Anchorage & Fairbanks, AK - Feb 2014

<p>Hi there,<br>

Don't laugh, but I am visiting Alaska beginning with a couple of days in Anchorage followed by 5 or 6 days in Fairbanks. The punch line is that I will be arriving in late January 2014.<br>

I could use any advice you may have to offer. I'm well aware that sun is very short (ie around 4 hours) and that it doesn't rise very high, therefore most shots will be pretty twilightish.<br>

I'm interested in knowing of places that I could photograph during the "Day". I will be there primarily in hopes of Aurora Borealis and other general Astrophotography but it would be fantastic if I could land a shot of some wildlife or landscapes. <br>

I'm shooting with a Canon 5D/3 with several "L"enses but I'm mentally preparing myself that I will be bringing plenty of noisy shots home to correct. Therefore it is important to me to make the very most of the daylight that will be available.<br>

Any help would be much appreciated.<br>

Geoff</p>

This forum - http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=83478.0 - discusses cold weather photography, not with you camera but still may be of interest.

<p>I live Whitehorse, Yukon, which experiences approximately the same light levels as mainland AK. I think you will be surprised - the period of day when the sun does shine has some of the nicest light of the year, dawn and dusk are incredibly long as well, so you have quite the window for sunrise/sunset shots. Northern Lights are fairly hit or miss. There are a couple websites that post predictions, there is also a Whitehorse Aurora' watchers facebook page, where people will update when and where they are seeing the Aurora. There should be something like this for the AK as well.<br>

Staying in mountainous, deep valleys is really going to further limit your light, also with the sun so low, light conditions change fast, a magically light shot can wander into deep shadows really fast. So don't wait!</p>

<p> If you like "urban", Anchorage is a beautiful place. The best attribute it has is that from Anchorage you can buy an airplane ticket to Alaska! Fairbanks is similar, except the population is much smaller, and the airplane ride to Alaska costs less!</p>

<p> For aurora though, Fairbanks is a good place. Late January isn't a bad time, though it's just a tad early for aurora (mid March is best). Rent a car and drive out either the Steese Highway (and perhaps from there up the Elliot Highway) north of Fairbanks, or take the Parks Highway south. (Don't bother with the Richardson Highway to the southeast, unless you want to go a long ways to get away from terrestrial lights.) I would suggest taking a ride, in the daylight, out both highways for at least 30 miles on the first day you are there to get an idea what to expect. Pick places with good backgrounds, as that is absolutely what makes a great picture of the aurora. (My preference would be about 20-30 miles up the Steese, perhaps on Pedro Dome.)</p>

<p> Be aware that Fairbanks in January might be nippy. However, the best locations for aurora will be at higher elevations, and the higher up a hill you go around Fairbanks the warmer it is. It virtually never gets lower than about -30F on the hilltops at 3000 feet, while places along the Chena and Tanana river banks might be -65F at that time of year. (It might be 30F too!) If you are not very familiar with extreme cold, find a local who is that will go with you. And be warned that trying to find your way around Fairbanks when it is -40F or colder is impossible. The street signs are frosted over, and if there is ice fog you can't see anything anyway. A local guide is the only way to deal with it.</p>

<p> For wildlife, it's sort of hit or miss. There's some chance of catching a moose somewhere though. So while driving you want to have the camera ready for that. A 70-200mm lens makes a good "drive around" lens! :-)</p>

<p> Places to go in the day time might include a trip around Goldstream Road, with maybe a side trip to the end of Murphy Dome Road (try being at the top of Murphy Dome at about 1PM for best light).</p>

<p> Here's a suggestion... watch the predictions for aurora, and the weather forecast for the North Slope. If clear skies are forecast for Barrow, get on a plane and spend as much time as you can in Barrow rather than Fairbanks. The aurora is virtually the same, because Fairbanks is on the southern edge of the auroral ring, and Barrow is on the northern edge. The difference is that Fairbanks is likely to be clear and Barrow is likely to be cloudy. Past aurora though, Barrow is mind boggling for a photographer. (Take a look at my web site.) Fairbanks is "any small town USA", Barrow is like no place anywhere in the Lower-48, and is perhaps the most adventurous place in Alaska to boot.</p>

