HLI PhotoNotes    Volume 4 Issue 3     September 2006
Published by Hankins-Lawrence Images, LLC of Bethesda, Maryland
http://www.hankinslawrenceimages.com      

Table of Contents

1. Photonotes is back
2. Photographing Alaska from a Cruise Ship
3. The Joys of Image Stabilization
4. Hankins-Lawrence Images Show Schedule
5. Subscription Information

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1. It’s Almost Autumn

Autumn is one of our favorite times of year for photography. Between the leaves changing colors, and the crisp air, we love photographing in the fall. So we’re looking forward to some great photography in the next few months.

However, before we move ahead to fall, we thought we’d fill you in our summer vacation. We took an Alaskan Cruise in August. We spent 10 days in Alaska’s Inside Passage photographing the wildlife and scenery. We had a great time seeing wildlife we don’t see often here in the DC area – puffins, bears, sea otters, sea lions, seals and of course, bald eagles. Both articles in this issue relate to our trip. We’ve also put a number of photos from our trip on our website at http://www.hankinslawrenceimages.com/Alaska/KetchikanAlaska.html . Please stop by and take a look. We hope you enjoy them.

Looking ahead, our fall show season is already underway. We have several shows coming up in the next few months. If you’re in the area, please stop by and say Hi. We love to see you.

In the meantime, enjoy our photos from Alaska, and get ready for fall photography.

Patty & Bill

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2)  Photographing Alaska from a Cruise Ship
By Patty Hankins and Bill Lawrence

Last month, we took a cruise through Alaska’s Inside Passage on Cruise West’s Spirit of Endeavour. Prior to the trip, we weren’t sure what our photography options would be. Usually we’re up before sunrise shooting, and then scouting during the day, returning late afternoon to a few select spots. We knew on a cruise we wouldn’t have this type of control over where and when we’d be able to do our photography. We ended up being very pleasantly surprised at the wildlife and landscapes we were able to photograph. You can see our photos from our trip at http://www.hankinslawrenceimages.com/Alaska/KetchikanAlaska.html

Based on our trip, we have some tips on how you too can get some great photos on your Alaskan cruise:

1. Take your cruise on one of the smaller ships. The Spirit of Endeavour carries 102 passengers and is one of the smallest cruise ships touring the Inside Passage. Some of the larger ships we saw carried over 2000 passengers. Due to its size, our ship could dock at many of the smaller ports and cruise in shallower waters than the larger ships. When we were in port, we were 2 of 102 people getting off the ship, rather than a pair among thousands.

2. Choose you itinerary based on your photographic priorities. We wanted to see and photograph wildlife. So we chose the Cruise West itinerary that made a stop in Hyder, where both brown and black bears fish in the same stream. Our trip also included a full day in Glacier Bay National Park, and a day cruising in Tracy Arm and Frederick Sound.

3. Sunrises, sunsets, and “golden light” photos are going to be tough to get.  In general, the cruise ships do their traveling starting late afternoon/early evening, through the night, and early morning.  This is to arrive at your destination when “rational” people want to be up and about (typically after breakfast, and ending before dinner at the latest).  So during the typical hours that we would be out for landscape photography (before sunrise to one hour after, and one hour before sunset until dark), the boat is traveling between locations.  We were fortunate that much of the trip was overcast (which makes for nice, diffuse light for wildlife photography), and we passed some scenic locations while traveling.  Landscape photos taken from the ship were done hand-held, usually with an image stabilized lens – using a tripod on a moving ship is not that helpful.

4. Sign up for shore expeditions early. Some of our best photos came from our jet boat trip to the LeConte Glacier. This was one of the two shore excursions we signed up for on the trip. There were less than 20 spaces available on the excursion, and they filled up quickly. We made our shore excursion reservations at least a month in advance, and we got some of the last few spaces on this particular trip.  Note that the side trips cost extra, but the trip to LeConte Glacier was well worth it.

5. Bring lots of film or storage space for digital files and take lots of photos. Between the two of us, we took close to 6000 photos on our cruise. The photographic opportunities on the trip were amazing. So be sure to pack lots of film or storage media for your digital camera. Even better, take along a laptop computer or backup storage device so you can reuse your storage media during the trip.

6. Bring your long lenses. This was one trip where we really appreciated having our longest lenses with us. Bill’s main setup for the week was his Canon 100-400 lens, a 1.4X teleconverter, and a Canon 20D (which has the 1.6 digital multiplier effect due to the smaller sensor). Patty mainly used a Canon 5D (full frame sensor) and a Canon 70-300 lens. A wide angle lens is a must when traveling through the fjords, however. 

