Just got back from two months in Antarctica, South Georgia, Falklands and Patagonia. I was actually getting paid for this. Here are a few quick photos pulled from my export folder. Lots more to process still.
King penguins at Salisbury Plain, South Georgia.
King penguin colony, Salisbury Plain. This was much reduced, at the end of the season.
King penguin portrait.
Macaroni penguin portrait, Cobbler’s Cove, South Georgia.
Humpback whale breaching against a tabular iceberg, somewhere below the Antarctic circle.
Fur seal on a floating iceberg.
Reflections of sunset against floating sea ice.
Low cloud billows over mountains and ice.
Leopard seal on sea ice.
South polar skuas fighting over penguin remains.
Patagonia, somewhere.
Tufted tit tyrant (the best name for a bird), Patagonia.
Gold Harbour, South Georgia (photo by Mrs krok)
LeeAbe
3546
Some amazing shots, especially the whale. Got paid? Are you a pro?
SweetJP
3547
Fantastic! These pictures are Nat Geo quality, krok. I’m putting all of these in my wallpaper folder.
Thanks. I have a side gig as a Nat Geo Photo Instructor on expedition ships with Lindblad. So I’m not a pro, but I do get paid for it.
Houngan
3549
If I was better at photoshop, I would photoshop a crocodile into every one of those. Nice pics!
Thanks for pointing me here in the Northern Journey thread! These shots are simply incredible, krok!
Out of curiosity, could/would/do you ever actually submit photos to Nat Geo? Several here seem worthy in my eyes.
Cormac
3552
Wow… amazing what cellphone cameras can do these days!
LeeAbe
3553
So you lead workshops? I am really tempted to go on one in some exotic location (like Scotland!), but they are not cheap.
Just noticed the last photo is by Mrs. Krok, another great shot! Are the penguins pretty easy to photograph? I assume since they aren’t scared of people?
Holy moly, man. Those are great photos from what must have been an amazing trip.
Thanks. I’ve sold some over the years but I should put together a portfolio.
The last one taken by Mrs krok was a Samsung S21. The rest are a Nikon 7D Mk2 with a few different lenses.
Kinda, on these ships I run workshops, at home I tend to wear a different hat (crazy crocodile guy) but I have done some here. I really should do more.
Those are king penguins, they are amazing. Penguins in general just don’t care, but kings will actively come up and look at you curiously. Here Mrs krok was standing in the water and they’d all resumed their day-to-day business ignoring her completely.
And yeah, it was an epic trip, just incredible and hard to describe. South Georgia was one of the most unreal places I’ve ever visited. If you ever get the chance, just do it.
Cormac
3556
I was just being snarky, didn’t actually think there was a phone camera involved! Not bad, guess I’ve been hoisted by my own petard? :)
That is awesome (and even more so because Mrs krok was with you on such a long trip!). Out of curiosity: is it hard to find a babysitter for Smaug?
geggis
3558
Hear hear. Just… wow. Thanks so much for sharing; they offered a very welcome break from the dreary day job.
I love the tufted tit tyrant! What a gorgeous little bird.
He can go a while without food if necessary, not because I’m super mean, but because he’s a crocodile and that’s how they roll, but in this case two months was a bit long and I’m fortunate enough to know a couple of people I trust to check in on him and feed him (and the other crocs). My inlaws looked after the house and the dogs (who I’m sure thought they’d never see us again!).
These recent phone cameras can give impressive results if you play to their strengths. The illusion is lost if you start to zoom in sometimes, but at their native camara resolutions (and they all have at least a 0.5, 1 and 2x lenses now) they can do great things.
Fortunate indeed (I wouldn’t know anyone like that ;-) ).
LeeAbe
3561
I have been practicing doing macros, but it’s a lot more difficult than I expected. I need to find some flatter flowers, but these things are everywhere in Western Washington right now.
Heh. Have you tried focus stacking? To be honest I haven’t tried it myself, but it requires taking a series of images (using a tripod and a subject that doesn’t move) with different focal points and then blending the whole lot using software. The results can be impressive.
LeeAbe
3563
I have never done focus stacking (I don’t really understand why it is needed with a good lens at f11 or smaller on a landscape), but I know about it and my camera has a setting to it do automatically. With macros though, it would be difficult unless there was zero wind and I was using a tripod.
The day I was taking these the wind was picking up enough to make it difficult. I was manually focusing, bracing my arms, and then holding the shutter button to get these. That one was my best, which is not good, but it was fun trying.
Looking forward to the warmer months coming so I can try on some bugs.
Edit: and of course next time I go to YouTube there is video on macro focus stacking. He did it indoors and used a focus slider to do it though.
Yeah, I’ve seen some online examples where the exact same effect could be achieved with the right aperture, but it seems like an interesting technique (aka “cheat”) for edge cases where there’s not enough light. But really, I admire your tenacity for macro photography of small flowers on a windy day!
