A pond with Mt. Alice in the background, Seward, Alaska.

As part of my Ask Ron series, Phil Cola asked what is my top selling photo in terms of revenue, and what was the location, setup, logistics etc.

It is a great question – I know I’m always fascinated by the annual issue of Photo District News (PDN) in which the major stock agencies share the same information on their most successful image from the prior year.  My most successful images draw on some similar parallels that I will touch on below. 

By the way, Phil Colla is an excellent photographer – he was one of the first photographers I knew who had a blog, I have been following his very informative blog for years.  If his name looks familiar here, you may remember Phil and I shared a chartered helicopter for a flight over San Diego earlier this year.

So interestingly enough, the above photo is the top performer thanks mainly to one large sale for a Nature Valley billboard ad campaign.  It has sold a few other times, but its success is because of this one sale.  In fact, our top 5 (maybe more) grossing images are all because of a single sale.  That tends to skew the number.  Maybe tomorrow I will post our more popular sellers in terms of number of times sold.

Now to answer Phil’s questions about the setup and logistics.  Considering all the really amazing places we travel to, you might think there could be a great story here, but there really isn’t much to it.  This is a little pond within the city limits of my hometown.  In June there is a short period where the greens just rock. (We are getting close to that time this year)  I also knew that in the same month this pond gets hit with some really sweet evening light.  So I waited for a nice evening, drove down there and grabbed this photo – I was probably away from the house for about a half an hour as I worked the last light of day, then came back home.

So what does this have in common with other top stock revenue earners?  For one, I’m always surprised as to how many of the images in the annual PDN article are landscape images.  I would say 4 of my top 5 earners are landscape images as well.  I wouldn’t have guessed that – I have always thought model released outdoor activity images would be the big winners.

The other thing that surprises me is that it seems like the best selling stock landscape photos all have nice light, but not the rare, dramatic light that draws all the ohs and awes on photography forums.  Supposedly, the largest stock sell ever was an image of a green wheat field  with a blue sky along with a nice cloud overhead – it is the photo that accompanies all Window XP computers.  My image has some similar traits - bright warm blues and greens, but not some dramatic sunset or other light.  This holds true for my other top earners as well.

Since I have shared with you my hits, it only seems fair that I share some of my misses as well.  My misses are photos where I spent a fair amount of time and money and thought I really had a winner – but then the photo never sold.

Sentinel Lighthouse, Southeast Alaska.

One of our regular magazine clients contacted us earlier this week looking for photos of the Sentinel Lighthouse – they were unable to find one on our website.  So we dug through our old slide files and sure enough found this image which we scanned and sent off.  We have thousands of old slides like this that may have some value, but most just sit and take up valuable room in file cabinets. 

This brings me to a recent Ask Ron question from Valerie McElroy.  Valerie and her husband are serous photographers and backpackers, and Valerie asks what should they do with their old slides?  Buy a scanner, or maybe have a local shop scan them?  Is there a simple solution?

For us the solution was obvious since no one within a 100 miles scanned slides, we bought and have owned a Nikon Coolscan 4000 for many years – this is what we still use.  We actually owned a Coolscan 1000 before that.

Today, it seems much easier to find services that will scan slides, I would start with one of them – preferably a local one so you don’t have to ship your valuable originals.  Begin by giving them a handful of slides and see what the quality is like.  Depending on the equipment used, you may find a big difference between scans in both the cost and quality.

I bet you can find a used Nikon Coolscan 4000 for a reasonable price, and that is a pretty good scanner.  This would be a good fall back option if you can’t find an acceptable scanning service.  A new Coolscan 5000 is probably too expensive for what you are doing.

Let me add one more consideration.  Getting the scan is just half the battle, maybe not even half!  We have found working with scans in Photoshop to be somewhat time consuming and frustrating, and all we are trying to do is get the scan to look like the slide.  It is not uncommon for scans to have color casts and other issues that I just don’t find in digital camera captures.

Because of the time and expense, we have only digitalized our very best slides.  The rest sit in slide cabinets waiting for a request like the one this week so that they can come out and enjoy the light of day.  So to answer your last question, Unfortunately I don’t know of a simple solution.

A hanging bridge in the rain forest, Arenal, Costa Rica.

Fellow Alaskan Dan Kehlenback is looking to travel to Costa Rica next winter, and asked Ron for recommendations on a general area in Costa Rica for photography.  

This is a tough one – I have a feeling pretty much anywhere outside of San Jose is probably worth visiting.  It is such a beautiful and diverse country, it is an amazing destination.

I should add, there were two destinations that were high on my list that we didn’t visit.  We never made it to the East Coast – I would have loved to have seen Tortuguero.  And, we were unable to travel down to the Osa Peninsula – I think I would have loved the more remote nature of this coastal region.  Of the places we visited, here were my favorites and why.

