Norwegian Fjords in AUGUST??

[gafala]

We are booked on the Sojourn for the Fjords and North Cape departing June 29. I see many photo opportunities in our future!!

 

Terry, I have been admiring your photos and realize that I definitely need an upgrade to my camera. Nikon has a 15-200 zoom lens that might be an all around fit so that I don't have to carry a heavy camera bag. What is your opinion on this type of lens. Considering either the D3100 or D5100. I currently have a non SLR Nikon with a large zoom and all the bells and whistles but the photos are no better than my little pocket 12x pocket zoom.

 

Also, what was your favorite place on this itinerary?

Thanks and keep posting your wonderful photos and great advice.

 

Either the D3100 or the D5100 will work check the reviews and compare. Get a good walk around lens spend a little extra you will not regret it. I carry it a little to the extreme but that is just me.

 

 

 

This was taken with my D3 and a 24-120mm set at 110mm, at the Busan Metropolitan Dance Company Busan South Korea.

[TLCOhio]

We are booked on the Sojourn for the Fjords and North Cape departing June 29. I see many photo opportunities in our future!! Terry, I have been admiring your photos and realize that I definitely need an upgrade to my camera. Nikon has a 15-200 zoom lens that might be an all around fit so that I don't have to carry a heavy camera bag. What is your opinion on this type of lens. Considering either the D3100 or D5100. I currently have a non SLR Nikon with a large zoom and all the bells and whistles but the photos are no better than my little pocket 12x pocket zoom. Also, what was your favorite place on this itinerary? Thanks and keep posting your wonderful photos and great advice.

 

Appreciate your nice follow-up and kind comments on my pictures. YES, you'll have lots of key photo opportunities on your upcoming Seabourn cruise. Both the D3100 and D5100 are excellent cameras. My good friend has a D5000. Clearly, my D3100 works well. On the potential Nikon 15-200mm lens, do you mean the Nikon 18-200mm lens? There are, as true with many things in life, what are called "TRADE-OFFS" to consider. One lens like that can do it "ALL", but there are other factors to consider. Generally when one lens does that wide of range of focal lengths, you lose a little in quality. Some of the reviews on the 18-200mm are very good. On weight, you are looking at 19.8 oz. versus only 9.3 oz. for the 18-55mm that comes normally with the D3100 or D5100 package. That 18-200mm with VR costs around $900 or so. That is lots more than the cost for the 18-55mm and 55-300mm lenses that come with a D5100 package from many places such as Costco.

 

On our Norway trip, it is very hard to say which one was our most, most favorite. We had lots of great experiences and sights, plus traveling with good friends and other nice people and staff we enjoyed during our cruise. We had totally wonderful weather, added to the great experience. If pressed, it would probably be the late afternoon, near the North Cape time when we did the on-our-own adventure out to the bird islands, seeing the tens of thousands of puffins and other birds, etc.

 

Here are my three quick, key photo tips:

 

1. ZOOM/FRAMING: Fill the frame and make it interesting. Use your feet. Move closer. Zoom in or out. Make it tighter in the picture frame, etc. People don't want to be bored with a key subject or highlight being only in the middle 15% of the picture frame.

 

2. LOTS OF PICTURES: With digital, it is much easier and cheaper to take lots of pictures, see what you have, take more pictures, try different angles, etc. Be checking as you go on what you just shot, blow off the duds, etc. It's great instant feed-back on what's working and what's not, how to improve, etc.

 

3. STEADY HOLD: Keeps the camera closer to your body and make it more stable. Use your elbows against your body to brace the camera. I'll lean against walls or doorframes when taking certain inside pictures in low light situations to improve . . . stability!

 

Reactions and questions?? I can share details and added suggestions, but that's the short, quick version. Then, there is what you do on your laptop to fine-tune your pictures, etc.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 61,660 views.

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

[maysdot]

Hi TLCOhio

 

Just love your photos...many thanks for posting them. I could never compete with my little digital Cannon, but I will still takes lots of shots....always find my photos a great reminder of wonderful times and locations. I will be travelling this summer on the Aug 11th departure of HAL Rotterdam, 14 day Fjords and the North Cape. I have been doing lots of research and think that I have got a pretty good idea of what I will be doing. My one question is about Honningsvag. You mentioned an independent tour where you saw lots of birds. Who did you arrange that with? Thanks for any info you can give.

