Back from Alaska (60D)

I am back from Alaska cruise; maybe my observations would be useful for folks going the same direction.

1. Shore excursions are considerably more expensive than the same excursions you can buy on the pier in every port - you will be stuffed in a coach or a railroad car, or a catamaran boat with windows washed maybe once a month; made of window-quality glass or acrylic. Did you remove your expensive multi-coated UV filter to preserve IQ? You will be limited to shooting through those windows! When the bus is in motion! Only one lady driver was kind enough to stop her bus in a few spots for photos, and even then, she rushed everybody to move faster, because the next group is waiting in the port. What, you need time to set up a tripod for your T/S lens? Good luck!

Solution: hire a local driver - there are plenty of them waiting for you. They know the best places, and will wait for you as long as you are paying - and you may save comparing to the cost of excursions (often $250 per person or more).

2. The same applies to small vessel - based excursions, such as whale watching, etc. When our large catamaran's captain noticed a whale, he had to obey the rules and stay away from them! Everybody was really disappointed watching private boats approaching the animals twice closer than we were allowed. I can only imagine the photos those guys could take - I would have to bring a 600mm lens to match them!

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'I'm not good, I'm not nice, I'm just right.' (The Witch from Sondheim's 'Into the Woods')
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3. Lenses: in Alaska, breath-taking scenery and active wild life are happening at the same time, in the same place. I traveled light - in a small bag, I fitted Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6, Canon 70-200mm f/4 L IS, Canon Extender 1.4X III, and Sony VCL-M3367 Close-Up lens (made for Sony's R1, works extremely well on 70-200 f/4). My 60D with 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 was on my neck. This set covered 8 - 280mm equiv., and my "arms bearer", who made a mistake of marrying me long ago, did not complain too much.



If you are able to carry two bodies, one with wide-angle zoom, and one with a tele-zoom, you can get some shots I missed while changing lenses. Additionally, I think that 70-300mm L would be a slightly better choice for me instead of 70-200 + 1.4x.

If you are satisfied with super-zoom IQ, then Tamron 18-270mm or something similar may be a great idea.

On the other end of the spectrum, in a few situations, you would benefit from water-proof bodies and lenses. I had to wipe my 60D from splashes with a napkin.

4. Get a good pair of binoculars! Do not overspend on Swarovski / Leica / Zeiss (unless it's a pocket change for you). I took Canon 12x36 IS II, and I am really pleased with image stabilization and IQ. These light-weight binoculars afford solid, stable view from a moving boat. They probably will not work in real storm, but then your lens IS will fail also. There are stabilized binoculars from Nikon and Fujinon, but they are much heavier. Canon has a 10x42 "L" model, somewhat better optically, but also heavier.

5. Photos - you will take thousands of them - I took about 3,500. Granted, many of them are in high-speed continued mode chasing something moving, but you need a reliable backup to save them. I loaded all photos to my small laptop (old Sony 11" - a netbook by today's standards), and duplicated all photos on a small portable hard drive, just in case. Later, at home, I am going through them and deleting those that did not capture anything interesting (that’s about 95% for me  ).

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'I'm not good, I'm not nice, I'm just right.' (The Witch from Sondheim's 'Into the Woods')
? ZodiacPhoto ?



http://www.ZodiacPhoto.com

--

'I'm not good, I'm not nice, I'm just right.' (The Witch from Sondheim's 'Into the Woods')
? ZodiacPhoto ?



http://www.ZodiacPhoto.com

I apologize for an extra-long post.
Thanks for reading and looking at the photos!
--

'I'm not good, I'm not nice, I'm just right.' (The Witch from Sondheim's 'Into the Woods')
? ZodiacPhoto ?



http://www.ZodiacPhoto.com

Very good advice (I've been there), which is bang on, and great photos.

Tours operated by cruise ships are usually a joke for getting any decent photos. You might get lucky here and there but you will miss more shots than you will get.

Best way is to go there and get your boots on the ground. See it yourself or with a companion, not in a group full of tourists.
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Photoblog at: http://timrucciphotography.blogspot.com/
Gallery at: http://www.timrucci.com

Tim R is absolutely correct about boots on the ground and small groups, if the latter is required. We have made two trips to Alaska, and people are shocked, shocked, I tell you, to learn we didn't take a cruise.