Arenal / La Fortuna – more specifically, Arenal.

I loved the diversity of this area.  There were hanging bridges through rich, thick rain forest, a large lake and a very active volcano!  We stayed in a place with a view of the volcano – the hotel offered a wake-up service if the volcano began to erupt during the night so that you could get up to watch.  It kind of reminded me of the wake up service Denali area hotels offer for northern lights.

We were able to see lots of wildlife, often up close, including monkeys, snakes, green basilisk lizards, poison dart frogs – the monkeys were a blast to watch.  But the highlight of the area had to be the Tabacon Hot Springs.  Granted the rain forest is maintained by humans there, so it looks a little better then the natural forest, but it is sure beautiful, and the hot springs are very relaxing after a day of photography!

La Paz Waterfall Gardens

This isn’t the place for laying in the sun, because of its moderate elevation, it is often cool and cloudy with rain.  We actually stayed on site at the Peace Lodge – by far the nicest place we have ever stayed.  It was fairly new then, and much cheaper – but if money isn’t a problem, this place is amazing.  By staying at the hotel, you gain access to the trails, waterfalls etc. before and after the general public.

The Waterfall Gardens includes a couple of miles of trails that take you to and around four large waterfalls, as you parallel a wonderful rain forest river - it is a very beautiful setting.  There are numerous plants and flowers around the area, and many birds come to the feeders spread throughout the grounds including a wide variety of humming birds.  Looks like they have added some kind of frog, snake and butterfly exhibits along with a Trout Lake, the Lodge looks different from when we visited, but every bit as nice.

Manuel Antonio

Even though Manuel Antonio has a wonderful National Park, this area is a distant third to my above two recommendations, I will get to why in a second.

Manuel Antonio was on the west coast – because of this location, it was warmer and sunnier then the other locations – a nice benefit when escaping the Alaskan winter!  Again, there was a wide variety of wildlife, and many different species of monkeys and birds then we saw in the interior destinations.  Seeing the ocean is always a treat, and I loved the sunsets.

This area had two drawbacks, especially for photography.  The hours of operation for the National Park were 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  A quick search on the internet shows this is still the case.  In short, you couldn’t get access anywhere close to sunrise or sunset.  The sun in this part of the world rises and sets really fast, so the nice light is literally right at sunset or sunrise, so by the time you could enter the park, the light was very harsh.

The other drawback; it was a very popular tourist destination, so the crowds were far larger then in the other areas we visited.

Other Areas

We spent a little time in San Jose, and I wouldn’t go back.  It was a very crowded, busy city where we were constantly reminded to be careful carrying our camera gear because of crime.  In fact, they had to unlock the front door to the lobby every time we came and went from our hotel.

We also spent time in Dominical.  This area has a lot of appeal – it is a small town on the coast – two things I like.  When we were there, they had lots of warnings about never leaving any valuables unattended in your room.  There was no way to lock the room, and the motion sensor alarm system was broken.  So that meant lugging all my camera gear and a laptop computer every time we went anywhere, even for the shortest of hikes.  Couple that with a near constant heavy rain, and it quickly became in practical.

Gosh, all this writing about Costa Rica has me wanting to return!

By the way, if you get a chance, check out Dan’s photos (see link at top of this post) - he has great photos of not only Alaska, but places like Guam, Porta Rica and the eastern U.S. as well.

Kayaking in Prince William Sound, Alaska.

As part of the ask Ron theme, adventure photographer Ryan Bonneau asks how I handle my camera gear while kayaking.  Ryan is going to be spending two months kayaking in Prince William Sound this summer (lucky guy!).  He went on to say he has tried storing his gear on deck in a dry bag, as well as in his cockpit in a dry bag, and has never felt comfortable with either system.

Well, unfortunately I don’t have a solution for this one.  I do the same thing as Ryan, and have never felt comfortable with those options either.  Usually I keep my camera in a dry bag under the bungees on the deck in front of me, kind of like the yellow bag you see in this photo.  My camera’s dry bag is red – it is probably sitting on my skirt and just out of sight in this photo.  Getting the camera in and out of the bag and stowed away is always a wet, awkward proposition full of risk – I dread hearing that plunking sound of a lens dropping overboard, so far I have been fortunate.  I’ve seen this topic come up in photography forums, but have never heard of a better solution.

By the way, the dark area between both bows is a large school of salmon.

I hadn’t seen Ryan’s photography until today – check it out, he has some great stuff.  Looks like he just started a blog as well.

Camping in the Chuach National Forest, Alaska.

How do I handle the power needs for my digital camera and file storage on long trips away from electricity?  This was an ask Ron question brought up by two fellow blog’en photographer friends of mine Richard Wong and Gary Crabbe.  Both guys operate great blogs – blogs I read everyday, so if you have extra time, do check them out.  