<p>Check out this web site: http://photos.alaskaphotographics.com<br>

Patrick Endres is an amazing photographer who lives in Fairbanks. On this web site are very good descriptions of how to photograph Aurora and other cold weather subjects. Also check out Chena Hot Springs northeast of Fairbanks. Have a great time. Alaska is addicting. </p>

<p>Although I've observed Northern Lights several times in early 90's, last Sept my viewing (appx 20 miles No of Fairbanks) was really intense....it was two nights in the row. You may wish to consider renting one high quality WA lens around F2.0 or faster. Also, make sure you test the lens barrel position, since quite often the lens may back-focus beyond infinity....and you don't want to return with bunch OOF shots. Snow within landscapes will help.</p>

<p>Not sure I want to be in Fairbanks in January, but if you are sitting at Chena Hot Springs, you'll feel no pain :>). From what I've been told that the colors in Jan/Feb are more interesting than the conventional green-ish. In any case, those (low) temps require proper attire nd that you don't breathe on your lens or the viewfinder, take extra batteries and cards. Keep batteries warm.</p>

<p>It's doubtful that you'll see much wildlife in Jan.....maybe a moose ? Landscapes are much easier....with snow around. If you are serious about the 'lights, try to stay out of town. Once you get the taste for it....you just want this phenomenon to repeat itself (speaking from own experience).</p>

<p>You can start (night work) with ISO 800-1000 and check your histogram and LCD. Some of the shots I did were even at ISO 640. Much depends on the intensity of the 'lights.</p>

<p>Below is a view on how much light is Fairbanks emitting at night (50/1.8 at F2.5 and 20 sec)....and plenty reasons to avoid it. Also, one of mine (recent) more subtle images of the 'lights. Good luck.</p>

<p>Les</p>

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<p>N/T</p><div></div>

Why do you think that your images will be noisy?

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Perhaps a bit of discussion specifically on how to shoot Northern Lights would be helpful. There are a number of websites that discuss the topic, and most of the serious ones are pretty good too. But some contribute to a few myths, and those show up fairly commonly in forum discussions such as this.

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First, what you do need: A wide angle lens that is very sharp at an aperture of f/8 or wider. A steady tripod. A camera able to shoot RAW with 1 to 30 second exposures and allow the lens to be manually focused. That's it.

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Second, what is not really important at all.: The lens doesn't need to be faster than perhaps f/5.6, the camera need not necessarily have a useful ISO setting greater than about 400, and note that focusing is not even close to critical.

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Past that technique is what counts. Shutter speed, aperture, and ISO may affect the image in ways that wouldn't be expected.

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When the Aurora is moving the shutter speed used should be shorter. Otherwise the movement blurs the image, and instead of a sharp image of auoral curtains it will be an unsharp blur of colors in the sky. Shutter speed doesn't have much affect on brightness of the aurora shown in the image unless it isn't moving. It does affect star trails (30 seconds is about as long as is reasonable to avoid them, and longer if that is the intent) and the brightness of both stars and on objects in the foreground.

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The lens aperture should generally be chosen to provide the sharpest image possible. That means stopping down at least 1 fstop and maybe 2. And with something like an f/4 lens it absolutely is reasonable to stop down to f/5.6 or even f/8 on most modern cameras. That is because reasonable ISO values are easily up to 1600, and certainly up to 400. Hence, pick the sharpest fstop for any given lens, and adjust ISO to change the brightness of the image. The best way to judge it is by taking a shot and analyzing the on camera histogram. Don't open up the lens more unless you've hit what you consider to the upper limit for ISO noise.

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Focusing is another area that isn't well understood, and it is actually very very simple! Consider that the longest focal length you'd really want to use might be about 35mm on a full frame body (and something wider on smaller sensors). With a 35mm lens at f/1.4 on a full frame body the hyperfocal distance is about 96 feet. That means focusing at <b>any</b> distance beyond that will put everything acceptably in focus all the way to infinity. It just isn't critical!

