After seeing how many images of the aurora could be improved dramatically by just a little tweaking on the computer, I put together this quick, and basic tutorial on post-processing. Though I use Adobe Lightroom, most of what I do…
Skiing Arapahoe Basin
In the years when our whole family gets together for the Christmas holidays we try to get in a day or two of skiing. So yesterday my Dad, brother, a friend, and I headed to A-Basin. It wasn’t a photography…
Northern Lights Lead to Busy Days
I feel like I need to wipe the sweat off my brow after the past few days. It was a normal weekend, pleasant, relaxing. A holiday party on Friday followed by an easy Saturday at home, a nice ride on…
Getting it Wrong, and (rarely) right.
I took this photo years and years ago. Before I’d ever sold an image, or even really considered taking on photography as profession. I often come back to this one because it was one of the first times, I…
Outdoor Photo Tip: Be a Naturalist First
The forest has grown quiet around my cabin. It’s been happening for months now, the birds ended most of their enthusiastic, breeding-season singing back in July. But until the past few weeks there were still a lot of birds around.…
My Dog Would Make a Great Photographer
I’d like to introduce you to my dog, Maddie. She’s an 80lb Flat-coat Retriever, with maybe another breed or two thrown in for variety. She isn’t going to win the Nobel Prize anytime soon, but she’s sweet and enthusiastic about…
Incoming Weather
Sun halo and the Kongakut River in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. Canon 5D Mark III, 24-105L f4 IS, ISO 50, 24mm, f9.0, 1/500th sec. I purposely underexposed this image by several stops to blacken the mountains and increase…
Lens Review: Rokinon 14mm f2.8
Aurora image made using the Rokinon 14mm f2.8. A year ago, I’d never heard of Rokinon. But, like wildfire, the Rokinon (and their lenses marketed under other brand names) spread across the internet. Statements like “extremely sharp”, “great for the…
Intentional Blur
So much photography discussion revolves around how to increase the sharpness of your images. It’s an unspoken rule: good images need to be sharp. But like all rules, it is one that should sometimes be broken. Blur can be a…
A Quiet Aurora
Despite a promising forecast for last night, the aurora did not burst to light in the intensity, I and other Alaska photographers and aurora watchers had hoped. I did venture out to make a few images of the subtly shifting lights. Unfortunately…