Last summer, I took a day flight from Fort Simpson, in Canada’s Northwest Territories, to Nahanni National Park. Speaking as someone who has been to both, Nahanni is probably Canada’s equivalent to the USA’s Grand Canyon. I’ll probably post more pictures from the park, including the canyons and Virginia Falls, but will focus on Glacier Lake this time.
Nothing in Nahanni is accessible by road- I chose to take a day flight in with Simpson Air(and would highly recommend it), but there are other options to fly in for day trip or as part of a multi-day canoe or raft trip(which is in my bucket list). With few tourists, the park is remarkably clean. Jasper and Banff parks don’t even compare.
Glacier Lake, in the park, is nestled in the mountains, and is a long hike from the South Nahanni river. Being in a float plane, I was able to avoid the hike, and land right by the Parks Canada cabin at the far side of the lake. The Cirque of the Unclimables, a series of steep mountains up the valley, were in perfect view. The sun was shining, and the weather was warm. The day was perfect for the plane trip. I got lucky- back in Fort Simpson that evening, the weather changed, and the next two days were constant rain and snow.
So, as for the pictures: I didn’t take all the photos from the same position, so the foreground moved a bit(for taking 3D photos, I move around a lot). I took them with my modified Canon T3i camera, using different filters.
The first two photos are in the visible spectrum(as in what you can see with your naked eye). I prefer the second photo, but if you’re comparing them, the first has more detail of the mountain to the right.
I use a BG40 filter to take photos with my camera in the visible spectrum(at least in cases where I don’t have a second camera). Without the filter, near infrared light bleeds in. It is mostly noticeable with photos of vegetation, as they reflect infrared light. Ultraviolet light bleeds in as well, but as my camera isn’t very sensitive to it, it doesn’t seem to affect a normal photo. Here’s the mountains with my BG40 filter removed(and white balance corrected).
Next, my UG11 filter. It combines Ultraviolet with Infrared light, eliminating the visible light between them. The trees are lighter, due to the infrared light they reflect, while the sky is bright due to the ultraviolet light. The colour balance is set with a white piece of paper. I don’t have many practical uses for the UG11 lens on its own, but it does take beautiful photos.
I have a 680 nm infrared filter that I use often(I also have filters in deeper infrared). As human vision can see up to about 700 nm, this filter lets in a small amount of visible red light, and a lot of infrared light. Because it is so close to the visible spectrum, the camera can still distinguish different colours. With the white balance, it shows vegetation being very bright, while the sky, which doesn’t scatter infrared light, is darker. I didn’t take any photos deeper in the near-infrared range this time, so this is the only near infrared photo.
Finally, my thermal infrared camera. Thermal Infrared is far beyond what a normal camera can see no matter the filter, so I use a Seek Reveal camera. The resolution is low, and the field of view is fixed, so the following photo is a composite of two pictures. In general, though the lighter the colour, the warmer the temperature is.
I’m starting to figure things out with the blog now. Hopefully I’ll be posting more regularly soon.
R Unruh
Parallel Views 