MS AMSTERDAM 14 Day Alaska - June 15, 2012 - Endless Daylight!

[nobbync]

WOW!

That was a great shot of the eagle in Sitka! I don't know whether I asked but, what type of lense are you using and it's f-stop? The clarity of your shots is just fantastic. I am trying to figure out how you are doing it? (or is that a trade secret?) I thought joyce's shots of Hubbard Glacier were pretty sharp but yours are even better. We are envious.

Rick

 

Hi Rick and Joyce, thanks! The shots Joyce took at Hubbard were nice as well. Getting the splash like that is awesome. I'd love to see your video of the calving.

 

The lens I used for the eagle shots is the Sigma 120-300 f2.8. The eagle shots I set the camera to aperture priority. I like to choose aperture so I can set the depth of field. For bird shots I will try to push the aperture down but keeping the shutter speed high. So for these shots I choose f6.3 which gave me speeds anywhere from 1/800 - 1/2000. I also pushed ISO to 800 to get more speed as well. Even though it is a 2.8 lens I rarely use 2.8. The sweet zone in that lens is about f4 and above so I try to keep the speeds up using ISO.

 

As far as keeping it sharp there are many things everyone can use to get sharper images. I know some people say tripods or monopods are not worth using on a ship because the vibration. I disagree. The vibration is less than most people shake or move. I always carry a monopod and tripod with me and use them if I can. Of course the eagles i really could not use a tripod and had to handhold the camera. So there are other things you can do like practice panning with the eagle so you are moving at the same speed as the eagle and keep it centered. It is hard to do but practie on gulls. pigeons or smaller birds and then the next time you get an eagle it is easy to keep in the viewfinder. For glacier shots or other scenery I do use at minimum the monopod. I will use a higher f stop like f8 - f10 or so as long as my shutter speeds can stay above about 1/100th I am okay. Hold your breath before taking the shot. Tuck your elbows into your body as you hold your camera with both hands. When I take a breath I exhale and then hold it as I shoot. You can lean against walls or polls or whatever that is steady. All these thigs help with sharpness.

 

Nobby

[nobbync]

I have been absolutely loving your pictures and review. What a fantastic adventure! I was fortunate enough to see Orcas and Humpbacks in Juneau on my first cruise to Alaska. They are both such magnificant creatures. Was this your first sighting of Orcas?

 

You were very lucky to see them the first time. I have been on 3 Alaska cruises and a few whale watching and this was my first orca sightings in the wild. Seen them at Sea World San Diego many times but I think that does not count.. .:D I talked a lot to a younger couple that went whale watching for the first time in Juneau and they got killer whale breaching and humback breaching right in front of them. So now they were hooked and wanted to go more and more but I told them they were really lucky to get both right away. Of course they can still be lucky but that is not waht is to be expected.

 

Watching all whales is really incredible but seeing that many killer whales was breath taking... Also saw some at breakfast the day we pulle dinto Victoria as they were swimming close to the ship. Even the workers stopped to watch.

 

Nobby

[nobbync]

We are on this cruise leaveing Seattle on September 7th and are so looking forward to it. Your photos have made the wait even HARDER!!! Ours will be the last cruise with this itinerary and after seeing your photos am really sad about that.

 

Alaska (especially the cities and towns farther north) have so much for everyone to see. Like you said - hopefully the cruises that are left will fill up so people can really see how wonderful they are.

 

Again - thank you for such wonderful photos.

 

Well you are in for a treat. I hope your weather holds out for you. We had good and bad days. Now that I have seen Anchorage, Homer and Kodiak I really wish we could do this cruise again and really do more in these ports as I know what to expect.

 

I am also dissapointed that HAL's Vancouver to Seward and back are not different like before. Princess has a good one from Vancouver to Seward and back going to Tracy Arm, Hubbard, Glacier Bay twice and College Fjord but it is on a much bigger ship which I do not prefer but the cruise looks good and might be where I am heading next.

 

Nobby

[nobbync]

I must thank you again for sharing your amazing photos with us. They almost make me feel as if I were right there alongside you. This has been a spectacular series of posts.

 

Thank you so much Ruth!

 

Nobby

[SightCRR]

Nobby,

Thanks for the reviews, tips and the wonderful photos. With your tips on the Iso speeds f/stops etc now I need to go re-read the camera manual. Do you do anything special to get such bold bright colors?

Thanks again for the great review.

SightCRR

[CoronaCRZR]

Hi Nobby, great pictures. Beautiful colors and sharpness.

Do you color grade your pictures at all, if so what software do you use?

