HDR Photo of the Day Lake Clark

Taken this week at the Island Lodge, Lake Clark National Park. Beautiful place as you can see!! More to come this weekend.

HDR Photo of the Day...Juneau

HDR shot of Mendenhall Glacier this summer. Nothing says Alaska like fireweed, glaciers and mountains.

I have an HDR tutorial here.

HDR Photo of the Day Waterfall

HDR and long exposure of a waterfall south of Anchorage, Alaska. These falls are only a short hike in. I have an HDR tutorial here.

HDR Photo of the Day Denali ..again

Another Denali photo. Early morning drive up to Denali to capture this one. See how I created this on my tutorial.

HDR Photo of the Day Denali

Denali or Mt McKinley sunrise this morning. Got up at 4am for this one.

Combined 3 exposures this morning to create this HDR. See my HDR tutorial here.

HDR has become a favorite way for me to capture landscapes. I used to only capture 3 images when my histogram showed the shadows or highlights going off one end of the graph. The sun was just rising in Fairbanks when I arrived at the Riverboat Discovery. Snapping the fist image gave me this histogram. As you can see by both the histogram and the first photo, the shadows are too dark.

I set my 5D mark II up to bracket 0,-2,+2 EV. You can think of Exposure Values as stops. Setting up exposure bracketing in the 5D works like this.

Exposure Bracketing

I have had luck handholding my camera for 3 fast exposures, but I use my tripod whenever possible. I even use the 2 second timer to activate the shutter. In bracketing mode, it takes all 3 exposures without you touching the camera.

I put all 3 exposures into Photomatix 3.2. It comes with a plugin for Lightroom, so I just export directly to Photomatix using these settings. I will check the reduce ghosting when there is wind or something moved in the frame. Experiment with these settings.

These are the settings I use for my realistic output. As you move down the scale on the light smoothing section, the more surreal you image will become.

This the same image with only the light smoothing changed. I am sure you will find a setting that fits your style.

HDR Ouput

This is the final output from the 3 images. Photomatix processing brings out the colors, shadows and highlights I could not get with one image. I tend to carry my tripod a lot more these days.

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

I was going through some of my eagle photos from earlier this year and came across this one. I didn't know I had it, what diamonds we find in our archives.

Fairbanks, Alaska

I was in Fairbanks this week, on my way to Galena. I only had one sunrise to photograph and was trying to think of a place that smacked of Fairbanks. I know the area well, I graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. I knew Creamers field would be a great place, but I decided on the Riverboat Discovery. I was out at 5:30am waiting for the sun to burst through some clouds by the Chena River. I had not been to the boat with no people, so it was almost like the twilight zone.

All these photos were taken with my old 40D(sold it while in Fairbanks). HDR treatment through Photomatix.

Riverboat Discovery

Riverboat Discovery

Riverboat Discovery

Riverboat Discovery

Riverboat Discovery

Riverboat Discovery

HDR Photo of the Day

Taken just outside of Juneau, Auke Lake

Moose Babies

Moose Babies

A couple of moose calves at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. I have a couple blog entries on AWCC.

HDR Photo of the Day

Mendenhall Glacier

This photo was taken last week near Juneau, Alaska. The field of fireweed was stunning. Adding a background of Mendenhall Glacier and the mountains made it even better. Three exposures taken with my Canon 5D on a tripod.

Juneau Waterfalls

I have been to Juneau twice this month. The first time was 5 days and it rained on us the entire time. Last week was much nicer...80 degrees and sunny...in Juneau. Nothing like Southeast Alaska on a clear day.

The last day of my first trip the rain slowed so I finally got my camera out. The light was poor so I headed to some waterfalls I knew about. These are Salmon Creek Falls just outside of Juneau. I was the only person there. I wish I would have had more time, but I had a plane to catch.

I used my ND8 filter which brings down the light 3 full stops. This allowed me to create long exposure photos without blowing out the highlights. This was my first try at long exposure HDR. All the photos in this blog are 3 long exposures combined and tonemapped in Photomatix.

Salmon Creek Waterfall

Salmon Creek Waterfall

Salmon Creek Waterfall

Salmon Creek Waterfall

Salmon Creek Waterfall

Ebner Falls is a little more work. Hiking up Preservation Trial with all my gear, including my heavy duty tripod, in 80 degree weather. We Alaskans are wimpy when it comes to heat.

Ebner Falls

Ebner Falls

Ebner Falls

I revisited Salmon Creek Falls on a nice day. The light was not that much different, it sits in a rain forest so not much light gets through.

Salmon Creek Waterfall

Salmon Creek Waterfall

Be sure to visit Juneau's waterfalls the next time you are there.