. Or maybe your treatment of these is the blueness don't know?
Gregg B. wrote:
Dear Lord Keith!
I love those pictures, and sure love the place captured on those shots.
Someone stops me from going there now
I've been wanting to go to Alaska, Denali NP for a while now. I missed the time frame (to travel there) last year and before I woke up, all hotels were closed for the Winter. I wanted to go in May, which I believe is beginning of season, but someone stopped me. Apparently there might be too many mosquitoes, and mountains completely covered. October I'm hearing is good time to go.
If you have any advice, please shout it out! Thanks!
Oh By the way, the snow looks so pristine.... Why did you shot them midday exclusively? There was no chance for sunset/sunrise and therefore some colors in the sky and snow? A small amount of alpenglow would make these even nicer..... ...Show more →
Gregg,
Thanks! I am no expert in Alaskan weather, but I believe that April, May, and June are generally better weather months in the Alaska Range (than say, July and August). The mosquitos can be bad, but that can vary quite a bit from year to year. Feel free to shoot me a PM if you have any additional specific questions. And finally, you are right that taking this flight around sunrise or sunset would be awesome in good weather! I was under a tight schedule that year, and needed to be heading up the Dalton Highway (before meeting up with wife, who was flying into Fairbanks about a week later).
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Lynn Ross wrote:
These are stunning! Looking at number 2 (my fav) and the colors of the ice in the snow makes this the reason, I've seen photo's of Glaciers with the blue ice but did not know you could in these mountains.
Guess I've never looked at too many photo's of these mountains. Or maybe your treatment of these is the blueness don't know?
Lynn
Lynn,
Thank you very much! The glacial icy blue color can be seen at various altitudes. And actually, the blue hues seem to come out even more under cloudy conditions. Here is another image that you might enjoy, showing a high ridge near Ruth Gorge, which also shows glacial flutings, in addition to some blue ice.
Keith W. https://photos.smugmug.com/Places/Alaska/i-RmSsc72/0/1f07563b/X2/20140603-_D4S2906-Edit-X2.jpg
