I have just published Episode #11 of my Wild Nature Photography Podcast. In this podcast episode, we talk about the current state of the ongoing pandemic here in Australia, as well as the very strict COVID travel restrictions that are currently in place for international travel into and out of Australia. We also talk about both the upcoming sold-out Wolves and Wolverines workshop this October in northern Finland, the sold-out expedition to Ellesmere Island in March 2022, as well as two recent articles on Adobe Lightroom ISO specific Noise Reduction pre-sets for the Canon EOS 1DXMK3 and why Sharpening pre-sets are sub-optimal in Lightroom if ultimate image quality is your goal.
The Adobe Lightroom ISO-specific Noise Reduction Pre-sets are available to purchase for $10 through my online store Melrakki publishing. If you have travelled with me on a workshop or expedition and would like a copy of the pre-sets please email me directly and I will make them available to you for free.
Yesterday I was politely asked if I would consider producing a set of capture sharpening pre-sets in addition to the ISO specific pre-sets I have made for the Canon EOS 1DXMK3 HERE. Having given this a lot of thought when I was creating the ISO pre-sets I came to the conclusion that it is sub optimal to use pre-sets for capture sharpening. There are a number of important reasons for this and it is worth taking some time to understand why sharpening pre-sets are a bit of a waste of time and not recommended if an optimal result is your goal.
Sharpening Defaults: The sharpening defaults Adobe provide in Lightroom are Amount = 40 and, Radius = 1 and Detail = 25. These defaults are actually an extremely good starting point.
ISO Specific Pre-Sets and Capture Sharpening: Remember, if you are using the ISO specific pre-sets for the Canon EOS 1DXMK3 I produced then some of the higher ISO pre-sets include a component of additional sharpening over and above the Adobe defaults to counter the digital smoothing of noise reduction. This sharpening kicks in from ISO800 in the pre-sets. The sharpening amounts applied in the pre-sets are a cautious baseline. In other words, where sharpening has been applied at a given ISO pre-set it is only enough to counter the digital smoothing applied by the noise reduction algorithm.
I made mention in my post on these pre-sets that you will still need to add additional capture sharpening to your file. The amount of additional capture sharpening you will need to apply will vary depending on the quality of your lens, the sharpness of the capture and the atmospheric conditions at time of capture. In addition to these variables, the amount, radius and masking are also ‘subject dependant’ and the amount required for each of these sliders will vary depending on the subject in addition to the quality of your lens, sharpness of the capture and atmospheric conditions.
Sharpening at 1:1 100% Magnification: When making any adjustments to the sharpening sliders you absolutely must view the image at 100% 1:1 magnification. You cannot make accurate judgements about the sharpness of a capture at any other resolution.
Capture Sharpening Workflow: When I start working in the detail panel of Lightroom my preference is always to set the Radius first, before the Amount. I like to set Radius, Amount and then Masking in that order. Since optimally setting the Radius does have a visual affect on the Amount setting I actually believe Radius should be above the Amount slider in the Detail panel and have argued this point with Adobe. Adobe tell me most people just leave the Radius at its default of 1 and that this default is a very good starting point. I agree with them as a starting point; however, you can get a better result if you know what you are doing and to this end I want to explain how to set the sharpness sliders optimally (particularly the Radius).
How to Set the Radius: Knowing when to adjust the Radius higher or lower than the default of 1 pixel is a critical skill to learn if you want to set your capture sharpening optimally. Generally speaking, if you have an image with a lot of high frequency textural detail you will want a lower radius (less than 1). This will help emphasise the fine detail and not cause it to be obscured. A landscape image that has a lot of fine grass would be a good example; or a wolf photograph such as that included below. Although there is a large soft area in the out of focus background (and some out of focus foreground), the area we do want sharp (the wolf) and the immediate grass under its feet has a lot of fine textural detail and will benefit from a lower radius. If you were to use a higher radius you would potentially cause ‘clumping’ and loose fine detail in the wolfs fur. Masking can then be used to mask off the out of focus area and to avoid introducing noise into these areas. If you hold down the option/alt key while you are adjusting the radius slider you will actually be able to see the effect varying the radius has on the photograph.
In a portrait photograph of someone with beautiful smooth skin for example, you would likely want a Radius setting higher than the default of 1. In this portrait example you would probably not want to sharpen and emphasise every pore of skin, but rather retain the softness of the skin and emphasise sharpening of the models eyes.