It was a big concern back when I first went digital.  A 1 GB compact flash card cost $300 a piece, and the batteries for my Canon 1Ds were big and heavy, and didn’t seem to last very long.  With that setup, I was never away from electricity for more then 3 days, that was about the most I could manage.  I had 3 camera batteries and four 1 GB cards.  I was very selective when I photographed, taking more of a large format photographer approach.  In the evenings, I would edit and delete images in my tent.  I actually didn’t take a trip to Katmai because I didn’t know how to handle the power and storage needs, and with the type of wildlife photography you find in Katmai, you need a lot more of both.

Today it has almost become a non-issue.  I have two batteries for my 1Ds  III, they are small, light and last forever.  Likewise, compact flash is so much cheaper, that I can use it for storage.  I could easily go a week with my current gear.

I should add, even though I often take multi week trips in Alaska, it is rare for me to be away from electricity for more then 4 or 5 days at a time.  The rest of the time, I at least have access to my car or camper.  As long as I have access to a vehicle with a power point, I can charge anything.  I plug a 12V DC to AC Portable Inverter with DC Auto Power Outlet into the power point, and this gives me an outlet in which I can plug my camera battery charger, image storage device, or even my laptop into for charging.  Seem like I’m usually driving around with something plugged in and charging.

The above photo was from a “setup” camping trip.  Normally, I would never put my tent that close to a glacier feed river on a sunny summer day, but it sure made for a pretty setting. 

A ferris wheel at night, Long Beach, California.

Well I hate to post the same photo twice, especially in the same week, but in response to my ”ask Ron” request, this was the most asked question.  More specifically, Dennis Barton wanted to know how many tries it took to capture this image, while Sheri Lyons wondered how the photo came to look like this.

This was created by using a long exposure, in this case I used a 4 second exposure.  This long exposure allows the light to be recorded as it moves across the frame.  Typically a light bulb appears as a single point of light,  but in this case the camera was able to record the light source in a long streak – and that streak represents how much the light traveled during the 4 second exposure.  Since this ferris wheel had lots and lots of lights, I ended up with lots of streaks.  

 It is kind of a fun technique, in fact whenever I see moving lights, my first thought usually is;  I wonder what kinds of patterns would be created with a long exposure?  Here is another example from this fall at the Alaska State Fair.  You can also use a flash light, sparklers or even moving torches at night to actually sorta draw shapes – it can be fun stuff to experiment with.

To answer Dennis’s question – I actually captured this image in the first try, but that isn’t always the case.  I was using aperture priority mode.  I closed the aperture to f/14 which gave me a 4 second exposure.  I thought that was a good starting point, and that I could add or subtract some compensation based upon what I saw on the LCD on the back of the camera.  Well this looked fine to me, so I shot a horizontal with the same settings and moved on to the next scene – there were a couple other compositions I was hoping to capture while it was still spinning.

I should add, for long exposures like this, a tripod is mandatory.  In addition to a tripod, I usually use the two second self timer, and turn on mirror lock up to minimize any camera shake.  Pushing the shutter with your finger can shake the camera a bit, so by using the two second delay, this isn’t an issue. 

In addition, most of the noise you hear when you take a photo isn’t from the shutter, but rather the mirror quickly moving up and down as it gets out of the way of the image path.  With mirror lockup and the two second delay, the mirror moves out of the way as soon as you touch the shutter, then two seconds later the shutter opens and closes.  I actually use these settings a lot – pretty much whenever possible.  It may not make a big difference, but it only takes a couple extra seconds, so if it helps at all, it is worth it.  Of course for wildlife and action images, the two second delay doesn’t work.

Instead of the self timer, you could also use a remote cable, but I don’t like carrying extra stuff.

A ferris wheel at night, Long Beach, California.

 I thought I would try a new idea with the blog and create an Ask Ron category.  My thinking is that every so often I would answer reader submitted questions and publish the question and my response here on the blog.  They can be pretty much anything photography related, from travel destinations, gear, techniques, thoughts and opinions – you get the idea.  If there is a photo you have always wondered about, maybe the story behind the image, that would be good too.

If you have a web presence; website, blog, Flickr page, I would be happy to link back in my response.  If you would prefer to remain anonymous, that’s cool too. 

You can post your questions in this thread, or feel free to email them to me at ronn@arctic.net  If you could, put “Ask Ron” in the subject so that I will know it is for the blog and not just someone asking a question.

I will do my best to answer all questions as best I can, but I will have editorial control, so I could decide to ignore a question – heck, it is my blog.    So if I start posting photos of a wolverine den, chances are slim that I will provide the GPS coordinates.  Likewise, asking for the name and number of the photo editor at XYZ magazine probably won’t get a response either, but most stuff will be fair game.  So hit me with your Q’s!

Hey, speaking of wolverine.  Now that we are heading into spring, I figure it might be a good time to remind everyone that my deal from last year is still on!