Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.
I scheduled this in advance as right now we are in the middle of flying and driving between Alaska and Anza-Borrego, our base for the first month of this trip. After Anza-Borrego we have a few options, but most of them involve Arizona. I’m hoping it will be a good wildflower year. It sounds promising! I will report on the conditions once we are there.
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About a year ago I wrote a post on sensor cleaning for digital cameras. What I didn’t say at the time – I was really hoping I would be cleaning my sensor for the very last time because I was going to begin testing a prototype product that would protect the sensor from dust.
Well after one year I’m beginning to think I may never need to clean my sensor again! I love this product! Unfortunately, it hasn’t been available to the public until recently so I had to wait until now to write about it.
So the product is called Dust Shield and is made by Dust-Aid, the company that makes the great cleaning products I wrote about in my Sensor cleaning post. Effectively the product is a clear optic filter that is placed over the opening to the camera’s chamber sealing off the chamber and sensor. This product has a number of advantages – some not so obvious:
Of course I know what everyone is thinking – what does it do to image quality? I gotta admit, I was skeptical. Having spent some $8,000 on one of the finest cameras available, and a bunch more on top quality lenses – I did not like the idea of now adding a piece of film to the image path. My photos are our sole source of income, I just can’t sacrifice quality no matter how convenient! I had to be sure image quality didn’t suffer – here is my review.
I felt the best way to really test this product is with my absolute sharpest combination of equipment. So I mounted what I think is my sharpest lens, my Canon 100 macro, on my best camera, a 21 mp Canon 1DsIII. I used the two second timer with mirror lockup with a f-stop of /8, – probably about as good of a combination as I could get. I then mounted the whole thing on a monstrous Gitzo 1548 tripod, placed a bean bag on the camera and photographed a dollar bill taped to the wall. If I couldn’t detect softness with my best setup, then I’m not going to see it with say a lessor camera or with a softer lens like the 100-400.
Full frame version of the dollar.
For reference, here is the full-frame version of dollar. The red represents the area in which I cropped a 400×600 area of the image with the results displayed below the jump. [click to continue…]
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Mt. Alice, Chugach National Forest, Seward, Alaska.
This is another recent photo of Mt Alice at sunset captured this past December. Maybe I should just call this the Mt. Alice photo blog because I post so many photos of this beautiful mountain. 
Really, the subject matter here should be taking a dramatic change soon once we hit the desert and begin chasing wildflowers.
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Arches Photography guide application for iPhone and iTouch.
Well I must admit I am a reference material junkie! I have shelves and shelves of books – guide books to National Parks, birds and animals, plants and wildflowers, animal tracks, geology… The list goes on and on. Not only do I have a bunch of book here, but I also keep many more in our trailer, and we usually send a box back and forth depending where we are traveling. Unfortunately, they take up a ton of space and weight.
I also have to admit that I’m hooked on apps for my iTouch / iPhone – I have an iTouch. Maps, weather, depth of field calculators, even Northern Light predictions all on this tiny device, it is amazing!
So, when I heard that a couple of friends, Dan Baumbach and Bret Edge had created an Arches National Park Photography Guide iPhone application, well I thought that was ingenious! What a great idea – I could easily travel with all this information right in my shirt pocket! A perfect marriage of information and technology.
Dan recently provided me a copy to review, and I gotta admit I love the product! This application actually has a lot of advantages over a hard copy book because it is able to link to current information in real time such as weather forecasts, along with providing links to websites for local restaurants, hotels and campground – what a great resource!
The app is also packed with all kinds of useful information on Arches National Park, information useful to photographers such sunrise and sunset times along with an interactive map and information on backpacking, wildlife and wildflowers. But the real meat to the application is the information on the different photo locations within Arches. This information includes photos, maps, descriptions on how to get to the location, even the GPS coordinates.
It just so happens that I have spent a fair amount of time in Arches over the last two years, and have been to all the locations described in the app, and found the information accurate and concise.
The application cost $4.95 – much cheaper then most printed guides, and more valuable. They have many more iFotoGuides planned for the future.
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Full Moon over Resurrection Bay, Seward, Alaska.
This was last night’s beautiful full moon rising over Mt. Alice. The bay was as calm as a lake!
Manual exposure of 10 seconds at f/8 and ISO 400. Canon 1DsIII and 24-105 lens at 47.
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Wildflowers, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.
I have been hearing lots of great reports from the Southern California deserts especially Anza-Borrego – the area has received a lot of rain and it is sounding like it could be a good to great wildflower year! I’m excited, and will start posting updates on the current conditions in Borrego in a couple of weeks.
I prefer the soft, gentle marketing approach and hate to resort to the hard sell car dealer like approach by saying you better sign up now before it’s too late, but – you better sign up now before it’s too late. Actually, the second weekend is now full, and I only have a few spots left for the first weekend. The permitting process will prevent me from offering any more, and will likely prevent other photographers from throwing together last minute tour / workshops. To learn more, check out: Anza-Borrego Photo Workshop.