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But what works best, and considering that your lens will be both shorter and stopped down further and thus have a much wider Depth Of Field, is to focus specifically on whatever it is in the forground that will show up in the images. Do that manually, and then lock and ignore focus from that point on. If your lens is actually a 20mm focal length and is stopped down to f/5.6 that foreground object can be as close as 7 feet and the aurora and stars will still be in focus!

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Below is a shot taken in 2006 using a Nikon D2x. Almost any DSLR made today will do better than that camera could do then. This shot was taken with a 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G kit lens set to 18mm with an aperture of f/4. The camera was at ISO 100. The exposure was for 30 seconds. Today with any current Nikon model the ISO could easily be set to at least 1600, which would provide 4 fstops more light to play with.

 

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<img src="http://apaflo.com/images/d2x_0320c.jpg" alt="Aurora Borealis at Barrow Alaska." width="620px" align="center" />

 

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<p>Lots of great information, thank you.<br>

I am now booked to fly into Anchorage and take the Alaska Railroad Aurora Train to Fairbanks. Does anyone know how strict they are on carry-on size? 15x14 is painfully small and I would desparately like to bring a serious camera bag which would accommodate long lenses.</p>

<p>This Link will take you to an article on shooting the northern light but more important what you must plan for. <a href="http://www.luminous-landscape.com/techniques/aurora.shtml">http://www.luminous-landscape.com/techniques/aurora.shtml</a></p>

<p>If you plan on driving away from Fairbanks to the North Slope just be prepare and error on the cautious side. You do not want to run out of gas and if the temps drop around -20 there will not be somewhere to plug your car in or get a jump from a dead battery. I was there during spring break last year and saw a group of young people driving up the steese highway in a minivan they were dress in ski clothing (heavy sweaters and wool overcoats girls tight ski pants and the guys jeans) I saw them at the arctic circle pullout but never saw them again. The only gas station before the north slope is in coldfoot where I spent the night before heading out to the North slope<br>

<img src="http://riwong.smugmug.com/Travel/2013-Winter-EdVenture/i-PqML7kG/0/M/_DSC2427-Edit-M.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="401" /></p>

<p><img src="http://riwong.smugmug.com/Travel/2013-Winter-EdVenture/i-9WvKX9f/0/M/_DSC9394-M.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="401" /><br>

<img src="http://riwong.smugmug.com/Travel/In-Alaska/i-rwxRxHM/0/M/moose-M.jpg" alt="" width="338" height="450" /><br>

saw lots of moose seen a lynx a Fox and some Caribou so if you are out they are around.<br>

on the train there is no problem with your gear. the plane you need to check in your big stuff like your tripod.<br>

link to a slide show of my trip <br>

http://riwong.smugmug.com/photos/swfpopup.mg?AlbumID=28700598&AlbumKey=HhZFFJ</p>

<blockquote><p>This Link will take you to an article on shooting the northern light but more important what you must plan for. http://www.luminous-landscape.com/techniques/aurora.shtml

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If you plan on driving away from Fairbanks to the North Slope just be prepare and error on the cautious side.</p></blockquote>

 

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As far as a Califorian driving up the haul road in the winter: <b>just don't do it, period.</b>

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The article on Luminous Landscape does have a lot of good information and is an enjoyable read. The problem is that it is written by people who have little experience, make many mistakes, and use very wrong reasons for some of what they say. It all sounds good if you don't know better, but for anyone who is a technical photographer and has lived in the Fairbansks area for any significant length of time the errors are glaring. Worse, for those who can't spot them the errors may well lead to some very costly mistakes.

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Almost everything specific about where to go around Fairbanks for aurora was mstaken, except that I totally agree with what was said about Chena Hot Springs. It's a wonderful place, and if the bar, the dining room and the hot springs are important it's a good place where you just accidentally might get some pics of the Aurora too. If maximizing Aurora photography is the highest priority, skip the hot springs.