As a result of the Radius being extremely subject dependant it really is not possible to produce a usable general pre-set for capture sharpening that would do a better job than Adobe’s default. Technically I could make a series of pre-sets that vary the Radius; but if you have to take the time to select a pre-set on an individual image basis (based on subject) you might as well just take the same amount of time and set it specifically for that particular photograph you are working on. The only time a sharpness pre-set really makes any sense is if you are continually photographing the same subject, with the same lens and camera in the same environment at the same camera settings. A studio photographer who is always shooting newborns with the same lens in the same environment at similar apertures under the same lighting could speed up their workflow with a sharpness pre-set. A nature photographer such as myself who is constantly shooting different subjects with different lenses, at different f-stops in different conditions cannot really take advantage of a sharpness preset if optimal results are the goal.
How to Set the Amount: Before you set the amount slider it is important to understand that sharpening is applied to the luminance channel only – it has no effect on colour. That is why if you hold down the option or alt keys when adjusting the amount slider Lightroom will show you the image in black and white. This makes it easier to visibly see the result. Once zoomed into 100% 1:1 and holding down the option or alt key (mac or windows) you can visibly see the effect increasing or decreasing the amount slider has on the photograph. Setting this optimally is a matter of using your eyes to gauge what ‘looks good’. If you go too far with the slider you will start to see halos around the edges of objects. One approach that can work is to visibly sharpen the photograph until it looks a little bit too sharp and then back off the slider until it looks natural. If you are having trouble gauging the difference try setting up a before after comparison (the ‘C’ key is the shortcut) as you adjust the slider (at 100% 1:1). Trying to create an optimal pre-set for the amount is nigh on impossible as there are far too many variables to consider including all those listed previously: Sharpness of capture, quality of lens, atmospheric conditions, f-stop, diffraction etc.
How to Set the Masking: Setting the correct amount of masking is also subject dependant. In the wolf example above we would want a higher masking setting (more masking) than we would in a landscape photograph such as the one below where we have depth of field from near to far and want everything to be pin sharp. In the wolf example above we would want to apply masking until we had prevented the sharpening from hitting the out of focus background and foreground too hard. In the example below, we would only want to mask out the empty flat area of sky and still hit the lovely foreground. As a result, it is impossible to create a single sharpening pre-set that would apply optimal masking across any photograph. I could create a number of different pre-sets that varied the masking, but then you would also need additional pre-sets that varied the Radius for each of these masking pre-sets (and that would be a lot of pre-sets!). Taking the time to choose an optimal pre-set in this example would take more time than actually setting the sliders optimally. If you hold down the option or alt key when adjusting the masking slider you can see which areas of the image are being masked out (black is masked).
Sharpening Detail: As I talked about in my post on ISO specific pre-sets for the Canon EOS 1DXMK3, the sharpening detail is quite a complicated slider so it requires a little more explanation. When adjusted to the left toward 0 the Detail Slider applies halo suppression that limits how strong the halos are in your amount settings. Moving the slider past 25 (the default) causes the slider to change its behaviour and apply a type of deconvolution sharpening similar to the de-blur tool in Photoshop. Deconvolution sharpening attempts to de-blur an image based on what type of blur it detects in an image. The thing to keep in mind is that excessive use of the sharpening detail slider will substantially increase the sharpening of the noise. Generally speaking, if you set the amount and radius correctly there is little need to change the detail slider and the default setting of 25 is appropriate.
Conclusion: By now you should be getting the distinct impression that capture sharpening pre-sets are sub optimal and that you are far better off taking a few seconds to set things optimally for each specific capture. I guarantee this will give you a better result and you will continue to get better at it the more you do it. In order to have image specific capture sharpening pre-sets it would be necessary to create a huge number of pre-sets that varied the combination of Amount, Radius, Masking and Detail. Even then, the variability of subject matter, lens and f-stop selection, along with atmospheric conditions and diffraction make it sub optimal at best. You would spend more time trying to choose the best pre-set than it took to adjust the sliders optimally.
Sharpening Pre-sets for Sale: I have seen people spruiking sharpening pre-sets for sale for Lightroom. The pre-sets are often given creative names like ‘Wild Seascape pre-set’ or ‘Vintage Wedding portrait pre-set’. Whilst these pre-sets ‘might’ get you in the ballpark they will never be optimal. In fact, I would argue they are no more optimal than the sharpening pre-sets Adobe include in Lightroom for free. Where these pre-sets might shine for you is in the stylised look they often provide in their colour adjustments . Then again, if it is just the ‘look’ you are after, you can easily create your own pre-set for any particular style you wish. Happy processing.
