Sky Watch Friday VII

Long-tailed Jaeger having fun.

Photograph taken on the tundra of the North Slope in Alaska.

Long-tailed Jaeger (Stercorarius longicaudus)
(Click to see more detail in the silhouette)

We were about 10 miles from the Arctic Ocean when we noticed a storm approaching. The jaegers were diving, swooping and just having fun on the approaching winds. Storms are interesting in the summer in the Arctic. This makes for some great skies.

Martha watched the jaegers while I made camera adjustments.
In order to capture this photograph, I set my camera on 1000 ISO, f16, and manual focus.

I wanted a deep depth-of-field to show the clouds. I waited until the bird came around and used follow-focus on the bird. When he was against the right background, I snapped the photo. The long central tail feathers are visible in the enlarged photo (click to see).

There were only two adjustments to the photo that I had to make.

I used “Neat Image Pro” to remove the grain (noise) due to the high ISO.
and
I adjusted levels in Photoshop.

Note: We saw all three U.S. Jaegers that day. Wheee-hooo.

To play Sky Watch Friday visit Wiggers World.

Troy and Martha

Alaska Sunday III * & Project Yellow IV

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Sub-Title: Summer Solstice on the Arctic Circle

Ever since I was a kid, I had alway wanted to stand on the Arctic Circle. For you Far Northerners, you won't think this is a big deal or understand this. But for a boy from East Texas, growing up in the country, this is a big deal. Especially to stand on the Arctic Circle at the Summer Solstice.

Just think, 24 hours of Daylight. More hours to explore, find, and experience new things. Of course back then, I didn't consider trying to sleep when there is no night. Actually, you have to tape the curtains to the walls in order to get some sleep.

There is nothing exceptional about the photo, except that out of the thousands of sights and experiences of our 16-week- trip, it is one of my most memorable. The realization of a life-long dream. Another dream, "Standing on the Moon" may be out of reach, but I can still dream.

Martha was not overly impressed. She said she expected there to be a great differentiation of flora on either side, trees on one side and low bushes and grasses on the other. But there was only a sign marking the spot. The number of tourists trying to have their photos made by the sign was certainly impressive. A busload of people had made the trek from Fairbanks just for that purpose. Her goal was the Arctic Ocean and seeing the Arctic tundra along the way.

Standing on the Actic Circle
At Summer Solstice ( Looking NNW )

GPS Coordinates
I had to park just a bit down the road

Sub-Title II: Martha has on a yellow shirt for Project Yellow

Martha on the Arctic Circle
Doing the Tourist Thing
( we're right there she pointed ! )

The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. It is the parallel of latitude that (as of 2000) runs 66° 33′ 39″ (or 66.56083°) north of the Equator. The region north of this circle is known as the Arctic, and the zone just to the south is called the Northern Temperate Zone. The equivalent latitude in the southern hemisphere is called the Antarctic Circle.

The Arctic Circle marks the southern extremity of the polar day (24 hour sunlit day, often referred to as the "midnight sun") and polar night (24 hour sunless night). North of the Arctic Circle, the sun is above the horizon for 24 continuous hours at least once per year, and below the horizon for 24 continuous hours at least once per year. On the Arctic Circle these events occur, in principle, exactly once per year, at the June and December solstices respectively. It is called the Arctic because it corresponds to the southernmost point of the Constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear or Megale Arktos in Greek).

Wikipedia

*Alaska Sunday is a collection of photographic remembrances of our driving trip from Texas to Alaska.
18,000 miles, 16 weeks, 16 western states including Alaska and four Canadian Provinces.
No chronological order, just anything of interest that got in front of our cameras.

Troy and Martha