If you're going into Denali (and why would anyone go to Alaska and not visit Denali?), then you'll want as much lens as you can get. A bean bag is really good on the park buses that allow you to go into Denali. Lower the window, lay the bag across the window and you have a steady platform for 1/2 of the many varieties of wildlife you'll see. Just use the top of the seat back for the animals out the other side of the bus.

Others have recommended a 2nd camera, which can be very important. On my first trip, I got some great distant shots with a 400mm on the camera, but then turned to the other direction and found myself 20 yards from a massive bull caribou. Head and shoulder shots were nice, but would have liked to have more variety.

If you intend to take the Denali buses, I highly recommend advance reservations. Most days they will be fully booked during the busy season.

Ditto! The Canon 100-400mm lens looks so much more impressive when the hood is attached. :D

Great shots, especially 3, 5 and 6. Just goes to show that there are great photos waiting for us to take, no matter the season.

A simple change to stop some of the annoyance (at least for me) is to change the default programs for file types like photos and .pdf to open with the familiar desktop apps instead of the new metro full screen Windows 8 apps. From the Windows 8 Start screen, just start typing "default programs". Click on the first of the search results, then choose "associate a file with a program". Change any graphic file types to your favorite editing program, .pdf to the standard Adobe Reader application, etc. Then when you open one of the files, it will open in your preferred program rather than switch you to the Win 8 app.

In order to utilize that much ram, you will need to be running a 64-bit version of the operating system, Windows 7 or 8. Most high performance laptops these days come with a much faster SSD hard drive but that will limit you to 256GB or so for the onboard storage. Otherwise, I think you will be happy with it. I use a new Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon with 8GB ram and SSD on Window 8. It runs Lightroom 4 and PSE 12 well. If you have any issues, it will likely be the dock. Manufacturers don't seem to put as much quality in the docks and associated drivers as they do with the laptops, at least that's true with Lenovo and Dell.

If you can visit in July/August, try to get into the Bird Creek Meadows area on the south side of Adams. Drive a couple of miles on a rough road into the Indian Reservation land, pay them $5 to park, then a short hike into the meadows. Some of the best wildflower meadows on the planet.

As a photographer who places a high value on his images, as well as being a paranoid I.T. guy, I cover all the bases with backups.

1. I use Microsoft's SkyDrive (offsite cloud storage), and install the SkyDrive desktop client on 2 PCs and a home server which automatically syncs the files between all. A file can be added/changed on either machine and it will sync to all other copies.
2. Use automated backup software to backup to external hard drives. Daily backup to a local external, periodic backup to an external that I take to work (offsite), and periodic backup to an external that is kept in fireproof box.

I think I'm covered. At least until that comet destroys the earth.

Diamonds indeed. Excellent images. Were all the images taken at a wildlife watering hole?

One additional note on the Canon 7D. In addition to the Menu button/screen which gives you access to all settings, it also has a Quick Control button in top left corner. This gives you instant access to a dozen or so most frequent settings (relative to the shooting mode your in).

I figured that out after looking it up online. Looks interesting. I noticed the Skagit River eagle outing coming up in January. Might try to make that meetup if the date can work for me. Otherwise I do plan on going up for the eagles another week.

No I haven't. It's been a while since I've looked for local clubs, but I will check it out. Thanks.

Nice images of a very elusive and difficult to photograph critter. I've had one opportunity to photograph river otters, and I remember how difficult they were to capture with their perpetual motion, wet dark fur, and poorly lit environment.

Well done.

These images were my first use of the Magic Extractor feature and combining of two photos in PS Elements. The eye of the person creating the edited image is not necessarily the best judge, so I'd like to hear critique from others regarding how realistic the images appear.

Both the horses and the background sunset were taken at the same place and time. Unfortunately I could not get into position to shoot the horses against the brighter part of the sunset given the terrain and with the horses moving quickly with only minutes of the good lighting.

I extracted the horses and foreground, then overlaid them with the better sunset sky. The sunset photos were taken about 30 degrees west from where I could capture the horses.

Photos were taken at the Pilot Butte Wild Horse Area, just off of I-80 and outside of Green River Wyoming. Whenever I travel between Oregon and the Rocky Mt. states, I try to route by here whenever possible. The road up Wild Horse Canyon is only a couple of blocks from the west end of Green River, and in 10 minutes you're on top of the mesa. At least one band of horses are always easy to locate and the lighting is often dramatic.

Hi, my name is Monte Duncan (aka MtManMD). I've subscribed to UHH for a couple of months and have enjoyed the opportunities to learn from the collective knowledge from many other photographers, as well as to gain new ideas after seeing the photography of others.

I'm a fairly advanced amateur enthusiast, always looking for opportunities to improving my photography and post-processing skills. Primarily interested in outdoor photography, including both landscapes and wildlife. I've lived in the Pacific Northwest for the past 30 years, and frequently photograph the Pacific Northwest, Rocky Mountain states and western Canada. Equipment includes mostly Canon cameras and lens. Primary camera at the moment is the Canon 7D.

A nice Bighorn ram, Glacier NP.


Capturing an intimate moment in Yellowstone.


Sunset at the Oregon coast