Overview

The Rocky Mountains extend from northeastern British Columbia to northern New Mexico. Canada's best known national parks, Banff and Jasper, lie entirely within the Rockies and the province of Alberta.

The home base of this site - Calgary - resides on the boundary between the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountain foothills. The western and northwestern areas of the city are characterized by hilly terrain and outcroppings related to the increasing elevation as one travels westward. The first actual mountain peaks are encountered about 70 km (45 miles) west of the city. Many locations in Calgary feature spectacular views of the Rockies (somewhat like Denver, Colorado).

Pictures from Moraine Lake in the Lake Louise area comprise the first presentation in this section. Additional images will be posted when material on file has been edited and organized. The section includes the foothills region as a natural extension of the mountain zone and may incorporate a few photographs taken from within Calgary.

Photographic challenges and technique

The principle technical challenge when photographing mountain landscapes lies in accommodating the very wide range of luminosities or "dynamic range" of the subject material. A typical scene is liable to include shadowy forest areas and cliff faces at the low end of the scale with intense white snowpack at the other extreme. Specular reflections off ice and water surfaces are common. Intense sunlight and the clear air contribute to exceptionally high contrast and a generally unforgiving photographic environment.

When viewing such scenes directly, with the eye, the area of sharp focus and attention is really rather small and always directly ahead. As we shift our gaze from one part of the scene to the next, the variable aperture of the eye quickly adjusts, giving the impression of an enormous ability to deal with high contrast although what is really possible at a single "exposure setting" of the eye is much less. When preparing an image for presentation we are much confined by limitations in sensors (or film), display media and the fact the viewer will probably be appreciating the image as a whole, rather than scanning very much from one part to the next. We have no choice but to attempt compressing the tonal scale of the image to deal with these realities. We want to have good shadow and highlight detail simultaneously rendered throughout the image.

In my experience it is almost impossible to manage these high contrast subjects with a super-zoom - even one as exemplary as the Panasonic FZ30. You either must blow out the highlights are endure blocked-up, noisy shadow areas which cannot properly be recovered. Of course, there are many photo opportunities in the mountains not posing these challenges but the larger views are highly problematic with small sensor cameras.

The Nikon D300 DSLR has excellent dynamic range (around 11 EV's) and low noise, combined with high pixel density, making it a fine choice for mountain photography. Combined with a superb lens such as the Nikkor 12 - 24 mm images routinely rival what I have been able to make using medium format film equipment - a surprising result, exceeding my expectations based on theoretical considerations of what should be possible. Many of the photos presented in this gallery were taken with that combination.

Success is further promoted by carefully observing that old adage "expose for the highlights, develop for the shadows". With digital this works especially well because digital is very good at preserving shadow detail well below what you can see with the eye.

The 12 - 24 mm Nikkor routinely produces exquisitely detailed images without chromatic aberration or other defects and it is sharp right into the corners. As is the case with most zooms (and many prime lenses, for that matter), there is always some risk of flare so you want to ensure the sun does not directly strike the front surface of the lens even if it is not within the image frame. A small amount of flare can always be removed during processing but it's a nuisance having to do so.