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Alaska! +repost
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Alaska! +repost

by Nathan Apodaca

Gallery: LandscapePosted September 14, 2013140 views6 comments
This past week I was fortunate to be able to take a quick trip to Alaska, and fly back through Canada. Some of the most amazing scenery I have EVER seen. Ever. :smile: The colors were changing as the weather was slowly transitioning from summer to fall, and the brilliance of the foliage was breathtaking. In fact, some of the undergrowth was a bright cherry red, something I had seen in photographs, but honestly wondered if it was really that vibrant. Well, it is that vibrant, and something about being there in person makes it seem even more vibrant!

The image posted here is not necessarily showing of the colorful part, but I thought I'd start here with one of the first images from the trip. Don't worry, I wont clutter this site with every shot from this trip, but what I will post should be more or less in order as how/when I took them.

Starting in Anchorage, we flew NNE towards McCarthy, then headed across the border to Whitehorse, Canada. This image was taken on that first leg. Again, I was shooting handheld through the airplane window (I know, it's not the best at all), and because of the overcast along with a touch of turbulence, I was forced to increase the ISO well past what I'm usually comfortable with. Also, in post processing I had to work hard at regaining the natural contrast the scene had, because shooting in sort of hazy conditions along with the window being not-squeaky-clean, made the images turn out very flat and colorless.

Enough with all that... Here's some info, and let's hear your thoughts!

Canon 60d 55-250mm @ 74mm
ISO 400 --- f/4.5 --- 1/2500 sec --- RAW --- no filters

Comments/Critiques Welcome!

Comments

6 comments
Comment posted by Carolyn Derstine on September 14, 2013 at 3:36 PM
Sounds like you were viewing, from the air, similar mountains that I was looking at, on the ground on our trip to the Canadian rockies. :smile: Great shot of this mountain range showing the changes in altitude zones--I like the contrasting colors and textures of the two different zones. Your shot looks in good focus considering you shot from an airplane window and were dealing with turbulence. We all edit to our own style but I would have probably brightened and pulled out lots more of the color in the foreground mountain, although it sounds like you did a fair amount of editing already.

Look forward to more shots from your trip. :smile:
Registered on February 16, 2011, 610 Posts, 3684 Comments
Comment posted by Brad Strong on September 15, 2013 at 5:07 AM
Nathan,

This is pretty nice for being shot from an plane. You say no filters, but actually you did shoot with a filter, the window of the plane. It was almost certainly tinted and altered the image.

I love the transition from no snow to snowy peaks.

My only real nit is the blown out sky. You might try cropping some of it off.
Registered on October 1, 2012, 43 Posts, 302 Comments
Comment posted by Mark Pelton on September 15, 2013 at 8:59 AM
Actually I think you reached a nice contrast level. sky doesn't bother me. nice descriptive image.
Registered on November 25, 2003, 380 Posts, 4647 Comments
Comment posted by Nancy Lea Sandy on September 15, 2013 at 9:47 AM
I know a "white" sky is a no-no but I rather like the transition from dark to stark white in this image.
Registered on January 24, 2011, 576 Posts, 6942 Comments
Comment posted by Nathan Apodaca on September 15, 2013 at 10:59 AM
Thanks for the comments/input, everyone...

Here's a repost, or should I say, a PREpost; the untouched JPEG. I did sharpen for the web, and of course my later editing was from the RAW file. The sky was naturally grey...gloomy, colorless grey! I decided it would enhance the image to brighten it up, and anyway, grey skies just look more ugly off the camera than they do in person, so that is why I lightened it quite a bit. Maybe personal preference here, but I enjoy hearing your thoughts!

Carolyn---Yes, I eventually flew just east of the Canadian Rockies, so I doubt I was far from wherever you might have been. :) The colors are pretty natural here (of course, as much as I really remember). Farther on during the trip the colors got wild, so in comparison, this one is quite an unsaturated scene, especially with the overcast sky and slight haze (aside from the airplane window).
Registered on November 16, 2011, 67 Posts, 1127 Comments
Comment posted by Bill Reid on September 15, 2013 at 1:24 PM
Nice tones and detail in the larger version Nathan and I don't mind the light sky at all. Nice job dealing with the conditions. I find the large watermark quite distracting though. Very nicely done.
Registered on January 27, 2013, 65 Posts, 2460 Comments