I received the exciting news a couple of days ago that my first entry into the Head On Landscape Awards has made the semi-finals and will be part of the Head On Award 2021 semi-finalists’ slideshow (finalists announced in November). The photograph will be screened at Head On Photo Festival 2021 between 6-14 November (the exact venue will be confirmed closer to the Festival). If necessary, due to Covid-19 restrictions, the slideshow will be screened online. The photograph will remain undisclosed until the slideshow later this year. Instead, I’ll share one of the photographs in the new book I am now close to finishing – The Art of Polar Bear Photography. Pre-orders will be available soon.
Since my post (HERE) and podcast (HERE) discussing the differences in RAW renderings from Lightroom and DPP I have had several people contact me to ask if I would send them the Canon EOS 1DXMK3 ISO specific noise pre-sets I discussed making at some point in the future. Originally, I was planning to make these just for my own use, but decided if I was going to invest the time and do this properly that it would be worthwhile making them available for those that are interested. If you would like a copy of these finished and optimised pre-sets (includes the test RAW files) you can purchase them through my store Melrakki Publishing for just $10. If you have travelled with me on a workshop or expedition and would like a copy of these pre-sets please contact me directly and I will make them available to you for free.
Before I sat down to make these pre-sets I actually reached out to a close colleague and engineer at Adobe who is heavily involved in the coding of Lightroom and who shed some fantastic additional light on what some of the sliders are doing ‘under the hood’. I have been using Lightroom since its beta days and have a better than average grasp and understanding of what is going on under the hood with most sliders. However, I was able to learn a thing or two that has helped me greatly optimise these pre-sets and I want to share this information as it is critical to understanding how to set the Noise sliders properly and how they have been applied in the pre-sets I have created. Even if you don’t own a Canon EOS 1DXMK3 this information will be relevant and useful to you.
Detail Panel Settings: Before I get into the methodology I want to make the critical point that both the Detail panel sharpness and noise reduction sliders in Lightroom are interactive. Adjusting one slider is not enough in most instances and significant back-and-forth play between the sliders is required to set the sliders optimally.
Methodology: Over the last few days I have done very extensive testing and analysis in the creation of these ISO specific noise pre-sets for the Canon EOS 1DXMK3. To create them I photographed a large X-Rite Color Checker (A4 video version) in a D6500 light controlled Graphic light workstation with the Canon EOS 1DXMK3 and an 85mm f1.4 L series lens at f5.6 at every single full stop ISO from 50 to 102,400. Technically, you can push the EOS 1DXMK3 to H1 ISO 204,800, H2 ISO 409,600, and an incredible H3 ISO 819,200 but these extreme ISO ranges break down so badly that they are little more than a marketing gimmick. Thankfully these extreme ISO ranges are disabled by default in the EOS 1DXMK3 and that is how I suggest you leave them – permanently.
1/3rd stops were not used as these are ‘push’ or ‘pull’ ISO stops that use in camera software ‘under the hood’ to adjust the exposure +/- 1/3rd of a stop accordingly. As such I never use 1/3rd stop ISO increments and have both my EOS 1DXMK3 cameras set to full stop ISO only. I also find when I am shooting in the field that I prefer one click to go from ISO 400 to 800 for example instead of having to make multiple clicks to gain a stop of light.
Aperture priority was used, meter as read (no exposure compensation) and only the ISO and shutter speed were varied. The X-Rite Color Checker was used as it enabled me to carefully monitor and check for noise in the shadows and because I wanted to be able to check for individual colour shifts and bleeding at each specific ISO in very specific colours. It should be said that any differences in colour shift would in all likelihood not be visible in normal photographic scenes; but using the X-Rite Colour Checker makes it far easier to visually detect shifts or bleed in colour and thus makes it far easier to apply optimal noise reduction in Lightroom.
