Alaska, Diamond Princess, May, 2004

[Singinman]

We finally decided to add our pictures to the pool of common knowledge about cruising. We have enjoyed everyone's pictures here. Hope you all enjoy ours. All were taken with a Panasonic Lumix FZ-10 digital camera with a 12X optical lens.

 

http://community.webshots.com/user/judymnorth

 

Jim from VA

[pedirn]

Jim Great photos. I was really impressed with color and contrast. DH and I were just looking at them. Just a quick question. Did you use any filters? I am asking because we were very disappointed in our digital pictures in 2001 when we were last in Alaska. We are going again this May and planned on bringing the 35mm (with assorted accessories). Just wondering how you got such clear crisp colors. Maybe you can advise us and we won't have to lug all the extra photo equipment. We were using a Kodak camera last time but will be using a Nikon 5700 this time.

 

Chris

[Singinman]

Chris,

 

We used nothing but the camera in its native dress. We had the sun shield with us but did not use it.

 

However, every photo we took was run through Adobe Photo Elements II, when we got home, for minor tweeking. All we did was restore what was there to begin with. The one exception was Tracy Arm. There, when the rain did nothing for the picture, we took it out. My wife can give you details

 

We also color corrected the interior shots, especially the Atrium, because we did not set the light adjustment on the camera for interior lighting. We had only had the camera for a few weeks and we were by no means its master. On the flip side, I told Judy to just set the dial on Point and Shoot and trust the camera.

 

Hopefully on our return trip this May, we can let the camera do some of the dark room work in the camera while the shot is being taken.

 

Now, if I still had my Nikon 35mm, SLR, I would probably take it. I understood that camera better than I do this one.

 

Jim

[judynorth]

Chris,

 

Hi, I am Jim's wife, Judy. The beauty of taking pictures with a digital camera is that it is easy to do a little tweeking with a photo editor. All the pictures taken in Tracy Arm were hazy because of the rain but using PhotoShop Elements 2 I was able to adjust the contrast easily. They now look like they did "in person". Jim is right about the inside pictures, mainly in the atrium. They were very yellow and I had to correct the color. As you can see, I was successful sometimes and not other times. In a couple of cases I removed obstructions from the pictures (ship overhangs and such). Most of the editing consisted of minor cropping though. We took 573 pictures and threw away 3 as unusable. I was amazed at how they turned out. It is hard to take a bad picture in Alaska. EVERYTHING is beautiful!

 

Judy

[pedirn]

Judy and Jim Thanks for quick response. Guess we will also be taking 35mm Minolta. Not sure what to expect as Kodak was one of first ones out. We received it as a gift in 1999. Just updated to 5 megapixels this past year and already notice the difference in quality of pictures. You mention returning to Alaska in May, what date and what ship? We will be on the Radiance May 7 from Vancouver. Same ship we did trip on in 2001.

Chris

[Singinman]

We will be on the Coral P out of Vancouver on May 14.

 

jim

[RanDe]

Chris,

 

Hi, I am Jim's wife, Judy. The beauty of taking pictures with a digital camera is that it is easy to do a little tweeking with a photo editor. All the pictures taken in Tracy Arm were hazy because of the rain but using PhotoShop Elements 2 I was able to adjust the contrast easily. They now look like they did "in person". Jim is right about the inside pictures, mainly in the atrium. They were very yellow and I had to correct the color. As you can see, I was successful sometimes and not other times. In a couple of cases I removed obstructions from the pictures (ship overhangs and such). Most of the editing consisted of minor cropping though. We took 573 pictures and threw away 3 as unusable. I was amazed at how they turned out. It is hard to take a bad picture in Alaska. EVERYTHING is beautiful!

 

Judy

 

These pictures were awesome, Judy! I saw 100, where are the other 470???:D DH and I will be planning our Alaskan cruise after our next Caribbean cruise. What route did you take? Was it a round trip from Seattle? There are so many different ways you can do the Alaskan cruises....it gets confusing. Thanks for sharing your wonderful pictures.