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Here's a URL to see the current Aurora predictions, and to see a map showing how it is distributed over Alaska. http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast/Alaska/

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One need not just look north of Fairbanks, and one need never go farther than maybe 30 miles from Fairbanks. Keep in mind that the band of Auroral activity is 300 miles or so wide even when the activity is relatively low. It is centered on Fort Yukon, north of Fairbanks. Barrow and Prudhoe Bay, on the North Slope get just about exactly the same amount of activity as does Fairbanks. And on any given day with enough activity to generate really great photographs that activity will extend perhaps 200 miles south of Fairbanks. Hence 30 miles north or south from Fairbanks just isn't significant. The article was right about going far enough north, but for the wrong reason. The Brooks Range north of Fairbanks and the Alaska Range to the south block most clouds, and Fairbanks in the spring has many cloudless days. North of the Brooks Range there are many cloudy days, and even the most active Aurora is not visible. But to get so far north the activity is significantly less than in Fairbanks would put one many miles out on the Arctic Ocean ice.

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The significance is that going south on the Parks Highway from Fairbanks is a very good option. It's probably much better than either the Elliot Highway or Chena Hot Springs Road. But the area around Cleary Summit on the Steese is perhaps the best, followed by Murphy Dome Road off of Goldstream Road to the west of Fairbanks. The best place around Cleary Summit is probably not Cleary Summit Road though. That turns right from the Steese, but at the same place is Pedro Dome Road going to the left. That's a better option. (I lived in the Fairbanks area for two decades, and at one time worked at a communications site that used to be on top of Pedro Dome. I drove that road hundreds of times in the mid-1980's.)

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On technical issues, I previously pointed out why using a wide angle lens wide open is a poor technique. I also discussed why pre-focusing on infinity is a poor artistic choice. Both will work, but are not optimal.

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One bit of really good advice in that article is to purchase a cold weather sleeping bag for the vehicle. I used to keep a duffle bag in the car, with a sleeping bag, bunny boots, a parka, heavy duty mits, thermal socks and a warm hat.

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The discussion of which time of the year, and watching phases of the moon was very good too. I wouldn't use The Weather Channel for tracking weather, and instead use NOAA. The NOAA website has hourly weather observations and twice daily long range predictions from the analysis and forecast site in Fairbanks. There are also Automatic Weather Observation Sites in varous locations which can be directly accessed via telephone.

 

<p>First of all, we need to put things in perspective. When I was in Anchorage, I saw a moose in the hotel parking lot. Yeah, it may be "urban" (compared to the rest of Alaska) but it's still pretty rural. The biggest limit to your wildlife photography in Jan-Feb. will be that many of the critters will have gone south or are hibernating, not that you'll be in a city.<br>

Personally, I prefer Anchorage over Fairbanks for photography. Get thee to a higher hotel in Anchorage and shoot sunsets or sunrises. Or the Sound. Or Elmendorf AFB. Or the Botanical Gardens. The aerial shots around Anchorage are superb--worth renting a seat on a small plane for a 1-hour flight around the surrounding area.<br>

When I was in Fairbanks, I asked one of the locals what there was to do or see, asked another one what was notable about Fairbanks. Both referred me to places NEAR Fairbanks but not actually in the city…the hot springs, Denali, etc. I was staying near the airport in Fairbanks and within walking distance there was a resort closed down for the winter--shot some nice pictures of deserted riverboats and also birch trees at the Creamers Field wildlife refuge.</p>

<p>Fantastic shots.. Rick - I really enjoyed going through your gallery. I hope I can get some to compare in a few months.<br>

Does anyone have first hand experience on the winter Aurora train? They seem to allow a ton of checked baggage, but I'm extremely concerned about the small size of carry on allowance. My small camera bag wouldn't even qualify and I just can't check it. <br>

Help!! :)</p>

<p>I did not ride the Aurora train but I have rode that same train during the summer. The problem is that unlike a plane there is very little overhead space for your gear and if it is a full train you will not be able to spread your gear around you. I also did not want to check in my camera gear, if they stop you just walk over to the baggage car and hand it over to the porter. I was able to take my photobackpack onboard and the conductor allowed me to stash it by his area. think of your seatting area like a bus or commuter train.<br>

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