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.
Here are more Colorado photos.
Moonrise Over Canyonlands
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.
Take a look at more of our Canyonlands National Park photos.
Favorite Photos from 2009
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 and Below
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 Morning
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.
Colorado Color
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.
Newport Beach
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.
Huntington Beach
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
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.
Home Sweet Home
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.
Canyonlands National Park, Utah.
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
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
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!
Snowy Mountain Sunrise
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.
How to avoid lens flare
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? 🙂
Courthouse Wash
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.
Check out more of our Arches National Park photos.
Happy New Year!
Fireworks over Vancouver, Canada.
Happy New Year!
Ice Patterns
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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