 

De:)

[Singinman]

Thanks for the complements. We took the D out of Seattle and did the inside passage. The scenic highlight was Tracy Arm which is a feature of the Seattle round trip itenerary. Watch this space for more pictures in late May. We are going to Alaska again. This time on the Coral P out of Vancouver. One way but we will see glaciers this time. We will let people know how we compare the two routes.

 

Jim

[judynorth]

De,

 

Thanks. I never get tired of looking at the pictures. They bring back such wonderful memories. We sailed the Diamond Princess (ill fated May 22, 2004 cruise) round trip out of Seattle. It was our first cruise and our TA said that leaving from Seattle would make it easier (and airfare was much cheaper). It was wonderful but we didn't get to see a glacier. We loved Alaska none the less and my husband was determined to return this year. We leave May 14 on the Gulf of Alaska cruise on the Coral Princess leaving from Vancouver and sailing to Whittier. We were determined to see glaciers this time!

 

If you have never been to Alaska before I don't think you could miss on either route. We loved going in May because there was still lots of snow particularly on the mountains and inland in the Yukon. Lakes were still frozen and we could walk in the snow at the Summit.

 

We bought a new camera for the cruise and it worked beautifully even under less than perfect conditions. Most of the pictures were taken from either a moving ship or a moving motorcoach and they were all good. We also took pictures from our balcony with rain falling in Tracy Arm. We took a total of 573 pictures and threw away 3 because they were not usable. I initally edited about 100 pictures, put them on a CD and took them to Costco to be printed (19 cents a print and cheaper and better quality than I could do at home). Those are the pictures that I posted. Later I edited the rest of the pictures. One of the reasons that I didn't post more pictures is that WebShots limits you to 100 pictures per album and it took quite a while to post those. They are a good sampling of the pictures that we took.

 

I hope you decide to cruise to Alaska. I don't think you will see anything quite like it anywhere else. And to think, this is right here in our own country!

[RanDe]

Jim and Judy,

 

Thanks for your nice replies and explanations. I'm looking forward to hearing all about your trip in May. I'm more of a sunseeking gal from the midwest, wanting to escape winter, but DH is a nature lover and we both want to see the beauty of Alaska. It'll be interesting to hear about your comparison on both Alaska cruises.

 

Ill fated??? I hope nothing serious happened on your last cruise.:confused:

 

De:)

[House_Atreides]

My goodness, I just looked at the 100 you have posted and am wanting more too!

A wonderful eye for the camera!

I too use digital photography and tweak in Paint Shop Pro if needed, just to enhance what is already there.

Someday...maybe 2006...north to Alaska! DH wants to go badly!!

[judynorth]

I just posted a new album of pictures to WebShots. They are of the Diamond Princess.

[emmysmom]

Loved all your pictures - they are great! Brought back alot of memories from last August. Can't wait to be back on the Diamond again.

[fusco9800]

Great pics! Sorry to hear you were on the "ill-fated 5/22 sailing". We were on the "dock-smashing 5/15" sailing and felt sorry for your group. I posted my pics under the login "S&T" in this topic category but that thread is back on page 4 or 5 by now.

 

I'm sure you'll have a marvelous time this year. I agree that May was a great month to see Alaska. Take and post more great pics.

 

Thanks again for the memories.

[judynorth]

I'm glad that you enjoyed the pictures. We are really looking forward to our trip in May. Even the problems on the cruise could not detract from the beauty of Alaska. All it took was getting off the ship and actually experiencing Alaska to make all the problems with the cruise fade into the background.

 

I am going to search for your posting. I'd like to see your pictures. Just can't get enough. Have you seen the post about the cruise ship pictures? There is a long list of links about the Diamond. Last night I read reviews from someone on your cruise and another on ours. There were also lots of pictures.

[judynorth]

I found your photos and they are beautiful. I can see that you had several things on your cruise that we didn't have on ours. No ice carving, no galley tours. I think the fact that we had Norovirus on the ship curtailed lots of activities. I can't believe how much more ice you had just a week before we were there. The lakes in the Yukon had much less ice the next week, although some of them were still frozen. It was fun seeing another perspective on the same places that we visited. Thanks for telling me where to find the pictures.