 

Ted

[nobbync]

Nobby,

Thanks for the reviews, tips and the wonderful photos. With your tips on the Iso speeds f/stops etc now I need to go re-read the camera manual. Do you do anything special to get such bold bright colors?

Thanks again for the great review.

SightCRR

 

Hi SightCRR,

 

When you are shooting photos with lots of white like in Alaska with the snow and ice I use EV (evaluated meetering) which is what Nikon calls it (Canon cameras it is called something else). I use a minus EV to slightly under expose the scene so the whites do not get burnt out. By under exposing it makes the blue that is already there stand out even more. I also up the contrast to get it a little more vibrant. The important thing with the glacier though is you need a cloudy day to get it that color and if there was recent calving the ice where it broke off is also a much bluer area.

 

Nobby

[nobbync]

Hi Nobby, great pictures. Beautiful colors and sharpness.

Do you color grade your pictures at all, if so what software do you use?

 

Ted

 

I usually on do basic editing with Lightroom. I also have Photoshop CS3 with NIK Software but I only use that if I need to. My color editing is just using a minus EV in camera plus some contrast and vibrance adjustments in Lightroom. In camera if you shoot jpg you can also choose VIVID as your settings which will also give you more dramtic colors like this.

 

Nobby

[califlady]

Hi Nobby....It was so nice to meet you and Cindy. I really enjoyed your documentary of our cruise and, of course, your photos are spectacular. Can hardly wait until you post all of them on your website. Also, wanted to give you my email address. trishp11@verizon.net Please keep in touch. Maybe we can do this all over again some day. :) Pat

[jwitt2]

Thanks for posting the beautiful pictures. I was on the cruise after yours and I can't say that it looked that good, weather wasn't great. Didn't see any creatures except bald eagles and seals. But it was a great trip anyway, great people and lots of fun. Glad we got to go before they scrapped the longer itinerary.

[clojacks]

Nobby, your pics are stunning. My wife, son, and I are taking the Sapphire Princess on a southbound route in 3 weeks, and I usually take my camera along to "take" pictures. After seeing what your pictures have the potential to provide, I am taking a crash course on not just "taking" pictures, but "producing" pictures with the features that my camera allows me to. I am going through this thread and copy and pasting a lot of your tips on the pics you took into a take-along word doc. Thanks for the pics and the tips, and I may try to email you to ask for some suggestions for bringing out some of the colors you were able too.

[roadbeagle]

Thank you Nobby for the great review and the amazing pictures. We leave August 10th for the 14 day on the Amsterdam and can't wait. We took the same cruise two years ago and had a wonderful cruise. I expect this time to be even better! Thank you for sharing your wonderful talent with us.

[nobbync]

Nobby, your pics are stunning. My wife, son, and I are taking the Sapphire Princess on a southbound route in 3 weeks, and I usually take my camera along to "take" pictures. After seeing what your pictures have the potential to provide, I am taking a crash course on not just "taking" pictures, but "producing" pictures with the features that my camera allows me to. I am going through this thread and copy and pasting a lot of your tips on the pics you took into a take-along word doc. Thanks for the pics and the tips, and I may try to email you to ask for some suggestions for bringing out some of the colors you were able too.

 

Thank and enjoy your cruise. Feel free to email me anytime. nobbync at the yahoo email and yes, learn your camera.. I still have a lot to learn about light.

 

Nobby

[nobbync]

Thank you Nobby for the great review and the amazing pictures. We leave August 10th for the 14 day on the Amsterdam and can't wait. We took the same cruise two years ago and had a wonderful cruise. I expect this time to be even better! Thank you for sharing your wonderful talent with us.

 

Thanks Pat and Barb! Enjoy the cruise and it is a great one as you know. Hope you get some nice weather and smooth seas...

 

Nobby

[agru]

Hey Nobby!

 

For the rest of you folks, I'm April of the "April and Avie" who accompanied Nobby and Cindy on the fateful trip out to St. Lazaria Island on Sitka's Secrets.

 

Just wanted to tell Nobby how envious we are of the great photos he got -- especially of the Rhinoceros Auklets -- especially considering the movement of the boat for most of the trip.

 

BRAVO!!!!

[nobbync]

Hey Nobby!

 

For the rest of you folks, I'm April of the "April and Avie" who accompanied Nobby and Cindy on the fateful trip out to St. Lazaria Island on Sitka's Secrets.

 

Just wanted to tell Nobby how envious we are of the great photos he got -- especially of the Rhinoceros Auklets -- especially considering the movement of the boat for most of the trip.

 

BRAVO!!!!

 

Thanks April and hope you are doing great! I was impressed with the Rhino Auklet photos as well as we were falling down, leaning out the window and i was shooting as the waves went up and down blocking them. That was the worst shooting conditions I ever had!