[TLCOhio]

Hi TLCOhio. Just love your photos...many thanks for posting them. I could never compete with my little digital Cannon, but I will still takes lots of shots....always find my photos a great reminder of wonderful times and locations. I will be travelling this summer on the Aug 11th departure of HAL Rotterdam, 14 day Fjords and the North Cape. I have been doing lots of research and think that I have got a pretty good idea of what I will be doing. My one question is about Honningsvag. You mentioned an independent tour where you saw lots of birds. Who did you arrange that with? Thanks for any info you can give.

 

Appreciate your very nice comments on my picture postings. Glad to know you're a person of such high class, great taste and wonderful judgment to make such kind comments.

 

On the below noted live/blog, you can see all of the detail for what we did, how and why for our independent "adventure" to the bird island near the North Cape. Check around my postings linked below for the July 9 time period in order to see more details and added pictures, etc.

 

When arriving in Honningsvaag near the North Cape area, we visited the small fishing village of Gjesvaer, about 22 miles NW of Honningsvaag. We had a rental car for the four of us and we traveled a route that was sunny, very dramatic and rising through this stark, but beautiful landscape. There are no trees to be seen this far north. We had taken a picnic lunch with us that our ship prepared. We got there early, but our bird rock charter was doing a photo tour with a Polish photographer with 26” lens. He took about 1000 different pictures while on his trip out there.

 

Before boarding, I asked our Captain if we would see any puffins. His reaction? “You’ll see 2.6 million there. There will be so many, it will seem like they are mosquitoes.” That sounded like hype, but it was true . . . and more! These pictures give you only a small sampling of what all we saw. It was birds, birds, birds!!!

 

To do our boat charter, you can check this website: http://www.birdsafari-auroa.no

Our Captain was super, excellent for doing a 90-minute tour. It was scheduled for only sixty minutes, but we got more. His boat had a capacity of eight persons, was a 27-feet size and was propelled by 222-horse power engine with thrusters to get closer to the rocks of this protected island where humans are not allowed. For the four of us, it cost us a total of 2000 NOK for the boat charter. We had special “polar suits” to protect against the cold and wind. It was not too cold, but we needed these warmer suits they provided. To be honest, weather is a “crap shoot” here. We were lucky, very fortunate! And happy. It might have been the highlight of our entire, wonderful, very scenic cruise. We got our car rental through: lene@nordkappbilservice.no

 

What an experience!!!! Loved it! On larger boats, you cannot get as close to the birds as we did, being closer to water level, seeing the gull colony up front and personal, etc. It was great with super weather, until the fog set in hard as we were going back to port. Fortunately, he had a sophisticated GPS, depth screen to guide him back in this “soupy” setting.

 

More visuals are below from this spectacular location.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 61,914 views.

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

 

 

In the small fishing village of Gjesvaer near the North Cape, here was the harbor scene as we had our picnic at an open table before going on our charter boat to the bird rock areas. That tree trunk/limbs shown didn't actually grow there. It was brought in and placed there. This far north, nothing major grows and the land areas are very much a type of tundra. Extremely interesting and beautiful area!:

 

 

 

Sailing from the small fishing village of Gjesvaer near the North Cape, this is the first of many puffin visuals, showing their bright orange feet, plus their cute and unique beaks.:

 

 

 

These are some of these Cormorant black birds at their perching area on this island.:

 

 

 

This shows a huge colony of sea gulls along the rocks and deep into the large opening in the side of the mountain.:

 

 

 

This is a large flock of white birds with their different coloring at the top. We haven’t yet checked for their official name. Any suggestions from those with bird books handy?:

 

 

 

On the way to Gjesvaer near the North Cape, here was a small part of the large herd of reindeer we discovered on the way to our boat charter. They believed that all of this territory, including the road, belong to them. The young baby reindeer were especially cute!:

 

[NancyIL]

Terry - your link didn't work. Is this it? http://www.birdsafari-aurora.no/ The English version doesn't work, but the link does.