With summer a ways off, there is a little less time urgency with my Alaska Photo Tours, although I only have one spot left for the private boat Kenai Fjords photo tour, and only two spots left for the Bear and Puffin photo tour – and recently, I received a number of inquires on the bear tour. And space is available for our private boat Prince William Sound tour.
If you have any questions about any of the tours, drop me a quick email, or give me a call.
This commercial break was sponsored by Niebrugge Image, now back to our regularly scheduled blog entries.
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Sunset over the San Jacinto Mountains which rises above Palm Springs, California
Thanks to Janine’s hard work, our website is now completely updated with photos from this past summer and fall! This includes a big addition to our section of Las Vegas photos, and a much needed expansion to our Joshua Tree National Park coverage – a place we pass by frequently, but often overlook. I hope to spend much more time there in the years to come.
We seem to work really hard to process and publish our images, and always manage to finish just before heading out on the next long trip. We then travel, and the process starts over. A part of me wouldn’t mind some extra time in the office to address all those little things we never have time for, but a much bigger part of me can’t wait to hit the road with my camera!
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The Green River as it flows through the Labyrinth area of the White Rim Trail, Island in the Sky District, Canyonlands National Park near Moab, Utah
Janine has now updated our sections of Moab Utah photos, including new photos of Canyonlands and Arches National Park.
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Sunrise over the Chugach National Forest, Seward, Alaska.
It has been a little while since I have posted a new photo from Seward. Here is a recent image captured out or front door of a view that never gets old!
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Hartman Rocks, Gunnison, Colorado
Janine is now done with our remaining portions of new Colorado photos!
Along with the sections I mentioned last week, we now have new sections for Crested Butte / Gunnision and from the North and South rims of the Black Canyon of Gunnision National Park.
For this photo I used my 24-105 at 65, f/16 at 1/3 of a second and a two stop soft edge graduated neutral density filter.
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San Juan Mountain, Colorado
Another day, and another new section on the website – photos of Ouray and the San Juan Mountains.
These are some of my favorite images from Colorado as it was where we had the best fall colors by far. Not to mention, the town of Ouray is about as picturesque as it gets.
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Rock Cut at the top of Trail Ridge Road, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.
Janine has been working very hard to update our website with our new photos from this past fall, and we now have the first of what should be many updates over the next couple of weeks, and that is a new section of Rocky Mountain National Park photos, along with a sub gallery of Estes Park photos.
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Wildflowers, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.
This winter I’m going to offer two weekend photo workshops in the beautiful Anza-Borrego Desert in Southern California. You can read about all the details here: Anza-Borrego Photo Tour / Workshop.
The timing of the announcement is perfect because over the last two days Borrego Springs has received almost an inch of rain, with more forecasted for the rest of this week. An inch of rain my not sound like much, but that is a huge amount for this area. This, coupled with some earlier storms all but assures us that there will be some wildflowers. Even without wildflowers this is a wonderful area, but wildflowers can completely transform the desert.
Right after uploading the page, and before I had a chance to announce this workshop, someone spotted it on our website and has already signed up. I only have permits for two weekends, and only for 5 people at a time, so these could fill quickly – and when they do, that will be it. So check out the page and let me know if you have any questions!
In addition to this workshop, we also offer a number of Alaska photo tours.
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San Juan Mountains, Colorado
Another fall photo from Colorado!
This was captured at 1/5 of a second at f/14 and ISO 400. I used 400 because of the wind – I wanted to maximize the shutter speed, to minimize the movent in the brush. This as with my 24-105 at 50mm.
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Sunrise, Moraine Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.
We are done converting and adjusting our photos from our end of summer and fall travels, and we should be updating our website soon, including a new section on Colorado. Until then, I thought I would share a few more photos from that trip.
Sharp eyed viewers might spot the bull elk.
I promised to start adding the settings for each photo, and then proceeded to forget on the very next post. This was 6 seconds at f/18 and iso 100. I don’t remember, but I’m guessing I used a two stop soft edge graduated neutral density filter.
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California History The Journal of the California Historical Society.
I wasn’t sure what I would write about today until I made my daily walk to the Post Office and found this in the box! It is a thrill and honor to be on the cover of such a wonderful publication.
This photo was captured along the California’s Central Coast near Big Sur a few years ago – I would love to spend some more time along the beautiful stretch of coastline.
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Mule deer buck, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.
This guy was huge! Rocky Mountain National Park is sure a great place to watch and photograph elk and deer. This was from our Fall visit.
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Full moon rising over Arches National Park, near Moab, Utah.
As I was working on my favorite images from last year, Janine mentioned this was one of her favorites – she really liked the mood and feel of the photo, so I though I would make it today’s blog.
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Well I thought I would continue on a theme I began last year when I posted my 10 favorite photos from 2008. I have Jim Goldstein to thank for the idea.
Looking back on the year, I can’t believe all we did last year. Besides a lot of time spent in Alaska, including a couple backpacking trips, we made summer and winter trips to Vancouver and Whistler, spent a couple of months in Southern California and a couple more between Colorado and Moab, Utah. Wow, no wonder I’m tired.