 

My photos are almost done and I should be able to complete them soon and I will send an email to you April with the link and of course I will post it here as well.

 

Nobby

[june18susy]

THE SHIP

 

This was the best ship we have been on. The ship is very clean and the crew is superb. I know some people do not care for the slower pace of a Holland America ship but I prefer it but even if you like to stay busy there is a lot to do on this ship. BTW, I have never had a bad cruise and I try not to let worn carpets and basic maintenance bother me. As they say Ship Happens. There were places where I think the carpet needed replacing but just a few areas.

 

When I board a ship I usually have more bags I carry then I check in. I usually check in one bag and then I carry on two camera bags and I also carry my wedge pillow. I can’t sleep lying flat due to health problems so I carry a large wedge pillow. This is my first cruise where I boarded and crew grabbed my bags and took us down to our room. I usually am lugging all these things and am sweating by the time I get to my room. Not this time and it made for a great start. We booked the cheapest inside guarantee on this cruise and we ended up with a small upgrade. Instead of being on deck one all the way in the front we were on deck 2 close to the front but not all the way up there. Nice size room and much bigger than most of the other rooms we have stayed in including a couple balcony cabins we had. Since we were going with the very long daylight hours having an inside was a blessing as anytime we wanted to sleep we turned out the lights and it was pitch black. I like the inside cabins for this reason for Alaska.

 

Our room stewards Dodi and Sene were wonderful and wish I really could bring them home. I rented a tux so I did not have to carry an extra bag and that was a blessing also. The tux was waiting in our room and no issues with it. We also got the laundry package which was $98 for the 14 days for the cabin. We put in one or two bags every day. Only one did not come back the same day. All the clothes were folded nice and ironed. My t-shirts for the first time in their lives saw an iron! We even sent one load in the night before going into Victoria and got it back that morning. We usually do our laundry onboard but I believe we will be doing this all the time. Nice to come home with clean clothes.

 

The food was overall very good to outstanding. I know food is subjective but I for one enjoyed the food. The lido deck a lot of food is actually cooked up there so that made things nice and fresh. Even veggies they cooked up there so they were still crisp and not soggy like typical buffet veggies. We had a good selection of fresh fruit all the way through the 14 days. Last year another line ran out of almost all fresh fruit and that was only a 10 day cruise. Not a big selection of desserts on here like other lines we have been on but what they did have was delicious! For any of you that do not handle dairy well the lido has about 5 different nondairy milks for you. If anyone is going to be on this cruise soon please say hi to Moul who was at the water and juice counter in the Lido. Good guy that just got on the ship for his long tour of duty.

 

The dining room was also nice though we only ate there a few times. Since this cruise had a lot of port days or scenic viewing we were too tired most of the time to clean up for dinner but when we did eat there it was good. One of the formal nights with filet mignon and lobster tail, it was really good. The filet was cooked just right and could be cut with a fork. The tail was good size and not over cooked. We also used room service for dinner and it showed up on time and was hot.

 

I like the Explorations Café and lounge. The seats there are really comfortable and a great place to read. We did not see any shows but went to qite a few movies. I was disappointed that after 10 days they started repeating the movies. They also have a list of 1000 DVD’s you can order anytime you want. Just call the front desk and if they have it you drop by and pick it up. We watched a few this way before bed.

 

If anyone has any questions about the ship feel free to ask and I will try to answer if I know.

 

Nobby

this is a petty question, but are there irons and ironing boards in the laundry room?

[RuthC]

this is a petty question, but are there irons and ironing boards in the laundry room?

On the Amsterdam, yes.

 

All four S-class, all four R-class, and the Prinsendam have laundry rooms.

The four Vista class, and the two Signature class ships do not. If you need something laundered, or ironed, on those six ships, they must be sent out.

[Himself]

This was a great review on an outstanding cruise!

[kazu]

What a wonderful review. Thanks so much for taking the time.

 

A lot of us enjoyed it and the pics very much:D

[bobalink]

We were recently on a cruise to Alaska and we saw lots of wildlife but nothing compared to what you saw and captured in photos.

 

Your photos are STUNNING. Seeing your pictures makes me want to take some photography classes and learn how to use something other than a point and shoot camera.

 

When we were whale watching in Juneau we got to see humpback whales bubble net feeding and it was the most amazing thing to witness. I could not click my camera fast enough.

 

THANK YOU for taking the time to write a very informative review and sharing your amazing photographs.

 

I know these photos pale in comparison to yours, but they show the bubble net feeding.

 

IMG_0626 by BobalinkToo, on Flickr

 

IMG_0066 by BobalinkToo, on Flickr