The RAW files were then imported into Lightroom with the Adobe Color Profile and very carefully analysed at 100%, 200% 400% and 800% magnification. Unlike sharpening which must be gauged at 1:1 100% magnification, Noise Reduction really requires additional zooming and with some of the noise control sliders it is necessary to zoom in significantly to see the differences as you adjust the sliders. I probably spent the better part of two days just staring at these RAW files at different magnifications and visually comparing them to each other side by side as I tweaked the settings in the detail panel for each ISO. The goal was never to make ISO 102,400 look as good as ISO 100 (that simply is not possible); rather ISO100 was used as a reference point to which all other ISO RAW files were initially compared. Then the sliders were adjusted for each full stop of ISO difference. In other words, the goal was to make ISO 200 look as close as possible to ISO100, ISO 400 as close as possible to ISO200 etc. all the way up to making ISO102,400 look as close as possible to ISO 51,200. Once this was done and checked I then went back and compared the results two full ISO stops difference and then three full stops difference and tweaked further. Finally, I rechecked my settings and results over a period of three days to satisfy myself that I could not optimise them further. It is worth noting that ISO 102,400 in particular looks very different (horrible) to ISO 51,200 and is the most difficult ISO to make look ‘good’. Hence it has the highest degree of tweaking in the pre-set. Even with this optimised pre-set for ISO102,400 I would strongly encourage you to avoid this ISO at all cost. In real practical terms I would actually recommend you set a virtual ceiling of ISO 12,800 and only exceed that when you have no other choice. Above ISO 12,800 things begin to break down and by ISO 25,600 start to become quite nasty. In real world practical use I personally try not to exceed ISO 12,800 and have a preference to shoot at ISO400 as my baseline (I used to use 800 but have adjusted post this testing). I will happily go to ISO 3200 and even ISO 6400 before I start worrying too much about noise with ISO 12,800 being my ceiling.
To make the visual analysis of the RAW files I used two different high end displays. I used the BenQ SW271C I reviewed HERE and an Eizo Colour Edge CG318. Both displays are Adobe RGB, 4K (although the Eizo is DCI4K so slightly higher resolution) and were optimally calibrated to D6500K with a setting of 80 candelas; which is an appropriate setting for the light levels in my viewing studio.
Noise Reduction and ETTR: When setting the sliders in the Detail panel for sharpness and noise reduction I erred on the side of caution and was very deliberately cautious and judicious in the amount being applied. The primary reason for this is I did not want overly aggressive noise reduction in these pre-sets. Since exposing to the right (ETTR) is optimal in the field (without clipping the highlights) and then tweaking the exposure down in Lightroom during post production results in lower levels of noise than under exposing or even exposing ‘meter as read’. In other words, the pre-sets are optimised for RAW files that were optimally exposed in the field. If you are applying these pre-sets to an under exposed photograph that you are ‘brightening’ considerably in Lightroom you may well need to apply additional noise reduction. Thus the pre-sets will work optimally when you have exposed optimally in the field.
Problem Files: If you have a particularly noisy and problematic file you may be better off using a third party Noise Reduction program in addition to the ISO specific pre-sets I have created. Personally, I am currently using Topaz De-Noise for any file that is particularly problematic in addition to the ISO specific pre-set. Think of the ISO specific pre-set as a starting point for problem files. Don’t try and apply them to a file you have already processed and expect a magical result.
Camera Profiles: I am told Adobe ran into some difficulties with the process of building camera specific profiles for the recent Canon models (including the EOS 1DXMK3 and R series cameras) because of the switch over to the new CR3 file format. They are working on it and I am informed that they have made good progress recently. They are hopeful they may resume offering camera specific profiles later this year. For these pre-sets I used the Adobe Color profile. If I get time in the next few days I may make my own and compare it to the Adobe defaults.
Sharpening Amount: The pre-sets do obviously vary from ISO to ISO, and some of the ISO pre-sets include a component of Sharpening above the default setting of 40. Since Sharpening and Noise Reduction are interactive and affect each other (thats why they appear together in the Detail panel of Lightroom) it is necessary at some higher ISO settings to add additional sharpening to counter the ‘digital smoothing’ of the RAW file that results from higher amounts of Noise Reduction. This additional sharpening kicks in from ISO800 in the pre-sets. The sharpening amounts applied in the pre-sets are a cautious baseline. In other words, where sharpening has been applied at a given ISO pre-set it is only enough to counter the digital smoothing applied by the noise reduction algorithm. You will still need to add additional capture sharpening to your file. The amount of additional capture sharpening you will need to apply will vary depending on the quality of your lens, the sharpness of the capture and the atmospheric conditions at time of capture.