[TLCOhio]

Terry - your link didn't work. Is this it? http://www.birdsafari-aurora.no/ The English version doesn't work, but the link does.

 

Sorry that link from 18-months+ ago did work. I'll add your link into my file and here is the best e-mail to reach our Captain at:

ro71no@online.no.

 

In planning our trip in 2010, he was wonderful in quickly responding. Being winter-time and dark up there, he might be gone now and/or having some technical issues. He has a great ship and this trip worked out super well for us. I have sent him an e-mail to let him know of that problem and for any other updates.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Did a June 7-19, 2011, Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 68,427 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

 

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 61,914 views.

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

Edited March 11, 2012 by TLCOhio

[MacThespian]

Terry

we are doing a 28 day cruise on the Ryndam starting in Dover and ending in Amsterdam in July, August this year with the last 7 days being in Norway. We have been to Alesund, Bergen and Oslo on the HAL 35 day cruise but Flam is a new port. We do want to take the Flamsban ride and i am encouragingmy DH to do the full 8 hour Norway in a nutshell. So we will be two children 11 and 13, their nanny and me. Can we walk from the port to the railway station ?

Also have you been to Kritiansand Norway. think i know what we are doing in Stavenger

 

I have a friend in Norway who grew up in Kristiansand, and I've been there to visit him several times. It's a charming small town, but the two things that I think stand out for tourists are Ravnedalen (a state park) and Kristiansand's Dyrepark, a local zoo. (I'm not really an animal person, but I enjoyed going here anyhow.)

 

Norway in a Nutshell is a wonderful tour. Luckily for me, once when I was visiting my friend's brother took me on this--well, not the organized tour, but following the same route independently. It was amazing! (But lacking a local guide, I'd definitely recommend doing the tour.)

[MacThespian]

Also have you heard of anyone doing the Norwegian Folk Musuem in Oslo. We have been to Oslo before and seen the 'first' things and want to go there this time but not sure how far it is from the port and how easy to get a taxi back. We had a terrible time getting a taxi when we lest Vegeland before

 

I really enjoyed the Folk Museum. I know the HOHO bus goes there, but you can also get a ferry from right in front of the city hall to Bygdoy, the peninsula with not only the Folk Museum but the Fram Museum, Viking Ship Museum, Kon Tiki Museum, and Norwegian Maritime Museum (though with only a short time in port, the last is the easiest to skip). You can easily walk from one to the other--well, at least I could when I went in 1965 and 1970, but I'm a bit older now; I guess it depends on your own situation!

[gafala]

TLCOhio I think you will find the white birds are Northern Gannets.

 

This is a large flock of white birds with their different coloring at the top. We haven’t yet checked for their official name. Any suggestions from those with bird books handy?:

 

[TLCOhio]

TLCOhio I think you will find the white birds are Northern Gannets.

 

Appreciate this helpful info on these Northern Gannets. I did a little Google image search and they are a very interest bird with the close-up shots. When were there, it was starting to get foggy by this time in our trip. These are a seabird and the largest member of the Gannet family. They normally nest in large colonies, on cliffs overlooking the ocean or on small rocky islands. Yes, that's how we found them. THANKS for the assist to update my picture background! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 61,914 views.

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

[gafala]

I think I will bring rain gear for my camera and lens as there is no way of knowing how the weather will be. Even salt spray not good for the gear.

[jolli]

Hello Terry...Thank you for all your wonderful photos of the Norwegian fiord area...they are always amazing! We're taking the Celebrity Eclipse in August 2015 to this area and so looking forward to the experience. Just a question...what did you do in Stavenger ? I am thinking of doing our own thing and taking the Catamaran from here to Tau on a 3 hour round trip....past the Pulpit Rock. Do you happen to know anything about this little cruise? It will cost $62AUD compared to $115 AUD..quite a difference! I realise that sometimes it is easier to go with the Cruise tours and for the most part that is what we shall do! You always have to make the most of your vacation and see as much and experience as much as you can including eating local food! Looking forward to the pickled herrings! Thanks for any info...Annette from Australia.