Divide and conquer was our philosophy as we sailed into the port of Juneau.
There is much to see and do in Alaska’s capital city and with the NCL Sun staying in port for only six hours there was very limited time.
So hubby grabbed our older teen and I shared the day with our younger teen.
They went kayaking, we went on a boat and a hike.
They wore spray skirts and life jackets and couldn’t possibly reach their camera.
We were on a photo safari, gathering travel photo tips for better shots of waterfalls, glaciers and whale tails.
Obviously, before we could take whale photos we had to find the Humpbacks. We boarded a small craft and went searching, hoping to get a few travel photo tips and improve on that always treasured whale tail shot. Sarah was the first to spot a whale, and the second and third whales. In fact I think she spotted all the wildlife before the crew. Our guide suggested we set our shutter to 1/800 – fast enough to stop the action, but not fast enough to stop the water drops as they come off the tail (as stopping the drops leaves dots on the photo).
Sarah was also the first to spot some fur seals on a buoy.
Next we took a drive to the forest and went for a hike. When we came upon the waterfall our guide suggested setting our shutter speed much shower to to give the effect of flowing water rather than freezing the motion. We reduced our shutter speed to 1/20. Instantly I had better photos.
Finally the Mendenhall Glacier. It was an overcast day. We could set our white balance for cloudy to add some warmth to the photo. However our guide’s travel photo tip for glaciers would be to draw out the blue. To do this she suggested to set the camera’s white balance for a sunny day as this adds a cooling filter, which would be blue, increasing the blue cast from the glacial ice.
And, as a bonus, before returning to the ship Sarah spotted a magnificent American Bald Eagle. Good thing we had Sarah (or teen) along with us.
A quick summary of today’s Travel Photo Tips:
- When shooting marine mammals, use a faster shutter speed to freeze the action, also use burst to capture multiple shots.
- When shooting waterfalls, use a much slower shutter speed to blend the water and show the motion.
- When shooting glaciers, set the white balance to “sun” to add a cooling filter and bring out the blues.
All photos on this page ©Rhonda Albom 2013. All Rights Reserved.
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I write everyday when we travel and post when we have internet, so the day you are reading about may not be today. Our actual visit to Juneau was on 11 July, 2013.
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Travel Photo Tips: Waterfall, Glacier and Whale Photos in Juneau Rhonda Albom