Sharpening Radius: None of the pre-sets alter the Radius, since the correct Radius setting will vary depending your particular capture. Photographs with a lot of high frequency information will generally want a lower Radius (less than 1) and photographs with mostly low frequency (think portraits) will necessitate a higher Radius. The default setting of 1 is a good general setting and thus is not touched in the pre-sets.
Sharpening Detail: Sharpening detail is quite a complicated slider so it requires a little more explanation. When adjusted to the left toward 0 the Detail Slider applies halo suppression that limits how strong the halos are in your amount settings. Moving the slider past 25 (the default) causes the slider to change its behaviour and apply a type of deconvolution sharpening similar to the de-blur tool in Photoshop. Deconvolution sharpening attempts to de-blur an image based on what type of blur it detects in an image. The thing to keep in mind is that excessive use of the sharpening detail slider will substantially increase the sharpening of the noise. Generally speaking, if you set the amount and radius correctly there is little need to change the detail slider and the default setting of 25 is appropriate.
Sharpening Masking: None of the ISO specific pre-sets include any component of masking. Sine masking is image specific you will need to apply this based on the requirements of your specific image.
Luminance Noise Reduction: Lightroom applies no Luminance Noise Reduction by default, so the pre-sets mostly optimise the Luminance, Detail and Contrast sliders. There is no luminance noise reduction applied below ISO 800 in the pre-sets. It simply is not required in 1DXMK3 RAW files.
Luminance Noise Detail: This control sets the noise threshold. Dragging the slider to the right will preserve more detail; however it does cause some noise to be incorrectly detected as detail and therefore will not be ‘smoothed’. Decreasing the slider will increase ‘smoothing’ but does cause some detail to be incorrectly detected as noise and smoothed out. The Luminance Noise Detail slider is only activated when some Luminance Noise reduction is applied. The default value once activated is 50 and setting this slider optimally for high ISO images is a bit of a balancing act. Luminance Detail kicks in at ISO6400 in the pre-sets. A lot of testing and a lot of care went into the amount applied in the pre-sets. This is where a lot of high magnification zooming (up to 800%) was used to discern differences in the settings.
Luminance Contrast: Like the Luminance Noise Detail slider, the Luminance Contrast slider is only activated when some Luminance Noise reduction is applied. Dragging this slider to the right preserves image texture and contrast but does result in the potential for mottling in high ISO images and re-introduction of noise. Leaving it at the default setting of 0 helps with fine-grained smooth results. Like the Luminance Noise Detail slider, setting this slider optimally at higher ISO images is a bit of a balancing act between adding contrast, enhancing surface texture and avoiding mottling and more noise. Luminance Contrast kicks in at ISO3200 in the pre-sets. Because of the tendency for mottling and additional noise at higher ISO’s the Luminance Contrast is actually used more sparingly at the extreme high ISO’s. Again, a lot of testing and a lot of care went into the amount applied in the pre-sets.
Colour Noise Reduction: Lightroom does apply a default Color noise reduction of ’25’. What is critical to understand is that the default of 25 for RAW files is a baseline of colour noise reduction. You should think of the value of 25 not in an absolute sense, but in an ISO-normalised sense. What this means is that for a very clean image, like an ISO 100 RAW file from the Canon EOS 1DXMK3, the Colour Noise Reduction slider in general is doing very little, because the image is so clean to begin with. On an ISO 6400 image from the same camera, though, Color Noise Reduction of 25 is going to do quite a bit more. In other words, how much work goes on under the hood for “Color Noise reduction = 25” depends both on the camera model and the ISO, because Adobe calibrate each camera model and ISO, and the Color Noise Reduction slider is “aware” of this. This means that even on a very clean image like ISO 100 from a Canon EOS 1DXMK3, you don’t have to worry about damaging the image quality by leaving Color Noise Reduction at 25, because Colour Noise Reduction will do very little in this case. Since the Colour Noise slider at its default setting of 25 is applying adaptive noise reduction that is both camera and ISO specific it is not altered in any of the pre-sets from its default setting. I did spend quite a lot of time trying to tweak this slider at various ISO settings, but came to the visual conclusion that the results are optimal at the default setting of 25 (Adobe have done excellent work in this area). Applying more than 25 very quickly results in colour bleeding that is sub optimal. Be very careful if you start tweaking this slider.