7. Talk with the ship’s crew about photo spots. The ships (and their crew) visit these same locations week after week. They know more or less what to expect in terms of scenery and wildlife. On our cruise, there were two expedition specialists who provided all sorts of information about the locations we were visiting, and the wildlife we would be seeing. In addition, one of the deckhands was an avid photographer, he let us know about a couple of specific places to look for eagles and other wildlife.

8. This type of cruise is a good compromise for the group with photographers and non-photographers.  There was plenty of sightseeing for the non-photographers (as long as they were into scenic landscapes, wildlife, whale watching and such) and plenty of chances for photography.  This also makes a nice way to see a number of locations in a brief time, for those who don’t have a whole lot of time to spend.  This way we could take notes on where we might want to go for a photo trip to spend more time looking for specific subjects.

We hope our tips will help you get better photos on your Alaskan cruise. Have fun!

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3) The Joys of Image Stabilization
By Patty Hankins and Bill Lawrence

During our recent trip to Alaska, we spent much of our time shooting pictures off of a small ship.  This means that we were taking photos from a moving platform that also had a vibration from the engines strong enough that you could feel – this is not a good situation for shooting from a tripod or monopod, so most of the time we were shooting hand-held.

Shooting hand-held can be a problem, particularly in low light or when using a longer telephoto lens.  This really made us appreciate having image-stabilized lenses with us.  We’ve seen image stabilization under the names image stabilization (IS, Canon), vibration reduction (VR, Nikon), and steady shot (Sony) – and we’re sure there are other names, although for this article we’ll call it IS because it’s an easy abbreviation for us to use.  In Nikon and Canon single lens reflex cameras, the manufacturer makes lenses with IS systems installed, which work on both the digital and film SLRs.  Pentax is now manufacturing a digital SLR where the digital sensor has the IS system – meaning that you get the benefit of  IS with any lens you use.  A number of consumer digicams are now coming with IS, although you want to look for optical IS rather than digital (although apparently digital stabilization is helpful for movies, we’ve never used it).

Whatever the manufacturer calls it, optical IS essentially senses camera shake, and compensates by moving the optics of the lens or the digital sensor, depending on the camera system to reduce the movement while the shutter is open.  Effectively, this gives you the ability to reduce the shutter speed by 1-3 stops, and still have a sharp photo; so assuming it does two stops, if you could normally take a sharp photo at 1/60 of a second, you would now be able to at 1/15 of a second.  During our trip, Bill was using a Canon 20D with a 100-400 lens with a 1.4 extender (at full zoom, the 35 mm equivalent would be almost a 900mm lens) hand-held when shooting from the ship.  We even used it on our landscape photos when we were shooting from the ship.  Check out the otter, puffin, whale, and seal photos from our Alaska trip (check out the top photo at http://www.hankinslawrenceimages.com/Alaska/HyderAlaska.html for example)– all of them were taken hand-held with an IS lens.

There are a couple of things IS won’t do for you.  While it steadies the camera, it does not steady the subject.  So, if you are photographing something moving (and don’t want motion artifact in the photo), you have to use a faster shutter speed – IS won’t do anything.  Also, if you are panning (purposefully moving the camera during a shot), you have to turn off the IS or a mode made for panning, otherwise it will fight you (Patty can tell you from experience).  However, we’ve found IS to be very helpful.  If you’re looking for a new lens or a new digicam – you may want to look for IS
 
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4. Hankins Lawrence Images Show Schedule

We're going to be selling our photos at some of the art and craft shows in the Washington DC area. If you're at any of these events, please stop by and say hello.  We're waiting to hear from a number of shows for this year, so check out our show schedule on the web (available in the Store section
at www.hankinslawrenceimages.com ) from time to time for updates.

2006
Sept 23-24  Fall Craft Show, Occoquan, VA
Oct 1  Takoma Park Street Festival, Takoma Park, MD
Oct 13-15   Sugarloaf Craft Festival, Gaithersburg, MD
Oct 22-24   Craftsmen’s Classic, Chantilly, VA
Nov 3-5      Craftsmen’s Classic, Richmond VA
Nov 18-19   Fairfax Holiday Festival, Fairfax, VA
Dec 8-10  Sugarloaf Craft Festival, Chantilly, VA

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5. Subscription information
This newsletter is only sent to people who have requested to be added to the HLI PhotoNotes newsletter list. If you would like to subscribe to the newsletter, please send an email
with subscribe in the subject to

Patty@hankinslawrenceimages.com

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Patty@hankinslawrenceimages.com

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All contents © 2006 Patty Hankins & Bill Lawrence, Hankins Lawrence Images, LLC. All rights reserved worldwide.

Published by Hankins-Lawrence Images, LLC, 5521 Alta Vista Road, Bethesda MD 20814.