Hobbits in Alaska?

While looking for another waterfall to photograph, I came across this and knew I had to set up my tripod. Used 3 exposures, Photomatix and Photoshop CS5.

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Using Flash Outdoors

Having fun with the dogs on a bright Alaskan day can lead to very contrasty photos. Sometimes I will throw a flash on to brighten their faces. These were all taken with my Canon 5D mark II with a 430ex flash on the hotshoe. I usually take the flash off of the camera, but with 6 dogs running around I found it safer to leave the flash on the camera.

Notice how evenly their faces are lit and the catch light in their eyes!

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HDR Photo of the Day

Falls near Juneau, Alaska

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Photoshop CS5 HDR

I am trying out the new version of Photoshop CS5. I love the new content aware feature. I do a lot of HDR and tonemapping work so I wanted to compare it with my tool of choice Photomatix.
The first photo is tonemapped in Photomatix using one of my presets. The second photo is done in Photoshop CS5 and its new HDR tool. Both were cleaned up with content aware (hair on sensor) and I used Nik's Color Efex Pro as well.
I think Adobe is finally getting serious about HDR and will give Photomatix a run for its money. I like both photos, but as you can see the Photomatix one is much more saturated and the cloud details are better.
This is my first attempt at Photoshop CS5 HDR tool. More to come I am sure.

Spring Skiing

Took Donner up to Hatcher Pass today for what will probably be the last ski of the year. We had a blast! It was a gorgeous day for skijoring and required only one layer of clothes. Got to love days like that.

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Using Depth of Field to Photograph Dogs

A new dog came into the family recently. My sister-in-law got a new chocolate lab puppy. Of course I had to run over with camera in hand. I pulled out my Canon 70-200 2.8 IS L series lens. I love this fast lens and the depth of field it gives you. The first 2 were shot at f4.5 the others were shot wide open at f2.8.

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Canon 5D High ISO

My nephews and nieces were in a production of Scrooge in the Seattle area. I was in town on business, but did not bring my fast 70-200mm 2.8 lens. I decided to try the high ISO capabilities of the Canon 5D mark II. These were all shot at 12,800 ISO except the last one which was shot at 6400 ISO. The lighting was very challenging, but I like how they came out. These are straight out of Lightroom with no noise reduction.

Photographing Hatcher Pass

It is fall time and one of my favorite places to go is Hatcher Pass. It is well known for its winter activities as well, but for me autumn has the colors and light I appreciate.
Hatcher Pass itself can be driven in the summer, the gravel road extends from Wasilla to Willow. I usually do the drive at least once a year.
A few years ago the road was paved to Independence Mine. I would have like to see it remain a dirt road, a lot less traffic. People seem to be "discovering" Hatcher Pass, it gets more crowded every year. I went up to Reed Lakes Trailhead last week and could not get a parking spot.
Here are some shots from this past weekend. I was trying out my new $200 polarizer. The first two shots I used my ND8 filter to slow the water down and not blow out the highlights.

All photos are HDR and processed through Photomatix. I have an HDR tutorial here.

Little Su River

Just before I got wet

Road to Independence Mine

Cabins near The Motherlode Lodge

Just off the road

MotherLode Lodge (looking pretty bad)

Sure wish someone would buy the MotherLode Lodge. It is deteriorating quickly. It is a shame, I have spent many Easters, birthdays, weddings, Mother's Days and Christmas

Strobist Stuff

I decided to sell my 40D and wanted to take some decent photos of it so I built a studio box.

I cut holes in three sides and taped tracing paper over the holes, one on each side and one on the top

I set up three flashes and put a poster board under the camera.

My setup

This is the resulting shot after playing around with settings. You can see the reflector I used in the lens.

Canon 40D

Once I got the settings right, it was as simple as swapping the objects.

Canon accessories

Canon 2X II

Peach

I think I will play around with this box some more, thanks to strobist for the idea.

Steady Cam for 5D mark II

As I get more into video, I realize it is a whole different set of tools needed. Not only on the software side(Premiere Pro has been a steep learning curve), but on the hardware side too. One of the things I really needed was some kind of steady cam. Some of the steady cams out there are terribly expensive. I found Johnny Chung Lee's site http://steadycam.org/. Here he goes through detailed instructions on how to build your own. I built mine today...grand total of $22 here in Alaska. Here is a shot of it holding my 40D.

I am looking forward to trying it out tomorrow. I will let you know by posting the resulting videos.

Mike
www.akphotograph.com

2009 Iditarod Video

Took some video while at the Iditarod this year. Putting this together makes me wish I would have shot more video and less still shots...oh my did I just say that?
All clips shot with my Canon 5D mark II. Getting to know and appreciate the video feature of this camera.


Mike

http://www.akphotograph.com

Moose on the Loose

Dogs found a couple moose wandering on our property yesterday. After getting them gathered and in the house, I pulled out my Canon 5D. Instead of snapping more shots of moose, I have plenty, I decided to video them.

I wanted to try and shoot them with the lens wide open(f2.8), so I used a technique I read about from Tyler Ginter.

This was shot with my Canon 5D mark II with my 70-200mm IS f2.8 lens


Moose on the Loose from Mike Criss on Vimeo.

Mike

http://www.akphotograph.com/


http://www.flickr.com/photos/alaska48/