Colour Detail: The colour detail slider is most useful for extremely noisy images. It allows you to refine colour noise reduction for thin, detailed colour edges. In essence at very high settings of 75+ Lightroom tries to retain colour edges but at the expense of colour speckles. At lower settings the slider works to suppress colour speckles but thin features may become desaturated (colour bleeding). In order to see the effect it is really necessary to zoom into at least 200% or 400%. Colour Detail kicks in from ISO 12,800 in the pre-sets.
ColourSmoothness: The colour smoothness slider defaults at 50 and at moderate settings above 50 can be used to suppress colour blotching or colour mottling. At very high settings it may cause some desaturation of colour at the edges and thus a lot of care needs to be taken when setting this slider. Colour smoothing kicks in only from ISO 51,200 in the pre-sets.
Lens Corrections: No lens corrections are applied in any of the ISO specific noise pre-sets.
Canon EOS 1DX MK3 Comments: With the ISO specific noise reduction pre-sets applied; between ISO 50 and ISO 800 there is no appreciable difference in noise in real world RAW files – they are identical. Between ISO 800 and ISO 3200 there is only the faintest hint of difference barely discernible at 200% in the ultra finest surface texture (You would never ever notice this in real world captures). By ISO 6400 the tiniest ultra fine surface textures are just starting to disappear from the RAW file when viewed at 100% or more on screen (again, you will never notice this in real world captures). At ISO 12,800 the finest surface textures continue to disappear and ultra fine detail is starting to disappear. Fine hairs are still clearly visible and look good, but the finest minute detail is now obscured. Again, you would likely not notice this in real world RAW captures (You really have to look for it in a test image at 100% or more magnification). Nevertheless, my recommendation is that ISO 12,800 is a realistic workable limit. Above ISO 12,800 both texture and detail continue to disappear as the ISO increases. At ISO 25,600 the finest surface textures are all but gone. Fine hairs are still clearly visible, but are starting to break down with the increased grain structure. By ISO 51,200 we have lost the fine surface texture and the fine hairs are continuing to break down. At the top end at ISO 102,400 we have lost all surface texture and almost all fine hair detail. ISO 102,400 is an absolute last resort and to be avoided at all cost.
Demonstrable Visual Results: In case you are wondering why I have not dotted this long post with visual examples comparing various ISO’s pre and post ISO specific noise pre-sets it is because the images, once converted to jpeg and resized for the web are not representative of the RAW file results. Conversion to jpeg and downsizing to something suitable for the web has a very significant effect on the visual noise in an image. Downsizing removes visible noise and thus distorts the visual results significantly. However; I have included a copy of all 12 RAW files I photographed of the X-Rite Color Checker in the creation of these pre-sets from ISO 50 to ISO 102,400; so you can visually see the differences yourself. Just import the RAW files into Lightroom, apply the pre-sets and do a before/after comparison. You may need to zoom in to 200%, 400% or even 800% to see differences.
Conclusion: Taking the time to create these ISO specific noise reduction pre-sets for the Canon EOS 1DXMK3 was absolutely a worth while investment in time and energy. It has been very educational (although time consuming) and It should considerably speed up anyones workflow who is shooting with this camera as the pre-sets can be applied on import. As they are ISO specific Lightroom will then apply them correctly to each different ISO file you import. Since significant time and effort went into optimising these pre-sets you will not have to worry about wether you are setting your noise reduction optimally. Just make sure you expose optimally in the field, apply the pre-set on import into Lightroom and you can then focus on processing your photograph. Just remember, you still need to apply an appropriate level of capture sharpening for your RAW file in addition to the ISO specific sharpening that may be being applied in the pre-set. Happy processing!
My 2022 Winter expedition to Ellesmere Island with friend and fellow photographer David Gibbon to find and photograph the incredible white Arctic Wolf is now sold out. In addition to the white Arctic Wolf, we will also search for Arctic Fox, Arctic Hare, Musk Ox and Polar Bears. We are currently considering a future expedition for 2023 and like our 2022 expedition, participant numbers will be extremely limited. Winter temperatures on Ellesmere at this time of year frequently dip to -40º Celsius and below, and as such participants must be physically fit and capable of withstanding extreme cold for extended periods. As such all applications are screened for suitability and experience. If you feel you have the ‘right-stuff’ and if you are looking for a unique and special experience to photograph the incredible animals that survive in the Arctic winter then drop me an email to register your interest. No obligation at this point.
www.WILDNATUREPHOTOTRAVEL.com 