Our first was a birding tour with Field Guides, Inc., that had 16 people plus

2 guides, and we visited Anchorage, St. Paul Island in the Pribiloffs, Denali, Seward, Nome and Barrow. The scenery and photo ops were spectacular. Other reputable bird tour groups that go to the same or similar places are Wings and Vent.

Our second trip, also for birding, was an 8 day float down the Canning River in the Arctic NWR with a total of 8 clients and 2 excellent guides from Wilderness Birding Adventures. Along the way, we saw wolves, moose, caribou and bear and NO other people. There was 6 inches of snow on Mid-Summer Day. We drove from Anchorage to Fairbanks, the starting point, to include a 3 day stop again in the Denali area. WBA offers other adventure trips that don't specialize on birding.

Get those feet on the tundra!! The scenery, critters and flowers make up a photographer's wonderland.
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BernieGro

I would love to do ANWR, either by hiking or boating. Thanks for reminding me!

Any idea what that might cost? Is it possible for an 8 day trip for less than, say, $3000 total from Anchorage?

Do you have to be in extremely good physical shape?

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If it's a Single Lens Reflex, why do I need so many lenses?

Great pictures. Did happen to have like a blue haze while you were up in Alaska? I just came back from Yosemite and Yellowstone and there was this bluish haze. I shot with a UV filter which helped a bit but with post processing it decreased this bluish haze to a more pleasing pictures.

Travel in Alaska is very expensive- air fares, car rentals, food and lodging really push total cost up. One also needs a bush pilot to fly you into ANWR, and this is after you get to a place like Arctic Village or Fort Yukon. We paid > $5000/person for our trip plus air fare to Anchorage, car rental, extra lodging, etc. This assumes you are all geared up. But we did see the Gray-headed Chickadee which allowed me to see all seven N. American chickadee species in a 12 month period.
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BernieGro

Good info! Thanks for sharing.
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Tom McElvy
Virginia Beach VA USA



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http://pbase.com/imagesbytom
http://flickr.com/tommcelvy

I went to Alaska for a week the first part of June. We flew in to Anchorage and rented a 24 ft. Class C motorhome. It was perfect for us, and I would do it the same way all over again. Alaska is very motor home friendly, and they allow overnight camping at many scenic turnouts, so camping is often free. As long as its not posted, most public property can be used for overnight stays. We paid $145 per day for the motorhome, which I am sure was a savings over the cost of a rental car plus a hotel, and we never had to backtrack to go back to a hotel. In addition, we saved a lot being able to cook for ourselves rather than eat out.

We only did two commercial excursions. One was a day trip by boat between Homer and Seldovia, and the other was a day long bear photography trip where we were flown out by bushplane to a wilderness lodge. I came home with photos of seals, sea otters, moose, puffin, bald eagles and of course bears as well as Exit Glacier.

I've a friend who did a cruise and she was not able to photograph much wildlife.

So, I agree with the previous poster, boots on the ground will give you many, many photo opportunities.

http://www.pbase.com/showell/alaska_2011

Sandy

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God gave us an incredible world. See it, hear it, Touch it, taste it, smell it, PHOTOGRAPH IT!

BEAUTIFUL photos. We went to AK in early June and did not do a whale watching tour, so didn't get any whale photos. We had done a whale watching tour in Hawaii so I didn't feel the need. Seeing your photos, however, makes me wish we had done it!
--

God gave us an incredible world. See it, hear it, Touch it, taste it, smell it, PHOTOGRAPH IT!

Thanks for sharing about the excursions. We didn't realize they were that costly. I will have to share all this info with my brother and his wife for they are going with us. Along with my mother and father in law. I have the 100 to 400 L is and plan on thaking that along with my 17 to 55. that should do me ok, right? Great photos and I love the shot of the eagle.

First off, some great shots there. Where about's were you on the water?

I live here and have been on numerous "wildlife" cruises, mostly in Prince William Sound. The rule in Alaska, by NOAA, is generally 100 yards from Humpbacks, some tour groups still believe (or choose to for some reason) it is 200 yards. In either case though, you can still get great shots with gear like a 70-200, or I even see many using the 100-400. You had some good shots as well. I wouldn't want to scare anyone away who wants to do one of these thinking they'll need a 600!

One interesting aspect of the Marine Mammal Viewing Guidelines is that boats are allowed to stay put if approached, I've been on boats in PWS where the whale, clearly visible, swims under the boat. In one case we watched as it rolled over onto its back and swam upside down underneath!

Looks like you had some days pretty typical for our summers, 1600 iso can be pretty everyday around here.