Surprisingly, some of these photos haven’t been posted on the blog before. So here we go:
Above / below photo of a red salmon.
I posted a similar photo from an earlier day, but never got around to sharing my improved efforts from a follow-up day. I was saving them for my post on how I do remote above / below photos – you know, the one I still haven’t written. The year before this spot was popular with bears – maybe next summer I can get the grand slam of salmon underwater, bear above! Here is a larger version of this red salmon.
Huntington Beach, California.
Here is another favorite that never made it to the blog. This is under the Huntington Beach pier. I loved the light, and the patterns created by the pier structure and was walking around trying different compositions when this stereotypical blonde California gal walked by me and completed the scene. I didn’t have the nerve to ask for a release. Here is the larger version of this Huntington Beach photo.
Sneffels Range, San Juan Mountains, Colorado.
I had to include a photo from Colorado, and this is probably my favorite of the bunch, but it was tough to pick because that is a beautiful state. Here is a larger version along with my original post for this Colorado photo.
Balboa Pier, Newport Beach, California.
I’m a sucker for great sunsets, and the Southern California coast receives more then its fair share. This might have been the best one of the numerous ones we witnessed last winter. Here is a larger version of Balboa Pier.
Surfer, Huntington Beach, California.
It was really fun just to watch these amazing surfers, much less photograph them. This was at the Katlin Pro / Am surf competition last winter. Here is a larger photo of the surfer.
Breaching Humpback Whale, Kenai Fjords National Park, Seward, Alaska.
Just seeing such an huge animal burst out of the ocean is an incredible experience – capturing it in a photo is a real treat. Larger version of the humpback whale photo.
Kenai Fjords National Park, Seward, Alaska.
This is Janine at sunset taken during a wonderful backpacking trip to the Harding Icefield – a favorite nearby location for me. Here is the larger photo.
Camping along the White Rim Trail, Canyonlands National Park, Utah.
Here is another one of those photos where the actual experience probably clouds my judgment of the photo, but 3 days of camping along the White Rim Trail was a blast! Here is a larger version and blog post about the White Rim Trail.
Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.
This is Janine in one of the most colorful spots I have ever seen. It is a secret location in the seldom visited Valley of Fire. This larger version of Valley of Fire does this spot more justice.
Ice Patterns, Seward, Alaska.
You might remember this one as I just posted it on the blog a couple of days ago. I had to have a winter photo on the list and this was one of my favorites.
Like last year, I had to leave out a lot of favorites to get the list to 10. Like:
Baby Porcupine
This baby porcupine, or
24 Hours at Moab crash, or
Along with a number of photos from Vancouver, Whistler or Victoria which could have easily made the list, but I wanted to limit it to 10, so there it is! It is fun to look back on the year, but now I can’t wait for this year!
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Resurrection Peaks, Chugach National Forest, near Seward, Alaska.
Here is another photo taken from just a few steps out the front door during another beautiful morning. This was captured last week on the same day as the photo of ice patterns.
I know, I have thousands of photos of these mountains, and have posted dozens of them here on the blog over the years, but I just can’t help myself, they are just too beautiful! I’m sure I will take thousands of more in the years to come.
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When photographing directly into the sun, especially with zoom lenses, it seems like lens flare is almost impossible to avoid. I thought I would share a little trick that I have used for the last few years for eliminating flare.
I capture two images, one that includes the sun and flare, and one where I block the sun and eliminate the flare as you can see above. I then combine the two images using photomerge in Photoshop keeping most of the image on the right except for the portion of the image where you see my fingers. Here is the end result:
Landscape Arch, Arches National Park, Utah.
It is important that both images are of the same exposure – I make sure I’m working in manual mode because your camera’s meter is going to come up with two very different exposures for these two scenes. And of course a tripod so that the two images contain identical compositions is imperative.
I used to stand in front of my camera and block the sun with a lens cap. The lens cap made a perfectly round shadow that I could then position just barely over the front of the lens. When it comes to your eyes, I’m sure this is the safest way of doing it, but it does take more work in Photoshop. Lately, I have been looking through the camera with my hand out in front until it is positioned to block the sun – I wonder what passerby’s must be thinking as they see me doing this – is he really photographing his fingers in front of that pretty arch?
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Courthouse Wash, Arches National Park, near Moab, Utah.
Over the last week or so we have been very busy converting and adjusting photos from our Fall trip, we hope to be done with this job sometime this week. I will likely share more photos from this trip over the next few days or weeks.
It has been a really nice winter in Alaska, and I have been very content to be working at home, cross-country skiing, and enjoying the winter pace. But, as I start the pour over photos from our recent travels, it re-ignites the urge to explore and photograph new regions, and revisit old favorites.
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Ice Patterns, Seward, Alaska.
These ice patterns were on the side window of my pickup yesterday. With the heat off, I carefully drove into position so that the sunset would back-light the patterns. Nature can sure create some wonderful designs!
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From a recent morning in Seward, Alaska.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Seasons Greetings everyone!
The next week will probably be a bit slow here on the blog thanks to the holidays.
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