Photography

All photos in this collection were taken by Gordon S. Novak Jr. between 1972 and 2003.

35 mm photos were taken using an Olympus OM-1 SLR camera with a 50 mm f/1.4 lens and UV/haze filter. Longs Peak photos were taken on Kodachrome slide film. Most other photos were taken on Kodak negative film, typically ISO 200. These photos were usually taken with the camera hand-held and a fast shutter speed (1/1000 sec.) to avoid camera shake. 35 mm negatives and slides were scanned in at Eckerd Drugs, Western 1-Hour Photo in Estes Park, Precision Camera in Austin, and by the author using a Nikon Super Coolscan 4000 ED scanner.

Digital photos were taken with a Minolta Dimage 7 digital camera, usually using a small tripod and time-delayed shutter to avoid camera shake. This camera has a 5.25 mega-pixel sensor and a lens that has a 35 mm SLR equivalent range from 28 mm to 200 mm. Image clarity in 2 MB photos from this camera has been excellent; in a photo of the Alluvial Fan, it is possible to see people walking at a distance of 1.6 miles from the camera. It is also possible to see such details as whiskers on a pika and stamens on a moss campion flower, which I've never been able to see with the naked eye.

Digital photo processing for color correction and to produce smaller versions of photos was done using GIMP (Gnu Image Manipulation Program; it is free software) and xv.

Rocky Mountain National Park: The High Peaks